I'm not a Gustard H10 user but I use a EE Minimax Plus and come to this thread to get some information on op-amp rolling as well. You guys aren't the only ones with issues with the Burson's melting. When I discovered that you guys were facing the same issues as myself, I started wondering if it's just a design problem with the Bursons and I have every reason to believe so. I went through 4 replacements,
with my last replacement lasting me all but 1 Minute before popping and crackling in one channel. Prompting me to pop the lid to find yet another melted opamp. I eventually got a full refund (Credit to Burson for offering me that option) on my Burson opamps and put that money towards the Sparkos Labs. These just came in the mail today and let me tell you, they just sound wonderful.
Compared to the Bursons, the Sparkos 3602 are more balanced, with a lot more natural presentation of the music. Passages of music i'm familiar with for crossing the line into the hot spot of harshness is now completely relaxed. I found myself anticipating the same hardness in the music, causing my ears to reel back a little but when hit with the immaculate sound the 3602's provide, my brain can't help but feel a little bit confused as I slowly adjust to this new sound, putting a smile on my face. The Sparko's are a lot smoother than the Burson V5's. Instruments and voices of the Sparkos have a lot more solidity about them compared to the Bursons. These are my early impressions of the Sparko's units that have yet to burn-in completely (only have about 1 hour of playback on them so far) so make what you will of this. But I swear I've been so frustrated with the Burson's failing (MELTING) over and over again that I feel the need to let you guys know that there are other offerings such as those from Sparko's that are extremely viable and in my use case, preferable.
I really have to thank Andrew Sparks of Sparkos Labs for his extremely wonderful customer service, taking time to share his knowledge on op-amp rolling and chit-chatting about other stuff as well. Throughout our conversation, I didn't feel as if he was trying to push me to try his product at all and I appreciate salesmen like that very much. If you're interested in his devices, don't be afraid to contact Andrew with whatever questions you might have. I'm sure he'll afford you the same customer service he so graciously afforded me.
I am in no way affiliated to Sparkos Labs. I just felt like I could relate to a bunch of you with all the burson opamps failing and what not and felt the need to share my experience with the sparkos 3602.
Check out the monstrosity.
With this damage occurring in only a minute of use, I think it's safe to say that this was a "lemon" or, perhaps, a "habanero." It evidences an absence of quality control, that it could leave the factory unable to operate for even 60 seconds.
See zachO's clarification in his post, below.
In my limited experience,
only one out of four Burson V5 Duals delivered to me has actually arrived without defects.
A 75% failure rate, new in the box, combined with great customer service, still translates to a big hassle,
but I so very much love the sound.
I had incorrectly concluded, awhile back, that the Sparkos op-amps have too large a footprint to fit inside my amp, where the Bursons are already a tight fit, front to rear, even on an extra DIP8 extender to allow clearance above another row of buffer op-amps, just in front of them. A row of gain jumpers sit behind the Bursons.
Par for the course, it seems, I've discovered
a documentation error in the Burson V5 datasheet: It gives the dimensions of the V5 as follows:
Width 14.5mm
Depth 12.4mm
Height 29mm
If you're looking at the logo side of the Burson V5, which most people would consider as the
front of the op-amp, the
Width is 12.4mm and the
Depth is 14.5mm.
The Width could only be described as 14.5mm, as stated in the Burson datasheet, when looking at either of the two
sides of the op-amp, not when looking at the logo (the front) or at the notched rear of the op-amp.
Why am I pointing this out?
Prior to this morning's discovery of Burson's documentation blunder, I had concluded that there is not enough room inside my amp to use the Sparkos SS3602, which, assuming
their documentation is accurate (until proven otherwise), has
a Width of 13.75mm and a
Depth of 15.0mm.
I hadn't even considered trialing the Sparkos op-amps because, having trusted the erroneous Burson documentation instead of measuring the V5s myself, the Sparkos op-amp was allegedly 2.6mm
deeper than the Burson op-amp - at 15.0mm vs. the Burson's confused figure of 12.4mm.
So, with the realization that the Sparkos SS3602 Dual is actually only 0.5 mm deeper than the Burson V5 Dual, I've just ordered a pair of them. $164.50 for two, including the $5.00 flat shipping fee. Hopefully, they will fit.
Thanks for your recommendation (which encouraged me to revisit the dimension specs.)
Mike
