QlearSoul HiFire X Turntable System Reviewed

The HiFire X is the latest flagship from QlearSoul and represents an upward trajectory in aesthetics and performance. Its features are broadly similar to previous units, particularly the SoulBox S1, but it adds a few aesthetic touches, better speakers and upgrades the internals.

The turntable is standard affair. It plays at 33 and 45RPM, has a die-cast aluminium platter and comes with a thick rubber mat, which is a nice upgrade over the felt mat of the SoulBox. The platter of the HiFire isn’t as substantial, and it rides on an interference fit to the spindle as opposed to the subplatter of the Soulbox.

But it isn’t magnetic at least, unlike the Soulbox, and seems well balanced with minimal vertical movement and good concentricity. The combination of a simple bearing and lightweight aluminium platter has been used to great effect for decades, particularly during the 1980s when the Japanese rack system, often outfitted with a lower end but still respectable turntable, reined supreme.

The arm is a straight design; a one-piece aluminium tube with integral headshell which is nicely machined, and carries an Audio-Technica AT3600 moving magnet cartridge from the factory. The cartridge uses a standard half-inch mount with plenty of scope to upgrade it later. Audio-Technica’s VM95 would be a good match, or you could simply swap the stylus to an extended contact stylus from IPT or, of course, Audio-Technica’s own elliptical stylus upgrade, the ATN3600LE.

It has a damped lift adjustable anti-skate via a lever spring dial which works well, and an adjustable counterweight. The counterweight stub is metal and has a spiral thread. It’s all well made with no obvious cost-cutting in the individual components.

The bearings let the arm down. Both have a degree of play, the vertical more so than the horizontal. The vertical pivot bearing isn’t really a bearing at all, rather a simple spindle riding in a sleeve. It is relatively free of friction and doesn’t stick at any point along the record, but it all feels a bit ‘gritty’. The horizontal bearings are better, and are adjustable via screws on the sides of the arm pivot if you feel like tuning the arm – though it is not recommended to do so and may void your warranty.

When I first unboxed the HiFire I was unable to get the counterweight to move far enough toward the pivot point to achieve the required 3.5 grams of tracking force for the AT3600 cartridge. However I discovered that the set screw, optionally used to lock the weight in place, was tightened just enough that it was catching in the spiral thread of the stub.

Loosening it allowed me to set the tracking force perfectly using a digital scale, though the markings on the counterweight are close enough. The AT3600 will happily track between 3 and 4 grams, so an approximation of the nominal tracking force is all you really need.

We have to face reality here. This is not just a £320 (or so) turntable but a complete system in a box. The arm on the Soulbox is superior to this, but this is is otherwise the better product in every other way.

Play in arm bearings in lower end turntables is not uncommon, even from major hi-fi brands. If you spend the money on a turntable alone, you will get a better turntable with a better arm. But factor in a pair of speakers, and probably a phono preamp, and you’d better double the budget. It’s a compromise. The HiFire sounds good and will not ruin your records, and that is what counts.

The motor is the typical (for this class) DC motor and the platter is driven by a flat belt which seems well ground and of decent quality with appropriate tension. There is no pitch adjustment on this model, so if the factory settings are off the only adjustments are hidden within.

The motor pulley is aluminium and well machined with excellent concentricity. There is some audible motor noise with the platter is spinning, but that is typical of a brushed DC motor. five-figure turntables aren’t immune to it either, though forgiving manufacturers of four-figure, let alone five-figure turntables for their use of a brushed motor is nigh-on-impossible.

The turntable includes a hinged dust cover with QlearSoul branding. It’s a solid item, let down by the hinges. They’re secured by a clip which is a pain to remove and wouldn’t stand up to too many removal attempts. And their pivots are not especially well constructed. Leaving the dust cover down for a day or so results in some creaking cracking noises when you lift it. I’m pleased to see a decent dust cover, but the hinges should be replaced with something more durable and easily removed.

