So... Burson Audio sent me one of their headphone amps (The FUN) for review a little while ago. It's taken me a bit to get around to writing this (I apologize), so let's jump in.


Burson Audio is an Australian based audio company that caters towards the mid to high end headphone amplifier range, providing buyers with pretty great bang for your buck with the different types of sound signatures you can get from opamp rolling, which they encourage. I've been a bit of a fan myself for a while, so keep in mind that I am human, this review is my opinion, and as such, it may differ from your own. This is okay because it's that's variety of differences in this hobby that makes this so interesting and... FUN.. right? Haha.



About me


I haven't been in this hobby very long. Since about 2012 to 13-ish, actually. In that time I've been lucky enough to listen to quite a few different headphones from different companies, all with widely varying sound signatures, while I searched for my preferred sound. My preference normally leans towards dark, full bodied, and warm as I am highly sensitive to harsh treble as I perceive it. My music taste runs along the lines of Hip-hop (yeah, yeah), Classic Rock, R&B, Smooth Jazz, and Blues/Soul. While I do love a bit of bass emphasis in my music most of the time, I also like a more neutral sound for smooth, relaxing listening sessions. Now that you have a bit of an idea about me, let's move on.



Packaging


The amplifier came in a simple box, well packaged and protected. Not much else to say here except that I appreciate simple. While others may go with flash and pomp and make their products damn near people proof, I was able to tear this amp out of the box immediately upon arrival and get to the glorious piece of gear tucked neatly away inside.



Contents


On opening the package I was greeted with everything needed to get started. Inside were the power cord, a couple of RCA cables, and a 1/8th to 1/4th headphone jack, along with the beautifully simplistic, all black aluminum chassis’d amp itself.



The amplifier


The Burson Audio FUN headphone amp is beautiful and well built with a full aluminum chassis and the usual outs you would expect, the FUN also boasts a mic input and output (both 3.5mm) for those who want to integrate this amp into their gaming setup on their PC. The footprint of the FUN at just over 5 inches makes it ideal for this kind of integration, or for just using as a standalone headphone amp in an area with very little space. It's also very well priced at $299 USD, in my opinion. Especially for the performance you get from this little bundle of FUN. At 2.1 wpc into 32Ohms, you get allllllll the power you'll ever need for just about every headphone you own. You can opt for their V6 (classic/vivid) opamps if you want a bit of a different sound, which will drive the price up a bit, but I can honestly say that as much as I would like to do so, I am REALLY enjoying the FUN in its stock configuration.


Now.. On to the sound!



The sound


Noise Floor - What noise floor? I used the FUN with my Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7, Audeze LCD-XC, and my Flare Audio Flares Gold IEMs, as well as an LB Acoustics MySphere 3.2 and my ears heard no audible noise floor through any of these headphones. It was an utter joy not to listen to or worry about any distracting hum taking me out of my musical bliss. This is due to Burson magic - and by magic I mean their “Max Current Power Supply”, developed in house by Burson to be superior to traditional power supplies and to deliver as clean a maximum current as you can get, instantly taking you into sonic bliss!


Highs - I'm always a little leery when testing new equipment. With how sensitive my ears are to hot/harsh/sibilant treble, sometimes new gear isn't the joy I was hoping for. Thankfully, this wasn't the case with the FUN. Highs were well extended, but had a smoothness to them that was pleasing to the ear. There was something about the way the highs were presented that just made the image of the music seem much more defined, to my ears.


Midrange - The midrange of the FUN felt slightly pushed back to my ears, but not as much as you'd expect from a headphone amp that calls itself the FUN. The vocals of both females and males voices have a certain heft... A weight behind them.. that makes them feel right at home between the slightly colored highs and lows.


Bass - This is always my favorite part of the review with me being a bit of a basshead, but since entering this hobby a couple years ago, I've come come to appreciate a more... appropriate.. amount of bass, so to speak. That being said, the FUN definitely has a bass emphasis, and although that emphasis is slight, it definitely contributes towards the enjoyment of the amp. Bass slam is nice and low notes are full and weighted, never overpowering or taking over the entirety of the spectrum with its fullness.



