I have now been playing around with this amplifier for two months and will share some of my impressions with it.
Burson is a company from Melbourne, Australia and I had heard of them for their DIY opamp replacements. I'm a regular reader of the 6moons web site where the HA-160 was reviewed by Srajan Ebaen in January. I have a very positive experience with the reviews from 6moons and they have had a great influence on both my John Blue JB3, Trends TA-10.1 and KingRex purchases.
And what a review! I have been using a set of AKG K-501 since '97 and I'm addicted to the AKG sound - they do sound natural to my ears. I had a pair of Sennheiser HD-650 with Zu cable and Corda Headamp-1 MkII for a year, but the sound was not "me", it was sold.
Living with the 501 for that long period of time, the want-something-new feeling was sneaking, and then the natural upgrade was... 701 or 702. Then we are back to the review; "The AKG K-702s initially struck me similarly, then turned out far more enjoyable than expected and flat-out impressive". Time for action. A pair of 702 are ordered from amazon.com. Is it really that easy? You got the headphones, there are a zillion amps out there and then you stumble across this. I know the AKGs need power - a lot of power, yes you do get sound even from the headphone output on the laptop, but its not more than muzak.
Then, my hifi pusher contacts me, Hey man! you need to try this! Shipping is arranged and some days later a box arrived at the post office. After too many photo unboxing sessions it was time to try out video Burson HA-160 on Vimeo
Paper and plastic removed, a heavy-duty aluminium case is revealed. 4.5 kg, superb finish - even my wife did not say a word when I placed it on top of the cabinet where my other stuff is hidden inside. WAF approved! And I love that stepped attenuator, click-click-click, I'm using the same construction in my DIY (kit) preamp. High quality power and input connection on the back. The feet have some foam material that gives the amp a close connection with surface. You can plug and unplug phones and it will not slide away. There is also a discreet, small, blue led on the front indicating power. There are two 6.3 mm stereo input jacks on the front. From the manual the one on the left is for headphones in the range 15-150 ohms. On the right for 150-500 ohms. AKG K501 is rated at 120 ohms and K702 62 ohms.
What was the usage for this box? Headphones? Lets do size comparison..
Trends TA-10.1 vs Burson HA-160
*grin*
So how is the sound? As big as its appearance?
To get any burn-in questions out of the way I had the amp running 24/7 for two weeks with the XLO-RR Test & Burn-In CD [RX-1000].
First of all. My primary usage for headphones are to being able to listen to music without the rooms addition. A room adds reflections to sound, this reflected second order sound will arrive a bit later than the direct sound from the speaker and it will introduce interference and distortion. They are also better to reveal all the details on the record. At work they function as a do not disturb sign
Second. My current setup starts with a Squeezebox Duet, this feeds a Benchmark DAC1 using a coax cable (Nordost Optix). Then the signals goes to a CIAudio VPC-3 passive pre and from the fixed output to the HA-160. All my records are ripped using Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and then compressed with flac. Squeezeboxes are great when you got multiple setups around in the house and want the record collection available everywhere. Another view of this:
I have seen some reports with ground loop problems where the source is a computer. Here its dead quiet - and that is with power on
. There is no trafo noise and no vibrations from the cabinet when connected to power. I leave mine on 24/7 and the box still remains cool.
Music
Lets disprove the saying that there is no bass in the 701/702. I was playing "Nature Boy" from Nils Landgrens Sentimental Journey
ACT Music + Vision
On this song there is a deep subsonic bass coming from the kick drum. You feel there are pressure changes. The first time I heard this song I thought somebody was trampling on the floor above me. The acoustic bass have a deep warm bottom with great detail on the attack on the strings. The piano flows on top of the rhythmic section and then the last layer of vocal on top. I love how this combo gives insight into the sound stage and you can pick out the instruments from each other.
Another "Nature Boy", Mike Mainieri - Northern Lights.
Amazon.com: Northern Lights: Mike Mainieri: Music
This is also influenced by Scandinavian musicians. Heavy deep down, more complex due to more instruments and still excellent control. On this record there is a mix of "normal" instruments, dj-dubs and samples. Vibraphone is not a simple task to reproduce - and yes - it do sound natural here.
I have to confess, I'm a bass addict. I have countless records of Marcus Miller, John Patitucci, Jaco Pastorius, Jeff Berlin, Brian Bromberg, Abraham Laboriel, Steve Swallow, Arild Andersen, NHØP, +++ I want control, insight and rhythmic performance, and Burson do deliver. There is a lot of power in this amp and it is really taking control over the headphones. Bloated, boomy bass is not welcome here.
In fact, with this setup I'm more into listening to the music than looking for errors in the amp/headphones. The music flows easily, micro and macro dynamics are fast and precise. The highs are airy, brass sound is crisp but it never bites. It reminds me of my SET amp, and I have to agree - this is Solid-state done right.
