[pbarach]

Has anyone compared either of these Burson models with the Focal Arche? They have a voucher deal that makes the price comparable to the Performance models. Arche has less power output and no remote, but as far as sound...?

 

[jarza]

I updated my old Playmate to this C3XP and I´m bit confused the sound what to think. Its completely different than Play or Playmate what I owned. Its sounds shallow and not enough punch that those Play´s did have is my initial feeling. I read a lot of reviews about this unit and I formed image in my head about wide and airy sound (what is it) with enough punch to get into the music and games like older Play´s but more refined and better sound. I guess this is that natural sound what they say in reviews. Mostly at games sounds are not engaging anymore but dull without a punch and power. I use Sennheiser HD660S which has compared to this amp great synergy with Play and Playmate. Is it just these headphones not have that energetic synergy with this amp cos both have same kind not over emphasing anything sound? I gonna get balanced cable and hope this helps a bit the sound or I need new headphones. Or does long burn-in gonna chance sound any more? About 40h burn-in now passed.

 

[Swisshead]

No, the Burson is special. Had to get used to it for a long time too. But once you get used to it, it sounds extremely good. It's not love at first sight. It lacks a little power.

Described it much further ahead as follows. The Burson is the cultivated luxury sedan. I still have the iCan Pro. This is the Muscelcar. There you have brutal power and strength. Not here. It's discreet, but sounds extremely good, especially with the right headphones.

I like the Audeze with the Burson best. Especially the LCDi4 and also the LCD-X sounds fantastic. The HD660s less. It simply needs a bit more power, I like it better on the iCan or the iFi micro iDSD BL. The Burson, as I said, to enjoy. Absolutely outstanding with classical music and operas. I prefer to have trance with the powerful basses on the iCan now. But as a complement to the iCan it is absolutely perfect and I wouldn't want to miss it anymore!

 

[Vaiet]

No, the Burson is special. Had to get used to it for a long time too. But once you get used to it, it sounds extremely good. It's not love at first sight. It lacks a little power.

Described it much further ahead as follows. The Burson is the cultivated luxury sedan. I still have the iCan Pro. This is the Muscelcar. There you have brutal power and strength. Not here. It's discreet, but sounds extremely good, especially with the right headphones.

I like the Audeze with the Burson best. Especially the LCDi4 and also the LCD-X sounds fantastic. The HD660s less. It simply needs a bit more power, I like it better on the iCan or the iFi micro iDSD BL. The Burson, as I said, to enjoy. Absolutely outstanding with classical music and operas. I prefer to have trance with the powerful basses on the iCan now. But as a complement to the iCan it is absolutely perfect and I wouldn't want to miss it anymore!

Couldn't agree more. Stepping up from Playmate I was wondering how big the change is going to be. Hell, I've been worried that the upgrade will be highly cost-ineffective. In the first hours of listening I was like "okay, okay. Nothing special but not bad either". C3XP isn't throwing on your knees during first hours but boy, how it changes after those 10-15 hrs of listening. The dynamics improve a lot. The bass resolution and layering makes my TH900mk2 truly shine. It gives a spacious yet very coherent soundstage in pretty much every direction. I find it highly coherent along the whole spectrum, rather warm and musical but very natural and lifelike. It makes a great pair with both TH900 and HD800S and the latter... well, they shine. Now I feel I have a proper source to explore some cable galore

 

[ScornDefeat]

Does anybody know where Burson Audio products are manufactured? I know they are designed in Australia, but are they actually made there?

 

[MIR05LAV]

I updated my old Playmate to this C3XP and I´m bit confused the sound what to think. Its completely different than Play or Playmate what I owned. Its sounds shallow and not enough punch that those Play´s did have is my initial feeling.

Give it some time
I have just compared a fully burned in C3XP to my thrusty Playmate in vivid configuration for the first time afrer owning C3 for about 3 weeks. Tbh I wanted the Playmate to be as good or almost as good as the bigger brother. I was thinking I might keep the cheaper one and sell the more expensive one with litlle or no loss (had a good deal with preorder)
I have connected both of them at once to my work PC and started to compare. C3XP was with ballanced hp out, tried to volume match as close as I could. I was listening to my ZMF Eikon with suede Auteur pads.
I would say that the sound signature is rather close, neutral, but with added a little bit of a musicality to it. So, is it worth to upgreade? Unfortunately yes. Without any doubt. I cannot see any downside with C3, bass goes deaper, has more textures (or how to describe it), it is noticeable with bass guitars etc. Slam (not looking at the sub bass) is about the same, maybe a bit stronger with C3? Mids are just a bit more natural, bit more emotions here with C3. Highs have just a bit more information, but not more fatiguing. So they're close but the bigger brother does EVERYTHING just a bit better. I can feel the bigger sound stage, more air, better separation and better detail. Just a bit in everything. Well worth it in my opinion!
Not a scientific comparison, but it was so obvious to me (and my friend from work, he have had exact same thoughts), that after just 18 minute comparison I have made a sell add of my playmate and it is already gone.
Great amp, well done Burson!
I know a good otl amp will complement it with a wormer, more mid focused presentation, will probably buy one to change the flavour sometimes

