Burson V5i op amp upgrade for Creative Sound Blaster X7
Link to the Bursonaudio.com site for the V5i
Disclaimer: I was contacted by Charles from Supreme Sound (Burson Audio), provided (2) single op amps and (2) double op amps, for my honest opinion of their product.
What is it:The Burson V5i is a hybrid op amp. It has an integrated chip, which is what most op amps are in entirety, but also takes some parts, and separates them, adding some high end discrete components. This is to improve performance while maintaining a small form factor. This is how they can shrink down the V5 into the much smaller package, while retaining the sound signature of the full blown V5. I have not heard the regular V5, but this was their design principle in making the V5i. The V5i is much smaller and “should” be a drop in replacement for most op amps.
What does it do: Operational Amplifiers main job is to amplify a signal, typically a voltage (can also be used to amplify current, voltage to current, or current to voltage). If you are interested in learning more about op amps, I found this website to be beneficial. The math may seem simple, but in real world components, achieving the best performance can be difficult. It is striking a balance between performance, size, cost, tradeoffs, etc. Each company will use a different design with certain design goals in mind.
Why me: As many of you may already know, I purchased the complete X7 op amp swap, Sparkos Labs SS3601 and SS3602 op amps, shortly after I purchased the X7. My review is located in my signature. I have used those op amps for many months, and have been very happy with their performance. They greatly improved the sound quality of the X7, and I still believe that op amps are a great way to get more out of such a versatile DAC/Amp/VSS unit. Before that purchase, I did not believe that op amps could make that much of a difference. I have gladly changed my tune, and will continue to suggest op amp upgrades for equipment that can have them swapped. Most IC op amps seem to have to make sacrifices, and fully discrete is the best way to go (audio as the end goal of the op amp, as they have MANY different uses).
Starting point: Upon receiving the Burson V5i op amps, they were burned in for roughly 150 hours, as Burson suggests 100 hour burn in period. Now I did listen and use the X7 normally during this burn in period. I did notice that as time went on, the V5i op amps did seem to change over time. When I first received them, I was not impressed with them. Coming from the Sparkos, they didn't seem as clear, and they weren't as efficient (volume dial needed to be turned up more for the same volume). I went back to gaming and watching movies, listening to music, but not analytically.
Critical Listening post burn in: The V5i op amps do have some nice qualities. They produce clean and tight bass, a very musical mid range, but do seem rolled off in the highs compared to the Sparkos. Soundstage, instrument separation, and overall clarity are very good, much better than the stock op amps that come with the X7. These are a definite upgrade, and for $120 for the complete swap, not a terrible price to pay for a noticeable change in sound. The Sparkos, which I believe to be the best op amps available in a small form factor (they're also fully discrete), are double the cost at $240 for the complete swap.
Setup/Equipment: I tested the Burson V5i op amps several different ways. I used just the X7 and it's amp, as many will be using the X7 in this way. I also used the RCA outs to connect my Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL 2, which has a much "blacker" background, and overall very good sound quality. The X7 was connected to my PC via USB, using Foobar2000 updated to the latest version. For Headphones, I used Hifiman HE-X V2, Fostex TH-X00 Ebony, Monoprice M1060, Beyerdynamic DT990 SE 250ohm. I also listened through my 2 channel setup, which consist of X7>MZ2>Marantz SR8500 AVR>Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand speakers.
Overall Thoughts: I know the Sparkos very well, and they will remain my op amp of choice for the X7. The entire frequency response with the Sparkos is crystal clear and matches my headphones of choice, perfectly. At $240 though, you are pretty close to Modi Multibit, which you can use with the X7 through the optical out (and still use the Virtual Surround Sound (SBX). Even just switching out the Duals, which make a larger difference to sound quality, will set you back $160 before shipping for the Sparkos. The V5i, will be $80 for the Dual swap. That is a much easier amount to swallow, especially if you are trying to keep your setup simple with an all in one solution.
The Sparkos require less power to output at the same spl level. I noticed this in my Sparkos review, that they played much louder than the stock op amps. The Sparkos during this review were usually at 11:00-11:30 on the MZ2. The Bursons to achieve the same volume, sat around 12:30-1:00 on the MZ2 volume dial. The Bursons are more efficient than the stock op amps, but do not match the Sparkos. Another thing I noticed is that the Bursons got HOT during use. I would say they were within the 60-80 degree Celsius operating range at all times. This could be due to the metal enclosure on the V5i, and there not being a case on the Sparkos. The bottom cover will NOT fit on the X7 with either the Sparkos or Bursons installed. IMO this is very minor and no big deal. Neither projects out from underneath, they are just a mm or two larger than the cover can manage.
