Sandu Vitalie of Soundnews reviewed the Burson Conductor Stellar in its Deluxe edition, using it as a DAC and headphone amplifier with all of his headphones and IEMs, and as a DAC and preamp driving the speakers in his studio.
He notes the Stellar keeps the design cues of its bigger brother, the Conductor Voyager, in a smaller and lighter chassis. It also runs cooler: after about eight hours of playback he measured 52°C on the top plate, versus 60°C on the Soloist Voyager and 64°C on the Conductor GT4.
Inside he highlights the flagship ESS ES9039PRO DAC chip, four V7 Vivid Pro discrete op-amps, Burson’s Max Current power supplies, and two separate headphone amplifiers: a beefier circuit for desktop headphones and a dedicated IEM amplifier that takes over in low gain.
The Burson house sound “hit my eardrums with an incredible force”. He describes the bass heft as “like getting a dopamine shot”, powerful, punchy and nicely controlled. He rates its dynamics above the Luxsin X9 and X8, and above a more expensive rival DAC/amp.
With IEMs in low gain, the noise floor “simply went out of the window as if the unit was not powered on at all”, with no pops, crackles, hiss or hum on any input, Bluetooth included. In his words: “Completely and utterly dead silent. Something that not even Conductor Voyager can brag about.”
He found it “not that far away” from the Conductor Voyager in resolution, easily outplaying the DACs up to US$2,000 he has tried on his channel, and close to the Topping D900, the most resolving Topping DAC he has heard, in transparency.
Adding the Fusion Core power supply (included in the Max package) brought what he calls a “pretty spectacular” difference: more resolution, a blacker background, a bigger soundstage and livelier bass. He rates stereo separation and imaging at 7.5/10 standard, rising to 9/10 with the Fusion Core.
With most dynamic headphones he heard little difference from the Conductor Voyager. With very hard-to-drive planars, the Voyager stays tighter and more dynamic at high volume, so for those he suggests stepping up to the Conductor GT4 or Conductor Voyager.
Against the Luxsin X8 and another recently reviewed rival, he found those two slightly wider and deeper, while the Conductor Stellar wins on inner detail and resolution, has a considerably more powerful headphone section, and is quieter with ultra-sensitive IEMs.
“It’s one of those units where you can’t name a major flaw or compromise,” he concludes, adding that he believes its price is “fully justified”.
Discover the full features and specifications on the Burson Conductor Stellar product page.
