[jump_man95]

Okay, so I definitely need someone's help now. I tried contacting burson, all I got was a response saying they would get back to me, and then absolutely nothing.

I ordered the sparkos SS3602 dual op amps and wanted to swap them into the input stage.

I tried to be careful, I let the burson stay on for a full day before measuring. When I finally did measure I got around 60mv of DC offset on the xlr and single ended out. That seemed way off to me as I heard earlier in the thread that I should measure 1-5mv stock.

So I started turning the blue trim pots on the burson to see if I could lower it. I turned them to the left, and mv went up, so I turned them to the right, it started going down, but then I couldn't seem to get it any lower than 30mv. I turned some of them back to the left and eventually was able to measure around 17mv on both channels through both xlr and single ended.

When I plugged in headphones, the small pop I would always hear was now almost completely gone. "This is a good thing" I thought. So I then swapped in the sparkos and mv was measuring about the same. Started listening, and things were fine. Then I swapped back to the V6 vivids and things were also fine. But I did now hear a very small pop again when plugging in.

I swapped to the sparkos one last time, and this time as soon as I plugged in there was a very loud pop in the right driver! I unplugged the headphones and measured again, left channel was now suddenly changing quickly from 0-10mv and back again, while right channel measured 28 VOLTS! Not 28 millivolts, 28 VOLTS!

I just remeasured again, and now suddenly things seem fine, both channels are around 20mv. What the hell is happening and what do I do to fix this? Burson has not responded to my emails other than saying they would get back to me when I first emailed them 2 weeks ago.

 

[jump_man95]

Okay, so I definitely need someone's help now. I tried contacting burson, all I got was a response saying they would get back to me, and then absolutely nothing.

I ordered the sparkos SS3602 dual op amps and wanted to swap them into the input stage.

I tried to be careful, I let the burson stay on for a full day before measuring. When I finally did measure I got around 60mv of DC offset on the xlr and single ended out. That seemed way off to me as I heard early in the thread that I should measure 1-5mv stock.

So I started turning the blue trim pots on the burson to see if I could lower it. I turned them to the left, and mv went up, so I turned them to the right, it started going down, but then I couldn't seem to get it any lower than 30mv. I turned some of them back to the left and eventually was able to measure around 17mv on both channels through both xlr and single ended.

When I plugged in headphones, the small pop I would always hear was now almost completely gone. "This is a good thing" I thought. So I then swapped in the sparkos and mv was measuring about the same. Started listening, and things were fine. Then I swapped back to the V6 vivids and things were also fine. But I did now hear a very small pop again when plugging in.

I swapped to the sparkos one last time, and this time as soon as I plugged in there was a very loud pop in the right driver! I unplugged the headphones and measured again, left channel was now suddenly changing quickly from 0-10mv and back again, while right channel measured 28 VOLTS! Not 28 millivolts, 28 VOLTS!

I just remeasured again, and now suddenly things seem fine, both channels are around 20mv. What the hell is happening and what do I do to fix this? Burson has not responded to my emails other than saying they would get back to me when I first emailed them 2 weeks ago.

Quick update, switched back to the vivids, and everything is fine. But when I swap to the sparkos ss3602, for the first 30 seconds or so, everything is measuring normally 17-20mv. Then suddenly the left channel begins fluctuating wildly again and right channel still measures at 28volts. I've messaged Sparkos labs for a replacement set of op amps.

Got to say though, this really just makes me love my Sennheiser HD 6XX even more. They are such troopers, absolute tanks! They've survived years of use/abuse, two bad bicycle accidents and now 28 volts pumped through them and they still sound as good as the day I bought them some 5 years ago now.

 

[550591]

Quick update, switched back to the vivids, and everything is fine. But when I swap to the sparkos ss3602, for the first 30 seconds or so, everything is measuring normally 17-20mv. Then suddenly the left channel begins fluctuating wildly again and right channel still measures at 28volts. I've messaged Sparkos labs for a replace set of op amps.

Got to say though, this really just makes me love my Sennheiser HD 6XX even more. They are such troopers, absolute tanks! They've survived years of use/abuse, two bad bicycle accidents and now 28 volts pumped through them and they still sound as good as the day I bought them some 4 or 5 years ago now.

That would absolutely freak me out. Imagine using "expensive" Headphones with the amp.. and suddenly "pop" and that's that.

 

[jump_man95]

That would absolutely freak me out. Imagine using "expensive" Headphones with the amp.. and suddenly "pop" and that's that.

