Burson Conductor V2

I know some of Burson's past offerings were less than well received on this site but I figured this amp deserved its own thread anyways in case someone has had a chance to hear the new V2 version.

The only published review I could find is in French in case anyone here speaks that: https://issuu.com/pierre-stemmelin/docs/guide_casques_2017/88

The V2+ version has a ESS9018 so we can go ahead and ignore that.

 

Hello,

Just purchased a V2 few days ago and from my "domestic" RMAA and ARTA tests I got the below results:

Frequency response (20-200000 Hz): +0.09, -0.01 dB
Channel imbalance: ~0.1 dB
THD: 0.007%
Noise (A-weighted): -100 dB
Dynamic range: 100 dB
IMD + noise (A-weighted): 0.006%
Crosstalk (left/right) @ 100 Hz: -85.3/-95.3 dB
Crosstalk (left/right) @ 1 KHz: -88.8/-88.1 dB
Crosstalk (left/right) @ 10 KHz: -69.0/-68.3 dB
Mains hum: lower than -106 dB (50 Hz, 150 Hz, 250 Hz and 300 Hz are the only ones visible, but all are inaudible)

Unfortunately I can't upload any pics here and I'm not willing to use Imgur and last pics I've used from my Google Drive and Google Image account couldn't be seen by some fox, so...I'm providing only text-based results for now.

For a 2 x 8.2 Watts (11.5 V RMS/ch.) headamp with two shielded toroidal transformers inside (one for analog and the other one for digital) I find the above figures as being very good.

Also, for a pure Class-A headamp the temps after >4h of continuous operation with HE-560 planars were not exceeding 30C on top (~22C room temp.). The low operating temperature is due to the 7 Kg weight, most of this mass being the aluminum base and case (6mm thickness).

Worth mentioning there are no opamps inside, all discrete in there, and no caps in signal path. Also, power regulators are 2 x IRF610 MOSFET's that are taking care of the 2 x 24VAC coming from one transformer. Ripple is settled down with 4 x 8200/35V ELNA caps.

 

I bought a V+ and only put a couple of days on it, and now I'm gonna eBay it. It was just underwhelming, at least to me. Its large and I didn't want to commit the space to it on my desk. Now that I'm a Gungnir Multibit user its even further down my list of keepers......

 

It's big, indeed, and it also has 7 Kg of aluminium, transformers and components inside. I kinda like its weight and size, although on pair with its output power too.

Too bad you're selling it because it's oversized. Have you tried placing your Gungnir above the V+? Or will it look like an airplane, Gungnir having it's width longer?

 

I bought the Gungnir Multibit after it, and the Gungnir Multibit is my everyday rig. The V+ hasn't been taken out of its box for at least six months, and for me its simply time to move on. I do like the idea of an airplane......

 

The product page boasts:

"The entire circuitry has been redesigned based on our new V6 SS opamp which is the best sounding audio opamp in the world."

I'm confused.

 

I had one not that long ago. The V2 model, without the optional DAC. I used it with Hifiman Sundaras and AKG K702's alongside with Genelec 8030b active monitors. Source was either a Modi MB (older gen) or an Yggdrasil A2.

Mildly warmish sound. OK dynamics all-around. Sometimes I got a sensation it might add a tad of graininess into the mix ( especially when using it as a preamp ), but this extra ingredent was not introduced in alarming quantities. Bass reproduction was solid with some heft. I think the Conductor V2 was more balanced frequency balance wise than say, a Jotunheim. Maybe slightly more transparent too. Darker overall balance and maybe a tiny bit of warmth without Jotunheim's treble glare.

However, compared against an SPL Phonitor 2 it was clearly inferior in almost every way. For such a small price difference I wouldn't hesitate to skip this and choose the SPL.

 

SS states from Solid-State, this is not an opamp, there're 2 small PCBs inside with SMD components: apparently perfectly matched transistors and 1% tolerance resistors. I actually like these V6 a lot when used in voltage-gain stage, but their moderate to high output DC (could get up to +/-10mV when cold, but getting lower when warm enough after few minutes from power-on) might not make them suitable for DAC output buffers unless there's DC-servo or output caps.

However, for the external Input sources there are couple of opamps in the signal path: the ones from inside the PGA2310; the digital volume chip has a couple of opamps inside to adjust the gain. From -95.5dB up to 0dB I can't hear any additional noise increasing (with 8-Ohms IEMs there's a constant and very small amount of hiss, but totally not disturbing), but going higher than 0dB makes some noise coming out of my IEM's; tested with >100dB sensitive 8-Ohms IEM's, inputs shorted. Though, not sure how relevant this "IEM's test" would be, given the fact that nobody should actually listed to 100mW IEM's connected to a 9W amplifier (that's the max. power I got out of V2 while connected to my 8-Ohms Pioneer speakers, just before starting to clip on my scope).

For RMAA I used resistive divider and 5V RMS headphones-out. Besides it's 3rd harmonic @ around -86dB which I'm not quite in love with, everything else seems about perfect (below -90dB with 0dB input). On my scope even the square-waves were about perfect up to 40-50KHz (at least at 20KHz phase-shift is barely invisible when zooming-in and at 20Hz phase-shift is non-existent, given the fact that V2 is DC-coupled.

 

Yeah, I've seen some of the opamp jerking-off. I ended up with an unfairly terrible stereotype of the Burson owner as a result.