@SS-Audio @Burson B Here's my entire review as requested...
BURSON PLAYMATE 2- A Big, little, all to do DAC AMP...
Pros: 1) Staging
2) Separation
3) Punchy Bass with definition
4) Subbass
5) Treble airyness
6) Resolution tiny bit better
7) Neutral-musical presentation
8) Lots of Powah
9) No noise with my iems
10) Modding options with OPAMPS
Cons: 1) Lean vocals and mids
2) Treble not enough sparkly with stock opamps
3) Less height in soundstage
4) A little less dynamic with stock opamps
5) Less input options
6) No balanced output
7) OPAMPs add extra cost
BURSON AUDIO- Founded by a small team of audio engineers over 20 years ago, Burson Audio is based in Melbourne, Australia. They design benchmark setting audio equipment and premium quality audio design building blocks for fellow audio enthusiasts and manufacturing partners alike.
Today they are well known for their Party series- Class A Dac-amp – Burson Playmate 1, their Reference series , Performance series and their discrete OPAMPS ( The V series of OPAMPS).
Given I use their V5i Dual OPAMPS on my A30s amp and having seen the difference it makes, I am really excited to review this Party series DAC AMP, the second version of burson play mate -
Theeeeeeee Bursonnnnnn Play mateeeeee 2 (really tried to say it the way how WWE host announces the wrestlers haha
).
DISCLAIMER- THIS UNIT IS PROVIDED TO ME BY BURSON AUDIO IN EXCHANGE FOR MY HONEST OPINION AND I AM HONORED FOR THIS OPPURTUNITY.
SPECS-
Class A operation With SABRE32/ESS9038Q2M DAC, XMOS USB Input and supports native DSD upto 512.
Power is-
Headphone jack POWAH SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO SEPARATION
16 Ohm 3.5W 96db 99%
32 Ohm 2.5W 97db 99%
100 Ohm 600mW 98db 99%
150 Ohm 400mW 96db 99%
300 Ohm 150mW 95db 99.50%
Unboxing experience
It’s a pretty heft box weighing at around 2.625kg.
On opening the box, you are greeted with a foam of how to use the power brick to switch on the DAC-AMP. On removing this we see the MC of the show the playmate 2 in a big aluminum chassis with a beautiful
silver colour on one half side and
grey colouron the other half side..
Nothing else whattt !! Wait there’s another small box hidden nicely at the back written in full glory Burson Audio.. check above pic
Inside this, I found –
- The Power brick and the connector for Indian power plug (will vary upon different region) ;
- A 3.5male to mic and 3.5mm female adapter ( airline adapter like) and
- a hex tool to remove screws when you wanna open this baby up for OPAMP modding/Switching and I will highly recommend it ;
- and a small fuse
- A USB type C to C cable for user who wanna use this with Phone/Iphone/DAP…(forgot to take pic
)
Now on the very last 2 days of this review I found a small red box inside the brown packaging and had no idea that something was there. I was abacked to see two
V6 vivid dualin sealed box just sitting there waiting to be unleashed
, Burson you should give a headsup if you add such surprises inside the box
NOTE- The review is against my OLD D50 and A30s (Modded with V5i D) and N6ii with A30s as my setup.
BUILD- This thing is enough to last World War 3 and come out with a may be a few scratches. It is built of machined aluminium or stainless steel in a heatsink design to dissipate more heat. I think its made up of 4 pieces of machined aluminium – The front, The back and two 2 pieces of top and bottom half.
The front has-
- One is power button and the other is menu button.
- A never stopping revolving volume dial which is also a button if you press on it
- A tiny non intrusive blue LED that shows when it’s on or off .
- This also has a lower resolution display but the FONT is big enough that it wont be a problem for anyone.
- And another blank dark spot probably which houses the IR receiver for the remote.
The back has-
- A USB C connector with XMOS chip handling the USB input
- Two RCA output
- One TOSLINK connector
- And A Power pin connector
I was a little sad that other input options were not available but since I use either TOSLINK or USB its fine for me and I would have loved to see this with balanced output for HPs but alas next time …
Next time I would like to see even Bluetooth added as a functionality since I could not figure why leave it at this price point...
