So after quite an adventure with Canada Post due to COVID19 and the closure of my office where I had these shipped, I managed to get my hands on my Burson V6 Vivid OpAmp set for my Soundblaster AE-9 (2x Single and 2x Dual). Full disclosure, these were provided free in return for an honest review.
So with the difficulty in getting things shipped into the country right now, my extension cables are nowhere to be found and I really don’t expect to see them anytime soon, so I’ve had to improvise a bit. With the spacing of the sockets on the AE-9 you really should use a pair of extenders for the Dual Op-Amps in the Op-Amp 2 position, what I’ve done is install both singles without the included risers and then doubled up the risers for both of the duals. That gave me enough room to give them a slight bend and everything fits. It ain’t pretty but it works.
My current setup is simply the Focal Clear plugged directly into the AE-9 direct via the ACM, even at stock I preferred it to the Liquid Carbon X/Topping D10 combo it replaced.
To get an idea of my tastes and experience, some of the other headphones I’ve owned and loved are the HD650, LCD2.1 and 2.2, HD800S, Andromeda S, IMR-R1, CA Jupiter. There’s been plenty of others but these are my favs.
I’ve been using the AE-9 with Burson V5i-D in the Op-Amp 2 sockets (I/V stage) since I got it, I swapped back to the stock NJM2114D and acclimated to that prior to installing the V6’s. I found that with the stock, everything was a bit duller than the V5i but not too different other than that.
I chose some songs that I have had plenty of listening time with recently and took some notes while listening:
Tidal Masters:
Dua Lipa – Don’t Start Now. I like this song for the clean punchy bass under the verses. With the V6 the bass had a more pronounced edge and sounded a bit crisper. The cowbell-ish sound in the choruses had a much more defined place in space.
Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer. The sense of space between the layers of instruments was greatly improved. Everything was there but individually pin-pointable (is that a word?).
Stone Temple Pilots – Kitchenware & Candybars. During the quiet intro the vocals are at a perfect level to the guitar and sound very balanced. The sense of dynamics are huge when the full band kicks in. The Cello in the last verse has a definite space and I can see where they are sitting in the studio.
Flac files:
Beck – Paper Tigers. Low key intro has perfect bass. The guitar licks are extremely crisp and defined.
Dr Dre – Still D.R.E. The keys take the stage here and push the vocals a bit back. Snoop’s voice is very holographic and Present while Dre’s hide a bit.
M83 – Walkway Blues. Bass is tight and well defined, the very busy chorus gets a bit more coherent.
Nine Inch Nails – Piggy. Zero bloat in the bass hits in the first verse. Great transition between the solid hit and the drawn out note with natural decay. The tambourine in the first chorus has way more air and once it goes wild with the drum break after the second chorus the soundstage is huge for the remainder.
Muddy Waters – Good Morning Little School Girl. This song can get too bright very quick but there is a restraint here that while the snare and vocals have edge they don’t get shrill. The guitar has a very metallic sheen to it that reminds me a bit of the sharp edge my old beat up Martin had due to poor fretwork. I’ve never noticed it before and I’ve listened to this song tons.
Thrice – The Weight. The vocals over the intro sound further away. Once it kicks, in the vocals have a perfect balance. The bass is tight and controlled. There’s a slight fuzz effect on the bass that I’ve not noticed before.
All in all, these are a noticeable upgrade to the stock AE-9 and also a level above the V5i. The biggest improvement for me has been in the soundstage/imaging department, the sense of space has improved and the location of instruments feels more defined.
So with the difficulty in getting things shipped into the country right now, my extension cables are nowhere to be found and I really don’t expect to see them anytime soon, so I’ve had to improvise a bit. With the spacing of the sockets on the AE-9 you really should use a pair of extenders for the Dual Op-Amps in the Op-Amp 2 position, what I’ve done is install both singles without the included risers and then doubled up the risers for both of the duals. That gave me enough room to give them a slight bend and everything fits. It ain’t pretty but it works.
My current setup is simply the Focal Clear plugged directly into the AE-9 direct via the ACM, even at stock I preferred it to the Liquid Carbon X/Topping D10 combo it replaced.
To get an idea of my tastes and experience, some of the other headphones I’ve owned and loved are the HD650, LCD2.1 and 2.2, HD800S, Andromeda S, IMR-R1, CA Jupiter. There’s been plenty of others but these are my favs.
I’ve been using the AE-9 with Burson V5i-D in the Op-Amp 2 sockets (I/V stage) since I got it, I swapped back to the stock NJM2114D and acclimated to that prior to installing the V6’s. I found that with the stock, everything was a bit duller than the V5i but not too different other than that.
I chose some songs that I have had plenty of listening time with recently and took some notes while listening:
Tidal Masters:
Dua Lipa – Don’t Start Now. I like this song for the clean punchy bass under the verses. With the V6 the bass had a more pronounced edge and sounded a bit crisper. The cowbell-ish sound in the choruses had a much more defined place in space.
Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer. The sense of space between the layers of instruments was greatly improved. Everything was there but individually pin-pointable (is that a word?).
Stone Temple Pilots – Kitchenware & Candybars. During the quiet intro the vocals are at a perfect level to the guitar and sound very balanced. The sense of dynamics are huge when the full band kicks in. The Cello in the last verse has a definite space and I can see where they are sitting in the studio.
Flac files:
Beck – Paper Tigers. Low key intro has perfect bass. The guitar licks are extremely crisp and defined.
Dr Dre – Still D.R.E. The keys take the stage here and push the vocals a bit back. Snoop’s voice is very holographic and Present while Dre’s hide a bit.
M83 – Walkway Blues. Bass is tight and well defined, the very busy chorus gets a bit more coherent.
Nine Inch Nails – Piggy. Zero bloat in the bass hits in the first verse. Great transition between the solid hit and the drawn out note with natural decay. The tambourine in the first chorus has way more air and once it goes wild with the drum break after the second chorus the soundstage is huge for the remainder.
Muddy Waters – Good Morning Little School Girl. This song can get too bright very quick but there is a restraint here that while the snare and vocals have edge they don’t get shrill. The guitar has a very metallic sheen to it that reminds me a bit of the sharp edge my old beat up Martin had due to poor fretwork. I’ve never noticed it before and I’ve listened to this song tons.
Thrice – The Weight. The vocals over the intro sound further away. Once it kicks, in the vocals have a perfect balance. The bass is tight and controlled. There’s a slight fuzz effect on the bass that I’ve not noticed before.
All in all, these are a noticeable upgrade to the stock AE-9 and also a level above the V5i. The biggest improvement for me has been in the soundstage/imaging department, the sense of space has improved and the location of instruments feels more defined.
