Burson Discreet Circuit Supreme Opamp Review

[Solo man]

Originally Posted by prerich

Thanks! I'm humbled by your statement...for real!!!!

There are some out there that have this computer audio thing down better than I (Mojave, Nyal Mellor, Vincent Kars to name a few). I do appreciate the comments though. I would just like people to see the possibilities (especially if they are techy - there are a few new products coming down the pike that may just change the game altogether).

It's great that computer audio is going in a nice direction and creating a buzz for music. Because that's what it's all about and sometimes I find myself getting all caught up in the gear as a gear head but have to step back to remind myself just to enjoy the equipment I have.

I want to improve my computer audio setup as well with some panelling in the future maybe some auralex stuff but there is other things I want to do in my stereo setup.

I also want to thank you because when I needed help with computer audio, you were always there to help and I have seen you do it with others. Keep up the great work and congrats on a nice setup.

[prerich]

This is just an update ... the Burson's have sooo settled in now!!!!! On my horns, digital music sounds very...analog and there's not one hint of brightness. There's just a body to it that you would just have to hear. The sound stage is getting ridiculous, at times you can hear things out to the sides of your ears (not all the time - but when it happens you notice it - and I have no special HFRT vsts or processors on in my system right now - this is all a result of the Burson's)! I actually put the Muses back in for a while just to see, and went back to the Burson's and said "No contest"!!!!! I put the Muses on my H6 card and the Burson op amps on my Essence ST for my mains.

I wish I had the room to put Burson op amps in every single slot on my H6 or at least the center/sub opamps - however that's not feasible. It would be cool if someone came out with a multichannel USB DAC or sound card that used these op amps exclusively! That would be cool!!!!!

[Badas]

Originally Posted by prerich

This is just an update ... the Burson's have sooo settled in now!!!!! On my horns, digital music sounds very...analog and there's not one hint of brightness. There's just a body to it that you would just have to hear. The sound stage is getting ridiculous, at times you can hear things out to the sides of your ears (not all the time - but when it happens you notice it - and I have no special HFRT vsts or processors on in my system right now - this is all a result of the Burson's)! I actually put the Muses back in for a while just to see, and went back to the Burson's and said "No contest"!!!!! I put the Muses on my H6 card and the Burson op amps on my Essence ST for my mains.

I wish I had the room to put Burson op amps in every single slot on my H6 or at least the center/sub opamps - however that's not feasible. It would be cool if someone came out with a multichannel USB DAC or sound card that used these op amps exclusively! That would be cool!!!!!

Cool. Thanks for the update. Burton is one hell of a manufacturer. So many fans of their products.

I'm still rolling tubes. Done a swap with another guy and testing a $300 rectifier tube. It is fantastic. The bass note are incredible. Probably too rich for my blood tho.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Badas

Cool. Thanks for the update. Burton is one hell of a manufacturer. So many fans of their products.

I'm still rolling tubes. Done a swap with another guy and testing a $300 rectifier tube. It is fantastic. The bass note are incredible. Probably too rich for my blood tho.

Good to hear!!! That's some nice tube gear that you have! Doesn't burton have some tube gear also?

[Badas]

Originally Posted by prerich

Good to hear!!! That's some nice tube gear that you have! Doesn't burton have some tube gear also?

I'm not sure. I haven't seen any.

However in the headgear community they are known as the Kings of solid state amps. Their gear sells really well. I would consider them if they made units in black.

[prerich]

Ok - I think I'm ready to change all of my opamps out to the Burson Supreme opamps due to this http://www.partsconnexion.com/35mm-Extension.html

Solves my tight fit situation and I can make it work!!! First things first - the buffer stages get change out on the H6 (the Essence is already totally Burson).

[prerich]

Oh, what also promoted this? My wife was walking by the system yesterday and actually stopped and listened - and she said "Baby - your system has never sounded this good...I mean - it was good before, but you can hear everything now!" When your wife gives a complement out of the blue (without you even asking her and audio not being on her mind at the moment) - you know you've done something right!

[prerich]

Hear ye, hear ye!!!! A new Burson Supreme review is coming....the Burson Supreme v5 opamps have arrived at my home!!!!! This review will be different, because I had planned to use them in my Essence ST....but now I have a better candidate - which may answer two questions at once....I'm going to put the Burson v5's in a Chinese DAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, go ahead and shoot me, but this is going to be a real challenge. In DAC's we know that implementation is far more important than the chip used. I have an excellent Chinese DAC currently in my system (the HiFiMeDIY 9018), however - this diminutive asynchronous DAC has the opamp soldered to the board. My new DAC is the USB DAC AK4118 + AK4490 + XMOS U8, with swappable opamps!!!!! Implementation generally happens in the analog section - and that's where your op-amps come in. I'm so geeked about this review I can't stand it!!!!

