Today I received the new version of the Burson Discrete Opamp. You see in the pictures that they are actually smaller now, two boards sandwiched together without the use of the connecting board.

I was nervous the originals would not fit in my sound card because of how close it was to the bottom of the case. No need to worry now; it worked out great.

Installation was a snap and I am using it right now. The sound stage has greatly improved - occasionally now when there is a loud passage in music I actually 'jump' because it sounds as if something just happened in my house (cats up to no good) but it's just the music!

I tested it out with some Boards of Canada and some Yes... in the queue is Steely Dan, Genesis, Talking Heads and James Taylor (All FLAC).

I must say it does sound better than any IC opamp I have tried although I admit I have not tried as many (5 or so) as some of you enthusiasts!

This one is definitely a keeper. I look forward to A/Bing this Auzentech Prelude X-Fi w/ Burson Discrete v2 against an Audio-gd Compass w/ Sun v2 opamp when it arrives!

I will be using the other one in my pimped out Kenwood KT-8300 Tuner.



Regards,
Rob

ahhhh, you beat me to it

I wanted to do it on a Prodigy HD2, until I realized that the headphones output had soldered on-board op-amps

also lot of ppl say that Burson is buying from a chinese website, and makes crazy mark-ups

anyway, looking good!

Nice! Looks like a great upgrade to a Prelude.

Looking forward to more impressions, especially when the Compass w/ HDAM comes in.

The Bursons do cost a heap more than their Audio-gd HDAM counterparts, don't they? (that is a question....I know how much audio-gd's cost, just not sure about Burson's)

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That is correct, the Burson's cost about 2x as much after shipping.

I don't expect the Audio-gd's Sun v2 to sound half as good, though. I suspect they are a better value for the dollar.

Thanks for your impressions, there isn't much info on these forums about discrete opamps on high end soundcards. Looking forward to more test results.

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Looks like they just put the boards on the inside. Why do you think the Audio-gd won't sound as good?

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Nice shot, man!

That's nice.

I had ordered one of the older Burson OPAMPs for my (now gone) Paradisea DAC ... then I got a Havana DAC, which uses no OPAMPS and so had to send the Burson back ...

You'll need to give them 350 hours or so use before comparing them, as the sound changes dramatically in that period. The Burson is equivalent to the Audio-gd Earth, so there will be clear differences between it and the Sun.

About six months ago I put an audio-gd moon in a prelude with very positive results. I was hoping to get the sound I had with the bypass mod without the huge decrease in volume. What I got was a sound that (after about 300 hours of burn in) was better than the bypass mod. I was very pleased with the results.

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I would like to know the answer to this as well, seeing that audio-gd was the oem manufacturer of the first generation burson opamps(which is the same as the audio-gd earth). I'm not sure about their current generation opamps though.

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Yes, of course. It does not change at all. If you want to spice up your HDAM, replace the cap upgrade for something different, while the Evox caps are quite good.
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Sure there will be, especially that the OP is going to compare different devices with different OPA used. I'd suggest plugging the Sun v.2 in place of the Burson v.2 instead. Such a comparison is more informative.

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Perhaps you misread my comment. I was saying that while the Audio-gd is half as expensive, I doubt the Audio-gd will only sound half as good; meaning, I bet the Audio-gd will sound as good if not better and be a better "bang for the buck".

Rob

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Burson claims to "burn" them in before mailing them out. Why would they need to be "burned in" again?

What physically happens during "burn in" and why is it just hi-fi audio components that seem to be discussed in this context?

Does my LCD TV need to "burn in" before the picture looks it's best? Does my microwave oven have to "burn in" before it cooks my food with the most efficiency?

Help me understand or point me towards a thread that details the quantitative analysis of the physical changes resulting from "burn in" other than the listenter's short term memory filling up with only the sound of the new component.

I am not trying to be a jackass, I seriously want to learn about this. It is talked about sooo much but nobody has really referenced any type of literature or study other than personal experience.

Regards,
Rob

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You are right; I should try that out!

Unfortunately the only way I was able to get the other Burson in my Kenwood KT-8300 tuner was to solder it in, so I will need to swap the Sun v2 with the one in the sound card.

That will be interesting. I do have an oscilloscope and signal generators. I wonder if I could research some tests to run on the two to get some definitive answers of their differences in tonal quality.

@xoapphexox, better don't start another "burn in" discussion. Read my posts in the "Compass" thread about it. When some people don't understand what I wrote there, they will never understand there is nothing to burn in in the HDAMs. I explained what makes you hear the same voices slightly different depending on... everything. Some people admitted I was right but they did it sending me a PM. I understand that discussion with some people at some point stops making sense so I'm just thankful for the PM's and don't interrupt silicone burn in believers until the next time b/s flood reaches emergency level.