Reviews by Sam Spade
@raoultrifan wrote a great review on this. I knew a lot about why the burson C3X ref is so good but his review significantly improved my understanding. https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/burson-conductor-3x.24156/reviews
My review is a brain dump and not as well written as Raoultrifan. But I hope it helps. I think with the right headphones Burson puts true high fidelity in the reach of many consumers, plus it is an awesome preamp for a speaker based system. And they are progressively upgrading their whole product range with technology that filters down from their flagship. I'd recommend getting on their mailing list as their pre-release deals are great value.
https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/
I have a conductor 3x reference and have previously upgraded my marantz CD80 with burson low jitter digital clock and opamps plus new caps and a double crown TDA1541A S2. I also have a cambridge audio 640c CD player which is sublimely detailed with digital inputs so it functions as a DAC too. Oh and an astell and kern SP1000M and i used to sell hifi and have heard my share of pretty esoteric systems including the marantz two piece CD12LE Transport/DAC we had on the shop floor which was amazing especially with the marantz PM95 integrated and a AU$10,000 nakamichi 200wpc pre power ive forgotten the model number of. We sold top end Spendor, Dali and Dynaudio too.
The reason i upgraded my CD80 was chasing the CD12 sound. I'm not trying to gloat or name drop here i just want to give some context.
Bursons service is outstanding and their products i have used are exceptional. When i contacted them about buying the conductor they very politely said you have great stuff but we are confident the conductor will match it. They were right. The conductor 3X beat all my gear.
I bought the C3X and LCD3s from them unheard as a package deal on trust based on reviews and the quality and honesty of their communication, and their past service.
I got the conductor 3x in a package pre release deal with audeze lcd3s. It is a match made in heaven and that's coming from an atheist. I only expected to use the conductor as a head amp. But the bursons DAC section beats all my other DACs.
While their marketing may take a dig at other product types, especially things with valves, they don't name anyone. Basically they are positioning their product and in my experience they are right. I don't think they are bashing anyone. And there is so much nonsense in the hifi world, it is full of smoke and mirrors and ridiculous claims.
Plus in my experience their points are fair. I have a musical fidelity nuvista preamp #276 of 500. It uses the legendary scientific/military grade 6CW4 nuvistor metal tubes. The nuvista pre is the most beautiful thing ive owned in form and function. I Never thought I'd let it go. But it's going on ebay. The Burson conductor is a better preamp than the nuvista. That was completely unexpected. It is an interesting story and product a review is here https://hometheaterreview.com/musical-fidelity-nu-vista-preamp-reviewed/
The bluetooth section of the conductor is remarkable. I can stream tidal or ripped FLAC CDs from my phone or A&K DAP and it's practically the same as putting a cd in the player or running usb or SPDIF digital in by cable.
So i think burson seems to be run by a dedicated team of fanatics whose aim is to make the best gear they can and they aren't charging stratospheric prices for it. They seem to be in it for love rather than money. My experience is they make exceptional gear that is ridiculously good value at the price point of each item. Note I haven't demoed their entire range. And I have no connection to the company other than owning some of their products.
I also decided I needed some closed back headphones, as the LCD3s project sound into the room like a pair of bookshelf speakers when you turn them up. So I also got some Audeze LCDxc closed back headphones and they are AU$1000 cheaper than the LCD3s but they are very close in performance, they don't sound $1000 cheaper. And they don't leak sound and they isolate really well in noisy environments. And all the service I have got from Audeze has been outstanding also.
To get a speaker based system that sounds as good as the conductor 3x reference/Audeze LCD3 or LCDxc combo in my estimation you would probably have to spend 10 times the amount.
I have a Rotel RB1080 power amp and a pair of Dali suite 3.5 floorstanding speakers and it is a great system, but the Burson has made it better than it was with the Nuvista. I have a seriously good Hertz/Helix system in my car. But the Burson/Audeze combo is the best listening experience I own.
My modded CD80 is beautiful it has a wonderful timbre, and simple acoustic music, including hi quality vocals like kd Lang, Sarah Vaughan and Marlon Williams sounds so amazingly musical and transparent. The Cambridge 840c on the other hand is incredibly detailed. It has a fully balanced layout, twin Analog Devices AD1955 24 bit DACs, true balanced XLR outs, use of DSP processing to up-convert the signal to 24bit/384kHz. The detail it extracts is amazing and it handles complex layered music so well and has an awesome soundstage. It is a few years old now but the technology is impressive and was regarded as best in class by more than one reviewer. I had been tempted to upgrade it with burson op amps and low jitter clock but never got around to it.
Why do I like the conductor so much as a DAC? Well I love my two CD players and the Burson DAC takes the best of both of them and combines it. The burson is incredibly musical, wonderful timbre and incredibly detailed at the same time and has a sensational soundstage. I'm sure there are better products out there but I'd probably have to spend a hell of a lot more money.
Burson's combining of a top end headamp, DAC and preamp with exceptional Bluetooth is an unbelievably good one-box solution for me, someone who has a speaker based system and wants to listen to headphones too.
