Bobby’s Burson Conductor 3X GT with Focal Utopia and Focal Clear MG

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Sales Burson
September 28, 2023

Post Info

Feedbacks - Conductor GT3 | GT4
A20, Burson Conductor 3X GT, Cambridge Audio, Chord Mojo 2, Focal Celestee, Focal Clear MG, Focal Elegia, Focal Utopia, HiFiMAN EF400, HiFiMAN EF600, Monolith Liquid Platinum, Sabaj D5

My Wife and I I are retired and travel a lot in our RV. As you can see from my pictures we have a fair amount of Headphones and associated gear. Very convenient for RV Traveling. I have been interested in music and audio gear for years, with a fair amount of experience in higher end home audio gear and recently Headphones and associated equipment.

I have tried many and have several combo DAC / Amp units. and some separates. Until I found BURSON AUDIO and their outstanding dealer BLOOM AUDIO, I was searching out different products and felt some was ok to some what good but left me longing for more. Then BLOOM AUDIO turned me on to BURSON AUDIO.

I tried a different model and it’s sound was better than anything I had head with Headphones before. However as BLOOM AUDIO and BURSON AUDIO got to know my system likes and my expectations, (which I feel is high) Burson reached out to me suggesting I should try their Conductor 3X GT. I was hesitant but decided to take their advice.

They were absolutely correct.! There is not enough time for me to describe how perfectly this unit fits my expectations, and exceeds in most every way.

There is incredible detail, tight controlled deep impactful bass, great separation, very nice sound stage with a tonal quality that is hard for me to describe. I like a some what tube sound but it has to be smooth, have dynamics, lively ness and impactful and that is hard to impossible get, at my expectation levels, except with the very best high dollar tube gear or possibly a combination works, if properly paired.

This Conductor 3X GT is smooth, detailed, impactful and gets as close to what I was looking for as I believe is possible in anywhere near this price point, and considerably higher.

The Build quality is superb, and fits my tastes perfectly, add to that, the manner that BURSON Audio and BLOOM Audio is as the manufacturer and the dealer and how they listen and worked to get me to where I wanted to be this has been a great success.

I highly recommend BURSON AUDIO Gear and BLOOM Audio.

Simply listen and enjoy!

The System

Listening with

Focal Utopia · Headphones: open-back, dynamic (40 mm beryllium M-dome), circumaural · discontinued

Impedance: 80 Ω
Sensitivity: 104 dB SPL / 1 mW @ 1 kHz ≈ 115.0 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 5 Hz – 50 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 6.35 mm cable and 3.5 mm cable, 4-pin XLR cable; Lemo connectors at the cups
Other: THD <0.2% @ 1 kHz / 100 dB SPL

Matching notes: At 80 Ω and 104 dB/mW, the Focal Utopia is a low-impedance load, and an efficient one: about 0.56 V (4 mW, 7.1 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 80 Ω rating for the Conductor 3X GT. Its 32 Ω and 100 Ω ratings (8 W XLR / 4 W SE; 3.8 W XLR / 1.9 W SE) fall either side of it. The Conductor 3X GT’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/160 of the load. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

Focal Clear MG · Headphones: open-back, dynamic (40 mm Mg M-dome), circumaural

Impedance: 55 Ω
Sensitivity: 104 dB SPL / 1 mW @ 1 kHz ≈ 116.6 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 5 Hz – 28 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 3.5 mm cable (1.2 m) with 6.35 mm adapter; 4-pin XLR cable (3 m); cup sockets 3.5 mm

Matching notes: At 55 Ω and 104 dB/mW, the Focal Clear MG is a low-impedance load, and an efficient one: about 0.47 V (4 mW, 8.5 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 55 Ω rating for the Conductor 3X GT. Its 32 Ω and 100 Ω ratings (8 W XLR / 4 W SE; 3.8 W XLR / 1.9 W SE) fall either side of it. The Conductor 3X GT’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/110 of the load. ^{[6] [7] [3] [4] [5]}

Focal Celestee · Headphones: closed-back, dynamic (40 mm Al/Mg M-dome), circumaural

Impedance: 35 Ω
Sensitivity: 105 dB SPL / 1 mW @ 1 kHz ≈ 119.6 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 5 Hz – 23 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 3.5 mm cable (1.2 m) with 6.35 mm adapter

Matching notes: At 35 Ω and 105 dB/mW, the Focal Celestee is a low-impedance load, and an efficient one: about 0.33 V (3.2 mW, 9.5 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 35 Ω rating for the Conductor 3X GT. Its 32 Ω and 100 Ω ratings (8 W XLR / 4 W SE; 3.8 W XLR / 1.9 W SE) fall either side of it. The Conductor 3X GT’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/70 of the load. ^{[8] [9] [3] [4] [5]}

