John’s Burson Conductor 3X GT with ZMF Verite Open and Audeze 2021 XC

Published on

Sales Burson
December 18, 2023

Post Info

Conductor GT3 | GT4
Audeze 2021 XC, Burson Conductor 3X GT, ZMF Verite Open

Love my Burson.
If I had to do it again, I definitely would purchase a Burson product.
It gives me all the power I need and the adaptability.

The System

Listening with

ZMF Verite Open · Headphones: open-back, dynamic (vapor-deposited beryllium), circumaural

Impedance: 300 Ω
Sensitivity: ~97 dB/mW (approx., “~” as published)
Frequency response: not published
Plugs / cables supplied: not published (ZMF lists no connector type)

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Audeze LCD-XC · Headphones: closed-back, planar magnetic, circumaural

Impedance: 20 Ω
Sensitivity: 100 dB/1mW (at Drum Reference Point) ≈ 117.0 dB/V (calc.)
Frequency response: 10 Hz – 50 kHz
Plugs / cables supplied: 1.9 m 4-pin XLR cable with 6.35 mm adapter
Other: recommended power >250 mW (min >100 mW; max 5 W RMS);

Matching notes: At 20 Ω and 100 dB/mW, the Audeze LCD-XC is a low-impedance load, and an efficient one: about 0.45 V (10 mW, 22 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson does not publish a 20 Ω rating for the Conductor 3X GT. Its 16 Ω and 32 Ω ratings (10 W XLR / 5 W SE; 8 W XLR / 4 W SE) fall either side of it. The Conductor 3X GT’s 0.5 Ω headphone output impedance is 1/40 of the load. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

Burson

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

Output power (XLR / SE): 16 Ω 10 W / 5 W · 32 Ω 8 W / 4 W · 100 Ω 3.8 W / 1.9 W · 150 Ω 1.3 W / 0.65 W · 300 Ω 0.64 W / 0.32 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; 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
Outputs: XLR/RCA pre / DAC out; subwoofer pre out; 6.35 mm + 4-pin XLR headphone
DAC / chipset: 2x ESS ES9038 (suffix not stated)
Other: Model R-181X (“GT3”); THD <0.0015%; FR ±1 dB 0-58 kHz; 24V/5A PSU

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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.