Burson is a company from Melbourne, Australia and I had heard of them for their DIY opamp replacements. I'm a regular reader of the 6moons web site where the HA-160 was reviewed by Srajan Ebaen in January. I have a very positive experience with the reviews from 6moons and they have had a great influence on both my John Blue JB3, Trends TA-10.1 and KingRex purchases.
And what a review! I have been using a set of AKG K-501 since '97 and I'm addicted to the AKG sound - they do sound natural to my ears. I had a pair of Sennheiser HD-650 with Zu cable and Corda Headamp-1 MkII for a year, but the sound was not "me", it was sold.
Living with the 501 for that long period of time, the want-something-new feeling was sneaking, and then the natural upgrade was... 701 or 702. Then we are back to the review; "The AKG K-702s initially struck me similarly, then turned out far more enjoyable than expected and flat-out impressive". Time for action. A pair of 702 are ordered from amazon.com. Is it really that easy? You got the headphones, there are a zillion amps out there and then you stumble across this. I know the AKGs need power - a lot of power, yes you do get sound even from the headphone output on the laptop, but its not more than muzak.
Then, my hifi pusher contacts me, Hey man! you need to try this! Shipping is arranged and some days later a box arrived at the post office. After too many photo unboxing sessions it was time to try out video Burson HA-160 on Vimeo
Paper and plastic removed, a heavy-duty aluminium case is revealed. 4.5 kg, superb finish - even my wife did not say a word when I placed it on top of the cabinet where my other stuff is hidden inside. WAF approved! And I love that stepped attenuator, click-click-click, I'm using the same construction in my DIY (kit) preamp. High quality power and input connection on the back. The feet have some foam material that gives the amp a close connection with surface. You can plug and unplug phones and it will not slide away. There is also a discreet, small, blue led on the front indicating power. There are two 6.3 mm stereo input jacks on the front. From the manual the one on the left is for headphones in the range 15-150 ohms. On the right for 150-500 ohms. AKG K501 is rated at 120 ohms and K702 62 ohms.
What was the usage for this box? Headphones? Lets do size comparison..
Trends TA-10.1 vs Burson HA-160
*grin*
So how is the sound? As big as its appearance?
To get any burn-in questions out of the way I had the amp running 24/7 for two weeks with the XLO-RR Test & Burn-In CD [RX-1000].
First of all. My primary usage for headphones are to being able to listen to music without the rooms addition. A room adds reflections to sound, this reflected second order sound will arrive a bit later than the direct sound from the speaker and it will introduce interference and distortion. They are also better to reveal all the details on the record. At work they function as a do not disturb sign
Second. My current setup starts with a Squeezebox Duet, this feeds a Benchmark DAC1 using a coax cable (Nordost Optix). Then the signals goes to a CIAudio VPC-3 passive pre and from the fixed output to the HA-160. All my records are ripped using Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and then compressed with flac. Squeezeboxes are great when you got multiple setups around in the house and want the record collection available everywhere. Another view of this:
I have seen some reports with ground loop problems where the source is a computer. Here its dead quiet - and that is with power on
. There is no trafo noise and no vibrations from the cabinet when connected to power. I leave mine on 24/7 and the box still remains cool.Music
Lets disprove the saying that there is no bass in the 701/702. I was playing "Nature Boy" from Nils Landgrens Sentimental Journey
ACT Music + Vision
On this song there is a deep subsonic bass coming from the kick drum. You feel there are pressure changes. The first time I heard this song I thought somebody was trampling on the floor above me. The acoustic bass have a deep warm bottom with great detail on the attack on the strings. The piano flows on top of the rhythmic section and then the last layer of vocal on top. I love how this combo gives insight into the sound stage and you can pick out the instruments from each other.
Another "Nature Boy", Mike Mainieri - Northern Lights.
Amazon.com: Northern Lights: Mike Mainieri: Music
This is also influenced by Scandinavian musicians. Heavy deep down, more complex due to more instruments and still excellent control. On this record there is a mix of "normal" instruments, dj-dubs and samples. Vibraphone is not a simple task to reproduce - and yes - it do sound natural here.
I have to confess, I'm a bass addict. I have countless records of Marcus Miller, John Patitucci, Jaco Pastorius, Jeff Berlin, Brian Bromberg, Abraham Laboriel, Steve Swallow, Arild Andersen, NHØP, +++ I want control, insight and rhythmic performance, and Burson do deliver. There is a lot of power in this amp and it is really taking control over the headphones. Bloated, boomy bass is not welcome here.
In fact, with this setup I'm more into listening to the music than looking for errors in the amp/headphones. The music flows easily, micro and macro dynamics are fast and precise. The highs are airy, brass sound is crisp but it never bites. It reminds me of my SET amp, and I have to agree - this is Solid-state done right.