I will also be looking at JRiver's upsampling ability (all the way to 352.4khz - the AK4490 is a 768khz DAC) as well as its DSD/DXD abilities. Not to mention the DAC's own pure DSD ablities as well). There will be a lot of opamp swapping in this review before we get to the Burson V5's


I will say this ahead of time - the v5's are much easier to install!!!! They provide a cleaner fit and they are smaller than the previous v4's!!!! Stay tuned - this will be a big review - as a matter of fact - I'm going to face off the Essence ST with the v4's against the Chinese USB DAC fitted with the v5's as well .... with one more surprise - my friend (Gunny Sgt Greg) has a PS Audio DAC, I'll see if I can borrow that for a big showdown!!!!!!

[X400]

Just stumbled on this thread, from a google search, surprised to see it lead me back to Blu-Ray.com lol I should have just searched in here first

Thanks for the reviews! I was interested in how the Muses compared with the Burson (I just ordered 1, dual v5)


I just built a computer for myself (finally i won't have to share a desktop!) and the motherboard I got, a gigabyte matx gaming 5 board, has the option to swap out the opamp, so I thought I would try it with a Burson

But now that i've been doing more reading, I'm wondering if I should just buy a sound card for my desktop instead... even though the features on this board seem pretty cool to me with the DAC centered clean USB ports etc

Anyhow, looking forward to your next review

[prerich]

Originally Posted by X400

Just stumbled on this thread, from a google search, surprised to see it lead me back to Blu-Ray.com lol I should have just searched in here first

Thanks for the reviews! I was interested in how the Muses compared with the Burson (I just ordered 1, dual v5)


I just built a computer for myself (finally i won't have to share a desktop!) and the motherboard I got, a gigabyte matx gaming 5 board, has the option to swap out the opamp, so I thought I would try it with a Burson

But now that i've been doing more reading, I'm wondering if I should just buy a sound card for my desktop instead... even though the features on this board seem pretty cool to me with the DAC centered clean USB ports etc

Anyhow, looking forward to your next review

It's coming soon!!!! Built a Linux box up to take advantage of USB audio 2.0!!!! How do you like the Amp-up motherboards!!!! Burson's are sweet and the v5's are not as bulky as the v4's!

[X400]

I haven't gotten a chance to try it out yet slow process of installing everything i want on it first, and getting it to work right... something is causing it to crash every now and then atm, and i'm trying to figure that out

and i'd like to wait for the burson v5 to get here, i ordered it off of their ebay store and they still haven't indicated it's shipped, nor have they responded to my emails -_-

Id like to get a dac too before i begin my 'burn-in' and listening adventures
But i'm trying to find out if using the opamp on the motherboard would be useless? since the DACs i'm looking at seem to have their own built-in opamps, or they even suggest using an opamp before/outside of the DAC is a detriment??? :/ this is all pretty new to me so so far it's just been a lot of reading of opinions

but i'll get there eventually i guess lol

[prerich]

Originally Posted by X400

I haven't gotten a chance to try it out yet slow process of installing everything i want on it first, and getting it to work right... something is causing it to crash every now and then atm, and i'm trying to figure that out

and i'd like to wait for the burson v5 to get here, i ordered it off of their ebay store and they still haven't indicated it's shipped, nor have they responded to my emails -_-

Id like to get a dac too before i begin my 'burn-in' and listening adventures
But i'm trying to find out if using the opamp on the motherboard would be useless? since the DACs i'm looking at seem to have their own built-in opamps, or they even suggest using an opamp before/outside of the DAC is a detriment??? :/ this is all pretty new to me so so far it's just been a lot of reading of opinions

but i'll get there eventually i guess lol

Unless you are using the soundcard off of the motherboard...useless. You would need to change the opamp in the DAC. If you are using an external DAC - change the opamp in the DAC. If You are using onboard sound - change the opamp on the motherboard (which is really the opamp to the motherboards DAC).

[prerich]

Sorry everyone....After going through my mother's death, still dealing with quite a few things there, and the drivers for the Chinese DAC being a total waste - I couldn't do the review. I started to put the op amps in my sound card , but I would have to re-install it. So I sat on it.

But now - drumroll - it's on again!!!! Thanks to the new drivers at Thesycon, I now have a fully functional 768khz DAC!!!!!!! Let the op amp swapping begin!!!!!

[prerich]

First impression of the ak4490EQ DAC using the Burson V5 Discreet opamp. Bass....enormous amounts of bass! However is that always a good thing? I will also say the the Burson's are still "fresh" and haven't had the prerequisite 100hrs of burn in time recommended by Burson. I'm going to let these puppies burn in and get back with you.


However on the issue of a Chinese DAC.....now that I know where to get drivers....don't be afraid to buy one from minishow0328 (ebay)!!!! He does great work, Windows drivers can be an issue at times - but I found the correct on on the diyaudio forums!!!! For those of you looking to add a nice DAC to your system inexpensively - this is not a bad way to go, you just need to know the dealers that take pride in their work!

The DAC is quite ... I mean dead quiet. No trace of USB noise. It also use the AK4118 jitter filter as well. The dac came equipped with a decent opamp as well, I'm just glad that the opamps are swappable!!!! More to come soon!