Just for the record, it had been about a decade since I had upgraded any of my hifi gear. I was really happy with what I had. But neither the 840C or the Nuvista had a headphone socket, and I was due for some new headphones to upgrade some excellent but aging closed back Yamaha professional series I had. So I splurged on the Burson/Audeze package.
Burson's service is exceptional, they were completely honest when offering advice to me, said I had some exceptional gear and were quietly confident about their products.
I think they are too modest. They are a bunch of fanatics who are in this game for love not money. The gear they make is awesome in quality and value. Oh and I have no connection other than being a customer.
The proof is in the listening, and I've no where near come close to tweaking the C3X, it's still just running on the settings straight out of the box. And the fact that I like it more as a preamp than the MF Nuvista, well that is high praise.
The other thing I like about dealing with them is they say if they don't know the answer to your question. They don't gloat or brag and they are straight up front about what they know and don't. It's a lot like dealing with Audeze. They are awesome too. And the synergy between their products is amazing.
And if you think the new Burson range is ugly, well fair enough. But you don't buy it to look at it
Oh I have a 5m Cardas parsec balanced cable so I can sit anywhere in my living room and listen. It's a lovely cable and despite its length I can still drive the LCD3s to extreme levels. The headamp and headphones are such low distortion you can turn it up and have no idea how loud you are really playing it as one of the cues for perceived loudness is distortion, but the CX3 and LCD3 combo is almost impossible to drive to distortion.
As a side note people say you can't drive LCD3s with portable gear. I have an A&K SP1000M that drives them beautifully. Even my older entry level AK70 does a great job. So I splashed out and got Cardas to make a 1.5m parsec cable terminated with a 4 pole balanced 2.5mm connection and it drives my LCD3s wonderfully. And my LCDxc's as well.
I thought the Audeze stock cables are great but the length and terminations weren't exactly what I needed and Audeze wasn't able to make me what I wanted.
Also if you want some 3 pin XLR cables to hook up your C3X in your stereo system Mogami stage gold or Mogami studio gold microphone cables are awesome and a lot cheaper than buying audiophile cables. And these are the kind of cables used in recording studios and on stages. If it's good enough for stadium rock bands its good enough for me. Professional gear can often be a more cost effective path to great sound quality. There are probably pro brands other than Mogami that are just as good, but I haven't bothered hunting them down and comparing, the mogami are great.
I have found an Australian business that will make solid silver cables with teflon dielectric and top shelf connectors at really reasonable prices so I am going to try silver and see how it compares to the cardas parsec copper cables.
Happy listening
Cheers
Sam
My review is a brain dump and not as well written as Raoultrifan. But I hope it helps. I think with the right headphones Burson puts true high fidelity in the reach of many consumers, plus it is an awesome preamp for a speaker based system. And they are progressively upgrading their whole product range with technology that filters down from their flagship. I'd recommend getting on their mailing list as their pre-release deals are great value.
https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/
I have a conductor 3x reference and have previously upgraded my marantz CD80 with burson low jitter digital clock and opamps plus new caps and a double crown TDA1541A S2. I also have a cambridge audio 640c CD player which is sublimely detailed with digital inputs so it functions as a DAC too. Oh and an astell and kern SP1000M and i used to sell hifi and have heard my share of pretty esoteric systems including the marantz two piece CD12LE Transport/DAC we had on the shop floor which was amazing especially with the marantz PM95 integrated and a AU$10,000 nakamichi 200wpc pre power ive forgotten the model number of. We sold top end Spendor, Dali and Dynaudio too.
The reason i upgraded my CD80 was chasing the CD12 sound. I'm not trying to gloat or name drop here i just want to give some context.
Bursons service is outstanding and their products i have used are exceptional. When i contacted them about buying the conductor they very politely said you have great stuff but we are confident the conductor will match it. They were right. The conductor 3X beat all my gear.
I bought the C3X and LCD3s from them unheard as a package deal on trust based on reviews and the quality and honesty of their communication, and their past service.
I got the conductor 3x in a package pre release deal with audeze lcd3s. It is a match made in heaven and that's coming from an atheist. I only expected to use the conductor as a head amp. But the bursons DAC section beats all my other DACs.
While their marketing may take a dig at other product types, especially things with valves, they don't name anyone. Basically they are positioning their product and in my experience they are right. I don't think they are bashing anyone. And there is so much nonsense in the hifi world, it is full of smoke and mirrors and ridiculous claims.
Plus in my experience their points are fair. I have a musical fidelity nuvista preamp #276 of 500. It uses the legendary scientific/military grade 6CW4 nuvistor metal tubes. The nuvista pre is the most beautiful thing ive owned in form and function. I Never thought I'd let it go. But it's going on ebay. The Burson conductor is a better preamp than the nuvista. That was completely unexpected. It is an interesting story and product a review is here https://hometheaterreview.com/musical-fidelity-nu-vista-preamp-reviewed/
The bluetooth section of the conductor is remarkable. I can stream tidal or ripped FLAC CDs from my phone or A&K DAP and it's practically the same as putting a cd in the player or running usb or SPDIF digital in by cable.
