This is a review and detailed measurements of the Burson FUN PC-100 headphone amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member. I believe the sample I have has the standard op-amps in it which then costs US $199.
Unique with Burson amplifier products is the standard PC desktop drive form factor allowing it to go into a tower PC:
The volume control feels good but he metal knob is slipper relative to the torque it takes to rotate it. I only tested it using the 1/4 inch headphone jack.
The unit can be powered with the no-name external laptop sized power supply or 12 volt PC drive power:
The industrial power switch is a touch touch. Usually these are used for mains disconnect and such.
In use, the FUN stayed quite cool despite using discrete class-A amplification architecture.
Headphone Amplifier Audio Measurements
As usual, we test headphone amplifiers by feeding the same voltage in and out to see what they do to the 1 kHz tone:
This is pretty good. Distortion is less than -115 dB which means it is absolutely not detectable with anyone's ear. Some amount of inevitable noise causes SINAD which combines noise and distortion to come down to 105 dB. A few years ago, this would have been great but we are now spoiled with a sea of state-of-the-art amplifiers which outrank the FUN:
Frequency response is good as a practical matter but has less bandwidth than what we are used to:
Signal to noise ratio at 2 volt output is very good:
But not when we lower the output to 50 millivolts:
So careful with sensitive IEMs and headphones. Depending on playback level, you may hear some hiss.
Most important measurement is power versus distortion and noise. Let's start with common 300 ohm load:
I am impressed with the low level noise but then distortion sets in at 2 milliwatts and rises enough to not be competitive with best headphone amps. However, there is ample power which should make up for that, easily beating my standard of 100 milliwatts.
Switching to 33 ohm load shows problems with current delivery:
This is strange as the marketing material keeps talking about current delivery capability. Somewhat higher output impedance is partially responsible here:
Throughout the measurements, I could see the nice channel matching and this was proven in measurements:
How typical this is, I don't know.
Headphone Listening Tests
As usual I start with my headphone amp killer, the 25 ohm Ether CX. Turning up the volume to max causes clear distortion. Admittedly the level was high but still, my Topping DX3 Pro had no problem driving them to the same loudness with no distortion.
The FUN brings what is in its name with both Sennheiser HD-650 and Hifiman HE400 headphones. You literally enjoy a subwoofer in your ear bringing joy and shortened hearing with it. The bass is thundering as is detail and resolution. Not much more to ask for really especially with the Sennheiser.
Conclusions
Companies still want to differentiate themselves with discrete designs and such when it comes to amplifier. I am relieved that the Burson version performs rather wall. Actually it works quite well with high impedance headphones. And if you have a desktop PC and want to stuff this in a case, there is no other option this good.
So overall, I am going to put the Burson FUN on my recommended list.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
You see that little chip on the panther's ear? He wants that repaired. I don't know what it costs but it is likely to be expensive. So would you please help me out by donating what you can using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Unique with Burson amplifier products is the standard PC desktop drive form factor allowing it to go into a tower PC:
The volume control feels good but he metal knob is slipper relative to the torque it takes to rotate it. I only tested it using the 1/4 inch headphone jack.
The unit can be powered with the no-name external laptop sized power supply or 12 volt PC drive power:
The industrial power switch is a touch touch. Usually these are used for mains disconnect and such.
In use, the FUN stayed quite cool despite using discrete class-A amplification architecture.
Headphone Amplifier Audio Measurements
As usual, we test headphone amplifiers by feeding the same voltage in and out to see what they do to the 1 kHz tone:
This is pretty good. Distortion is less than -115 dB which means it is absolutely not detectable with anyone's ear. Some amount of inevitable noise causes SINAD which combines noise and distortion to come down to 105 dB. A few years ago, this would have been great but we are now spoiled with a sea of state-of-the-art amplifiers which outrank the FUN:
Frequency response is good as a practical matter but has less bandwidth than what we are used to:
Signal to noise ratio at 2 volt output is very good:
But not when we lower the output to 50 millivolts:
So careful with sensitive IEMs and headphones. Depending on playback level, you may hear some hiss.
Most important measurement is power versus distortion and noise. Let's start with common 300 ohm load:
I am impressed with the low level noise but then distortion sets in at 2 milliwatts and rises enough to not be competitive with best headphone amps. However, there is ample power which should make up for that, easily beating my standard of 100 milliwatts.
Switching to 33 ohm load shows problems with current delivery:
This is strange as the marketing material keeps talking about current delivery capability. Somewhat higher output impedance is partially responsible here:
Throughout the measurements, I could see the nice channel matching and this was proven in measurements:
How typical this is, I don't know.
Headphone Listening Tests
As usual I start with my headphone amp killer, the 25 ohm Ether CX. Turning up the volume to max causes clear distortion. Admittedly the level was high but still, my Topping DX3 Pro had no problem driving them to the same loudness with no distortion.
The FUN brings what is in its name with both Sennheiser HD-650 and Hifiman HE400 headphones. You literally enjoy a subwoofer in your ear bringing joy and shortened hearing with it. The bass is thundering as is detail and resolution. Not much more to ask for really especially with the Sennheiser.
Conclusions
Companies still want to differentiate themselves with discrete designs and such when it comes to amplifier. I am relieved that the Burson version performs rather wall. Actually it works quite well with high impedance headphones. And if you have a desktop PC and want to stuff this in a case, there is no other option this good.
So overall, I am going to put the Burson FUN on my recommended list.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
You see that little chip on the panther's ear? He wants that repaired. I don't know what it costs but it is likely to be expensive. So would you please help me out by donating what you can using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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