[roker]

Quote:

BUMP
 
I have the Burson HA-160D paired with the AKG K702 and am about to pull the trigger on the Sennheiser HD800. I notice you also have the HD800 and was wondering how you rate them with the Burson.

 
ummmm .... isn't the first post all about how the amp sounds with the HD800?
 
 
 

 

[cdang]

My bad, I thought it was the 650 only.

 

[buson160man]

I read that you were going to buy a senheiser hd800.Before you do that i would suggest you try the audeze lcd-2 rev 2 first.You may find it to be a preferable choice for less cost.I bought a lcd-2 rev2 about three months ago and have been using the burson ha160 to drive them and the sound is just amazing.I must add that i am using a kubala sosna emotion power cord on the burson and have upgraded the stock fuse on the burson with a hifi tuning silver star small 5a fast blow.I must say that the upgraded power cord and fuse improved the sound of the amp in every performance area.The dynamics are much more pronounced.The noise floor is much lower and with the lower noise floor low level resolution of the amp was noticeably improved.The power cord upgrade improved the dimensional aspect of music.The sound seems imho to have greater depth and the sound of the space that good recordings are made in sounds much more real.There also imho to be alot more information on recordings that i was never aware of that have surfaced when i am using the audeze with the burson using the upgraded power cord and fuse. 

 

[MacedonianHero]

Just got this very peculiar email from Burson regarding the power output into both 50 ohms and 300 ohms:
 
"Thanks for your question and email.
 
1. at 50 ohm the HA-160 will deliver 200mw and at 300ohm it will deliver 80mw
2. output impedance is 5.6 ohm.
 
Please let me know if you have further questions."
 
I thought they did 800mW into 50ohms, but even on their website its showing the HA-160 as only 250mW MAX.
 
http://bursonaudio.com/burson_headamp_160.htm
 
Yikes.

 

[pbarach]

I've had an HA-160 for several months now, replacing a HeadRoom MicroAmp. I have AKG K702 phones. Break-in of ~100 hours smoothed the treble and brought deeper  and tighter bass (as much bass as you can get with the K702s). I am very happy with the sound I'm getting. There is plenty of detail. Although the sound is not dry, it does reveal grainy treble on bad digital recordings. I have no problem with that--either I listen to that CD with less revealing equipment or I get a better-recorded performance of the same piece (I listen almost exclusively to classical).

 

[misformatt]

Quote:

Just got this very peculiar email from Burson regarding the power output into both 50 ohms and 300 ohms:
 
"Thanks for your question and email.
 
1. at 50 ohm the HA-160 will deliver 200mw and at 300ohm it will deliver 80mw
2. output impedance is 5.6 ohm.
 
Please let me know if you have further questions."
 
I thought they did 800mW into 50ohms, but even on their website its showing the HA-160 as only 250mW MAX.
 
http://bursonaudio.com/burson_headamp_160.htm
 
Yikes.

These were the specs listed when I bought my HA-160 a while back (and also my HA-160D last year):
 
 

[size=small]Specifications[/size]

[size=medium] [size=x-small]Input impedance: 47 KOhms[/size][/size]
[size=medium] [size=x-small]Frequency response: 5Hz (-0.3dB) to 35 kHz (-1dB)[/size][/size]
[size=medium] [size=x-small]Signal to noise ratio: >98dB at 0dB gain[/size][/size]
[size=medium] [size=x-small]THD: <0.001% at 6mW/300 Ohms[/size][/size]
[size=medium] [size=x-small]Channel separation: >70dB/10kHz[/size][/size]
[size=medium] [size=x-small]Output power: 650mW/300 Ohms, 800mW/60 Ohms[/size][/size]
[size=medium] [size=x-small]Output impedance: line out 60 Ohms, phones out 5 Ohms[/size][/size]
[size=medium]  [/size]
[size=x-small]Their revised output power adds the caveat of 250mw @ <1% distortion.  [/size]
[size=small]I've never found my Burson to be short on power, even with the power hungry HE-6, but the new quoted figures are dramatically lower than once claimed.[/size]

 

[lugnut]

Can anyone confirm the Burson has dropped the output power from 800mw @ 60 ohms and
650mw @ 300 ohms to 200mw @ 50 ohms and 80mw @ 300 ohms ?
I did send a email to Burson Audio on 2/24/12 asking this question, have not received a reply.
Thanks for any help

 

[jackwess]

Quote:

Can anyone confirm the Burson has dropped the output power from 800mw @ 60 ohms and
650mw @ 300 ohms to 200mw @ 50 ohms and 80mw @ 300 ohms ?
I did send a email to Burson Audio on 2/24/12 asking this question, have not received a reply.
Thanks for any help

Why would they do this?

 

[misformatt]

The email they sent me indicated that the power output hasn't changed, it has just been revised to reflect levels below the 1% THD threshold.    So it may very well put out the kind of power previously quoted but at >1% THD.  The Burson straddles an odd line between solid-state and tube amps, as its opamps tend to have much higher distortion than most solid-state fare, but that's also why some people find it so analog/musical.  