Focal Elegia · Headphones: closed-back, dynamic (40 mm Al/Mg M-dome), circumaural · discontinued

Impedance: 35 Ω
Sensitivity: 105 dB SPL / 1 mW @ 1 kHz ≈ 119.6 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 5 Hz – 23 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 3.5 mm cable (1.2 m) (per datasheet)

Matching notes: At 35 Ω and 105 dB/mW, the Focal Elegia is a low-impedance load, and an efficient one: about 0.33 V (3.2 mW, 9.5 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 35 Ω rating for the Conductor 3X GT. Its 32 Ω and 100 Ω ratings (8 W XLR / 4 W SE; 3.8 W XLR / 1.9 W SE) fall either side of it. The Conductor 3X GT’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/70 of the load. ^{[10] [11] [3] [4] [5]}

Burson

Burson Conductor 3X GT · DAC / headphone amplifier / preamp · discontinued

Output power (XLR / SE): 16 Ω 10 W / 5 W · 32 Ω 8 W / 4 W · 100 Ω 3.8 W / 1.9 W · 150 Ω 1.3 W / 0.65 W · 300 Ω 0.64 W / 0.32 W
Output impedance: 0.5 Ω (headphone); 1 Ω (pre out); 25 Ω (DAC out)
Output voltage: RCA 2 V (DAC out)
Gain: High / Low; dB not published
Inputs: 2x XLR; 2x RCA; USB (XMOS; PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512); Toslink; coaxial (24/192); Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD; microphone
Input impedance: 40 kΩ
Input sensitivity: line level
Outputs: XLR/RCA pre / DAC out; subwoofer pre out; 6.35 mm + 4-pin XLR headphone
DAC / chipset: 2x ESS ES9038 (suffix not stated)
Other: Model R-181X (“GT3”); THD <0.0015%; FR ±1 dB 0-58 kHz; 24V/5A PSU

^{[3] [4] [5]}

Also in the system

A20

Cambridge Audio

Chord Mojo 2 · DAC / headphone amp: portable FPGA DAC / headphone amp (battery, UHD DSP tone control)

Frequency response: 7 Hz – 20 kHz (±3 dB)
Output power (headphone): 30 Ω 0.6 W · 300 Ω 0.09 W
Output impedance: 0.06 Ω
Inputs: USB-C; Micro-USB (768 kHz); coaxial via 3.5 mm jack (768 kHz); optical (96 kHz); DSD256 via DoP
Outputs: 2x 3.5 mm + 1x 4.4 mm headphone (single-ended)
DAC / chipset: custom FPGA (Chord WTA filter, 40 DSP cores) – no off-the-shelf DAC chip
Other: power at 1% distortion (4.2 V RMS / 30 Ω; 5.2 V RMS / 300 Ω); THD+N 0.0003% (2.5 V, 300 Ω); S/N 123 dB (A); noise 2.7 µV; 185 g

^[12]

HiFiMAN EF400 · DAC / headphone amp: balanced desktop DAC / headphone amp (Himalaya R2R DAC)

Output impedance: not published
Inputs: USB; (see owner’s guide)
Outputs: 4.4 mm + 4-pin XLR balanced; 6.35 mm + 3.5 mm SE headphone; line out
DAC / chipset: HiFiMAN Himalaya R2R (discrete)
Other: max output 4.4 W per channel (load not stated); line-out THD+N 0.002-0.004%; channel separation 125 ±3 dB; SNR 118 ±3 dB (A); 3.08 kg

^{[13] [14]}

Sabaj D5

HiFiMAN EF600 · Headphone amp/dac: balanced desktop DAC / headphone amp (dual Hymalaya Pro R2R modules, Bluetooth)

Output power (XLR / SE): 32 Ω 5.12 W / 1.8 W
Gain: high / low (with NOS / OS filter modes)
Inputs: USB-B; USB-C; coaxial; Bluetooth (AAC, SBC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC); XLR balanced; RCA
Outputs: 6.35 mm SE; 4-pin XLR balanced headphone; XLR + RCA line out
DAC / chipset: 2x HiFiMAN Hymalaya Pro R2R modules (discrete)
Other: S/N 118 dB (A); channel separation 131 dB ±3; THD+N (line out) 0.0014% (-8 dB); approx. 2.86 kg

^{[15] [16]}

Monolith Liquid Platinum

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.