Now coming on to the characteristics of the BURSON PLAYMATE 2
BASS AND SUBBASS- Songs used are :-
- BOTTOM OF THE RIVER-DELTA RAE- Watch the big drum hits from 0.19mins
- NYCTERS -HANS ZIMMER AND JAMES NEWTON HOWARD – From 0.30min the simple hits of the synth and the timbre from it is really good. Then the 1:37min the further hits and the slow receding sound makes it awesome song to test your subbass and bass.
Now coming on to the DAC AMP- The first thing you notice is the Balanced nature of the vocals in the first song , and then the Bass percussion hits and then the Big Drum hits, This projects a really good balanced hit. Its textured , having good timbre and goes really down with the Headphone you are using . Added the resolution and separation of different hits, really adds to the feel and characteristics of the Mid Bass. The tonality is completely on point and it doesn’t seem to colour the sound of my HP at all.
Coming to the second song , especially focusing on the Bass here , wow the eerie music with the simple rumble of the bass ohh my , this depicts a really good presentation of how it should sound like if you are listening in a studio. The midbass here has a good decay, maybe a tad bit more would be my preference for that room surrounding feel that I feel with my N6ii and A30s. There isn't any midbass bleed if that’s what you are worried about. The Subbass rumble though hits a nice point , its not overly done but has a faster decay , a little more would have been perfect but that’s what I like and its entirely subjective and nitpicking at this moment.
MIDS- VOCALS-
MALE VOCALS- RESOLUTION – MATT CORBY- The male vocals here is wonderful. Here the singer is right on the mic and singing with the instruments surrounding him.
The Male vocals on the play mate2 is lean but not mean , not a hint of sibilance, even with my Sundara it seemed less bright haha which with a ESS DAC, I wasn’t expecting. The Male vocals have a certain texture to them and continue in the same pitch from beginning to the very end excepting where they are extending the ends. It has an air around it which you could feel for sure. Its feels more controlled here though , like something is holding it back from extending even more when compared to N6ii with T01 module. But a little more thickness that I felt from using the N6ii is what I would prefer. But compared to my desktop Dac D50 and amp A30s combo this is way better with the more controlled nature yet extending beyond the ends of the notes.
FEMALE VOCALS-
- ENOUGH FOR YOU- OLIVIA RODRIGO - Her voice is a wonderful , the slight sss at the ends and her breath in between will be a really good way to compare.
- I EAT BOYS - CHLOE MORIONDO - Now here we find the difference between the vocalist above and the here ,it's more balanced , controlled less ssss and less breaks..
Now coming on to the amp - Really good presentation , they have an real air around them which makes them more realistic. It's a bit on leaner side but the emotions still come through. The notes reach a little higher throughout and gives a better presentation of the high pitch voice in females. Texture is really good. Would I like it more thicker here , yeah and no
. For female vocals this might be just up my alley. I just love it.
MIDS -
- WRITING'S ON THE WALL- SAM SMITH - The lovely amalgam of music mostly piano , violin and Guitar and occasional trumpets etc make this an awesome track to go for ..
- BONFIRE HEART- JAMES BLUNT - The awesome bass , with the guitar going on and then the chorus in between and some instrument going on both sides that I can't define makes this a good way to find the separation on the mids..
This DAC-AMP is wonderful. All the instruments have an excellent tonality that made me think what was I listening to
. The amount of timbre is a little less than my preference but man it's like 90% of what my N6ii does ( that's a 1200$ DAP). But the amount of air this thing moves with each string pull of the guitar and violin is more than real , you really feel the reverb in case of acoustic guitars. The violin strikes hit right at your heart. Each string instruments benefit at providing that excellent strike then slowly receding feeling with a lingering reverb that just hits the right spot in my brain
. The piano strokes are excellent , the have the same thickness and separation right from the beginning to the end of each note. But I would loved a bit more thickness from the piano strokes , they seemed a little less thick for my taste. The air moving instruments like trumpets , flute etc. has a nature of them that made them feel musical, yet get raw enough to know that it's being blown into for the effective sound it makes. More energy here especially the trumpets would have made it more awesome but then it might make it sharp for others.
