Antec Solo II Review: Sonata Evolved
by Dustin Sklavos on September 6, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Antec
- mid-tower
- Sonata
Conclusion: Silence at Any Cost
The takeaway from all of our testing of the Antec Solo II is a pretty simple one: if you prioritize silent running above all else, your choice is fairly clear. For the office environments Antec hopes to cater to, the Solo II is going to be a stellar enclosure with its understated appearance and equally unobtrusive acoustics. It's simply one of the quietest cases we've ever tested, if not the quietest.
Unfortunately, Antec also wants to cater to enthusiasts with the Solo II, and in that respect it's just not competitive. In order for Antec's offering to compete with cases like the much less expensive BitFenix Shinobi or Corsair Carbide 400R, they really needed to at least include one intake fan, and preferrably two. I have trouble fathoming a situation in which building an enthusiast-class machine in the Solo II would be wise. If you want a quiet machine for moderate gaming, then yes, it'd probably be adequate. But just because you can fit an AMD Radeon HD 6990 or two into the Solo II doesn't mean you should.
I also think Antec is having the same problem with the Solo II they had with the Sonata IV: it's priced right out of competition. At $129 it just doesn't make sense. Is BitFenix's Shinobi a little smaller and chintzier-looking? Sure. But it's also a lot less expensive and capable of offering only slightly louder acoustics in exchange for much better thermal performance (which is probably what would happen if you added a 120mm intake to the Solo II). If you're willing to switch to Micro-ATX, then SilverStone's $99 Temjin TJ08-E will blow the pants off of the Solo II. I recently assembled a system for a sound engineer in the TJ08-E; get even an inexpensive tower cooler in that case (Cooler Master's Hyper 212 Plus is my personal favorite) and marvel at how quietly and coolly it actually runs. That's an enclosure that's arguably as attractive as the Solo II, but both smaller and more efficient.
Antec's engineers have a lot of good ideas in the Solo II, but there's still a ways to go. The suspension mounting system should probably just be ditched entirely (personal preference) in favor of four drive sleds, and the case desperately needs intake fans. This is a very quiet case with excellent soundproofing, but adding intakes might actually improve acoustic performance under load as the processor's fan will have much less work to do. I'd also like to see just a little more room behind the motherboard tray. Finally, that pricetag really needs to go down. $129 is unreasonable for what you get when other vendors are willing to give you more for less.
I'm a huge Antec fan—always have been, always will be. The Solo II is definitely a much stronger step forward compared to the middling Sonata IV, and their engineers seem to be on the right track. But the enclosure market is extremely competitive these days, and this design still has a ways to go before it can earn a full-blooded recommendation. If you're interested in silence above all else, it doesn't get much quieter than the Solo II, but I'm not sure it's worth the costs.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
59 Comments
View All Comments
lwatcdr - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - link
Which is funny because from SPCR "Our biggest concern is not physical, but fiscal — the Solo II's MSRP price of US$129 is substantially more than its competitors which offer more drive support, fans, and features."In other words that sight that you feel does a better job found the same thing.
CloudFire - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
I can't really seem to get excited over any of Antec's cases lately, I've had a 900 years ago before they had much competition on the market. I don't see how this can compete with the Corsair Carbide 500R at the same MSRP, or even the 400R at the 99$ mark. Not to mention the NZXT Phantom w/same MSRP which provides much more room, fan controller, aesthetics (personal preference of course), and impeccable cable management options. 129$ seems way too expensive for a case like this imo.earthrace57 - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
I kind of think Antec is eating its own lunch with this case. The P183 or even P193 are similarly priced, but you get much better performance with similar acoustics.zero2dash - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Try to get an R3 for review so people can see what a real $100 case can give you; silence AND cooling with better internal cable management and better general configuration. I'd put my Arctic White R3 up there with the higher end Lian Li's I've owned (including the V1000 BW Plus II) as the nicest case out there.I love my Three Hundred but I can't even consider or recommend anything Antec does for $100+ when there are Lian Li's and several Fractal Designs (including the R3) at the same price point. Antec is the case to beat at sub-$100 (the Three Hundred), but as for $100+, no thanks.
int9 - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Can't be repeated enough. Define Mini would be another interesting choice... mid-tower cases are feeling quite boring these days IMO.Samus - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
wow, this is a complete copy of the Silverstone FT02. damn Antec, three years late, and you didn't even consider a larger, single intake fan?i don't get it, at $129, its priced between something equivilent in quietness and cooling, and something that is exceptionally higher quality. i think most people are going to pick a sub-$100 case that is basically an equal to this, or a $200 case that is everything this isn't.
Exodite - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Does the USB 3.0 front panel connector use the standardized motherboard header or rely on external connectors, like Lian-Li uses?The first would be much preferable.
Anwyay, some points off the top of my head.
* The top vent means that I could actually use this case with my fanless PSU, since it has to be mounted with vents upward for convection to work.
* Space for longer graphics cards is appreciated.
* While I enjoy the suspension mount system in theory the reality is that the bands dry up and wear out very quickly and the noise suppression characteristic is negligible beyond what the silicone grommet mount already allows.
* I'd rather see just the two USB 3.0 ports on the front panel and replace the two 2.0 ones with powered eSATA and/or a card reader.
* Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the use of the same power and reset key as the original invalidates every improvement made to the chassis. You'd be using a pen to rummage around inside the front panel to start and reset your computer in a couple of months anyway.
Malih - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
it's a bit frustrating that from the latest case reviews there's not a single Coolermaster case, I'm curious whether they send any case for review.Anyways, thank you for this review, After reading the review I finally figured the type of case that I'm going to buy for my upcoming build: something silent, although not necessarily the Sonata.
I'm gonna have to look through other reviews for best silent cases.
Dustin Sklavos - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Unfortunately they don't. I've been trying to get one of the HAF enclosures in, but no luck. I'll keep pressing them, but I have to wonder if they were unhappy about my review of the Storm Enforcer.FH123 - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
As the happy owner of an Antec Solo, I'm dubious about this update, mainly because they've shrunk the drive cage. I understand the need to accomodate longer graphics cards, but you pay a lot for that. I run a Core 2 Quad Q9650 and stock Radeon 5850 as a gaming and multimedia rig in my living room. Neither cooling nor the length of that graphics card is an issue with the original case. As someone else said, parts selection is probably important. I am able to run my system with a single Noctua fan at 900RPM (slower than the original), which is connected to a tower CPU heatsink via a rubber fan duct. There is no separate CPU fan, yet the CPU will run at stock speed, undervolted, and merely hit 55C under StressPrime. Alternatively stock voltage allows a moderate overclock from 3.0 to 3.6GHz and a top temperature of 68C under StressPrime, with the fan ramped to 1300RPM. The stock Radeon 5850 mostly vents out the back. Admittedly this is probably the limit of what the case will do with such limited airflow.I strongly disagree about the suspension mounting. Among the drives I've had were some Seagates that had a loud seek noise and Samsungs with a quieter seek noise, but a much higher rumble. The suspension mounting completely eliminates the rumble of the Samsungs and transforms them into the quietest drives I've had. The rubber grommets, while no doubt better than nothing, are unable to do this. The downside of the suspension mounting is that you shouldn't tilt the case while carrying. By the way, the suspension mounts in my case are made from elasticated fabric. I've owned it for 4 years. These do not dry up. I believe there were problems only with early Antec Solos, which had rubber bands instead.