BURSON Conductor Virtuoso 2+ (inside pics, technicalities, personal thoughts and some measurements)

[soundtrane]

Reviving an old thread because of an issue i found...

I have a 2019 purchased V2+ (which is the V2 with DAC). Was hardly used until recently when i tried hooking it up with my iMac to use as a DAC. Despite what the webpage said, the unit would not show up as 'Native DSD capable'.


The initial response from the company rep was "The Conductor V2+ does not support DSD on Mac systems and playing DSD files only
works through Windows."

despite this:

Native DSD:

Native DSD 64 / 128 / 256

Conductor V2+ - Burson Audio

Burson Audio is proud to announce the new Conductor V2 with superior sound and more power, setting a new benchmark in the reference class category. This is a

www.bursonaudio.com

When I ask the rep why then does it say on the webpage HE sent me that it can do Native DSD upto 256 AND it also says OS compatibility with MACs?

His response "We hope you can consider our latest products, even the Playmate 2 is far superior in terms of performance, functionality and build quality."
My response to him was to go ƒ̈ himself and i wanted to talk to someone else.

Then i was asked to send photos of the unit, inside back front etc. by someone else.

And further, i was asked to go to 'bitperfect' which leads to DSDMaster...


In contrast: my new RME ADI-2 DAC FS worked perfectly out of the box with the iMac.

 

[Veri]

When I ask the rep why then does it say on the webpage HE sent me that it can do Native DSD upto 256 AND it also says OS compatibility with MACs?

His response "We hope you can consider our latest products, even the Playmate 2 is far superior in terms of performance, functionality and build quality."
My response to him was to go ƒ̈ himself and i wanted to talk to someone else.

I asked them if I could get a spare power supply for one of their products and the rep told me they would check and get back at me. Of course, crickets and no reply. I'm sure they'd prefer for me to buy their $300+ "Burson Super Charger"

And don't get me wrong some of their products show they perform relatively well actually. But what with their op-amps and upgrade PSU nonsense, I feel they're equally bad (or worse) money squeezers than a company like iFi. Sad really. They should focus on the basics rather than that kind of crap..

 

[trl]

I have a 2019 purchased V2+ (which is the V2 with DAC). Was hardly used until recently when i tried hooking it up with my iMac to use as a DAC. Despite what the webpage said, the unit would not show up as 'Native DSD capable'.

Hello,

I don't remember about me trying to decode DSD on MacOS, but on Windows 10 it works flawless for sure. If for you it's not working under Windows 10 then either you're using an older firmware, either you're using a wrong driver.

I had tested their Playmate from 2019; good powerful combo, but I can't say it has a better quality nor a better look than CV2+.

RME ADI-2 DAC FS is playing on a different league for sure.

 

[soundtrane]

Just letting folks know - Burson has the worst support I have ever experienced from a company. Chinese companies are SO much better in comparison.

 

[Veri]

Just letting folks know - Burson has the worst support I have ever experienced from a company.

For me I asked if I could buy a replacement PSU and all I got is "We'll check it for you" and then crickets.
What's your experience?

 

[soundtrane]

in ~3 months i have yet to get a clear explanation from them about why the conductor V2+ does not work with Macs for DSD.

 

[trl]

It's strange what you guys say, as I never had issues with them and most folks from Head-Fi (few years ago) were very pleased about BUSRON's customer support.

However, I've never had playback issues under MacOS, so DSD was playing flawless. I partially understand Burson's silence, given that they, as manufacturer, do not support Linux nor MacOS systems, as XMOS transports are by design supported without any human intervention or drivers.

Transport chip is XU208-128-TQ64, so you may need to find the culprit on Google. You can also use a Linux Live disk and check if the same issue is happening on Linux too.

Though this thread is not for support on CV2+'s software and issues, feel free to let us know the exact setup, both hardware and software, and couple of resized screenshots too. Also, what exact players have you used under MacOS? What exact test DSD files have you tried (links to the source, if possible) and what bitrate/resolution?

L.E.: Have you tried DoP playback? It's still hardware decoding, just the way files is transferred is different (another way of encapsulating the data frames). Have a look to https://www.head-fi.org/threads/new-burson-conductor-v2-and-v2.798772/page-27, they all can play DSD music on CV2+ by using DoP.

 

[soundtrane]

<However, I've never had playback issues under MacOS, so DSD was playing flawless. I partially understand Burson's silence, given that they, as manufacturer, do not support Linux nor MacOS systems, as XMOS transports are by design supported without any human intervention or drivers.>

well, their webpage on the conductor V2+ does not say this.

<Transport chip is XU208-128-TQ64, so you may need to find the culprit on Google.>
i dont know what you mean, what do i search for?

 

[trl]

V2+ is an EOL product, so BURSON may not be willing to invest more time in supporting this obsolete transport interface, so you may need to resolve this by using the solution presented in the above Head-Fi link or search on Google about how this XMOS transport card can play DSD on MacOS.

 

[soundtrane]

V2+ is an EOL product, so BURSON may not be willing to invest more time in supporting this obsolete transport interface, so you may need to resolve this by using the solution presented in the above Head-Fi link or search on Google about how this XMOS transport card can play DSD on MacOS.

i know what is EOL, being in the professional audio field for decades. EOL within a 3 year period is unacceptable and is utter bullshit.
And it is not a transport interface.

Let Burson say what you are saying to me as a reply to my emails and i will deal with them further, however they don't have the balls to say it.

 

[trl]

Any reason why you are not trying DSD DoP playback?

 

[soundtrane]

Any reason why you are not trying DSD DoP playback?

No reason.

the burson site clearly mentions NATIVE DSD on MacOS upto 256. So it shoud, right?

Conductor V2+ - Burson Audio

Burson Audio is proud to announce the new Conductor V2 with superior sound and more power, setting a new benchmark in the reference class category. This is a

www.bursonaudio.com

<how this XMOS transport card can play DSD on MacOS> my initial searches have yielded nothing as yet.

 

[trl]

Perhaps this might be related to an older firmware or a limitation of the XMOS chip which might only support DSD64 and DSD128, however too bad I sold my CV2+, I would have been do some tests on my own otherwise. Also, too bad Burson is not answering to your inquiery.

Sorry I can't help much here, but looks like if you want to listen to DSD with your CV2+ under MacOS you either use DoP (which is still using internal native hardware decoding), either you use software decoding (still lossy).

 

[soundtrane]

Perhaps this might be related to an older firmware or a limitation of the XMOS chip which might only support DSD64 and DSD128, however too bad I sold my CV2+, I would have been do some tests on my own otherwise. Also, too bad Burson is not answering to your inquiery.

Sorry I can't help much here, but looks like if you want to listen to DSD with your CV2+ under MacOS you either use DoP (which is still using internal native hardware decoding), either you use software decoding (still lossy).

Yes, too bad. For a contemporary company it is really not done.

I have moved on ever since, with an RME ADI-2 DAC Fs, and there's no turning back. Only thing, i need to sell off that CV2+ sometime...