Fred’s Burson Playmate with Sennheiser HD 6XX

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Warranty experience has been great so far, hope this new unit lasts longer than the last.

The System

Listening with

Sennheiser HD 6XX · Headphones: open-back, dynamic, circumaural
  • Impedance: 300 Ω
  • Sensitivity: 103 dB SPL @ 1 kHz, 1 V (as published) ≈ 97.8 dB/mW (calc.)
  • Frequency response: 10 Hz – 41 kHz
  • Plugs / cables supplied: 3.5 mm stereo jack plug (6.35 mm adapter); 1.8 m cable
  • Other: THD <0.1% (1 kHz, 1 V)

Matching notes: At 300 Ω and 103 dB/V, the HD 6XX is a high-impedance load that needs voltage more than current: about 2.2 V (17 mW, 7.5 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson rates the Playmate at 0.1 W (SE) into 300 Ω, which is about 5.5 V RMS (calc.), roughly 8 dB more than that. The Playmate’s under 2 Ω headphone output impedance is less than 1/150 of the load. [1] [2] [3]

Burson

Burson Playmate · DAC / headphone amplifier / preamp · discontinued
  • Output power (headphone): 16 Ω 1.8 W · 32 Ω 2 W · 100 Ω 0.5 W · 150 Ω 0.3 W · 300 Ω 0.1 W
  • Output impedance: <2 Ω (headphone); 15 Ω (pre out)
  • Gain: not published
  • Inputs: USB (XMOS; PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512); Toslink
  • Input impedance: 38 kΩ
  • Outputs: RCA pre out; headphone jack (SE)
  • DAC / chipset: ESS SABRE32 ES9038 (suffix not stated)
  • Other: Original Playmate (Playmate 1); THD <0.002%; FR ±1 dB 0-35 kHz

[3]

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.

  1. Sennheiser HD 6XX: support.sennheiser-hearing.com
  2. Sennheiser HD 6XX: us.sennheiser-hearing.com
  3. Burson Playmate product page