Disclaimer: I received the Burson Swing from Burson who contacted me if I wanted to try it in return for a review. Considering I don't have measuring equipment I wanted to share my subjective impressions from this product.
To me, personally, this is the best sounding audio item I've listened to. If @amirm ever receives one and it isn't super stellar measuring, I don't know what to tell you. I just like its sound.
Looking up the Swing on Burson's site, it mentions Pre-out Output impedance as well as Head Amp Output impedance. This is a typo: the second must mean DAC output impedance, there IS NO headphone output, out of the box. See picture of my set-up below.
Considering the pre-out is a cool 15 Ohm, I did use the Swing as a DAC/AMP with my HiFiman Ananda planar headphones in pre-amp mode by using an RCA-to-headphone adapter with great success; besides headphones I used it with my M-Audio powered monitors as a pre-amp. Most planar headphones have a flat impedance curve, meaning they don't actually show any frequency response changes with increasing output impedance, with the pre-out being 15Ω the FR change would be <0.1dB. So not a problem for most (if not all) planar headphones. Note that when connecting headphones this way, headphone impedance is ideally 8:1 of your output's impedance, making this only really optimal for ~120ohm traditional dynamic headphones, or the frequency will start to get boomy with lower or lacking in bass with higher impedance traditional headphones.
Package
Burson's packaging feels a little like a high-end video card's box:
Driver install is a breeze on Windows 8 or older using Burson's installation file, while up-to-date OSX, Linux and Windows 10 installations should come with general use UAC drivers which will work with the Swing out of the box.
The Swing has one piece of ESS Sabre 9038Q2M for its digital to analogue conversion specced at 0.0018% THD or total harmonic distortion. This means that its amp section at an impressive <0.002% THD is a perfect match and will not add distortion or otherwise bottleneck the DAC stage of the amp! Note also that this is one of Burson's best specced amp in the product range, closely matching the Playmate but with its slightly cleaner power it will be slightly less noisy.
Impressions:
The Swing boasts some ridiculous power even in the low-gain mode, yet manages this with a whisper quiet background until going real high in volume with more sensitive headphones. With traditional audiophile headphones like Sennheiser or Hifiman you're looking at zero hiss or noise problems whatsoever. Really impressive and a testament to Burson's Max Current supplies.
Sound-wise right off the bat the Swing sounds wider than I'm used to. I don't really know what can cause this. SBAF sometimes talks about "phase fuckery". Maybe this is an explanation. The Sabre DAC sound on the Burson is really smooth. However, I wish I could compare another DAC in this same output stage though. We could really use a Swing-like performer with analog inputs, that would really be a nice-to-have for the tweakers among us. That being said, the 9038 chip inside sounds really good.
About the volume control: there's a digital volume control with a satisfying digital wheel/knob. If I'm being critical, not the most premium feeling but with its perfect channel matching it does the job just fine. No complaints for the compact PC-slot sized package that the Swing offers.
DAC Input-wise I used the Swing via USB. I leave the PLL on High since that seemed to have the best stutter-free performance. Over the time of the review I tried optical/coaxical from a Singxer SU-1 source but felt that the stock USB is at least as good, and far more convenient.
Using the MP Slow filter treble never felt harsh. I believe this rolls off the treble around -1.5dB. To me this is helpful, since I dislike sharp treble. The 'Sharp' filter is the better measuring / more purist approach, though. Listening to the minimum phase slow filter, I found it excellent for jazz, live, roomy music; and excellent for EDM, video games, movies. To me this Burson amp in minimum pase sounds very immersive and never sharp.
And well, it sure sounds really clean and powerful. Good job Burson. I will miss this loaner amp
I would recommend this amp for games and movies for the Swing's powerful and noise-free output, and its totally possible to use with planars or other headphones that play well with the ~15ohm pre-out via an RCA-to-3.5mm adapter like the Ghent Audio B06 (can request a custom 6.3mm ver.), which I used writing up these impressions.
To me, personally, this is the best sounding audio item I've listened to. If @amirm ever receives one and it isn't super stellar measuring, I don't know what to tell you. I just like its sound.
Looking up the Swing on Burson's site, it mentions Pre-out Output impedance as well as Head Amp Output impedance. This is a typo: the second must mean DAC output impedance, there IS NO headphone output, out of the box. See picture of my set-up below.
Considering the pre-out is a cool 15 Ohm, I did use the Swing as a DAC/AMP with my HiFiman Ananda planar headphones in pre-amp mode by using an RCA-to-headphone adapter with great success; besides headphones I used it with my M-Audio powered monitors as a pre-amp. Most planar headphones have a flat impedance curve, meaning they don't actually show any frequency response changes with increasing output impedance, with the pre-out being 15Ω the FR change would be <0.1dB. So not a problem for most (if not all) planar headphones. Note that when connecting headphones this way, headphone impedance is ideally 8:1 of your output's impedance, making this only really optimal for ~120ohm traditional dynamic headphones, or the frequency will start to get boomy with lower or lacking in bass with higher impedance traditional headphones.
Package
Burson's packaging feels a little like a high-end video card's box:
Driver install is a breeze on Windows 8 or older using Burson's installation file, while up-to-date OSX, Linux and Windows 10 installations should come with general use UAC drivers which will work with the Swing out of the box.
The Swing has one piece of ESS Sabre 9038Q2M for its digital to analogue conversion specced at 0.0018% THD or total harmonic distortion. This means that its amp section at an impressive <0.002% THD is a perfect match and will not add distortion or otherwise bottleneck the DAC stage of the amp! Note also that this is one of Burson's best specced amp in the product range, closely matching the Playmate but with its slightly cleaner power it will be slightly less noisy.
Impressions:
The Swing boasts some ridiculous power even in the low-gain mode, yet manages this with a whisper quiet background until going real high in volume with more sensitive headphones. With traditional audiophile headphones like Sennheiser or Hifiman you're looking at zero hiss or noise problems whatsoever. Really impressive and a testament to Burson's Max Current supplies.
Sound-wise right off the bat the Swing sounds wider than I'm used to. I don't really know what can cause this. SBAF sometimes talks about "phase fuckery". Maybe this is an explanation. The Sabre DAC sound on the Burson is really smooth. However, I wish I could compare another DAC in this same output stage though. We could really use a Swing-like performer with analog inputs, that would really be a nice-to-have for the tweakers among us. That being said, the 9038 chip inside sounds really good.
About the volume control: there's a digital volume control with a satisfying digital wheel/knob. If I'm being critical, not the most premium feeling but with its perfect channel matching it does the job just fine. No complaints for the compact PC-slot sized package that the Swing offers.
DAC Input-wise I used the Swing via USB. I leave the PLL on High since that seemed to have the best stutter-free performance. Over the time of the review I tried optical/coaxical from a Singxer SU-1 source but felt that the stock USB is at least as good, and far more convenient.
Using the MP Slow filter treble never felt harsh. I believe this rolls off the treble around -1.5dB. To me this is helpful, since I dislike sharp treble. The 'Sharp' filter is the better measuring / more purist approach, though. Listening to the minimum phase slow filter, I found it excellent for jazz, live, roomy music; and excellent for EDM, video games, movies. To me this Burson amp in minimum pase sounds very immersive and never sharp.
And well, it sure sounds really clean and powerful. Good job Burson. I will miss this loaner amp
I would recommend this amp for games and movies for the Swing's powerful and noise-free output, and its totally possible to use with planars or other headphones that play well with the ~15ohm pre-out via an RCA-to-3.5mm adapter like the Ghent Audio B06 (can request a custom 6.3mm ver.), which I used writing up these impressions.
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