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ALL-IN-ONE SOLUTION
Integrated CD player/DAC/amplifier. Rated at 75W/8ohm
Web: www.quad-hifi.co.uk; www.internationalaudiogroup.com
Made by: International Audio Group, China
Supplied by: IAG Ltd, Cambs
Telephone: 01480 447700
Price: £1500
Quad Artera Solus
The company ups the ante by adding a ‘just-add-speakers’ solution to its Artera series,
managing to squeeze streaming alongside CD replay into casework of pert proportions
Review: David Vivian Lab: Paul Miller
o far, Quad’s Artera family has
comprised the Play (a combined
CD transport, DAC and preamp)
and the Stereo [HFN Nov ’15],
S
which is a power amp using the company’s
Current Dumping topology. Both solid-state
components, not only are they compact
and dapper but high functioning and
lifestyle literate too – a feat that’s trickier
than it might seem. But not as tricky as
folding all of the above (plus streaming)
into a chassis with the same proportions as
the other components in the Artera range.
Actually, there are two parts to this. Part
one is what we have here, the £1500 Solus
equipped with aptX Bluetooth providing
basic streaming to sit alongside its CD
transport, DAC and amplication (not
Current Dumping in this case). This will be
joined in the autumn by a premium version
expected to cost £2000 that will add appcontrolled Wi-Fi network streaming.
To some extent, this seems the wrong
way round but it’s something of an
industry-given that implementing Wi-Fi
streaming in a one-box product isn’t the
work of an afternoon.
SEPARATES SOUND
Quad freely admits that designing the
Artera Solus proved to be a great test of
ingenuity for its engineers.
‘It was a real challenge to make the
individual parts – the CD transport, the
DAC, the digital streaming, the analogue
preamp and power amp – perform to the
level of a full separates system in keeping
with Quad’s high standards,’ said Jan
Ertner, who led the development team.
‘Placement of components has been
especially critical, together with the
careful routing of the four-layer printed
circuit board, use of balanced circuitry to
minimise interference and extensive power
supply isolation.’
RIGHT: The heart of the Artera Solus is clearly
based on the earlier Artera Play CD player/DAC
[HFN Nov ’15] with a larger PSU to support the
integrated power amp. The sidecheek heatsinks
are now functional rather than decorative
Encouragingly for Quad, this initial
edition of the Artera Solus looks so
ownable you might not want to wait,
especially as it will be possible to retro-t
full-fat network capability once the second
one-box Artera model goes on sale.
Components promoted as ne examples
of industrial design can often seem
astringently stark and cold and the Solus
certainly irts with the idea (especially if
you forgo the contrasting silver fascia in
favour of chassis-matching black). But it
also imbues a clean, sharp and chunky form
factor with just enough character to charm
rather than chill. It was no accident. Quad
enlisted the help of Rodney Mead, the man
responsible for the styling of many classic
Quad products in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s,
to brainstorm design concepts.
The structure is weighty and feels
reassuringly rugged – exactly as intended
for resisting resonance and vibration.
Face-on, the main features are the loading
slot for CDs and, to its left, a circular OLED
display that doubles as a touch-sensitive
pad for activating play/pause and scrolling
through the input options. That’s about it
save for a 6.35mm headphone jack (fed
from a dedicated headphone amp circuit),
standby button and a large remote with
annoyingly small buttons and labels.
HEART OF THE MATTER
The digital heart of the Artera Solus beats
to the tune of a tried-and-tested ESS
ES9018 DAC (the ES9038 is the latest
variant). It provides support for PCM data
up to 384kHz/32-bit and DSD64/128/256.
Connectivity is comprehensive, with
doubled-up optical and coaxial digital
inputs plus another two line-level analogue
ins and a single USB-B for linking to a PC
or Mac. The USB-A port is on hand for
rmware updates.
Outputs comprise balanced (XLR) and
single-ended (RCA) pre-outs for harnessing
a more muscular power amplier (most
obviously Quad’s own Artera Stereo), and
there’s a choice of coaxial or optical digital
outs should you want to
use the Artera Solus with
an external DAC.
If so, it would need
to be pretty special, for
the chosen ESS chip has
already proven itself in a
number of ne-sounding
products. Furthermore
Quad has accessed four of the chip’s inbuilt
lter settings: ‘Fast’, ‘Smooth’, ‘Narrow’ and
‘Wide’ [see PM’s boxout, below].
The slot-loading CD transport
mechanism and attendant electronics play
their part in allowing the DAC to do its best
work, buffering the data being read from
the disc before feeding it asynchronously
‘It’s one of the
most desirable
one-box systems
we’ve heard yet’
– in an effort to minimise jitter – to the
DAC board. Given a higher price ceiling,
greater casework space and an ideal world,
Quad would probably have liked to use its
Current Dumping technology for the power
amp section of the Artera Solus. That
wasn’t to be, but the company’s engineers
certainly don’t appear to have stinted on
an alternative solution.
