David’s Burson Playmate 2 with Sennheiser HD 660S

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Sales Burson
April 16, 2021

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Burson Playmate 2, Sennheiser HD 660S

Outstanding! I had issues with my Playmate and was upgraded to the Playmate 2. I could go on, but I hold Burson to a higher standard above the rest! That is based on my past experience with their products.

The System

Listening with

Sennheiser HD 660S · Headphones: open-back, dynamic, circumaural · discontinued

Impedance: 150 Ω
Sensitivity: 104 dB SPL @ 1 kHz, 1 V (as published) ≈ 95.8 dB/mW (calc.)
Frequency response: 9 Hz – 41.5 kHz (AU page); 10 Hz – 41 kHz (user manual)
Plugs / cables supplied: 6.35 mm unbalanced and 4.4 mm balanced cables (user manual)
Other: THD <=0.04% (1 kHz, 100 dB); max input 500 mW

Matching notes: At 150 Ω and 104 dB/V, the HD 660S is a high-impedance load that needs voltage more than current: about 2 V (27 mW, 13 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson rates the Playmate 2 at 0.4 W (SE) into 150 Ω, which is about 7.7 V RMS (calc.), roughly 12 dB more than that. The Playmate 2’s under 2 Ω headphone output impedance is less than 1/75 of the load. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

Burson

Burson Playmate 2 · DAC / headphone amplifier / preamp · discontinued

Output power (headphone): 16 Ω 3.5 W · 32 Ω 2.5 W · 100 Ω 0.6 W · 150 Ω 0.4 W · 300 Ω 0.15 W
Output impedance: <2 Ω (headphone); 15 Ω (pre out)
Output voltage: RCA not published
Gain: High / Low; dB 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 ES9038Q2M
Other: Model P171; SE only; THD <0.002%; FR ±1 dB 0-35 kHz; DAC THD+N 0.0018%

^{[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.