Burson Conductor 3 Reference with Focal Elear and Audiovector Q2

Published on

Sales Burson
December 11, 2020

Post Info

Feedbacks - Conductor 3R | 3XR
Audiovector Q2, Burson Conductor 3 Reference, Cambridge Audio 851 N, Focal Elear, Rotel CD 14, Rotel RA 12

My first experience with Burson was 2 years ago with a second hand Soloist. Last year I buy a Conductor V2+ . This year I change it for a Conductor V3 Reference. And it sounds like I am in heaven. Just perfect.

The System

Listening with

Focal Elear · Headphones: open-back, dynamic (40 mm Al/Mg M-dome), circumaural · discontinued

Impedance: 80 Ω
Sensitivity: 104 dB SPL / 1 mW @ 1 kHz ≈ 115.0 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 5 Hz – 23 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 6.35 mm cable (3 m); 3.5 mm jacks at the cups
Other: THD <0.3% @ 1 kHz / 100 dB SPL

Matching notes: At 80 Ω and 104 dB/mW, the Focal Elear is a low-impedance load, and an efficient one: about 0.56 V (4 mW, 7.1 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 80 Ω rating for the Conductor 3 Reference. Its 32 Ω and 100 Ω ratings (5 W SE; 1.75 W SE) fall either side of it. The Conductor 3 Reference’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/160 of the load. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

Audiovector Q2

Burson

Burson Conductor 3 Reference · DAC / headphone amplifier / preamp · discontinued

Output power (headphone): 16 Ω 7.5 W · 32 Ω 5 W · 100 Ω 1.75 W · 150 Ω 1.16 W · 300 Ω 0.58 W
Output impedance: 0.5 Ω (headphone); 1 Ω (pre out); 25 Ω (DAC out)
Output voltage: RCA 2 V (DAC out)
Gain: High / Medium / Low; dB not published
Inputs: 2x RCA; USB (XMOS; PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512); Toslink; coaxial; Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD; microphone
Input impedance: 40 kΩ
Input sensitivity: line level
Outputs: RCA pre out; RCA DAC out; 2x 6.35 mm headphone
DAC / chipset: 2x ESS ES9038Q2M
Other: Model R180 (3R); SE only; THD <0.0015%; FR ±1 dB 0-58 kHz

^{[3] [4] [5]}

Also in the system

Cambridge Audio 851 N

Rotel CD 14

Rotel RA 12

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.