Nicholas’s Burson Conductor GT4 with HiFiMAN HE1000se and HiFiMAN Arya

Published on

Sales Burson
October 8, 2024

Post Info

Feedbacks - Conductor GT3 | GT4
Audeze LCD-X, Burson Conductor GT4, Burson Fusion Core, Chord Hugo TT 2, HiFiMAN Arya, HiFiMAN HE1000se

Completing the registration form was a bit of a hassle, but everything else has been fantastic. Once I got past that initial hurdle, I really enjoyed the overall experience. The product and service have exceeded my expectations!

The System

Listening with

HiFiMAN HE1000se · Headphones: open-back, planar magnetic, circumaural

Impedance: 35 Ω
Sensitivity: 96 dB (reference not stated by HiFiMAN)
Frequency response: 8 Hz – 65 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: not published (HiFiMAN spec page lists no connector)
Other: weight 440 g

^[1]

HiFiMAN Arya · Headphones: open-back, planar magnetic, circumaural · discontinued

Impedance: 35 Ω
Sensitivity: 90 dB (reference not stated by HiFiMAN)
Frequency response: 8 Hz – 65 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: not published (HiFiMAN spec page lists no connector)
Other: weight 404 g

^[2]

Audeze LCD-X · Headphones: open-back, planar magnetic, circumaural

Impedance: 20 Ω
Sensitivity: 103 dB/1mW (at Drum Reference Point) ≈ 120.0 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 10 Hz – 50 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: braided 4-pin XLR combo cable with 6.35 mm single-ended adapter
Other: recommended power >250 mW (min >100 mW; max 5 W RMS); 106 mm driver; max SPL >130 dB

Matching notes: At 20 Ω and 103 dB/mW, the Audeze LCD-X is a low-impedance load, and an efficient one: about 0.32 V (5 mW, 16 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 20 Ω rating for the Conductor GT4; its nearest published rating is 10 W XLR / 5 W SE into 32 Ω. The Conductor GT4’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/40 of the load. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Burson

Burson Conductor GT4 · DAC / headphone amplifier / preamp

Output power (XLR / SE): 32 Ω 10 W / 5 W · 100 Ω 5 W / 2.5 W · 150 Ω 3 W / 1.5 W · 300 Ω 2 W / 1 W
Output impedance: 0.5 Ω (headphone); 1 Ω (pre out); 25 Ω (DAC out)
Output voltage: RCA 2 V (DAC out) · XLR 4 V (DAC out); pre out max 12 V RMS
Gain: 2 levels: High full power (XLR 10 W / SE 5 W), Low 10% (IEM); dB not published
Inputs: 2x XLR; 2x RCA; USB (XMOS; PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512); Toslink; coaxial (24/192); Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD; microphone
Input impedance: 40 kΩ
Input sensitivity: line level (24-bit/192 kHz ADC on analogue inputs)
Outputs: headphone 6.35 mm / 4-pin XLR / 3.5 mm; XLR + RCA pre out; subwoofer pre out; XLR + RCA line (DAC) out
DAC / chipset: 2x ESS9038 (one chip per channel; suffix not published)
Other: THD <0.0015%; FR ±1 dB 0-58 kHz; versions: Standard (V6 Vivid, SP01, 24V5A) / Deluxe (V7 Vivid, SP02, Super Charger 5A) / Max (+Fusion Core 24V)

^{[4] [5]}

Burson Fusion Core · Power supply (GaN, 24 V or 32 V)

Other: Fusion Core 24V: 24 V/15 A, 2.5 mm barrel (centre +); Fusion Core 32V: 32 V/15 A, 4-pin DC plug (Timekeeper 3X GT / Voyager / GT4); noise floor <1 µV; 100-240 V AC

^{[6] [5]}

Also in the system

Chord Hugo TT 2 · DAC / headphone amp: FPGA DAC / preamp / headphone amp (98,304-tap WTA filter)

Output power (XLR / SE): 8 Ω 18 W / 7.3 W · 300 Ω 1.15 W / 0.288 W
Output impedance: 0.042 Ω
Output voltage: XLR 9 V (300 Ω, max)
Gain: High / low gain modes
Inputs: USB-B; 2x coax BNC; 2x optical; Bluetooth aptX
Outputs: XLR; RCA; 2x 6.35 mm + 1x 3.5 mm headphone; 2x DX BNC (M Scaler link)
DAC / chipset: Chord custom FPGA (Xilinx Artix-7), WTA filter
Other: PCM 44.1-768 kHz, DSD64-512 (DoP); dynamic range 127 dB (A); noise 1.7-4 µV (A); THD 0.00008% @ 2.5 V 300 Ω; powers 8 Ω speakers (7.3 W SE / 18 W bal); 2.53 kg

^{[7] [8]}

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.