 

[Vaiet]

Give it some time
I have just compared a fully burned in C3XP to my thrusty Playmate in vivid configuration for the first time afrer owning C3 for about 3 weeks. Tbh I wanted the Playmate to be as good or almost as good as the bigger brother. I was thinking I might keep the cheaper one and sell the more expensive one with litlle or no loss (had a good deal with preorder)
I have connected both of them at once to my work PC and started to compare. C3XP was with ballanced hp out, tried to volume match as close as I could. I was listening to my ZMF Eikon with suede Auteur pads.
I would say that the sound signature is rather close, neutral, but with added a little bit of a musicality to it. So, is it worth to upgreade? Unfortunately yes. Without any doubt. I cannot see any downside with C3, bass goes deaper, has more textures (or how to describe it), it is noticeable with bass guitars etc. Slam (not looking at the sub bass) is about the same, maybe a bit stronger with C3? Mids are just a bit more natural, bit more emotions here with C3. Highs have just a bit more information, but not more fatiguing. So they're close but the bigger brother does EVERYTHING just a bit better. I can feel the bigger sound stage, more air, better separation and better detail. Just a bit in everything. Well worth it in my opinion!
Not a scientific comparison, but it was so obvious to me (and my friend from work, he have had exact same thoughts), that after just 18 minute comparison I have made a sell add of my playmate and it is already gone.
Great amp, well done Burson!
I know a good otl amp will complement it with a wormer, more mid focused presentation, will probably buy one to change the flavour sometimes

I cannot disagree with that One obvious thing for me is that Playmate does push vocals quite a bit closer and much more emphasized while C3XP has them more "blended" into the midrange. That itself gives a feeling of more spacious soundstage but even without it, the C3XP has more air, better layering and separation in every direction. I can feel it especially with HD800S which sound a lot better Playmate is a great device but C3XP outperforms it in almost every aspect by quite a margin

 

[jarza]

Yes I agree with you about how it sounds its great. Its better than older Plays with many aspects but that vocals are blended much more to the sound and I personally like it bit forward. My HD660s sound feels like it blend too much. Gonna order some Dekoni Audio Elite Hybrid pads to try chance my HD660s sound signature somewhat if thats give me sound I prefer more or I need to buy new headphones and try to find what I like.

 

[E8ArmyDiver]

PS: does anyone know what the 4 little chips in the transparent box are for?
These are the standard opamps, you can use them instead of the V6 Vivids duals, that are inside

Regarding the Standard Op Amps included,are these the ones referred to as "Classic"?

 

[jarza]

Regarding the Standard Op Amps included,are these the ones referred to as "Classic"?

No. Those are just basic cheap IC op-amps. Classic are same looking than Vivid but color is orange on those.

 

[Vaiet]

No. Those are just basic cheap IC op-amps. Classic are same looking than Vivid but color is orange on those.

Classics are red, Vivids are orange

 

[pbarach]

Question about the volume control: I have a Burson HA-160 with a stepped attenuator volume control. The steps are too big! I'm always dialing it up, then back down when it's too loud. So is there any such problem with the various Conductor 3 models?

 

[C-Bass]

Question about the volume control: I have a Burson HA-160 with a stepped attenuator volume control. The steps are too big! I'm always dialing it up, then back down when it's too loud. So is there any such problem with the various Conductor 3 models?

The burson play has this issue as well. I reached out to burson before I bought my 3xp and they assured me it had a more refined volume steps and it does. On the play most headphones were ear bleeding at 20. For many headphones 1 was too loud depending on the headphones. I got around this a bit by using the ifi earbuddy to attenuate the signal but I sill didn't have much volume play.

For the 3xp there is more room to adjust volume in low gain. I am listening to the Aeon 2 closed right now at 30 out of 99 on low gain via the single ended. Balanced and single ended high gain with the Aeon 2 simply too loud. Balanced low gain I usually settle around 15. So in low gain yes you have much more fine control over the volume.

I still haven't found a headphone I would listen on high gain. It's simply too much. HE500 too much, HD580, and LSA HP2 I use low gain for all. However if Headfonia's review is to believed it can push the Susvara and the HE6SE so I assume high gain is pretty much reserved for exclusive hard to drive headphones.

 

[up late]

Does anybody know where Burson Audio products are manufactured? I know they are designed in Australia, but are they actually made there?

i enquired with burson audio about this some time ago. they said that they are assembled in melbourne.

 

[MIR05LAV]

Classics are red, Vivids are orange

It is the other way round vivids
-red, classic - orange