adydula
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2010
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I have had the Burson Audio FUN amp in house for a few months now. It has been my go-to headphone amp for this time. I do have several other very good headphone amps like the Bottlehead Crack with Speedball and Bottlehead Mainline. I also have a Schitt Vahalla2 amp and several DIY SS versions.
The FUN came with a NE 5534D pair of op amps which when first heard in the FUN really impressed me that a $299 headphone amp could work as well as it did. Several weeks of the FUN told me this amp was indeed a very well designed headphone amp and I did a review posted on this site elsewhere.
The really neat thing about this amp is that Burson actively promotes the FUN as an amp to open up and remove and replace the op amps with several others based on your requirements and listening desires. They even provide you with the Allen wrench to open the FUN up! The circuitry has been designed to help protect the amp internals from incorrectly inserting op amps. What a neat thing, when many other vendors void the warranty if you open up their product.
So I decided to try several op amps to see how they might change the sound presentation. Burson kindly provided a pair of V6 Classics for auditioning and evaluation. I purchased a set of Sparkos SS3601's as well. After a few weeks of swapping these out I was very curious to hear Bursons other V6 op amp the “Vivid”. Once again Burson was kind enough to send me a pair of these to review.
So I will start by telling you I use FLAC files from a modern Window 10 PC with Jriver Music Player and Foobar 2000. I connect the PC via USB cable to a Schitt BIFROST Multibit DAC then via RCA cables to the various amps under test or use. The USB cable is the one Schitt sells and the RCA's are from Blue Jeans cables.
I have many “demo” quality recordings that several retail speaker vendors use for demo'ing their products. My gold standards for listening and comparing equipment with. I listened to Eva Cassidy, Joe Satrini, Dire Straits, Donald Fagan, Spyrogyra,Tom Petty, Norah Jones, Aimee Mann. Suzanne Vega, Beatles, Rollings tones, Eagles.
First up are the stock 5534d's:
When I first turned on the FUN with these op amps I was impressed at how well they worked. Very open and spacious. I listened to these with the same music I always do when comparing equipment, headphones, speakers, dacs etc....so I know these recordings like the back of my hand!! :>)
First impression is wow things sound clear and articulate, bass was tight, snappy and no boomy. Voices were neutral and sounded lifelike. Sound stage was good. Tonality was ok.
Second up are the Burson V6 Classics:
(I reviewed these awhile back.)
The FUN came to me with 5534D's which I mention in my first review above. They really worked very well for me across all my music source's. I have tried several other op amps as well. All worked, and all had their little differences, and I could live with most any of them so far. But when I plugged in these V6 Classics I noticed a few things that were abit different....
First of all the soundstage and its uncanny three dimensional characteristic....was better...live songs had a depth to the soundstage that was better than the stock op amps and a few others. This is the most important trait that comes to the forefront for me, with the tonality of instruments coming in a close second.
I have not heard the Burson Vivids which should have more transparency, details and soundstage. But the Classics have this as well....guess I would have to have a set of these to really compare. Compared to the stock op amps these are indeed better and the winner hands down. But the V6 Classics are right up there, world class IMO.
Some of my older Joni Mitchell CD's are brutally recorded IMO...harsh at times. thin sounding etc...but with this amp and the Classics WOW! They are a joy to listen to, right now I am listening to her BLUE cd and "California"....what transparency...overtones, tonality so nice, a wonderful depth to the presentation...much nicer than the stock op amps. Note: I am using a set of HD 600's right now...300 ohm impedance, a great pairing with this FUN amp with the Classics.
Third up are the Sparkos SS3601's:
The first thing with these Sparkos was an instant improved clarity and crispness, like someone turned up the treble control just a bit. It was like a veil was removed slightly and things were just more analytical IMO. With my Beyerdynamics T1's these op amps made them sound better mostly from the increase in treble to me...with the stock and classics the T1's were not as sharp or articulate sounding.
I preferred the sound of these over the stock and Classics with the Beyer headphones. Soundstage was as good as with the Classics to me.
