Burson Soloist 3XP Review (Headphone Amp)

[Wegi76]

Why would you need a HP amp if you have an ADI2?

I guess I read too much in internet forums that time and listened to the voices that promised better sound especially with Hifiman Aryas...Also I have some XLR-style headphone cables.. I did not have access to any measurement results that time and believed what was written there... Today I would not repeat this investment for sure.

But to be honest with you: I really cannot say anything negative about the sound. With my higher impedance headphones and mid gain there is no hiss audible. Sensitive IEMs are getting plugged into my ADI2 directly.

 

[Dmitri]

The funniest thing is how they boast 'It is the first headphone amp in the world that works so hard it needs active cooling.' As if this is somehow a good thing. They do seem to have addressed some of Amir's concerns with labelling the inputs and adding menu buttons etc though. Oh and it is even more absurdly powerful and expensive.

https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/soloist-3x-grand-tourer/

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This is the most egregious product for me though:

https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/super-charger-3a/

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Well hell. Of course it costs more. Everything is aligned on the faceplate. That takes care and effort on there part.

 

[solderdude]

The same volume control IC was used in the Emotiva DC-1 which was measured here also. I'm not sure it is the issue.

The volume control IC itself will not be the problem as that is low distortion.
It could be how it was used though. There seem to be different modes of connection depending on what opamp type (FET or BJT) is used and there may be not so well designed interfacing between the input of the volume control and the ladder.

The input seems to be a simple opamp driving the R2R ladder (which by itself can be quite linear, assuming the switches inside do not have too much voltage across it.

What's strange is that the distortion profile is very similar for each gain. This suggests (depending on how this is designed) that the distortion is generated before or by the volume control circuit.

 

[Neddy]

Those are machine tool (MT) sockets for the opamps.
You line up one side of the pins, then rock the other side into place, squeezing just enough to make them fit. Easy peasy if you do hundreds per day.
But can be a PITA if any of the chip legs have been fiddled with. They make (made?) pin straightner tools for that (for DIP packages anyway.)
We used to use them all the time for swapable EEPROMs, memory chips, etc.
Esp for road gear - less likely for the chips to get knocked loose during, uh, transit.
Shame about the measurements.

 

[AudioSceptic]

because there are a few sets of headphones that owners feel the ADI does not provide enough power to the susvara and he6 are two that come to mind

Is that really the case? Are they really that much less efficient than, say, the HD650?

 

[sarumbear]

Reading the Burson webpage it seems a good hobby project for a teenager. Can have the loudest amp around and it's class A with roll able OP amps. Currently selling in USA for $1200.00 + tax.

It is total bulls**t.

Burson Audio is challenging the conventional and pushing the boundaries of audio excellence through innovation. A decade ago, we argued against using IC opamps on the audio signal path. Today, our discrete audio opamps are industry benchmarks.

and here we are, rolling op-amps.

In 2017, we had a breakthrough in power supply research. It led to the development of our proprietary Max Current Power Supply (MCPS). Superior to both transformer-based and conventional switching power supply designs, the MCPS is featured in all Burson products, winning awards and leaving competitors in the dust.

and here they are, shipping the product with an off-the-shelf Chinese PSU.

Soloist 3X Performance - Burson Audio

The Burson Soloist 3XP boasts a discrete Class-A headphone amp, delivering a potent 8W (XLR) output. Enhanced by Burson's proprietary power supplies and the acclaimed MUSES72320 volume control, it ensures pristine audio clarity.

www.bursonaudio.com

 

[AudioSceptic]

I guess I read too much in internet forums that time and listened to the voices that promised better sound especially with Hifiman Aryas...Also I have some XLR-style headphone cables.. I did not have access to any measurement results that time and believed what was written there... Today I would not repeat this investment for sure.

But to be honest with you: I really cannot say anything negative about the sound. With my higher impedance headphones and mid gain there is no hiss audible. Sensitive IEMs are getting plugged into my ADI2 directly.

Thanks for the reply. Many would instead claim some magic property not shown in the measurements to justify the purchase. You still have the option of selling the Burson, of course.

 

[Veri]

and here they are, shipping the product with an off-the-shelf Chinese PSU.

