Dat’s Burson Conductor GT4 with HiFiMAN HE1000se and Meze Empyrean

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Sales Burson
March 26, 2025

Post Info

Feedbacks - Conductor GT3 | GT4
Burson Conductor GT4, HiFiMAN HE1000se, Laiv Harmony, Meze Empyrean

I am extremely pleased with the quality and performance of Burson products. They consistently exceed my expectations, offering excellent value for money and reliability. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is evident in every item, making it a truly satisfying experience to use their products. I highly recommend them!

The System

Listening with

HiFiMAN HE1000se · Headphones: open-back, planar magnetic, circumaural

Impedance: 35 Ω
Sensitivity: 96 dB (reference not stated by HiFiMAN)
Frequency response: 8 Hz – 65 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: not published (HiFiMAN spec page lists no connector)
Other: weight 440 g

^[1]

Meze Empyrean · Headphones: open-back, isodynamic hybrid array (planar), circumaural · discontinued

Impedance: 31.6 Ω
Sensitivity: 100 dB SPL (1 mW / 1 kHz) ≈ 115.0 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 4 Hz – 110 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 4-pin mini-XLR cable; 3 m OFC XLR cable
Other: max SPL >130 dB; THD <0.1%; ~430 g; Rinaro driver

Matching notes: At 31.6 Ω and 100 dB/mW, the Meze Empyrean is a low-impedance load, and an efficient one: about 0.56 V (10 mW, 18 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 31.6 Ω rating for the Conductor GT4; its nearest published rating is 10 W XLR / 5 W SE into 32 Ω. The Conductor GT4’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/63 of the load. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Burson

Burson Conductor GT4 · DAC / headphone amplifier / preamp

Output power (XLR / SE): 32 Ω 10 W / 5 W · 100 Ω 5 W / 2.5 W · 150 Ω 3 W / 1.5 W · 300 Ω 2 W / 1 W
Output impedance: 0.5 Ω (headphone); 1 Ω (pre out); 25 Ω (DAC out)
Output voltage: RCA 2 V (DAC out) · XLR 4 V (DAC out); pre out max 12 V RMS
Gain: 2 levels: High full power (XLR 10 W / SE 5 W), Low 10% (IEM); 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 (24-bit/192 kHz ADC on analogue inputs)
Outputs: headphone 6.35 mm / 4-pin XLR / 3.5 mm; XLR + RCA pre out; subwoofer pre out; XLR + RCA line (DAC) out
DAC / chipset: 2x ESS9038 (one chip per channel; suffix not published)
Other: THD <0.0015%; FR ±1 dB 0-58 kHz; versions: Standard (V6 Vivid, SP01, 24V5A) / Deluxe (V7 Vivid, SP02, Super Charger 5A) / Max (+Fusion Core 24V)

^{[3] [4]}

Also in the system

Laiv Harmony

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.