Conclusion


The Burson Audio FUN is well worth the price tag its been slapped with, and it more than lives up to its name, being one of the most fun amps I've ever used. It's power and versatility as far as sound signature makes it a great amp that outperforms all others in its price range, in my opinion. With loads upon loads of power to spare, the only thing you'll have to worry about is what DAC you want to pair it with and what headphone you are going to enter into musical bliss with.

(I will be doing a follow up review testing the V6 Classic opamps in the future, so if you liked this, look forward to that!)

Update: I received the V6 Classic OPAmps to replace the stock ones that come with the Burson Audio FUN. It's taken me a while to get around to this due to personal issues, but I'm happy that I finally got the opportunity! Here we go!


So... I've never done OP Amp rolling in the past, though I've seen many a discussion on it in forums and videos, so bear with me a bit. After switching out the stock OPAMPS with the V6 Classic, it took some back and forth switching for me to be sure of the differences that I was hearing. The V6, to my ears, seemed to have a much more intimate sound than stock. Whereas the stock OPAMPS were very lively and energetic sounding, the V6 seemed more relaxed, but still as detailed and FUN (Ha!) as stock. It took away everything about the stock OPAMPS that could get fatiguing after a while and made everything slightly warmer and easier to listen to. It's kinda hard to explain the differences between the two, but that's about as best as I know how at the moment. All in all, I think the V6 Classic makes for much easier listening sessions over longer periods of time and adds an intimacy that the stock OPAMPS just can't deliver. They're an absolute necessity in my opinion if you ever wanna just sit back and chill. No analytical listening (though it can still be done), and not too in your face. Definitely a recommended buy.

The Theorem 720 is magical.. Using it is like stepping into a foreign land where everything is crisp, detailed, and so very vivid that you’ll never want to leave again for the boring, veiled, blurred and blobby images of your old homeland.
I tested my Theorem with many different genres of music, from Rock to Rap (Eric Clapton, Eminem, Pink Floyd), Pop (Michael Jackson), and jazz to R&B (Sade, Michael McDonald, Brian McKnight, Seal, Usher) using my iPod Classic 6th gen (120GB) and the provided CL LOD paired with my modded T50rp and Shure SE215Ltd w/balanced cable, JH16 Pro, and Grado SR80i, and it didn’t ever disappoint. I’d go so far as to say that it rivals even some desktop setups; A portable powerhouse indeed!
The DAC: The DAC that CL implemented in the Theorem 720 is an amazing little piece of engineering that meshes perfectly with their own first class product (obviously, right? ). You get extremely good detail, great soundstage, and the clarity is just… Phenomenal.
The Amp: I LOVE the amp section of the Theorem 720. The amp is very neutral, but not analytical in any way. It is neutral while still having a very clean, very natural and musical tonality. It has a very black background with my T50rp, and a slight hiss with my SE215Ltd and JH16 Pro, that quite honestly is negligible, since it’s only heard without music playing.
The Treble: The Treble on the Theorem is very nicely extended, never sibilant, with a perfect amount of air around the top end that adds to the naturalness of the sound.
The Midrange: The midrange is spectacular. Vocals are so vividly reproduced as to be almost palpable… They have a very lush, very organic quality to them that makes them much more enjoyable than they would be through most anything else you would normally listen.
The Bass. The bass, when played through the Theorem, is a thing of wonder. Where once upon a time, your bass note was just that – a single note, now they are layered, and detailed, and reproduced in a way that makes them sound almost sophisticated. The Theorem doesn’t have the most impactful bass, but it more than makes up for that in it’s portrayal of detail
This is an amp in a class of it’s own, and definitely worth its asking price, and more, if you’re asking me. An amazing value for the money, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Theorem to anyone. On top of everything else, it has really well implemented gain settings that will provide more than enough power to any headphone you might own, and it charges iDevices to boot! I look forward to my next Cypher Labs purchase and I know, from personal experience, that it will ooze the same quality and sophistication as the rest of their products, and Cypher Labs as a company, do.