Without a direct comparison between the two, I really didn't notice the V5i as lacking. They sounded great when they were the only op amps in the X7 for a few months. Gaming, Movies, and Music all sounded great and I was happy. Ignorance can be bliss, and without swapping back and forth between the Sparkos and the Bursons, I grew to really enjoy the V5i op amps. One area where I think they can really help people, is with headphones that are V or U shaped where the highs can become fatiguing. The Bursons brought down the highs enough to make a few of my headphones more enjoyable for extended listening. Particularly my TH-X00 and DT990. The slight drop in highs really helped the DT990 for music, and they were still great for FPS gaming, with plenty of the detail that is needed to hear the sounds you do want to hear. The Bass and Mids were truly good, very comparable to the Sparkos, and I would have to nit pick to find any differences in these areas. I cannot change the op amps fast enough to get a true comparison of the differences in Bass and Mid range (hearing memory is extremely short!). Both excel in this area. My two main headphones are Planar (HEX and M1060), which both recess the highs naturally, and the Sparkos really help those headphones in this area. Headphones with an edginess to the highs, may sound better with the Bursons for music. I know for me, I preferred the DT990 with the V5i op amps.
As you may know, the X7 does have a built in EQ, so you can change the sound however you want. All of my listening was completed with a flat EQ, and if you aren't against it, you can dial in the V5i op amps by bumping a few decibels here and there. I realize that some are COMPLETELY against EQ, so this review is with the V5i straight into the X7 without any help.
Burson (critical listening) with comparisons to Sparkos:
Led Zeppelin "Whole Lotta Love", FLAC rip from remastered CD. Very low background noise, Robert Plant's voice is extremely clear and natural sounding. Snare drum sounded impactful and decayed well. The Top Hat is where I noticed a difference between the Sparkos. It sounded slightly recessed, and not as clear as the Sparkos. Overall this song sounded great and natural.
Live "White Discussion", FLAC rip from CD. This is one of my favorite songs to test all kinds of gear. When the band jams, it gets loud and congested with heavy guitar and drums, and they can overpower the rest of the instruments and singing. The V5i performed very well, where each instrument is clearly heard when listened for, and the overall sound was better than I expected. The guitar was not as clear on the V5i compared to the Sparkos, but without knowing this song as well as I do, this could be missed by many listeners. The V5i IMO do a very good job of keeping the impactful changes, with great bass and mid bass. I did not like this song with the stock op amps.
Metallica "Master of Puppets", FLAC rip from CD. Alone the V5i do a very nice job on this song. Another song with a lot of things going on, and the only notable difference I could tell was the drums didn't sound as clear versus the Sparkos.
The Who "Love Reign O'er Me", FLAC rip from CD. Love this song, the beginning with the rain and piano, is one of my favorite starts to a song ever. The Bursons did not disappoint. Everything was clear, impactful, and Roger Daltrey sounded very lifelike. The Sparkos are better, but it isn't as obvious on this track.
Black Sabbath "War Pigs", FLAC rip from CD. Sounded great, another one of my favorite demo songs. I did notice a big difference in clarity of the symbol crashes and their decay. The Sparkos really show their muscle here, my notes on the Sparkos: "Symbols decay FOREVER". This really stuck out when the Sparkos were installed, and there was a noticeable difference when the V5i were installed. The symbol decay was still very good on the Bursons, but clearly not as good as the Sparkos. Everything else, like drums, guitar, vocals, all sounded very good.
Arcade Fire "Reflektor", FLAC rip from CD. This is a bass heavy song and really the reason I chose it. There is some good percussion, male and female vocals, and a song I really like. The V5i sounded very clear with bass and vocals, but again lost to the Sparkos.
Summary:
The bass and mids performance of the Burson V5i was very good with all of my listening. Vocals sounded clear with both Male and Female voices. Really the one note that kept coming up, was a lack of clarity in the upper ranges. The highs seemed a few decibels down compared to the Sparkos, and finer details just weren't there against it's twice as expensive foe. The V5i did excel with everything else, and compared to stock, this is a very nice upgrade, at a price that I think is worth it. I would call the Burson V5i a "warm" sounding op amp compared to the Sparkos. This may be exactly what you are looking for, especially if you are trying to tame the highs of certain headphones.
