If you are a bass head and still like to hear to rest of the music, then this Burson V4 could be for you.
Charles at Burson had offered the V5 in exchange for a honest evaluation. I did and got hooked on the V5 in my Parasound preamps. However the V5 didn't do too much in the Parasound amp of mine. After all it's a great designed and well put together little unit, using JRC's opamps. I got a Gustard with the V4 as a loaner and stuck the dual V4 into the Parasound Zamp V.1. I was blown away with what I heard.
The size of the unit can be a problem. 40mm x 16mm x 20mm For the dual and 40mm x 16mm x 14mm for the single.
The V4 is on a different level vs the V5. To my ears with the JVC SZ1000, the sound gets more depth with the V4 vs the V5 when I installed it inside the Parasound amplifier. I can now also use the full range of the preamp volume control, without getting into the distortion zone. I've played 24bit and 16 bit Flac's containing Metallica "Metallica" album, DJ Danny Bled, Damian Marley, Amy Vachal, Bass 305, Phibes DNB, Hotei Strangers, Sade, DJ Russticals, Gary Howey, Robert Miles and lots of others. Where the V4 truly shines is in the subbass department. You hear it as your are suppose too. It's effortless, clean and goes deep.
From Burson's website:
"Unlike the general-purpose IC opamp designs which focus on high open loop gain, Burson aimed to achieve low open-loop distortion, low noise, low drift and low offset. The Supreme Sound Opamp also exhibited a wider bandwidth and wide power supply range. These qualities are essential in high quality analog audio amplification.
The input stage features a pair of carefully matched field-effect transistors. Each pair of transistors went through two stages of screening to ensure best possible matching. The main amplification section employed a current mirror configuration instead of the conventional voltage amplification. By keeping the current limiting resistor to a minimum value we minimised RC parameter of the circuitry, and hence achieved a wider frequency response.
Another pair of matched output transistors is coupling with the emitter follower stage. This arrangement ensured high driving current and low output impedance, which made the SS Opamp suitable for a wide range of audio applications."
So is it worth getting the V4? Well it's not a straight answer. It's a trial and error kinda deal, since not every piece of hardware is the same. It's pricey that is the other thing, but so is every piece of high end equipment. Component selection is key. Component matching cost money and that is what your are paying for. In my case, the V5 is worth the upgrade in the Parasound Zpre and the V4 in the Parasound Zamp V.3.
In the Gustard H10 the upgrade to Burson V4 are worth the money. The amp get put out plenty of power and with the Burson's puts it up there with the other high end audio devices. The Burson dual do run warm, but the singles not as much inside the Gustard. Adding Wima caps to the single opamps made a difference, but nothing with the duals. With the Burson's installed the sound of the Gustard comes pretty close to the B&K PT5 preamp of mine, which is quite amazing.
Making paper vibrate at 15Hz
Charles at Burson had offered the V5 in exchange for a honest evaluation. I did and got hooked on the V5 in my Parasound preamps. However the V5 didn't do too much in the Parasound amp of mine. After all it's a great designed and well put together little unit, using JRC's opamps. I got a Gustard with the V4 as a loaner and stuck the dual V4 into the Parasound Zamp V.1. I was blown away with what I heard.
The size of the unit can be a problem. 40mm x 16mm x 20mm For the dual and 40mm x 16mm x 14mm for the single.
The V4 is on a different level vs the V5. To my ears with the JVC SZ1000, the sound gets more depth with the V4 vs the V5 when I installed it inside the Parasound amplifier. I can now also use the full range of the preamp volume control, without getting into the distortion zone. I've played 24bit and 16 bit Flac's containing Metallica "Metallica" album, DJ Danny Bled, Damian Marley, Amy Vachal, Bass 305, Phibes DNB, Hotei Strangers, Sade, DJ Russticals, Gary Howey, Robert Miles and lots of others. Where the V4 truly shines is in the subbass department. You hear it as your are suppose too. It's effortless, clean and goes deep.
From Burson's website:
"Unlike the general-purpose IC opamp designs which focus on high open loop gain, Burson aimed to achieve low open-loop distortion, low noise, low drift and low offset. The Supreme Sound Opamp also exhibited a wider bandwidth and wide power supply range. These qualities are essential in high quality analog audio amplification.
The input stage features a pair of carefully matched field-effect transistors. Each pair of transistors went through two stages of screening to ensure best possible matching. The main amplification section employed a current mirror configuration instead of the conventional voltage amplification. By keeping the current limiting resistor to a minimum value we minimised RC parameter of the circuitry, and hence achieved a wider frequency response.
Another pair of matched output transistors is coupling with the emitter follower stage. This arrangement ensured high driving current and low output impedance, which made the SS Opamp suitable for a wide range of audio applications."
So is it worth getting the V4? Well it's not a straight answer. It's a trial and error kinda deal, since not every piece of hardware is the same. It's pricey that is the other thing, but so is every piece of high end equipment. Component selection is key. Component matching cost money and that is what your are paying for. In my case, the V5 is worth the upgrade in the Parasound Zpre and the V4 in the Parasound Zamp V.3.
In the Gustard H10 the upgrade to Burson V4 are worth the money. The amp get put out plenty of power and with the Burson's puts it up there with the other high end audio devices. The Burson dual do run warm, but the singles not as much inside the Gustard. Adding Wima caps to the single opamps made a difference, but nothing with the duals. With the Burson's installed the sound of the Gustard comes pretty close to the B&K PT5 preamp of mine, which is quite amazing.
Making paper vibrate at 15Hz
