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help me choose an amp

post #1 of 12
2/11/11 at 4:29pm
Thread Starter 

just bought a burson ha-160d and realized fairly quickly that its not for me as i find it bright, harsh and fatiguing. thus, i now need a new amp, preferably tubed and something noted for being "laid-back." i will be using the amp with hd650 and akg k702. want to spend somewhere in the vicinity of 1K. used ok. 

 

i like the looks of the woo but it pisses me off that they charge extra for cap upgrades. nonetheless, if the overwhelming response is to go with a woo then i'll do it. also i dont want anything from pacific valve or audio-gd. 

 

thanks in advance.

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post #2 of 12
2/11/11 at 4:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by styler View Post

i dont want anything from pacific valve or audio-gd. 

 

 



curious as to why, i'm really enjoying my DAC19MK-3 and C2 SA with the 650s,

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post #3 of 12
2/11/11 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 

i dont care for their aesthetics. i'm sure they are decent and generally get good reviews but i just dont like the way they look. plus i find the selection of audio-gd totally confusing.

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post #4 of 12
2/11/11 at 5:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by styler View Post

i dont care for their aesthetics. i'm sure they are decent and generally get good reviews but i just dont like the way they look. plus i find the selection of audio-gd totally confusing.


their selection is totally confusing, constantly changing- very hard to follow. i do like their products though wink_face.gif

 

should the ha160d cool down with burn in?

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post #5 of 12
2/11/11 at 5:18pm
Thread Starter 

supposedly it will mellow a bit but it really gets to me. i have a hard time with certain high frequencies and for whatever reason i have an aversion to it. ive been accused of liking really flat music and it might be a manifestation of that. i respect others views that laud the burson's sound but it just happens to be one of those components that i nearly instantly developed a strong dislike for. i literally clench my jaws as i listen to it... strange, especially since some have described it as tube-like. ive had it on for 4+ days and i dont get any sense that its mellowing.

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post #6 of 12
2/11/11 at 5:26pm

that sucks, i almost bought one. i'm not a big fan of a bright sound signature, i too like it laid back

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post #7 of 12
2/11/11 at 6:27pm

Styler:

Sorry to hear you had such a disappointment. I'm curious, as I own a similar headphone pair: The  AKG K701 and the  Senn HD 580 (older than your model but similar). I find them to have very different tonal balances. Did the Burson at least sound a bit better on your Sennheiser? Good luck. 

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post #8 of 12
2/11/11 at 6:32pm
Thread Starter 

with both phones i felt it was too bright. i didnt think it sounded better with one or the other phones. i found it harsh on both. to be clear, my experience with this amp is not echoed by most other owners - this is likely an entirely personal preference issue. by most accounts the burson is a great amp/dac, just not the one for my tastes.

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post #9 of 12
2/11/11 at 8:25pm

The Bursons have been broken in?  New amplifier (i.e. New capacitors) require around 50 hrs or so for it to sounds nice.  Maybe the bright sounds might be due to your source and/or Headphones ?  It took a long time for me to get AKG K701S to sound nice and deep.   

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post #10 of 12
2/11/11 at 8:29pm
Thread Starter 

ive been playing the burson for 100h continuous and i dont think its mellowed much. the headphones are broken in. i'm going to give it another 50 or so hours but i just dont see this amp changing enough for me to keep it. never know tho, i might be surprised by monday. like i said, i dont think its a bad piece of equipment so much as i really prefer flat and laid back sound.

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post #11 of 12
2/11/11 at 8:32pm

The Burson looks like a really Nice amp/DAC.  Maybe you should email them to see if something is not adjusted right, like Bias and DC offset.  

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post #12 of 12
2/12/11 at 5:03pm

Well, From the pictures that i can see on the inernet.  The Burson HA160D seems to use a lot of Wima capacitors, along with other nice Nichichon caps.  I just know that when i recapped my kenwood Ka 907 with Wima, Vishay, and Nichicon caps.  The amp was really bright.  It took forever ( 3-4 weeks, around 7 hrs a day) for the sounds to open up, and mellow out.  Before the recapped, the amp sounded flat, bass was deep, and sound stage was nice.  So maybe 40-50hrs might help.  Good luck. 

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