Yep, normally I'm using my Hifiman Arya with the burson. But I was afraid something like this might happen, so I used ol' reliable

 

[jump_man95]

Quick update, switched back to the vivids, and everything is fine. But when I swap to the sparkos ss3602, for the first 30 seconds or so, everything is measuring normally 17-20mv. Then suddenly the left channel begins fluctuating wildly again and right channel still measures at 28volts. I've messaged Sparkos labs for a replace set of op amps.

Got to say though, this really just makes me love my Sennheiser HD 6XX even more. They are such troopers, absolute tanks! They've survived years of use/abuse, two bad bicycle accidents and now 28 volts pumped through them and they still sound as good as the day I bought them some 4 or 5 years ago now.

SOLUTION FOUND:

The stock by vivids fit into the op amp sockets much more securely than the Sparkos op-amps. Thinking it may just be a simple connection issue, I bent the pins out slightly, and now everything is working fine!

Also, Andrew Sparkos is flipping amazing. Super fast response, helped me in troubleshooting what was going wrong. Great guy.

 

[betula]

SOLUTION FOUND:

The stock by vivids fit into the op amp sockets much more securely than the Sparkos op-amps. Thinking it may just be a simple connection issue, I bent the pins out slightly, and now everything is working fine!

Also, Andrew Sparkos is flipping amazing. Super fast response, helped me in troubleshooting what was going wrong. Great guy.

It has been an interesting read. I never moved my stock Vivid opamps and I am not even sure what all this measuring history means.
All I know is that I have been enjoying my 3XP for a year now with the 3A supercharger without any issues.

 

[David222]

It has been an interesting read. I never moved my stock Vivid opamps and I am not even sure what all this measuring history means.
All I know is that I have been enjoying my 3XP for a year now with the 3A supercharger without any issues.

100% Agree. One of the best AMPs on the market - from a highly reputable manufacturer.

 

[Sam Spade]

So does the Conductor 3x Reference have power amp mode? I bought mine a while ago, not long after they were first released.

 

[jump_man95]

They fit out of the box... err bag. I ordered dip socket risers along with mine but ended up not using them.

This was not my experience. Yes, the sparkos ss3602 can be made to fit. But out of the bag, they were very loose in the socket, and because they didn't fit securely inside, it caused 28 whopping volts to be passed into my headphones right driver with a very loud pop.

 

[betula]

This was not my experience. Yes, the sparkos ss3602 can be made to fit. But out of the bag, they were very loose in the socket, and because they didn't fit securely inside, it caused 28 whopping volts to be passed into my headphones right driver with a very loud pop.

I wonder if Burson will reconsider their swappable op-amp design with their next generation of amps.

 

[sawindra]

use an extra dip8 socket with sparkos or better, those extension leads... also thinking the extension leads will be better for heat dissipation...maybe i am wrong--

 

[jump_man95]

use an extra dip8 socket with sparkos or better, those extension leads... also thinking the extension leads will be better for heat dissipation...maybe i am wrong--

Using an extra dip8 socket is probably the best option as opposed to bending the pins. But I wonder how difficult it would be to find one with small enough openings to fit the sparkos snuggly, while having big enough pins to plug securely into the burson.

I'll have to look into it sometime later though, just sent everything over to Amirm at audio science review to do a review on it!

 

[TheFrator]

So is there a general consensus on whether the Soloist should be used in headphone power amp mode or not?

 

[Slade01]

So is there a general consensus on whether the Soloist should be used in headphone power amp mode or not?

I think the consensus is that it depends on your headphones and what it needs to be driven to its potential. I have a pair of HE-6se cans and they love the extra juice from power amp mode. It's one of the reasons I bought the Soloist for, short of running these cans straight off a regular stereo power amp. But maybe not all headphones would be suited for that.

 

[David222]

So is there a general consensus on whether the Soloist should be used in headphone power amp mode or not?

Just an FYI, you can use the search bar at the top of the page to "search" this thread / research a general question. There is a lot of helpful information on Headphone mode.

Check out @betula post #1,568 and my post #2,373

As with most things in this hobby...it really comes down to personal preference, individual setups / gear in your chain.

What headphone(s) and DAC are you using?

I think the consensus is that it depends on your headphones and what it needs to be driven to its potential. I have a pair of HE-6se cans and they love the extra juice from power amp mode. It's one of the reasons I bought the Soloist for, short of running these cans straight off a regular stereo power amp. But maybe not all headphones would be suited for that.

100% Agree. Headphone mode is an enormous benefit of the Soloist 3XP. However, the MUSE/Pot also does incredible depending on headphone/pairing