Ashley’s Burson Conductor 3 with Audeze LCD-2 pre-F and Monitor Audio PL-100

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Great, but more transparency into roadmap would be good. For example, Conductor 3x should have been announced at the same time as the Conductor 3 even if it was going to take longer to deliver. Also, will there be a new power amp to replace the timekeeper in the new style?

The System

Listening with

Audeze LCD-2 pre-F
Monitor Audio PL-100
Audeze LCD-3 · Headphones: open-back, planar magnetic, circumaural
  • Impedance: 110 Ω
  • Sensitivity: 101 dB/1mW (at Drum Reference Point) ≈ 110.6 dB/V (calc.)
  • Frequency response: 10 Hz – 50 kHz
  • Plugs / cables supplied: 4-pin XLR cable; 4-pin XLR to 6.35 mm adapter cable; 6.35 to 3.5 mm adapter
  • Other: recommended power >250 mW;

[1]

Burson

Burson Conductor 3 · DAC / headphone amplifier / preamp family (Conductor 3 Performance / 3 Reference) · discontinued
  • Output impedance: 1 Ω (pre out); 25 Ω (DAC out); headphone 0.5 Ω (3R) / 0.6 Ω (3P)
  • Output voltage: RCA 2 V (DAC out)
  • Gain: High / Low (3P); High / Medium / Low (3R); dB not published
  • Inputs: USB (XMOS; PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512); Toslink; Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD; microphone (3R adds 2x RCA analogue in + coaxial)
  • Outputs: RCA pre out; RCA DAC out; 6.35 mm headphone (SE only)
  • DAC / chipset: ESS ES9038Q2M (1x in 3P, 2x in 3R)
  • Other: 3P (M180): 4 W @16 Ω, 2 W @32, 0.64 W @100, 0.16 W @300; 1x ES9038Q2M; THD <0.0017%. 3R (R180): 7.5 W @16, 5 W @32, 1.75 W @100, 0.58 W @300; 2x ES9038Q2M; THD <0.0015%. Both FR ±1 dB 0-58 kHz.

[2] [3] [4]

Also in the system

Conductor 1
Conductor 3 is for bedroom but could replace main setup in the future
Burson Timekeeper · Power amplifier (stereo / bridgeable) · discontinued
  • Power: 8 Ω: 80 (stereo); 240 (bridged) · 4 Ω: not published
  • Output impedance: not published
  • Gain: not published
  • Inputs: 2x RCA; RCA + XLR for bridge mode
  • Input impedance: 20 kΩ
  • Input sensitivity: 0.24 V
  • Outputs: 2x stereo speaker binding posts
  • Other: Class AB; THD 0.03% (1 kHz @ 8 Ω); FR 0-50 kHz (±3 dB); S/N >98 dB

[5]

Specs from manufacturer data unless a source below says otherwise. “calc.” values are worked out from those figures (V = √(P × R); 110 dB SPL used as a loud reference level). Gear listed without specs is not in our spec library yet.

  1. Audeze LCD-3: audeze.com
  2. Burson Conductor 3 product page (conductor-3 page, archived 2019)
  3. Burson Conductor 3 product page (conductor-3-performance page, archived 2020)
  4. Burson Conductor 3 References User Manual V1.6 (Burson downloads)
  5. Burson Timekeeper product page