Richard’s Burson Playmate with AKG K812 and AudioQuest Nightowl Carbon

• Impedance: 36 Ω
• Sensitivity: 110 dB SPL/V ≈ 95.6 dB/mW (calc.)
• Frequency response: 5 Hz – 54 kHz
• Plugs / cables supplied: detachable 3 m cable; 3.5 mm plug + 6.3 mm adapter
• Other: max input power 300 mW; 390 g

Matching notes: At 36 Ω and 110 dB/V, the AKG K812 is a low-impedance load: about 1 V (28 mW, 28 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 36 Ω rating for the Playmate. Its 32 Ω and 100 Ω ratings (2 W SE; 0.5 W SE) fall either side of it. The Playmate’s under 2 Ω headphone output impedance is less than 1/18 of the load. ^{[1] [2]}

• Output power (headphone): 16 Ω 1.8 W · 32 Ω 2 W · 100 Ω 0.5 W · 150 Ω 0.3 W · 300 Ω 0.1 W
• Output impedance: <2 Ω (headphone); 15 Ω (pre out)
• Gain: not published
• Inputs: USB (XMOS; PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512); Toslink
• Input impedance: 38 kΩ
• Outputs: RCA pre out; headphone jack (SE)
• DAC / chipset: ESS SABRE32 ES9038 (suffix not stated)
• Other: Original Playmate (Playmate 1); THD <0.002%; FR ±1 dB 0-35 kHz

^[2]

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. AKG K812: archived page (web.archive.org)
2. Burson Playmate product page