Philippe’s Burson V4 Opamp with Eastern Electric Minimax DAC

Published on

wpadmin
October 24, 2011

Post Info

Feedbacks - V4 SS Opamp
Eastern Electric Minimax DAC

To be quite honest the results are simply awesome, the Burson discrete op amp transformed the Minimax DAC in a whole new machine seems to work beautifully with the ESS9018, it adds tons of detail, as well as a fair amount of airiness. All in all music gains ‘Gestalt’, a more haptic, tangible experience altogether, very holographic. Timbre of instruments is also more natural and I’d say … credible.

Extensions are enhanced : better, tighter and more detailed bass, amazing slam, amazing control. The highs gain airiness and sheer extension, cymbals fade out nicely and detailed.

Prior to the upgrade there was some digital dryness and harshness to the sound of the Minimax DAC, the DAC detailed well (due to the ESS9018 resolving power) but there was that lack of ‘moistness’ to the timbre of the instruments, this is now all gone and the sound is presented with a nice lushness and liquidity.

Voila, all for now.

Philippe.

The System

Listening with

Eastern Electric Minimax DAC · DAC: tube / solid-state selectable DAC (12AU7) · discontinued

Frequency response: 15 Hz – 32 kHz
Output impedance: 22k (tube) / 10k (solid state) (as published)
Output voltage: RCA 3 V (tube) / 2.5 V (solid state)
Inputs: 4 digital inputs + USB (up to 192 kHz except USB)
Outputs: RCA
DAC / chipset: ESS ES9018
Other: dynamic range 129 dB; S/N 90 dB tube / 95 dB SS; THD 0.5% tube / 0.02% SS; 12 W; 3 kg net

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Burson

Burson V4 Opamp · Discrete opamp (single / dual) · discontinued

Supply voltage: ±5 V to ±20 V (absolute maximum)
Gain-bandwidth product: 50 MHz (at 100 kHz)
Dual or single: dual and single
Package: dual 40 mm × 16 mm × 20 mm; single 40 mm × 16 mm × 14 mm; 8-pin

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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.