First I want to send props to the members who have provided 75+ pages of enough information to let me pull the trigger on an R28 with little reservation,as well as help me confirm & set up the latest 2021 version.Without that today would have been a TOTAL BUMMER!!!
Second is props to Walter @ Underwood HiFi,who confirmed the value & performance of the unit,had it shipped right out & then put up with my paranoia after I received it..Highly recommended for all kinds of gear..
Saturday,except for the last 4+ hours,SUCKED!
Day started @ 0420,42 mile drive(yes I thought that funny too) to the jobsite.Ok,I can listen to football & make double overtime for 10 hours,I can hang..3 hours later a storm blew in & with 2,200' cranes set up,a million miles of steel girders exposed & enough water on the deck to literally float a dingy(one of our electrical lockers completely flooded at 9' total depth)the general ordered everyone off the site..6 hours lost wages & another 42 mile drive,oh well I can watch my beloved college football...
Yea,EVERY FRAKING team I follow got run off the gridiron..After 9 hours of torture I threw on my Pandora+ Classic Rock station & headed off to do some chores.
I couldn't finish loading the washer fast enough,as Robin Trower seemed to have stopped by with his Strat & was playing in my living room.With factory burn in(3 cheers)+ about 30 hours now I've been playing air guitar for the first time in too many years..
Several things stood out already compared to my previous Burson C3P..First was VERY low level resolution.The R28 in NOS mode digs out tiny little sounds the Burson glossed over.Brush work is easily followed,cymbal sustain is considerably longer,bass is comparable,drums & percussion have much better resolution,sounds from a bass drum frame can clearly be heard when properly motivated,but where the R28 smokes the Burson is in imaging & staging,which are wider,deeper & more solidly outlined along with something not easily quantifiable.
Call it delicacy.I'm talking about music that is so lightly played it could be a whisper.To be able to convey tone texture & emotional intent the way the R28 does during those lull in the action passages is quite simply amazing.Some of Jimmy Hendrix blues or Jimmy Pages Gibson work is just plain baddd a$$$.......This thing doesn't seem to care what type of music you que up.It is both muscular & delicate,it is emotional & yet it can be cold blooded when needed & all this is on my Harbeth M30.1's..
As for headphones,OMG!!!
With the iBasso SR-1's on the Burson,there was always a very slight darkness,very much reminded me of running a class a PP tube amp in Triode mode..Gone is that slight darkness,detail & voice seem the same & it's not like cleaning a dirty window.More like a too thick speaker grill shifting the freq.response just a tiny bit.Now that grill is gone & the SR-1 has taken on a slightly more see through sound,kind of a hybrid Planar/Dynamic sound,much .like the Harbeth Monitors,with amazing bass depth & texture...
I just can't imagine ever having the desire to spend more $ chasing a marginal or non existent performance increase..At the asking price an absolute gem!
, Harbeth speakers