Fourth up are the Burson V6 Vivids:
These arrived a week ago, and I plugged them in and immediately noticed these were indeed different than the classics. I didnt think that the Sparkos would be topped or bested by these according to several other reviewers comments. Using the Senn 600's I was shocked that these V6 Vivids were so good.
Everything I listened to was “different” in a good way. A clarity and spaciousness. Wide three dimensional soundstage. Excellent tonality. Drums with solid tight “whacks”...these opened up the recordings to a new dimensions for me....I plugged back in all the other op amps and kept coming back to the Vivids as my cup of tea. I could easliy live with these. I could not say that for the others.
An uncanny sound that opens up and a depth that to me is just nicer than the others. Micro details come thru very well...your in the room with live studio recordings. Even with some modern compressed stuff these work well to expose their short comings...and for those recordings I stick back in the classics!
Low volumes sound nice...as well as medium volumes. When switching to the Beyers T90 and T1 the presentation is much more likeable to me due to that extra punch in the treble area. When cranking up the volume to the limits of safe listening the sound magically jumps out of the headphones and becomes very lifelike...gosh the drums, high hats sound so great...
The Soundstage is “punchy” and forward and listening to Norah Jones, she is there in you head, very uncanny but really intimate and nice. This makes well recorded vocals sound very real and lifelike.
Conclusion:
After having these various op amps for several weeks and hundreds of hours of listening either one of them will provide you with many hours of great listening...but if your an audio nut like I am and want things to be as good as they can be well then you need to look at what your music / recordings are. How good are they put together, what headphones do you use and like? Then pair up with one of these choices.
The majority if my listening is done with the HD6XX series. IF I had to choose one op amp with the FUN it would be hands down the V6 Vivids. After going back and forth for hours now I find myself listening to the music and stop wondering if the other op amps would sound better etc.
Having Beyerdynamics and Senns...the V6 Vivids work well with both as some of the others do not.
If I only used “hot” headphones like Grados the Classics would be my choice. But I dont have these anymore. The Sparkos will give you a close second IMO wth both of these types of headphones IMO.
This Audio FUN amp with a set of V6 Vivids could very easily be the end game for many of us, but that wouldn't be any FUN would it ?
Thanks to Burson Audio for providing the FUN and op amps for test and evaluation. They have been marvelous to work with!
Alex
The FUN came with a NE 5534D pair of op amps which when first heard in the FUN really impressed me that a $299 headphone amp could work as well as it did. Several weeks of the FUN told me this amp was indeed a very well designed headphone amp and I did a review posted on this site elsewhere.
The really neat thing about this amp is that Burson actively promotes the FUN as an amp to open up and remove and replace the op amps with several others based on your requirements and listening desires. They even provide you with the Allen wrench to open the FUN up! The circuitry has been designed to help protect the amp internals from incorrectly inserting op amps. What a neat thing, when many other vendors void the warranty if you open up their product.
So I decided to try several op amps to see how they might change the sound presentation. Burson kindly provided a pair of V6 Classics for auditioning and evaluation. I purchased a set of Sparkos SS3601's as well. After a few weeks of swapping these out I was very curious to hear Bursons other V6 op amp the “Vivid”. Once again Burson was kind enough to send me a pair of these to review.
So I will start by telling you I use FLAC files from a modern Window 10 PC with Jriver Music Player and Foobar 2000. I connect the PC via USB cable to a Schitt BIFROST Multibit DAC then via RCA cables to the various amps under test or use. The USB cable is the one Schitt sells and the RCA's are from Blue Jeans cables.
I have many “demo” quality recordings that several retail speaker vendors use for demo'ing their products. My gold standards for listening and comparing equipment with. I listened to Eva Cassidy, Joe Satrini, Dire Straits, Donald Fagan, Spyrogyra,Tom Petty, Norah Jones, Aimee Mann. Suzanne Vega, Beatles, Rollings tones, Eagles.
First up are the stock 5534d's:
When I first turned on the FUN with these op amps I was impressed at how well they worked. Very open and spacious. I listened to these with the same music I always do when comparing equipment, headphones, speakers, dacs etc....so I know these recordings like the back of my hand!! :>)
First impression is wow things sound clear and articulate, bass was tight, snappy and no boomy. Voices were neutral and sounded lifelike. Sound stage was good. Tonality was ok.