As to be expected, the Artera Solus’s pre
and power amp sections are minimalist in
design and use highquality components
linked by short, direct
signal paths. Volume is
digitally controlled in
the analogue domain,
outputting directly to
the dual-mono Class AB
power amp section. But
if the claimed 75W/8ohm power output
looks a little modest on paper, Quad avows
that its generous reserves of current mean
awkward speaker loads simply aren’t a
problem. It even
says that the
Solus will drive
the company’s
RINGING THE CHANGES
In practice, the Artera Solus has the same four digital
lters we saw in Quad’s earlier Artera Play model –
Narrow, Smooth, Wide and Fast. ‘Narrow’ is a traditional
linear phase lter offering an excellent 120dB stopband
rejection and very at response (–0.15dB/20kHz), albeit
with signicant ringing [see black traces, inset Graph]. The
‘Smooth’ lter is also a linear phase type but with a very abrupt cut-off just
prior to the Nyquist frequency (–0.15dB/19kHz to –3.5dB/20kHz with CD and
–1dB/42kHz to –13.2dB/45kHz with 96kHz media). The ‘Wide’ lter is a slow
roll-off type, not dissimilar to Pioneer’s interpolative Legato Link lter of the
1980s with its minimal ringing (much reduced time domain distortion) but
curtailed treble (–3.1dB/20kHz) with CD/48kHz sources [red traces, inset
Graph]. The ‘Fast’ lter takes this a stage further, incurring almost no ringing but
offering almost no stopband/alias rejection by way of compromise. This lter is
best suited to higher sample rate inputs where the treble loss is inaudible and
alias images are pushed out well beyond the audioband. PM
ABOVE: To the left of the central loading slot
for CDs is a circular OLED display that doubles
as a touch-screen to enable play/pause and the
selection of the different input options available
demanding electrostatic speakers without
breaking sweat [see PM’s Lab Report, p67].
SHINE ON
As one of Quad’s aims with the Artera Solus
is to appeal to as broad an audience as
possible – from hardcore audiophiles to
those who shop at Habitat – I spent time
with it hooked up to a pair of Audiovector
QR 1 standmount speakers, which were
previously being driven by my reference
electronics. These comprise a Cambridge
Audio CXC CD transport, Chord Hugo 2
DAC and ATC CA-2/P1 pre/power amp [HFN
Mar ’10]. A FiiO X3 Mk 2 DAP was also on
hand to inject a little hi-res le goodness to
the respective DACs in both set-ups.
Even by Quad’s high standards, the
Artera Solus proved to be remarkably
talented, in many ways
producing the best
sound I’ve heard from
the Audiovector QR 1
loudspeakers. In fact,
soundstage width and
out-and-out loudness
aside, the overall
presentation even
outshone that of KEF’s
EISA Award-winning
LS50 Wireless speakers
[HFN Oct, ’17] which I
had used with my reference electronics in
the past. To put this into perspective, the
£1500 Artera Solus costs £350 less than
the Chord DAC. And even when teamed
with the classy Audiovector QR 1s, the
£2250 total outlay is only £250 more than
the price of the active KEF LS50 Wireless
speakers, for which you’d have to buy a
transport if you wanted to play CDs.
For the acid test, Dynaudio’s cracking
£2500 Special Forty standmount speakers
www.hinews.co.uk | Reprinted from Hi-Fi NewsReprinted from Hi-Fi News | www.hinews.co.uk
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LAB
REPORT
ALL-IN-ONE SOLUTION
ABOVE: Streaming (Bluetooth) is offered alongside pairs of coaxial and optical S/PDIF
ins, a USB-B port and two analogue line ins. Single sets of 4mm speaker cable binding
posts are joined by RCA and balanced (XLR) preamp outs plus coax/opt digital outs
were pressed into service with
both the Artera Solus and reference
electronics. On the face of it, the
Special Forty seems to be an easy
loudspeaker to drive and one that
is capable of great bass that really
comes alive when it’s used together
with a quality front end.
The opening scribbles on my
notepad for the Artera Solus read
thus: ‘immediacy and presence,
weight and body, scale and
authority’. And this after long-term
familiarity with a system toting a
state-of-the-art DAC and a famously
fast and grippy power amp with
twice the Artera Solus’s power.
HARDEST TRICK
Moreover, and spookily apt given
the lyric of the rst CD into the slot,
the player’s portrayal of Bruno Mars’
terrically bouncy ‘Finesse’ [Atlantic]
really was dripping in nesse, the
Artera Solus pulling off the hardest
trick of successfully separating the
high-energy impetus of the track
with its ballooning bass and staccato
drum pattern from the ne inner
detail and complex, layered textures.
Hooking up the Dynaudio Special
Forty speakers to the reference
electronics proved to be revealing.
