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Post by mattspl on Nov 25, 2019 21:21:08 GMT
Sounds good Martin  |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 25, 2019 21:33:47 GMT
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Post by mattspl on Nov 26, 2019 11:08:31 GMT
Lovely build quality there  |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 26, 2019 18:13:55 GMT
Tonight's listening is reinforcing last night's and I believe the Burson has benefitted from 24 hours of heat soak. I'll try and describe what I'm hearing. Swapping from the Pass to the Burson and back is a pain so I'm listening for long periods of time. No A/B nonsense here.
The Burson is sat on three Black Ravioli Big Pads (there are too many bolt heads on the underside for four), with a granite placemat on top, and takes its regenerated power from a Coherent 6D cable. The rear panel fuse was bypassed with a copper link and I've left it like that. The LKS DAC feeds it via a Coherent 6D XLR pair and the output to the power amp is via two XLR to phono adapters into a Coherent 6D single ended pair. I am controlling volume digitally using the LKS remote and most of my listening is around the -18dB mark.
On the macro level, the sound is big and spacious with good soundstage width and decent depth. Dynamics are strong and the potency in the bass is by a small margin the best I've yet experienced. That's saying a lot. It's vivid and exciting and makes me want to carry on listening. There is no fatigue from harshness.
On the micro level, detail and resolution are up by quite some margin, with laser-like focus within the soundstage. There is no hardness or brightness brought about by the additional resolution, that is well and truly sorted in my system now. There are all manner of tiny details being picked up that I've not been aware of before.
There is quite shocking palpability at times with instruments coming forward from the mix. Especially benefitting are small metallic bells, tambourines etc. and brass instruments which are all key strengths of the twin beryllium drivers in my Usher speakers. I've never heard them bask in quite such clarity and detail before. The sense of scale and power with some music is up there with some of the best systems I've heard.
Are there any downsides? I admit I cannot hear any despite having had some misgivings about digital volume control and mixing balanced with single ended connections through the Burson.
So far, so good. I shall keep on listening.
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Post by John on Nov 26, 2019 18:19:40 GMT
Glad it is working for you Martin I must come over some time as quite a fee changes since I Las heard your system
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Post by MartinT on Nov 27, 2019 6:55:14 GMT
I found a very interesting review of the Burson by Chris Martens of HiFi+, a reviewer I have a lot of time for. He said it much better than me...
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Post by MartinT on Nov 27, 2019 7:39:23 GMT
A few musical examples: listening to Paul Simon's Late in the Evening, the energy is incredible, the leading edges of the percussion really striking out from the soundstage and the brass section later in the song blare out wonderfully. Rickie Lee Jones' Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking is one of those tracks that everyone should try on their system. Huge dynamic range from the ppp opening sticks all the way to a very live ensemble group feel, again very vivid. Christina Pluhar's Romanesca features a delicately played dulcimer with lots of atmosphere and harmonics to the instrument. Listen to how the tone changes when the player strikes the hammers very hard.
Everything I've played so far sounds better than before.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 27, 2019 18:10:24 GMT
I've just put the 2nd HiFi Tuning fuse, received today, in the QP-1 feeding the Mutec. It's a smaller effect, and this time I notice more soundstage depth.
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Post by mattspl on Nov 27, 2019 20:24:30 GMT
Sounds like a great buy Martin |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 27, 2019 21:03:56 GMT
Sounds like a great buy Martin It really has been. I am bowled over at a) the concept of buffering works so well and b) the Burson is a superb bit of kit. |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 29, 2019 13:12:02 GMT
It's interesting that very little material has been written about using audio buffers. I came across the Tortuga TPB.V1 buffer and they say this about it...
Now, I don't want to single out Tortuga for saying things like this and I'm not having a go at valve fans, but why on earth would I want added tube euphonics? The whole point of high fidelity is nothing added, nothing removed, right? If I wanted 'nice' I could have bought an old Quad system years ago and be done with it. This is where I find the gratuitous use of a couple of valves on a CD player, for instance, really grates with me. It smacks of not having high fidelity as the key target at all, but something else entirely.
Rant over!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2019 13:18:00 GMT
You got to ask yourself, what did the chap you purchase from change to?
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Post by MartinT on Nov 29, 2019 13:31:11 GMT
You got to ask yourself, what did the chap you purchase from change to? He is a Canadian dealer, so I don't know who sold it or why. All I know is that it's rare (the XLR version is very rare), built like a battleship and is very good indeed. I wouldn't be letting it go! |
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 29, 2019 13:44:05 GMT
It's interesting that very little material has been written about using audio buffers. I came across the Tortuga TPB.V1 buffer and they say this about it... Now, I don't want to single out Tortuga for saying things like this and I'm not having a go at valve fans, but why on earth would I want added tube euphonics? The whole point of high fidelity is nothing added, nothing removed, right? If I wanted 'nice' I could have bought an old Quad system years ago and be done with it. This is where I find the gratuitous use of a couple of valves on a CD player, for instance, really grates with me. It smacks of not having high fidelity as the key target at all, but something else entirely. Rant over! Horses for courses, chacun à son goût. I'm not interested in tubes either right now but there are some fabulous valve amps that sound nothing like Quad. I dare say that owners of such amps find they get the most musical insight from tubes! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2019 14:00:57 GMT
Quality valves are very good, but expensive and the limitations of having to higher sensitive speakers doesn't appeal to me, others it does. The fashion for large Tannoy's or horn loaded drivers has about as much appeal as having to listen to an all naim system with Nordost cabling in large room filled with audiophile who haven't seen soap for many a year Or having Paul Miller explain to David Price how to level match an a/b test with a multi meter  (very true story!) Worst of all have to listen to a football match commentary being given by the Oxygen thieves. It's Friday and I still haven't got anywhere near my new toy arhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 29, 2019 15:16:28 GMT
You both misunderstand - I am not having a go at valve amps, I am criticising the fad that's been around for quite a while of adding valves to an otherwise transistor circuit in order to add euphony to the sound  I don't want anything added to the sound! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2019 16:54:57 GMT
I do understand 100% and agree with you, purity of sound does not equate to overally harmonic inducements no matter how pretty the sound becomes
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Post by MartinT on Nov 29, 2019 22:31:23 GMT
Right, I've moved all the unnecessary unrelated loblox off of my thread.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 2, 2019 13:37:15 GMT
Everything is sounding really good, the system has settled into its groove and the level of performance is considerable. I love the combination of detail, soundstage depth and lack of harshness. The Burson has impressed me immensely and you'd have to prise it from my dead bleeding hands now. It's also very satisfying to reduce one's system to the bare essentials of a single-purpose single-chain signal processor. My engineering head loves it!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2019 23:50:31 GMT
That sounds good Martin; that is the principle I’ve always built my system around - do one thing and do it as well as I possibly can e.g. my preamp doesn’t ha e a source selector on it as there will only ever be one source!
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(very true story!)