Second up are the Burson V6 Classics:
(I reviewed these awhile back.)
The FUN came to me with 5534D's which I mention in my first review above. They really worked very well for me across all my music source's. I have tried several other op amps as well. All worked, and all had their little differences, and I could live with most any of them so far. But when I plugged in these V6 Classics I noticed a few things that were abit different....
First of all the soundstage and its uncanny three dimensional characteristic....was better...live songs had a depth to the soundstage that was better than the stock op amps and a few others. This is the most important trait that comes to the forefront for me, with the tonality of instruments coming in a close second.
I have not heard the Burson Vivids which should have more transparency, details and soundstage. But the Classics have this as well....guess I would have to have a set of these to really compare. Compared to the stock op amps these are indeed better and the winner hands down. But the V6 Classics are right up there, world class IMO.
Some of my older Joni Mitchell CD's are brutally recorded IMO...harsh at times. thin sounding etc...but with this amp and the Classics WOW! They are a joy to listen to, right now I am listening to her BLUE cd and "California"....what transparency...overtones, tonality so nice, a wonderful depth to the presentation...much nicer than the stock op amps. Note: I am using a set of HD 600's right now...300 ohm impedance, a great pairing with this FUN amp with the Classics.
Third up are the Sparkos SS3601's:
The first thing with these Sparkos was an instant improved clarity and crispness, like someone turned up the treble control just a bit. It was like a veil was removed slightly and things were just more analytical IMO. With my Beyerdynamics T1's these op amps made them sound better mostly from the increase in treble to me...with the stock and classics the T1's were not as sharp or articulate sounding.
I preferred the sound of these over the stock and Classics with the Beyer headphones. Soundstage was as good as with the Classics to me.
Fourth up are the Burson V6 Vivids:
These arrived a week ago, and I plugged them in and immediately noticed these were indeed different than the classics. I didnt think that the Sparkos would be topped or bested by these according to several other reviewers comments. Using the Senn 600's I was shocked that these V6 Vivids were so good.
Everything I listened to was “different” in a good way. A clarity and spaciousness. Wide three dimensional soundstage. Excellent tonality. Drums with solid tight “whacks”...these opened up the recordings to a new dimensions for me....I plugged back in all the other op amps and kept coming back to the Vivids as my cup of tea. I could easliy live with these. I could not say that for the others.
An uncanny sound that opens up and a depth that to me is just nicer than the others. Micro details come thru very well...your in the room with live studio recordings. Even with some modern compressed stuff these work well to expose their short comings...and for those recordings I stick back in the classics!
Low volumes sound nice...as well as medium volumes. When switching to the Beyers T90 and T1 the presentation is much more likeable to me due to that extra punch in the treble area. When cranking up the volume to the limits of safe listening the sound magically jumps out of the headphones and becomes very lifelike...gosh the drums, high hats sound so great...
The Soundstage is “punchy” and forward and listening to Norah Jones, she is there in you head, very uncanny but really intimate and nice. This makes well recorded vocals sound very real and lifelike.
Conclusion:
After having these various op amps for several weeks and hundreds of hours of listening either one of them will provide you with many hours of great listening...but if your an audio nut like I am and want things to be as good as they can be well then you need to look at what your music / recordings are. How good are they put together, what headphones do you use and like? Then pair up with one of these choices.
The majority if my listening is done with the HD6XX series. IF I had to choose one op amp with the FUN it would be hands down the V6 Vivids. After going back and forth for hours now I find myself listening to the music and stop wondering if the other op amps would sound better etc.
Having Beyerdynamics and Senns...the V6 Vivids work well with both as some of the others do not.
If I only used “hot” headphones like Grados the Classics would be my choice. But I dont have these anymore. The Sparkos will give you a close second IMO wth both of these types of headphones IMO.
This Audio FUN amp with a set of V6 Vivids could very easily be the end game for many of us, but that wouldn't be any FUN would it ?
Thanks to Burson Audio for providing the FUN and op amps for test and evaluation. They have been marvelous to work with!
Alex
