Jacoub’s Burson Conductor 3X Reference with Sennheiser HD 800 S

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Sales Burson
April 16, 2021

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Burson Conductor 3X Performance, Burson Conductor 3X Reference, Sennheiser HD 800 S

Great headphone DAC. I use Burson amplifiers for mixing and mastering.

The System

Listening with

Sennheiser HD 800 S · Headphones: open-back, dynamic, circumaural

Impedance: 300 Ω
Sensitivity: 102 dB SPL @ 1 V ≈ 96.8 dB/mW (calc.)
Frequency response: 4 Hz – 51 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 6.35 mm unbalanced; 4.4 mm balanced

Matching notes: At 300 Ω and 102 dB/V, the HD 800 S is a high-impedance load that needs voltage more than current: about 2.5 V (21 mW, 8.4 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson rates the Conductor 3X Reference at 0.58 W (XLR) / 0.3 W (SE) into 300 Ω, which is about 13.2 V / 9.5 V RMS (calc.), roughly 14 dB / 12 dB more than that. The Conductor 3X Reference’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/600 of the load. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Burson

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

Output power (XLR / SE): 16 Ω 7.5 W / 3.75 W · 32 Ω 5 W / 2.5 W · 100 Ω 1.75 W / 0.88 W · 150 Ω 1.16 W / 0.58 W · 300 Ω 0.58 W / 0.3 W
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: 2x XLR; 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: XLR pre out; line-level DAC out; 6.35 mm + 4-pin XLR headphone
DAC / chipset: 2x ESS ES9038Q2M
Other: Model R180X (3XR); THD <0.0015%; FR ±1 dB 0-58 kHz

^{[2] [3] [4]}

Burson Conductor 3X Performance · DAC / headphone amplifier / preamp · discontinued

Output power (XLR / SE): 16 Ω 6 W / 3 W · 32 Ω 3 W / 1.5 W · 100 Ω 1 W / 0.5 W · 150 Ω 0.66 W / 0.33 W · 300 Ω 0.33 W / 0.115 W
Output impedance: 0.5 Ω (headphone); 1 Ω (pre out); 25 Ω (DAC out)
Output voltage: RCA 2 V (DAC out) · XLR not published
Gain: High / Low; dB not published
Inputs: USB (XMOS; PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512); Toslink; Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD; microphone
Input impedance: 39 kΩ
Outputs: XLR + RCA pre/DAC out; 6.35 mm + 4-pin XLR headphone
DAC / chipset: ESS ES9038Q2M (x1)
Other: Model M180X (3XP); THD <0.0015%; FR ±1 dB 0-58 kHz

^{[5] [4]}

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.