TREBLE -
STEAMBREATHER - MASTODON , CIGARETTES IN THE THEATER - TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB and DO IT AGAIN- STEELY DAN- I use these tracks extensively to test the treble tonal accuracy, positioning, speed and separation.
This was way beyond what I thought, the excellent details and the tonality even with the fast paced music is damn accurate and not a single note is missed. The texture , the dynamics and the timbre is not lost at all . The timbre was a little less for me but the faster decay of this really helped to pave way thought such busy tracks. I would have liked a little more thickeness while some would want some energy here , for me I am happy with this much
.
IMAGING ,SEPARATION ,STAGE AND RESOLUTION - YOSHI HORIKAWA - BUBBLES AND KANEDA - GEINOH YAMASHIROGUMI.
The
imaging is as expected wide and accurate like a DD driver. Even the subtle sounds have a place that is well seen or felt in the direction from where it is coming from. There's no grouping of instruments but they have a definite place in the stage.
The
separation is out of this world . Forget the instrument separation, even the damn notes have separation and air that makes them feel distinct. I would just like to say it's way beyond my expectations.
Staging- on the X axis - It makes everything really wide even with my iems, I felt this feeling, like wow it's makes the stage really big
On the Y axis -
- Height - Height is more than average but not too great
- Depth - Now this is something different , there is a good amount of depth added to the dynamics of the instruments especially the kick drum. They have now a more deeper 3D presentation. Now for those iems or HP (like Sundara) which has a like 2D presentation , you won't find added depth though.
On Z axis -
There's definitely a cue placement change of instruments that makes them feel more different from others. The have now a parabolic feel infront of the listener and more better differentiation felt between instruments placed on slightly infront of you to something placed far infront of you.
RESOLUTION-The resolution is pretty great for its price. The every nuance is really felt and heard properly but an effort has to be given for the same. N6ii has better resolution than this .
POWAH PROVIDED -This thing is sufficient powerful to even run the 300 ohm HPs with ease.
My A30s is like half of this thing power at 16 ohm.
My Sundara and focal clear are like nothing for this amp , high gain vol 30 is sufficient for me on my Sundara which is the hardest to drive HP that I own.
I did not hear any noise with my HPs or iems like UM Mest 2 , Shozy pola or even the VE Ve6xc. It's dead silent all the way.
MODDING-
Now how to check the orientation while changing the opamps, I have described in my previous post please check
here or you can even use the
manual here
Using discrete opamps against the Ne5532D in the I/V Stage Dual OPAMPS X2
Using V5D - changes that I felt - Better dynamics , Better/ nearly equal clarity , Treble energy increased , More lean bass , More taller Soundstage, a little more musical
Using V6 vivid dual - changes that I felt - Better dynamics , Musical and sparkly treble , A slightly increased punch in bass , More taller and wider soundstage , more musical presentation.
Comparisons- Between My
topping D50 and A30s
Pros of Playmate 2 - Staging , Separation , Bass definition , Subbass , Treble airyness , Nearly equal energy , Resolution tiny bit better , powahh
Cons of Playmate 2 - Less tall , Less timbre , lean vocals and mids
Between N6ii with T01 module / A30s (burson v5i D)
Pros of Playmate 2- Stage , Separation nearly equal , Powah
Cons of Playmate2- Resolution, height , thickness of vocals , mids and dynamics , less timbre
Summary - This is an neutral, slightly musical DAC - AMP with class A power and at the price it's being sold for, at its a steal deal. The option of easily modding the opamps to change the sound is a really easy and imo worth the money . I would highly suggest to use the v6 vivid if there's an option to add it or get the V5D otherwise, (since they are cheaper) as they are quite near to each other.
Though - Why 4/5- The Addition of OPAMPS are a nice touch but they add extra cost, No Bluetooth and No balanced output or Other input options And they cost
544$-744$