The most notable upgrade is the HiFire’s facelift. A 6 mm slab of CNC-machined, brushed aluminium fronts a nicely finished plinth in woodgrain vinyl. The most striking feature are the two large illuminated VU metres, flanked by symmetrical control knobs and minimal controls for standby, speed selection and turntable start / stop.

The knob on the right changes inputs and the left controls the volume. There is no remote which is a shame. As I have said with other QlearSoul products, I can’t help but think a digital front end, with remote control facility would have been cheaper to implement with modern chipsets, and offer some user convenience. At least the controls are on the front here, not beneath the turntable dust cover. There is also plenty of space for additional functionality. I can envisage a slot-loading CD player, or even a slot-loading tape deck, fitting nicely below the meters.

The three buttons on the right start and stop the turntable (though only in turntable mode) and change the speed. Unfortunately they don’t double up as track skipping or play / pause buttons in Bluetooth mode. They could have been used as multi-function controls to offer media control or even change EQ profiles. Likewise the standby button, which serves no function other than a power control. Press to exit standby, hold for 2 seconds to enter standby. This is at least an improvement over the SoulBox, where if the unit entered standby automatically there was no way to restore operation without manually flicking the power switch at the back.

The speakers are vented bookshelf designs with a pleasing weight to them. Neat rounded edges complement angular cloth grilles. They are vinyl wrapped to match the turntable but the wrap is high quality and very nicely finished.. The cabinets are MDF and centrally braced for rigidity.

The drivers are flush-mounted into the front baffle and comprise a claimed 5.3-inch woofer and 1.5-inch tweeter. As i noted in the Soulbox review there are some discrepancies in driver measurement. While there is no official standard for this, the generally accepted standard is to measure the actual moving area of the driver, rather than the outer diameter of its frame.

I’m not sure how QlearSoul measured these, as their measurement equates to neither the moving area nor the outer frame. The drivers are, by my measurements, a 5-inch woofer and 1-inch silk dome tweeter.

These drivers are far beyond the quality I expected at this price. The woofer has a lot of heft to it with a large magnet, and so too does the tweeter. The crossover is a simple first-order with a series capacitor in line with the tweeter, and the woofer running full-range. I wouldn’t be at all disappointed if I had purchased these as aftermarket drivers to use in a design.

The speakers have no internal damping material. This is a bit of a shame as with some tracks, particularly mid-heavy material such as acoustic or vocal music, you can feel and hear the resonance in the cabinet as obvious vibrations in the panels. Resonance is clearly audible too when tapping on the cabinets..

The terminals are a bit odd too. They are push-type connectors that work well enough, but are fitted to a terminal tray that would have easily held a pair of standard binding posts. If QlearSoul were to internally line the cabinets with some damping material, fit better terminals and a revised crossover, these would be excellent passive bookshelf speakers able to compete in the over-crowded landscape, they’re that good.

What does it sound like? excellent, in fact. There is no doubt that there is some EQ tuning going on here in the DSP. As a consequence you get a deeper low end than you might expect, but it doesn’t overshadow the rest of the spectrum.

There is plenty of top-end detail and a pleasing balance to the sound. Not tonally flat, but fun and engaging. It also goes plenty loud, loud enough to make a racket in a larger than average room without obvious signs of strain or distortion. Quiescent noise is low, as is turntable rumble and phono stage idle noise.

Is QlearSoul’s hiFire X a replacement for a stack of separates? No, but nor is it supposed to be. It’s one of an ever-growing landscape of ‘lifestyle’ products, bringing hi-fi to smaller spaces, or within reach of the average buyer. It does a lot of things right, for not a lot of money, in the grand scheme of things, and for that should be commended.

There are some sticking points for me. The arm need improvement to compete with equivalent turntables in this class, the speakers would benefit greatly from a real crossover, better terminals and some stuffing, and the lid hinges need replacing. And were I the designer, I’d modernise the front end as a remote control and adjustable tone controls would be the icing on the cake.

But if you’re new to vinyl, looking for a compact, convenient system for a smaller space, or aesthetics are as important to you as performance, there’s a lot to like here.

You can buy a QlearSoul Hi-Fire X or any of QlearSoul’s products direct or from authorised retailers.