Link to the Bursonaudio.com site for the V5i
Disclaimer: I was contacted by Charles from Supreme Sound (Burson Audio), provided (2) single op amps and (2) double op amps, for my honest opinion of their product.
What is it:The Burson V5i is a hybrid op amp. It has an integrated chip, which is what most op amps are in entirety, but also takes some parts, and separates them, adding some high end discrete components. This is to improve performance while maintaining a small form factor. This is how they can shrink down the V5 into the much smaller package, while retaining the sound signature of the full blown V5. I have not heard the regular V5, but this was their design principle in making the V5i. The V5i is much smaller and “should” be a drop in replacement for most op amps.
What does it do: Operational Amplifiers main job is to amplify a signal, typically a voltage (can also be used to amplify current, voltage to current, or current to voltage). If you are interested in learning more about op amps, I found this website to be beneficial. The math may seem simple, but in real world components, achieving the best performance can be difficult. It is striking a balance between performance, size, cost, tradeoffs, etc. Each company will use a different design with certain design goals in mind.
Why me: As many of you may already know, I purchased the complete X7 op amp swap, Sparkos Labs SS3601 and SS3602 op amps, shortly after I purchased the X7. My review is located in my signature. I have used those op amps for many months, and have been very happy with their performance. They greatly improved the sound quality of the X7, and I still believe that op amps are a great way to get more out of such a versatile DAC/Amp/VSS unit. Before that purchase, I did not believe that op amps could make that much of a difference. I have gladly changed my tune, and will continue to suggest op amp upgrades for equipment that can have them swapped. Most IC op amps seem to have to make sacrifices, and fully discrete is the best way to go (audio as the end goal of the op amp, as they have MANY different uses).
Starting point: Upon receiving the Burson V5i op amps, they were burned in for roughly 150 hours, as Burson suggests 100 hour burn in period. Now I did listen and use the X7 normally during this burn in period. I did notice that as time went on, the V5i op amps did seem to change over time. When I first received them, I was not impressed with them. Coming from the Sparkos, they didn't seem as clear, and they weren't as efficient (volume dial needed to be turned up more for the same volume). I went back to gaming and watching movies, listening to music, but not analytically.
Critical Listening post burn in: The V5i op amps do have some nice qualities. They produce clean and tight bass, a very musical mid range, but do seem rolled off in the highs compared to the Sparkos. Soundstage, instrument separation, and overall clarity are very good, much better than the stock op amps that come with the X7. These are a definite upgrade, and for $120 for the complete swap, not a terrible price to pay for a noticeable change in sound. The Sparkos, which I believe to be the best op amps available in a small form factor (they're also fully discrete), are double the cost at $240 for the complete swap.
Setup/Equipment: I tested the Burson V5i op amps several different ways. I used just the X7 and it's amp, as many will be using the X7 in this way. I also used the RCA outs to connect my Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL 2, which has a much "blacker" background, and overall very good sound quality. The X7 was connected to my PC via USB, using Foobar2000 updated to the latest version. For Headphones, I used Hifiman HE-X V2, Fostex TH-X00 Ebony, Monoprice M1060, Beyerdynamic DT990 SE 250ohm. I also listened through my 2 channel setup, which consist of X7>MZ2>Marantz SR8500 AVR>Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand speakers.
Overall Thoughts: I know the Sparkos very well, and they will remain my op amp of choice for the X7. The entire frequency response with the Sparkos is crystal clear and matches my headphones of choice, perfectly. At $240 though, you are pretty close to Modi Multibit, which you can use with the X7 through the optical out (and still use the Virtual Surround Sound (SBX). Even just switching out the Duals, which make a larger difference to sound quality, will set you back $160 before shipping for the Sparkos. The V5i, will be $80 for the Dual swap. That is a much easier amount to swallow, especially if you are trying to keep your setup simple with an all in one solution.
The Sparkos require less power to output at the same spl level. I noticed this in my Sparkos review, that they played much louder than the stock op amps. The Sparkos during this review were usually at 11:00-11:30 on the MZ2. The Bursons to achieve the same volume, sat around 12:30-1:00 on the MZ2 volume dial. The Bursons are more efficient than the stock op amps, but do not match the Sparkos. Another thing I noticed is that the Bursons got HOT during use. I would say they were within the 60-80 degree Celsius operating range at all times. This could be due to the metal enclosure on the V5i, and there not being a case on the Sparkos. The bottom cover will NOT fit on the X7 with either the Sparkos or Bursons installed. IMO this is very minor and no big deal. Neither projects out from underneath, they are just a mm or two larger than the cover can manage.
