Tom’s Burson Conductor 3 Reference with Focal Utopia and Final D800 Pro

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Sales Burson
November 27, 2021

Post Info

Feedbacks - Conductor 3R | 3XR
Audeze LCD-XC, Burson Conductor 3 Reference, Dan Clark Audio Alpha Dog, Final D800 Pro, Focal Utopia

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The System

Listening with

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

Matching notes: At 80 Ω and 104 dB/mW, the Focal Utopia 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]}

Final D800 Pro

Audeze LCD-XC · Headphones: closed-back, planar magnetic, circumaural

Impedance: 20 Ω
Sensitivity: 100 dB/1mW (at Drum Reference Point) ≈ 117.0 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 10 Hz – 50 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 1.9 m 4-pin XLR cable with 6.35 mm adapter
Other: recommended power >250 mW (min >100 mW; max 5 W RMS);

Matching notes: At 20 Ω and 100 dB/mW, the Audeze LCD-XC is a low-impedance load, and an efficient one: about 0.45 V (10 mW, 22 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 20 Ω rating for the Conductor 3 Reference. Its 16 Ω and 32 Ω ratings (7.5 W SE; 5 W SE) fall either side of it. The Conductor 3 Reference’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/40 of the load. ^{[6] [3] [4] [5]}

Dan Clark Audio Alpha Dog

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]}

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.