So i think burson seems to be run by a dedicated team of fanatics whose aim is to make the best gear they can and they aren't charging stratospheric prices for it. They seem to be in it for love rather than money. My experience is they make exceptional gear that is ridiculously good value at the price point of each item. Note I haven't demoed their entire range. And I have no connection to the company other than owning some of their products.
I also decided I needed some closed back headphones, as the LCD3s project sound into the room like a pair of bookshelf speakers when you turn them up. So I also got some Audeze LCDxc closed back headphones and they are AU$1000 cheaper than the LCD3s but they are very close in performance, they don't sound $1000 cheaper. And they don't leak sound and they isolate really well in noisy environments. And all the service I have got from Audeze has been outstanding also.
To get a speaker based system that sounds as good as the conductor 3x reference/Audeze LCD3 or LCDxc combo in my estimation you would probably have to spend 10 times the amount.
I have a Rotel RB1080 power amp and a pair of Dali suite 3.5 floorstanding speakers and it is a great system, but the Burson has made it better than it was with the Nuvista. I have a seriously good Hertz/Helix system in my car. But the Burson/Audeze combo is the best listening experience I own.
My modded CD80 is beautiful it has a wonderful timbre, and simple acoustic music, including hi quality vocals like kd Lang, Sarah Vaughan and Marlon Williams sounds so amazingly musical and transparent. The Cambridge 840c on the other hand is incredibly detailed. It has a fully balanced layout, twin Analog Devices AD1955 24 bit DACs, true balanced XLR outs, use of DSP processing to up-convert the signal to 24bit/384kHz. The detail it extracts is amazing and it handles complex layered music so well and has an awesome soundstage. It is a few years old now but the technology is impressive and was regarded as best in class by more than one reviewer. I had been tempted to upgrade it with burson op amps and low jitter clock but never got around to it.
Why do I like the conductor so much as a DAC? Well I love my two CD players and the Burson DAC takes the best of both of them and combines it. The burson is incredibly musical, wonderful timbre and incredibly detailed at the same time and has a sensational soundstage. I'm sure there are better products out there but I'd probably have to spend a hell of a lot more money.
Burson's combining of a top end headamp, DAC and preamp with exceptional Bluetooth is an unbelievably good one-box solution for me, someone who has a speaker based system and wants to listen to headphones too.
Just for the record, it had been about a decade since I had upgraded any of my hifi gear. I was really happy with what I had. But neither the 840C or the Nuvista had a headphone socket, and I was due for some new headphones to upgrade some excellent but aging closed back Yamaha professional series I had. So I splurged on the Burson/Audeze package.
Burson's service is exceptional, they were completely honest when offering advice to me, said I had some exceptional gear and were quietly confident about their products.
I think they are too modest. They are a bunch of fanatics who are in this game for love not money. The gear they make is awesome in quality and value. Oh and I have no connection other than being a customer.
The proof is in the listening, and I've no where near come close to tweaking the C3X, it's still just running on the settings straight out of the box. And the fact that I like it more as a preamp than the MF Nuvista, well that is high praise.
The other thing I like about dealing with them is they say if they don't know the answer to your question. They don't gloat or brag and they are straight up front about what they know and don't. It's a lot like dealing with Audeze. They are awesome too. And the synergy between their products is amazing.
And if you think the new Burson range is ugly, well fair enough. But you don't buy it to look at it
Oh I have a 5m Cardas parsec balanced cable so I can sit anywhere in my living room and listen. It's a lovely cable and despite its length I can still drive the LCD3s to extreme levels. The headamp and headphones are such low distortion you can turn it up and have no idea how loud you are really playing it as one of the cues for perceived loudness is distortion, but the CX3 and LCD3 combo is almost impossible to drive to distortion.
As a side note people say you can't drive LCD3s with portable gear. I have an A&K SP1000M that drives them beautifully. Even my older entry level AK70 does a great job. So I splashed out and got Cardas to make a 1.5m parsec cable terminated with a 4 pole balanced 2.5mm connection and it drives my LCD3s wonderfully. And my LCDxc's as well.
I thought the Audeze stock cables are great but the length and terminations weren't exactly what I needed and Audeze wasn't able to make me what I wanted.
Also if you want some 3 pin XLR cables to hook up your C3X in your stereo system Mogami stage gold or Mogami studio gold microphone cables are awesome and a lot cheaper than buying audiophile cables. And these are the kind of cables used in recording studios and on stages. If it's good enough for stadium rock bands its good enough for me. Professional gear can often be a more cost effective path to great sound quality. There are probably pro brands other than Mogami that are just as good, but I haven't bothered hunting them down and comparing, the mogami are great.
I have found an Australian business that will make solid silver cables with teflon dielectric and top shelf connectors at really reasonable prices so I am going to try silver and see how it compares to the cardas parsec copper cables.
Happy listening
Cheers
Sam
