[raoultrifan]

I noticed that it's no longer a 5 year warranty but a 2 year warranty :/

Anyone dealing with BURSON already knows that their custom obsession is way ahead other companies and that they go above and beyond their obligations, so I'm positive that they'll continue to do that for fellow audiophiles regardless of warranty terms. Feel free to contact BURSON if any technical issues will occur after warranty expiration and see how they'll help you. I'm sure we'll all be here after 2 years, so...let's see if and what kind of technical issues will occur and how BURSON will deal with its customers.

I am confident that they'll find a way to solve this issue with distributors, but if not, I won't make a huge case out of it; after all this is the only company that sent me a fully populated board without asking the broken one in exchange (and I've seen at least other 6 head-fiers where the warranty was done in the same manner). That was quite money saving here and customer satisfaction went to the max.

P.S.: I still have a lemon Chromecast Audio purchased at 30 USD from US. It got bricked on the first firmware update that was automatically done immediately after connecting it to the computer. Shipping the item in US costs more than the actual price of the device and Google is not willing to send me another Chromecast without getting the broken one in exchange, even if I've sent them not manipulated photos and videos with the bricked device and detailed logs as well. That is not customer obsession for sure!

 

[atmfrank]

I couldn't agree more. I had a defective volume control on a used/second-hand purchased V2+. Burson could have decided to ignore my request, but they didn't. They send the replacement part and got the issue resolved. By doing so, they won a new customer.

 

[up late]

Anyone dealing with BURSON already knows that their custom obsession is way ahead other companies and that they go above and beyond their obligations, so I'm positive that they'll continue to do that for fellow audiophiles regardless of warranty terms. Feel free to contact BURSON if any technical issues will occur after warranty expiration and see how they'll help you. I'm sure we'll all be here after 2 years, so...let's see if and what kind of technical issues will occur and how BURSON will deal with its customers.

I am confident that they'll find a way to solve this issue with distributors, but if not, I won't make a huge case out of it; after all this is the only company that sent me a fully populated board without asking the broken one in exchange (and I've seen at least other 6 head-fiers where the warranty was done in the same manner). That was quite money saving here and customer satisfaction went to the max.

P.S.: I still have a lemon Chromecast Audio purchased at 30 USD from US. It got bricked on the first firmware update that was automatically done immediately after connecting it to the computer. Shipping the item in US costs more than the actual price of the device and Google is not willing to send me another Chromecast without getting the broken one in exchange, even if I've sent them not manipulated photos and videos with the bricked device and detailed logs as well. That is not customer obsession for sure!

as i have responded to your post in the New, Fully Balanced Burson Conductor 3X: Dual ESS9038, 7.5wpc XLR, 3.75wpc SE Headamp, Changeable Opamps thread, i might as well do it here for the sake of completeness.

the concern which has been raised doesn't relate to the quality of burson audio's customer service (which isn't in question), but its decision to provide a two year warranty for the two new conductor models when it used to offer a five year warranty for previous conductor models. what i find particularly odd is that burson audio is still providing a five year warranty for its current lower tier models. as i've said, i would be interested in knowing what burson audio's explanation is for this apparent discrepancy.

 

[andrewjamesdean]

as i have responded to your post in the New, Fully Balanced Burson Conductor 3X: Dual ESS9038, 7.5wpc XLR, 3.75wpc SE Headamp, Changeable Opamps thread, i might as well do it here for the sake of completeness.

the concern which has been raised doesn't relate to the quality of burson audio's customer service (which isn't in question), but its decision to provide a two year warranty for the two new conductor models when it used to offer a five year warranty for previous conductor models. what i find particularly odd is that burson audio is still providing a five year warranty for its current lower tier models. as i've said, i would be interested in knowing what burson audio's explanation is for this apparent discrepancy.

The box that my CRef3 came in very clearly states a 5 year warranty

 

[Eiffel]

The site says 2 years and it's not their first product having a 2 years warranty.
Conductor Air had the same. I have one.

Probably they don't intend to produce to many or for a long period of time.
Conductor Air was phased out after a year.

 

[up late]

The box that my CRef3 came in very clearly states a 5 year warranty

that's welcome news. however, burson audio's website currently states two years warranty for both the conductor 3 and 3x, so they should correct it.

i had the opportunity to briefly try the conductor 3 (c3) at my local dealer today. it looks sleeker than its predecessor with its lower profile and rounded corners. i liked the look and feel of the ribbed casing but i suspect that it could be a dust catcher. while i prefer the design of the volume/selector knob on the c3 to the cv2+, it felt a bit rickety. the c3's oled volume display also seemed "laggy" compared to the cv2+. i won't comment on the sound beyond saying that i didn't notice any obvious differences between the cv3 and cv2+ while i was auditioning headphones.

 

[buson160man]

After reading the blog about bursons conductor 3. I just checked the burson web site and they do show the conductor3s warranty period as 2 years. I have to read some more comments on this blog. How can they show a warranty period of 2 years on their website and have a 5 year warranty period boldly shown on the box it came in? has anyone contacted burson and inquired about the discrepancy of warranty period between their website and the product box it is shipped in. I ordered mine in September and got it in October. I am wondering what is going on in the burson marketing department these days. When I ordered mine they had no indication of any impending release of the conductor x . They should have shown that they were going to release a balance version of the conductor 3 when you ordered the single ended version so you have a choice. Especially since burson has never released any balanced version of anything before.

