Hisayuki’s Burson Conductor 3 with Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC and Focal Utopia

Published on

Post Info

This was the first time I purchased a Burson product, and I was very impressed with the products and services!

The System

Listening with

Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC · Headphones: open-back, planar magnetic, circumaural
  • Impedance: 50 Ω
  • Sensitivity: 88 dB/mW ≈ 101.0 dB/V (calc.)
  • Frequency response: 5 Hz – 45 kHz
  • Plugs / cables supplied: 2.5 m 4-pin XLR cable with 6.3 mm adaptor (JPS Labs); other terminations optional

[1]

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

[2] [3]

HiFiMAN HE6se · Headphones: open-back, planar magnetic, circumaural · discontinued
  • Impedance: 50 Ω
  • Sensitivity: 83.5 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 470 g

[4]

Sennheiser HD 800 S · Headphones: open-back, dynamic, circumaural
  • Impedance: 300 Ω
  • Sensitivity: 102 dB SPL @ 1 V ≈ 96.8 dB/mW (calc.)
  • Frequency response: 4 Hz – 51 kHz
  • Plugs / cables supplied: 6.35 mm unbalanced; 4.4 mm balanced

[5]

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.

[6] [7] [8]