Without a direct comparison between the two, I really didn't notice the V5i as lacking. They sounded great when they were the only op amps in the X7 for a few months. Gaming, Movies, and Music all sounded great and I was happy. Ignorance can be bliss, and without swapping back and forth between the Sparkos and the Bursons, I grew to really enjoy the V5i op amps. One area where I think they can really help people, is with headphones that are V or U shaped where the highs can become fatiguing. The Bursons brought down the highs enough to make a few of my headphones more enjoyable for extended listening. Particularly my TH-X00 and DT990. The slight drop in highs really helped the DT990 for music, and they were still great for FPS gaming, with plenty of the detail that is needed to hear the sounds you do want to hear. The Bass and Mids were truly good, very comparable to the Sparkos, and I would have to nit pick to find any differences in these areas. I cannot change the op amps fast enough to get a true comparison of the differences in Bass and Mid range (hearing memory is extremely short!). Both excel in this area. My two main headphones are Planar (HEX and M1060), which both recess the highs naturally, and the Sparkos really help those headphones in this area. Headphones with an edginess to the highs, may sound better with the Bursons for music. I know for me, I preferred the DT990 with the V5i op amps.
As you may know, the X7 does have a built in EQ, so you can change the sound however you want. All of my listening was completed with a flat EQ, and if you aren't against it, you can dial in the V5i op amps by bumping a few decibels here and there. I realize that some are COMPLETELY against EQ, so this review is with the V5i straight into the X7 without any help.
Burson (critical listening) with comparisons to Sparkos:
Led Zeppelin "Whole Lotta Love", FLAC rip from remastered CD. Very low background noise, Robert Plant's voice is extremely clear and natural sounding. Snare drum sounded impactful and decayed well. The Top Hat is where I noticed a difference between the Sparkos. It sounded slightly recessed, and not as clear as the Sparkos. Overall this song sounded great and natural.
Live "White Discussion", FLAC rip from CD. This is one of my favorite songs to test all kinds of gear. When the band jams, it gets loud and congested with heavy guitar and drums, and they can overpower the rest of the instruments and singing. The V5i performed very well, where each instrument is clearly heard when listened for, and the overall sound was better than I expected. The guitar was not as clear on the V5i compared to the Sparkos, but without knowing this song as well as I do, this could be missed by many listeners. The V5i IMO do a very good job of keeping the impactful changes, with great bass and mid bass. I did not like this song with the stock op amps.
Metallica "Master of Puppets", FLAC rip from CD. Alone the V5i do a very nice job on this song. Another song with a lot of things going on, and the only notable difference I could tell was the drums didn't sound as clear versus the Sparkos.
The Who "Love Reign O'er Me", FLAC rip from CD. Love this song, the beginning with the rain and piano, is one of my favorite starts to a song ever. The Bursons did not disappoint. Everything was clear, impactful, and Roger Daltrey sounded very lifelike. The Sparkos are better, but it isn't as obvious on this track.
Black Sabbath "War Pigs", FLAC rip from CD. Sounded great, another one of my favorite demo songs. I did notice a big difference in clarity of the symbol crashes and their decay. The Sparkos really show their muscle here, my notes on the Sparkos: "Symbols decay FOREVER". This really stuck out when the Sparkos were installed, and there was a noticeable difference when the V5i were installed. The symbol decay was still very good on the Bursons, but clearly not as good as the Sparkos. Everything else, like drums, guitar, vocals, all sounded very good.
Arcade Fire "Reflektor", FLAC rip from CD. This is a bass heavy song and really the reason I chose it. There is some good percussion, male and female vocals, and a song I really like. The V5i sounded very clear with bass and vocals, but again lost to the Sparkos.
Summary:
The bass and mids performance of the Burson V5i was very good with all of my listening. Vocals sounded clear with both Male and Female voices. Really the one note that kept coming up, was a lack of clarity in the upper ranges. The highs seemed a few decibels down compared to the Sparkos, and finer details just weren't there against it's twice as expensive foe. The V5i did excel with everything else, and compared to stock, this is a very nice upgrade, at a price that I think is worth it. I would call the Burson V5i a "warm" sounding op amp compared to the Sparkos. This may be exactly what you are looking for, especially if you are trying to tame the highs of certain headphones.
