Setup
Contents
We audition to the Burson Conductor V3 in combination with the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge which we use as a Roon endpoint. We connect this with Burson RCA-interlinks to the analog input of the Conductor. Digitally, we use the coaxial connection. We test the DAC by connecting our iMac 27″ with a USB-C cable to the Conductor.
As far as headphones are concerned, we have a real candy store at our disposal. Besides the permanent collection such as the Hifiman Sundara, the Oppo PM3, the Sennheiser HD410SL we have the flagship of Japanese headphone brand final, the D8000 Pro Edition. And the new Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Flow closed back planar. During the review period we will connect the preamplifier to a number of active speakers in the control room of the studio in Leiden: HEDD, Genelec, Dynaudio.
Listen
The maximum output power of the Burson Conductor V3 is as much as 7.5W at 16 Ohms, enough to satisfy even the most power-hungry headphones. This Burson review sample was sent together with the final D8000 Pro Edition (€ 4.000) and the Dan Clark AEON 2 (€ 999) Flow so we don’t mind at all to start with these nice cans. Fire up ROON and play!
The first impression: Wowwww!
This Burson has a firm grip on both headphones; striking how the amplifier makes both headphones sound musical and also maintains their characteristic. Because they are different ‘cans’ both in price and in sound signature. When we connect final D8000 Pro Edition and the Dan Clark to the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge, the difference is striking. The Mytek is a very neutral headphone amplifier that we use – just like the Sennheiser HDVD800 – because there is hardly coloration and therefore demonstrate where a headphone is and is not good at.
The Mytek and Sennheiser are fine as a test instrument but now that we have the Burson next door we don’t want to test at all; we want to enjoy the Conductor V3 which literally makes the headphones sing, as befits a good conductor. The impact of the Conductor V3 on the other tested headphones differs from can to can. We mention the highlights,
We’ve never heard the Oppo PM3 sound so beautifully balanced, full, musical and spatial. The Sennheiser HD410SL is one of the most difficult to drive headphones; an impedance of no less than 300 Ohm, open back design. Again, the Burson Conductor V3 is very much in control; these headphones that we have for many years in the collection, sound open, detailed, dynamic and full. And we can go on like this for a while. The nice thing is that headphones that don’t really need an amplifier will also sound better. For example, the Meze 99 Classic which already plays the stars from heaven when connected to a mobile phone. This one, too, gets more dynamic, but controlled.
Bluetooth
The antenna on the back of the Conductor V3 looks like a WiFi receiver, but it is bluetooth. Bluetooth on a high end device? Yes, ma’am. Since version 5 is released, it is possible to transport audio in higher bitrates over bluetooth. We set the Conductor V3 to ‘bluetooth’; the Burson is immediately visible in the selection menu of our mobile phone. Connect and play. Yes, compared to a wired connection (USB-DAC) the bluetooth connection is less in terms of soundstage and dynamics. But heck, this sounds fantastic! We expect that the use of Bluetooth will mainly be used when a music track has to be listened to another device, for example if it is on a phone or laptop. With Bluetooth you can then quickly connect and listen.
DAC
Two Sabre ESS Sabre 9038 DAC chips provide the digital to analog conversion and this chip comes with several digital filters. For those who want to read more about this we refer to this extensive description. With this DAC you can play file formats (and sizes!) up to DSD 512 and 38 bits / 786 khz. The DAC does an excellent job, has an excellent power supply, good clocking and the like. In any case, we hear little difference between the DAC and when streaming via ROON and the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge via the analog input, which has the same DAC brand inside.
Pre-amp
The preamplifier function is impressive as well; actually more or less the same story as the headphone amplifier. We hear more dynamics, punch in the layer, a bigger soundstage. Musical is a word that comes up, but what exactly is musical? When I took my first steps on the audio path a long time ago, I heard a CD player in the hifi store. It exposed the errors in the recording. I ended up choosing a player where I could enjoy the music and was not distracted by the mistakes. The first CD player was called analytical versus musical. In the studio it is important to have an analytical, uncoloured reproduction of the music. Here speakers, amplifier and control panels are instruments that should provide reliable information about the mix. In the living room or listening room, things are different; there we want to hear music and get carried away in the performance. And in the latter the Burson Conductor V3 is very good. Sometimes the line level sent out is so powerful that we have to be careful with the volume we to the power amplifier or active speakers. Maybe the balanced version, the Conductor V3X, offers more control on this point.