 

[up late]

^ why don't you contact burson audio via its website?

my local dealer didn't know that burson audio had released the conductor 3x until i mentioned it. he then checked the website and appeared surprised to see it there.

 

[atmfrank]

A lot bickering going on here about the 3X (XLR) version and warranty periods. And perhaps it seems Burson doesn't have their act together. On the other hand, how many high-end gear manufacturers offer a 5 yr warranty? Perhaps they recognized it is time for a change because it doesn't scale for a business that wants to grow. A 5 yr guaranteed warranty is hard to maintain and a pretty darn long time by any imagination. Let's take a look at high-end mobile manufactures and what lousy warranty services being offered there, even for $1000 price tags. I also don't think Burson has a big "Marketing" department. It's more likely that they have a part-web site designer who is a little behind updating the website.

And now the mystery about the "why XLR" question is solved, because of the marketing arrangement with LCD. Yes, I agree, it should have been handled better and more proactively.

 

[atmfrank]

I am actually more interested in talking about the usability of the Conductor. For my humble setup, it has become the heart of my living room audio. USB input is from a dedicated Win 10 machine, which carries various playback applications, but mainly I use Foobar2000. The COAX input is used for a Raspberry/DigiOne at 192K upsampled rate. The RPI is running LMS which is remote-controlled and can also support multi-room (Google Audio in bed-room tied to a Bose Waveradio....sorry..). The sound quality of the DigiOne is nothing short of excellent when coupled with the V3 and the right cable. I use it mostly for free hi-res streaming radio stations, but it also plays my local FLAC and DSD sources from the NAS.

Best sounding, most reliable setup: USB/Foobar2k/DSD256 upsample for all non-DSD sources.

Then there are two RCA inputs, which makes the V3 extremely flexible. I have an older MacCormack pre-amp with a decent phono pre-amp stage. The pre-amp feeds the (unbuffered) output directly into RCA1 of the V3. In the past, there was a noticeable difference between vinyl sources and the same music digitized using another 9018 DAC or the older V2+. Now with the V3 in the setup, that difference has shrunk dramatically. The liveliness of vinyl is now present in the V3 when compared with FLAC/DSD. The RCA2 input is used for pet projects, which is currently another RPI with an Allo Piano/Kali/Volumio DAC setup.

I like the visual simplicity, amazing sound quality, flexibility, small footprint of the V3 as the core of everything I operate. Everyone has a different style, but my goal is to keep the living room clutter-free (and cable-free) as much as possible and the audio experience at a very high standard.

My apologies to the headphone forum readers. This is not exactly on topic. Cheers,

 

[up late]

A lot bickering going on here about the 3X (XLR) version and warranty periods. And perhaps it seems Burson doesn't have their act together. On the other hand, how many high-end gear manufacturers offer a 5 yr warranty? Perhaps they recognized it is time for a change because it doesn't scale for a business that wants to grow. A 5 yr guaranteed warranty is hard to maintain and a pretty darn long time by any imagination. Let's take a look at high-end mobile manufactures and what lousy warranty services being offered there, even for $1000 price tags. I also don't think Burson has a big "Marketing" department. It's more likely that they have a part-web site designer who is a little behind updating the website.

And now the mystery about the "why XLR" question is solved, because of the marketing arrangement with LCD. Yes, I agree, it should have been handled better and more proactively.

there's no "bickering going on here", unless you regard legitimate queries as such. can you please clarify what you mean by the xlr question being solved because of the marketing with lcd?

 

[atmfrank]

A Burson email arrived today, advertising a special promotion of the V3/LCD-3 with (and without) XLR. My guess, there is a commitment to producing an XLR version because of it.

 

[up late]

with respect, that's speculation on your part

 

[DarKu]

I'll just leave it here

 

[atmfrank]

Question: DPLL settings. Do they impact the listening experience on the V3? And if so, noticeably?

My default setup involves upsampling all sources in Foobar to DSD256, to allow for more control over the conversion process. (I also experimented with HQplayer, but found it too cumbersome for day2day use). Since the V3 is my first ES9038 based DAC, I wonder if it still makes sense to software upsample before hitting the DAC. When sending DSD256 to the V3, I have to set DPLL DSD to High (Med = white hiss, Low = frequent drops, Off = no lock). Even with the High setting, I experience white hiss occasionally.

No problems with DSD128 and DPLL DSD=med

Hardware: Dell i7->Jitterbug->AQ Carbon 1m->V3

I will start more A/B (upsample/no upsample - DPLL lo-hi) listening sessions soon to see if one or the other playback method makes a difference. So far, default upsampling of every of my FLAC sources, has resulted in excellent results of sq, but at the presumed cost of DPLL=high. I was also lurking in the L.K.S Audio MH-DA004 forums where folks are discussing this. Some people claim a DPLL low setting improves the sound.

I also noticed a slight flicker of the icon (music note) next to the DSD symbol and I wonder if this is an indicator of locking issues with DSD256. No flicker when playing DSD64 sources (DSD processor set to direct).