Just as an FYI... Burson profiles themselves as an "Aussie" company but when you order it's generally shipped from their Hong Kong location via DHL.

 

[doug2761]

I guess I read too much in internet forums that time and listened to the voices that promised better sound especially with Hifiman Aryas...Also I have some XLR-style headphone cables.. I did not have access to any measurement results that time and believed what was written there... Today I would not repeat this investment for sure.

But to be honest with you: I really cannot say anything negative about the sound. With my higher impedance headphones and mid gain there is no hiss audible. Sensitive IEMs are getting plugged into my ADI2 directly.

Folks say a lot of stuff about subjective differences that don't match my experiences at all. It took sites like this one and Archimago's blog along with first-hand experimenting to realize how silly some claims can be. I have an ADI-2 and Khadas Tone Board that I use for headphones. The Tone Board through a Drop THX AAA 789. Swapping headphones between those two set ups and also playing around with 4-pin XLR headphone cables yielded no audible differences to me. Really should not be a surprise given the performance envelope of human hearing and the measured performance of those pieces of equipment. Based on the subjective forums, you'd think that there should be night and day differences; weird.

 

[Doodski]

Based on the subjective forums, you'd think that there should be night and day differences; weird.

Some peeps don't like their sense of space and time all bent out of shape.

 

[pseudoid]

Hopefully the manufacturer will read this forum. $1200 for <$150 BOM nice pump and dump.

I'd pay $50 extra because they've gone full-discrete design (old skool). The 'cheapskate' in me will raise my BAFO to $500.

What sign-language are those arrows in? Yo no comprendo...

 

[Wegi76]

The one to the left side represents input, output is on the right side. I guess that the one with the vertical arrows should represent the variable preamp output level mode and the the one without additional arrows stands for fixed output levels... (You can put the amp in a mode where it bypasses the internal volume control completely by pressing the menu button for 12 seconds)

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

Yet another high end device I can cross off my list.

It looks like RME and Benchmark are the only ones making state of the art components, other than the usual Chinese manufacturers that is.

Martin

hey Martin what non-SOTA amplifiers are you still using at the moment? IIRC you looked into Burson a few months ago, quite a shame it does not live up to the marketing buzzwords. At least it has insane juice for headphones...

 

[phoenixdogfan]

This is an old timey design from the days when people were looking for power and nothing but power ("SINAD?!! What's a SINAD?") to drive their Abyss 1266's, and HiFi Man He 6's.

 

[asrUser]

@amirm
Thanks for your review. I am wondering about power amp mode as described in this post https://www.head-fi.org/threads/bur...-volume-control.941047/page-168#post-16925272
Please don't hate on me for linking to Head-Fi. Could you please try this mode to see if there will be some improvements in low gain or high gain? Be careful of Windows volume though.

 

[Martin]

hey Martin what non-SOTA amplifiers are you still using at the moment? IIRC you looked into Burson a few months ago, quite a shame it does not live up to the marketing buzzwords. At least it has insane juice for headphones...

I'm still using the Topping DX7 Pro I bought at the beginning of my journey into ASR recommended components and headphones. I'm contemplating the RME ADI-2 Pro FS to replace the DX7 Pro and my tube preamp or the Benchmark HPA-4 and use the DAC portion of the DX7 Pro. I also keep looking at the Schiit Freya S and/or Freya +. I need multiple analog inputs because I still listen to vinyl.

Martin

 

[Astoneroad]

Some peeps don't like their sense of space and time all bent out of shape.

How Newtonian of them.

 

[tomtoo]

That would make me crazy, needing more than 1 rotation. Hehe i just imagine a small 32 channel mixer, and every knob need some rotations.

 

[Wegi76]

@tomtoo A full rotation of the wrist equals ~10 steps of the volume. So lots of turning needed... Thats why I use the ADI2 DAC for volume control mostly.

Luckily you can mute the thing by pressing the volume knob down...

 

[muslhead]

This is an old timey design from the days when people were looking for power and nothing but power ("SINAD?!! What's a SINAD?") to drive their Abyss 1266's, and HiFi Man He 6's.

this isnt even the top of their line when it comes to power. Need to step up to the $2500 soloist 3x GT with superduper power supply. The GT is 10W of class A goodness while the "performance" version is a piddly 8W.