Phillip’s Burson Conductor 3X with Meze Empyrean

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Sales Burson
January 7, 2020

Post Info

Feedbacks - Conductor 3R | 3XR
Cayin iDAP-6, Meze Empyrean

This is my first experience with Burson. The rig in the pictures was supposed to be a quick set-up for burn-in of the 3X. It is the Cayin iDAP-6 transport feeding the Conductor 3X via USB with balanced output is to my Meze Empyreans.

Within 24hrs, this has become my main system. I’ll be mothballing (or selling) a Schiit Gungnir Multibit DAC and Mjolnir 2 Amp with a lot of old NOS tubes. Yes, it’s that good!

The System

Listening with

Meze Empyrean · Headphones: open-back, isodynamic hybrid array (planar), circumaural · discontinued

Impedance: 31.6 Ω
Sensitivity: 100 dB SPL (1 mW / 1 kHz) ≈ 115.0 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 4 Hz – 110 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 4-pin mini-XLR cable; 3 m OFC XLR cable
Other: max SPL >130 dB; THD <0.1%; ~430 g; Rinaro driver

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Burson

Burson Conductor 3X · DAC / headphone amplifier / preamp family (Conductor 3X Performance / 3X Reference / 3X GT) · discontinued

Output impedance: 0.5 Ω (headphone); 1 Ω (pre out); 25 Ω (DAC out)
Output voltage: RCA 2 V (DAC out)
Gain: High / Low; dB not published
Inputs: USB (XMOS; PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512); Toslink; Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD; microphone (3XR / 3XGT add analogue and coaxial inputs)
Outputs: XLR pre / DAC out; 6.35 mm + 4-pin XLR headphone
DAC / chipset: ESS ES9038Q2M / ES9038 (1x in 3XP, 2x in 3XR / 3XGT)
Other: 3XP (M180X): 6/3 W @16 Ω, 3/1.5 W @32 (bal/SE), 1x ES9038Q2M. 3XR (R180X): 7.5/3.75 W @16, 5/2.5 W @32, 2x ES9038Q2M. 3XGT (R-181X): 10/5 W @16, 8/4 W @32, 2x ES9038. All THD <0.0015%, FR ±1 dB 0-58 kHz.

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Also in the system

Cayin iDAP-6

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.