 

[appletree]

I am more or less decided on upgrading from HD 595 to Q701 (after auditioning to K701 this weekend) and since my amp is not adequate I also intend to buy a new amp to complement them. After reading positive feedback about x702 + HA-160 synergy I am very tempted to add seriousness to my home rig and go for it.  Yet I would be glad if someone could help me clarify few things:
 
1.) Can the HA-160 (just the amp not the version with DAC) be used in close proximity to the PC ? And by that I mean a big desktop with powerful GPU, big mechanical HDDs etc. (not a laptop) within let's say 30 cm off the amp ? If not what would you say is the safe distance ? (ideally if someone from Europe could comment on that in case that different US AC specs could make a difference)
 
2.) Assuming that treble on K701 (with unknown burn-in time on them) is too harsh and offensive for my liking, is it justified to assume that just switching to Q701 and HA-160 (all properly burned in) will make the treble harshness disappear (i.e. make them pleasantly non-fatiguing instead) and will also pop up the mids more ? Is HA-160 among the most suited amps (in its price range) to get rid of the harshness and get fuller mids out of Q701 ?
 
PS: as you can imagine coming from HD 595 I have very little experience with high-end gear, amps etc. so not sure what to expect.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

I am more or less decided on upgrading from HD 595 to Q701 (after auditioning to K701 this weekend) and since my amp is not adequate I also intend to buy a new amp to complement them. After reading positive feedback about x702 + HA-160 synergy I am very tempted to add seriousness to my home rig and go for it.  Yet I would be glad if someone could help me clarify few things:
 
1.) Can the HA-160 (just the amp not the version with DAC) be used in close proximity to the PC ? And by that I mean a big desktop with powerful GPU, big mechanical HDDs etc. (not a laptop) within let's say 30 cm off the amp ? If not what would you say is the safe distance ? (ideally if someone from Europe could comment on that in case that different US AC specs could make a difference)
 
2.) Assuming that treble on K701 (with unknown burn-in time on them) is too harsh and offensive for my liking, is it justified to assume that just switching to Q701 and HA-160 (all properly burned in) will make the treble harshness disappear (i.e. make them pleasantly non-fatiguing instead) and will also pop up the mids more ? Is HA-160 among the most suited amps (in its price range) to get rid of the harshness and get fuller mids out of Q701 ?
 
PS: as you can imagine coming from HD 595 I have very little experience with high-end gear, amps etc. so not sure what to expect.

 
 
 
 
1. = Yes
 
2. = Yes to my ears - However, you have to make the final detention with your ears.

 

[appletree]

Thanks, can't wait to test it myself

 

[buson160man]

  I have had my ha-160 for some time and have made several tweaks over that period.I first tried a fuse upgrade to a gold hifi tuning fuse which did improve things.From the gold I moved to the silver star fuse from hifi tuning and things improved further yet.I eventually moved to the hi-fi tuning supreme fuse which improved things further yet especially the dynamics of the amplifier as well as low level information which became much more apparent on everything I played back on the ha-160 amp.
  I read in one of the replies that the burson is sensitive to power cords used with it.With the stock cord the amp sounds ok but tends to sound somewhat warmer than neutral which has been mentioned before.I have used several power cords ranging from a pangea to the latest cord I am presently using the nordost brahma power cord.I mentioned the pangea which I really did not care for but the ac14 was only about 30 dollars.I moved from the pangea to a kubala sosna emotion which like the nordost is hideously expensive especially when used on a headphone amp I only paid about 700 dollars for when I bought it.But I only tried it because I already had a couple of them in my speaker based system.The emotion is a good cord although quite pricey.I used it for awhile.I was browsing the emotiva website when I saw they offered power cords and for a reasonable price.They were only about 70 dollars at the time and that was for a two meter power cord.So I thought I would give one a shot.Well I bought one and was very surprised that it worked somewhat better than the emotion in my set up. it was more neutral sounding with the burson and the sound seemed to be somewhat tighter with the burson.I was using the emotiva with the burson for a while and was very happy with it.I was browsing the music direct website when I eyed the nordost brahma which music direct was clearing out at half price I must have been nuts but I bought one for about 700 dollars(only one meter though, ouch!!!!). I tried it first in my speaker based system on my cd player and then on the amp.The cord did not sound good at all at first.The salesperson at music direct said the cord takes a inordinately long time before it breaks in so I took a chance and kept it hoping it would bloom and work in my set up.Well it took quite awhile and believe me at at times I thought the cord would be a bust for my set up.Well it did improve some but not in all categories.It seems to be a very dynamic sounding power cord.It also is very quiet and seems to lower the noise floor on whatever it is used on.Soundstage does not seem to be one of its strong points at least in my set ups.It also seems to work better on solid state equipment than on tube equiment.I eventually tried it on my headphone amps.Here again it worked better on my solid state amp than on my tube amp.With the burson it really seemed to perform up to its elevated price level.It really tightened the burson amps tendancy to sound a bit warmer than neutral.Of course the supreme fuse was also along with the brahma largely responsible for the resultant sound.The balance seems to be just about right on the burson now not beeing too bright and not beeing too warm.I was using the brahma into a straight power strip at first when in one of my conversations with another headfier he had said he found that the nordost power cable he had worked a lot better when plugged straight into the wall.So I hooked up my ha-160 with the nordost brahma straight into the wall like he had suggested.Wowwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what a differnce that made.Things were so much more resolute the dynamics were zowie!!!!!!!!!!!!.Everything was much clearer with respect to detail. The details on everything played through it seem to be much more apparent.This upgrade was anything but subtle.I have never heard my ha-160 sound anywhere near this good before.I have lcd2 v2s and akg 701s and both have never sounded as good as they do now in my set up.
  I know the nordost is obscenely expensive but with the burson ha-160 I feel it is paying its dues.

 

[stainless824]

wow the formatting is confusing. would you mind editing it?

 

[stainless824]

oh, you used a high dollar power cable and it improved sound. power conditioners also help but usually their prohibitive prices aren't worth the marginal difference