The sense of discrimination
between instruments was now
subtly stronger, the drum strikes
fractionally crisper and there was a
little more air and dimensionality to
the soundstage. Yet power and bass
quality seemed no different to when
the speakers were being driven
by the Artera Solus while tonally
it made for a slightly sweeter and
warmer presentation.
With the slow-burning beauty
of the adagio movement from the
Vladimir Ashkenazy/Concertgebouw
recording of Rachmaninov’s
Symphony No 2 in E minor [Decca
455 7982], the Artera Solus’s richer
balance really paid off. It gave the
opening section’s gently sighing
violins and melody-weaving clarinet
a delicacy and depth that left the
reference electronics sounding
slightly analytical. They were
certainly less swoony and romanticsounding, despite the greater acuity
and resolution on offer.
It was much the same story with
hi-res les. Barb Jungr’s recording
of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Long Walk
Home’ [AKD 530D; 96kHz/24-bit]
sounded uent and full bodied with
a warm, natural balance, although
not quite able to match the
reference system’s forensic levels of
resolution, alacrity, and nely graded
dynamic shading.
As for Bluetooth streaming, this
was about as good as it gets. The
sound was certainly listenable and
stable, even if it was softer and less
dynamic than when playing a CD or
listening to a hi-res le.
The Artera Solus is one of the
most desirable one-box systems
we’ve encountered. Compact, sturdy
and boasting a rich and powerful
sound, it makes a compelling case
for itself at the price.
HI-FI NEWS VERDICT
While the market is not exactly
short of ‘just-add-speakers’
solutions, the Artera Solus is a
tremendous one-box system and
an absolute steal for the money.
It may lack Wi-Fi streaming
at present, but this is being
developed. In all other respects it
not only looks and feels far more
expensive than it is, it sounds it
too. Just make sure you partner
it with a ne pair of speakers to
show what it’s really capable of.
Sound Quality: 83%
0 - - - - - - - - 100
QUAD ARTERA SOLUS
Although Quad’s Solus is rated at 2x75W/8ohm with a 15A
(microprocessor-controlled) current reserve, the casework
quickly heats up under load – the heatsinks reaching 55
30 minutes at just 10W/8ohm with distortion rising from 0.016%
to 0.026%. So adequate ventilation is a must for the Artera Solus
which, in practice, can deliver 2x84W/8ohm and 2x140W/4ohm
with sufcient reserve for 105W, 197W, 303W and 170W into 8,
4, 2 and 1ohm loads [Graph 1, below]. This brings the maximum
current closer to 13A for 1% THD over 10msec. Quad has
designed the Solus for +30dB of overall gain which is far more
sensible than the +40dB (or greater) still encountered in modern
amps and ensures the baby Quad will offer good use of its
volume control. Distortion, meanwhile, increases with level from
0.0045%/1W to 0.016%/10W and 0.1% at the rated 75W/8ohm
(all 1kHz/8ohm) and with frequency up to 0.045%/20kHz. Noise
is low and the A-wtd S/N generous at 90dB (re. 0dBW) while the
response reaches deep and wide from 1Hz-60kHz ±1dB.
I discuss the choice of digital lters in our boxout [see p65]
although the ‘Narrow’ option seems to work optimally with CD
rather than external LPCM inputs where there’s a signicant loss
in treble. Via the coax/optical inputs the ‘Smooth’ lter delivers
the attest response and a signicant 92dB stopband rejection.
Otherwise, the A-wtd S/N is generous at 110dB (re. 2V balanced
pre out) and distortion very low indeed, falling to 0.0002% over
the top 30dB of its dynamic range [see Graph 2 below]. Jitter is
impressively low at <15psec (24-bit data, all sample rates) and
low-level linearity good to ±0.1dB over a 100dB dynamic range
with both 24-bit digital inputs and via CD. PM
ABOVE: Dynamic power output versus distortion into
8ohm (black trace), 4ohm (red), 2ohm (blue) and
1ohm (green) speaker loads. Max. current is 13.0A
ABOVE: THD vs. digital level over a 120dB range at
1kHz (red, 24-bit; black, CD) and 20kHz (blue, CD)
o
C after
HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
Continuous power (<1% THD, 8/4ohm) 84W / 140W
Dynami c power (<1% T HD, 8/4/2/1o hm) 105W / 197W / 303W / 170W
Output impedance (20Hz–20kHz) 0.04–0.095ohm (116ohm, pre)
Freq. resp. (20Hz–20kHz/100kHz) +0.0 to – 0.1dB/–2.55dB (Analogue)
Distortion (20Hz-20kHz, 0dBFs/0dBW ) 0.0012–0.0015%/0.016–0.045%
A-wtd S/N ratio (re. 0dBFs/0dBW) 109.5dB (D ig) / 89.6dB (Analog ue)
Digital Jitter (CD / 48kHz/96kHz) 130psec / 15psec / 10psec
Power consumption (idle/ra ted o/p) 20W / 250W (1W, standby)
Dimensions (WHD / Weight) 320x105x320m m / 11.8k g
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