[mudguardiain]

I have added the supercharger to my Soloist 3X & it makes a worth while improvement, same sound but everything just a little clearer, hearing micro details better, really happy I made the purchase, would no go back to the original supply. Also, I have a pair of LCD-3 & this amp really brings the best out of them, compared to when I first time I heard the LCD-3 through lesser amps, this amp can make a significant improvement. I use a silver cable from cosmic cables which also helped & recently swapped to the new style ear pads from Audeze, these also improve sound by lifting the upper mids & lower treble giving a clearer sound. I was tempted to sell the LCD-3 but currently I am more than happy & really engaging with my music on this set up, Melco N1A,Chord Qutest & Soloist 3X. I may consider getting some ZMF Verite in the future but for now I would rather invest my money in more music

 

[realmassy]

Probably a long shot, has anyone compared the Conductor with the Violectric V590 or the SPL Phonitor XE, as all in one solution?

 

[Slim1970]

Probably a long shot, has anyone compared the Conductor with the Violectric V590 or the SPL Phonitor XE, as all in one solution?

This would be a good comparison indeed!

 

[Dramlin]

For anyone who has tried the Sparkos opamps, do they fit into the C3R as-is, or do you need to use extenders? Thinking of picking up 2 SS3602 and 2 SS3601's, but I can't seem to get confirmation that they will fit without any issues.

 

[Dramlin]

For anyone who has tried the Sparkos opamps, do they fit into the C3R as-is, or do you need to use extenders? Thinking of picking up 2 SS3602 and 2 SS3601's, but I can't seem to get confirmation that they will fit without any issues.

To answer my own question, yes the Sparkos SS360X op amps do fit in the C3R case without any modifications or extensions needed.

 

[Dramlin]

My review is now posted:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/burson-conductor-3-reference.24053/review/26914/

Spoiler, it's a glowing review. I'm beyond happy with this headphone amplifier. Aside from trying out additional op amp configurations for curiosity, I'm done searching for a better sound. The C3R provides the sound I've been looking for all these years. Listening to some classical music last night actually made me teary eyed, just due to the emotional impact that the sound can bring. Awesome amp.

 

[PointyFox]

Just got the Burson Conductor 3R (V6 Vivid op amps, Rev. 2.5 internals) and compared it to my Topping D90SE/A90 stack.

The Topping's sound is a bit more...crispy? But it's also more compact and left/right/center sounds are more separate.
It sounds more like I'm listening to three distinct sound sources.

The Burson sounds a bit smoother and sounds spread out more, making more of a continuous sound field which sounds more natural to me.

I think I prefer the Burson.

No noise floor audible on the Focal Clear OG, but I can hear it on my IEMs. Does anyone know if the Burson Supercharger reduces it?

Also, does anyone's volume knob occasionally do the opposite thing? Like I'll scroll up, then once in a while it will go down a click, or if I'm scrolling down, it will occasionally go up a click, like maybe 1 out of every 10 or 20 bumps.

 

[Dramlin]

Also, does anyone's volume knob occasionally do the opposite thing? Like I'll scroll up, then once in a while it will go down a click, or if I'm scrolling down, it will occasionally go up a click, like maybe 1 out of every 10 or 20 bumps.

Yes, my volume knob has the same behavior.

No noise floor audible on the Focal Clear OG, but I can hear it on my IEMs. Does anyone know if the Burson Supercharger reduces it?

I too am wondering this. I see one review after another saying that the super charger 3A gives a blacker background, which I take to mean that the noise floor & hiss would be reduced. I can't find anyone conclusively saying that hiss is reduced with the super charger though.

 

[PointyFox]

Yeah, need to hope that they are ACTUALLY hearing a blacker background. The Burson website says it reduces noise, but is power supply noise even a factor in the noise floor? It may be inperceptable already.

 

[PointyFox]

Is this volume control behavior normal?

 

[Dramlin]

I'll defer to others, as I think we need a group consensus on what is normal there. Mine does the same but at probably 70-80% of the severity.

 

[buffalomatt]

FWIW Mine doesn’t do that

 

[Dramlin]

Onwards to some more op amps in the C3R. I won't be going in detail about these as they are all failures in my opinion only. Only listing them to save someone else the trouble of buying them only to find that they don't work as well as the stock setup. All op amps listed were combined with the V6 Vivids.

- Muses03 in the LP stage: Performance is close to the V6 Vivids, but with a lot less realism and details. Instrument reproduction seems a bit off/not quite right. Otherwise the sound is quite good. Of all the op amps I'm listing in this post, the Muses03 sounded the best.

- Burson V5i in the I/V stage: Noise floor is roughly doubled. Otherwise the sound quality is similar to the Muses03 setup with some different features.

- AD827SQ in the I/V stage: This op amp is my favorite IC op amp in the XDuoo XD-05+, so I was looking forward to trying it in the C3R. It fails spectacularly. Noise floor is multiplied several times, the sound stage collapses, and everything has a fuzzy overtone to it. It's obvious that this is unstable, and shouldn't go near the C3R.

- AD847SQ in the LP stage: This is the single version of the 827SQ. In the LP stage it seems stable, but still doesn't sound that great. Brighter than neutral, unrealistic sounding instruments, and a lack of detail compared to the V6 Vivids.


Next up in my op amp testing will probably be the Staccato op amps. I'm also tempted to try the Douk audio discretes, and some V6 classics for the I/V stage. If anyone knows of any other quality discrete op amps, let me know.

 

[EternalChampion]

Next up in my op amp testing will probably be the Staccato op amps. I'm also tempted to try the Douk audio discretes, and some V6 classics for the I/V stage. If anyone knows of any other quality discrete op amps, let me know.

The next real step from the Burson V6 has a name I can't see in your list.

It's called the 992enh-ticha for single and the 994enh-ticha for dual channel operation made by Sonic Imagery Labs, which I assume you have not heard about them so far. For very easy and flexible installation of those boards inside the Burson DAC you'll need the Burson 35mm extension leads or something similar.

I'm currently in the process of evaluating op-amps using the Conductor 3R.

For the time being I will only say that the SIL 992/994 are the THOROUGH next step from the already wonderful Burson V6 despite being decade old devices. I was in search of such an op-amp, something having both of its feet well placed onto the next step of the performance ladder and not just 1 or 1 and a half. Everything feels more clean and effortless. The 3D picture rendered is of higher quality. The sound is more mature, more complete...Even closer to perfection, if that's ever possible.

Give them around 150-200 hours of playing time and then switch between them and the V6 to hear what I'm talking about.

I also bought the Burson Supercharger 3A to replace the 10 Euro worth power brick that was shipped with the DAC. Again, even less "haze", better detail retrieval, more slam, more enjoyable!

This is some good stuff. My ear sensors are telling me that it's already good enough to stop here, but I know very well that this is not possible knowing that further improvement always awaits at the corner at a sensible cost.

Upgraditis is like an everlasting illness. In its trivial form, even though it's still bad for you it never becomes a real problem either!

 

[Dramlin]

Thank you! You've both made my day, and severely damaged my wallet.

I had looked at the 992/994's a couple of times, but had written them off since they wouldn't fit without some tinkering. Now that I know it's worth the try, I'll look at using either extensions or tiered adapters to make them fit. In your current setup (even if it's not final) are you using both the 992+994's, or are you combining one of those with a different op amp, like 992+V6 Duals?

As for the supercharger, it's only a matter of time until I get one. The C3R is my final headphone amp, I'm already completely happy with it, so I'm looking to push every aspect of it to the limit.