The Burson op-amp experience

ALL212

I've become one of many to run this Music Hall 25.3 DAC. Original mods done by our own SCompRacer here on our forum. When it came into my possession it had lost one of its Burson op-amp boards due to a mis-pining. If you put them in backwards they end up like this. Those Vishays are not supposed to look charbroiled!



That was one of the matched pair so I ran it with an unmatched pair and an upgraded "normal" opamp.
Originals appear to be TI OPA2134PA and I also have what probably replaced those - TI LM4562NA.
So my original listening on this was with a mismatched pair of Burson's with the LM4562 in the third chair. Within 30 minutes my beloved Stello DA220 was replaced. Pretty much everything kicked up a notch. Bass, clarity, sound stage...very nice!






But...my OCD just couldn't handle the thought so I hit the web to dive in and get a matched set...but...no one had any. Turns out Burson was changing up the line. So I waited, not so patiently either, until one day the order page was back again on the Burson site. I ordered up a matched double pair and, because the price has gone down, a single double to go with it all.

Today my package from down under arrived!! You may be worried about these being shipped 10000 miles and I had doubts when I saw the bubble wrap envelope




but they come in aluminum tubes so no worries there.



The overall size and component count has changed considerably so these can now go in even tighter places than before:



Also appears to be a mylar shield between the two halves:


But...I got a "single pair" instead of a "single double" for that third slot. Email has gone out to Burson to resolve that but the third slot is populated by one of the original Bursons so OCD be damned - I'm good with that!



I had it easy on the mod - Rich already did all the hard work and even labeled the sockets (1 and 2 are the pair, 3 is the odd one). All I had to do was plug and play.




I've been running this all afternoon and because I had Bursons in to start with I don't hear a major change in sound but it's the best DAC I've heard in my system to date.

Sound quality up and cost down...this couldn't possibly be!

schwarcw

Nice job! Rich and I talked about your woes with this DAC and the opamp mix (oops!). I'm glad to hear the Music Hall is up and running to your satisfaction!

ALL212

Thanks Carl. Did you do any of the mods on this or was this all Rich's dream? (or nightmare!).

Someday I'm going to put the headphones on it and see what gives there.

schwarcw

All Rich! LOL!

Give the head phones a try. I am not a big headphone guy. But I suspect all of will downsize when we reach the nursing home and headphones will be our only source of audio when the lights go out! LOL!

daboyz

A2 and Rich are two crazy dudes! I would be in the insane asylum if I had either of their skills.

Congrats A2!!

SCompRacer

All my doing, don't blame Carl...lol The original thread.

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/1725587#Comment_1725587

I went further than most with the Belleson Super Regulator upgrade. Larger heat sinks were fitted as well. Them Bursons created a whopping 700% increase in power demand compared to the OEM op amps.

IIRC OEM op amps were 2134 x 2 and one 2604. I had the upgraded chip op amps in it when you got it, 6172 x 2 and one 4562. With that DAC you get tube out via RCA and SS out via XLR. IIRC the headphone out is SS, and there are mods for that too. I'm a guessing you got parts ordered for that already....

What are the specs on the new version Bursons? More or less mA than the previous ones? Glad you are enjoying it. It's still a great sounding piece.

Some of your pics are not showing up here unless my work is blocking them.

ALL212

Specs are here in the file. If any pictures show up they should all show but I didn't shrink 'em and they do take a bit before they show.

I'll look up the HP mods - I just finished the S.E.X. amp and it's opening up a new vista in headphone experience for me! I've got some fixing to do on it - I think I overheated the HP jack and it makes noise unless you get the plug in just right.

high_def

Do you have further updates ALL212? Considering this upgrade. Seems like Burson is running a campaign where users will receive a free op-amp.

dskanes

Here is my Music Hall 25.3 with V5 of the Burson SS Opamps. Sounds fantastic and now thinking of replacing the OP37Gs in my Jolida JD9 MkII phono stage

heiney9

Discrete op-amps are worlds apart from their I/C counter parts. I'm running the Dexa's in my Mini Max Dac Plus....superb. The Burson's were too tall.

H9

agfrost

heiney9 wrote: »

The Burson's were too tall.

Does that include the V5 Bursons (pictured in dskanes post)? Their form factor has decreased considerably.

heiney9

No, I didn't even know these were available until very recently. Wasn't aware they are Burson's either.

I just recently saw these FS on Ebay, wasn't sure of their track record or where they came from.

Another player that I decided not to go with that has been getting a lot of buzz is Sparkos Labs. I was afraid the increased gain they provide would be too much since I have all the gain and more that I need in my system at this point.

H9

agfrost

I may be trying the V5 Bursons in my Keces.

heiney9

Let me know what you think. I want to replace the w/discrete op-amps too.

ALL212

high_def wrote: »

Do you have further updates ALL212? Considering this upgrade. Seems like Burson is running a campaign where users will receive a free op-amp.

No updates. Nothing further done on this DAC but it is still my main one. I'm having way too much fun in Bottlehead land to mess with this archaic digital stuff.