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22 September

Written by John Darko
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Burson HA-160 headphone amplifier

For many can-fans, the Australian-made Burson HA-160 could be the only headphone amplifier they'll ever need. Exceptionally well-made, it drives tougher (AKG) loads with strength and grace.

You can't always get what you want.

This story begins with bad vibes. Melbourne's Burson Audio are a tough bunch to get hold of. There's no phone number or street address (on their website) so it's an email only affair. This approach does them a disservice. It ain't just me and my paranoia talking. I'd already heard numerous anecdotal reports from potential customers and local dealers that emails to Burson often went unanswered. Were they that busy? A shame - hifi is about people as much as it is about gear.

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For the first half of 2011, the Burson HA-160D was the single most requested product review for these pages. My subsequent feelers for a review unit - three emails during four months - eventually solicited a reply:

"Currently we have a few other reviews pending on the HA-160D already. Would you be interested in reviewing our HA-160? We could introduce your readers to our HA-160 first then move on to the HA-160D at a later stage. Please allow us 2 weeks to produce another batch of HA-160 then we'll have one fully burnt in and sent to you."

Ummm. OK - it wasn't exactly what I was after - but why the heck not?

Consumers can purchase Burson products straight from the horses mouth, from their eBay store or from a smattering of countrywide dealers. The HA-160 (AU$649) arrives in exceptionally sturdy packaging. So thorough that it's worth mention here. The unit itself extends this approach - sturdy, re-assuring, serious. This headphone amplifier is one chunky monkey: 6mm aluminium casing all round ensures the customer WILL feel the value for money even before it's powered up. The HA-160's casing is presumably robust enough to withstand more klutz-like folk and/or inquisitive little fingers. Aesthetic side-benefits asisde, the thinking behind such thick-walled casework is a) heat-sinking and b) vibration-isolation. One is advised NOT to sit anything atop the HA-160 and to keep it continually powered on. It takes nearly an hour to come good from a cold start.

Burson's classic/industrial take on product resolution shames the partnering DAC here - an Audio-gd NFB-12, which doubles as head-amplifer (in its own right) and gives you/me/us that all-important context. The Burson box's commanding physical fortitude reminds us that hifi is for life and not just for Christmas. That said, King Wa's sardine can lands down under for half the RRP of the HA-160. Rounding out the initial test rig is a JK MK3 USB-SPDIF converter with Black Cat Veloce SPDIF cable. There was also a JK DAC to hand.

The internals of the HA-160 burst with the Burson mandate: discrete all the way. These Melburnians sell fish with no chips. DIYers will know that Burson built much of its reputation on in-house designed and manufactured discrete op-amps (available to DIYers and OEMs alike). These are stirred into the HA-160 soup. Want more chunky bits? There's their own 24-step volume pot with - you guessed it, kiddo - discrete resistors. The power supply is also discrete - no IC-based regulators here. Discrete, discrete and discrete.

The chunky - there's that word again - notches on the volume pot take some getting used to. It's not a smooth experience, but so what. It's what works. It's what sounds best and this is Burson's take on getting a better sound from an attenuator.

Out front, we have two quater-inch headphone output sockets: the left is for tougher customers (15 - 150 Ohms), the right for more amiable cans (150 to 500 Ohms). At 62 Ohms, one might presume the AKG 702 to find appropriate drive with the left-hand drive. Well yes. And no. There's just too much drive - the AKGs sound overcooked/burnt. Comfortable listening levels disappear a shade after 9pm on the volume dial - ok - but there's a brittleness that starts among the midrange reeds and then spreads in either direction as volume levels are pushed. It's toast that requires scraping. It's sitting on a hard chair for too long - the discomfort only apparent after fifteen or so minutes. Switching to right-hand socket drive and the Burson/AKG finds comfy couch repose. Craig Finn's Hold Steady relaxes into the guitar-chugging "Stuck Between Stations" and things never get as overtly strident as with the horsepower of the left-hand hole.

With right-hand output clearly the more comfortable, and a volume sweet spot of around midnight, the spatial awareness and dynamics of Radiohead's "Airbag" break through the hard ceiling and arrived fully blossomed. There is drive and sweet delight - an effortless presentation of a song that easily strays into a tense headache when the volume is pushed on (the less-than-nourishing can-amplification of) the Audio-gd NFB-12.

The AKG 702 are a fussy headphone that sound hard and unengaging (read: bland) when juiced from amplification that falls short of the mark. Revving a tiny engine harder doesn't help - it just sounds angry. The Burson Brotherhood know this: they've designed their amplifier such that those guitar shards that stab at "Airbag"'s first few bars sparkle with - to borrow from Neil Young - chrome dreams. Three words: uncomplicated, knowing, adroit.

Some comparisons. The Leben CS300XS's headphone output proffers a sound that's instantly recognisable as tubular: the air is thicker / more humid. Glass&gas intervention places a filter over the lens. The Burson is clear, filterless, straight up and down with superior treble-extension and air. It also displays less mid-bass bloom (aka warmth) whilst retaining that sonic gravity and weight.

Listening to Four-Tet's recent Fabric Live mix compilation, the Leben underscores its laconic swing - it is 'kinder' - whilst the Burson prioritises pep and restlessness but (crucially) with an abundance of humanity; the HA-160 rolls stately and self-assured. All this despite the Leben having been tube-rolled with Amperex and Genalex for more butt-wiggle. Think of the Leben as instant Polaroid picture (with its attendant fuzzy, nostalgic edges), the Burson a Kodak print brought to the life in the lab (and not under the arm). The Burson is vanilla but not in a disparaging way. I'm talking vanilla pods that are subtly pungent and sweet.

BYO DAC. To these greener headphone ears, the Burson sounded most even-keeled with the meat-on-the-bone (dual WM8741 implementation) of the Rega DAC. Surprisingly - a contrary to my experience with solid state loudspeaker amplifiers - the JK DAC Sabre's inner-sunlight marries well with Burson booty. It trades physicality for mental sharpness, yes, but here was something that threatened the notion that a Sabre DAC's number one talent is with detail reveal and that it benefits from the weight gain of tube amplifiers.

Much like the Leben integrated, the headphone-centric Burson adds muscle, fat and sinew to emaciated frames. The HA-160 is no ectomorph . Those who like their equipment to pile detail upon detail AND do so with weight and tonal density will find much to like here. I'm talking to YOU - electronic music lovers! Underworld's many varied Dark&Long versions are presented as deep&dynamic. The Burson excels with a richness that doesn't overload the aural palette.

The Burson HA-160 is a headphone amplifier that asserts its intrinsic quality with confidence: solid build, solid sound - an evenness across the frequency range and and overall righteousness with music (that's possibly peerless in this price region). You also get plenty of juice for more troubling 'phones than AKG 701/702s. Nothing about it feels or sounds cheap. Nothing sounds out of place or positioned where it shouldn't be. You can't go too far wrong - if you don't enjoy this head-amp then canned listening might not be for you. Maybe. The lesson here: you can't always get what you want...but if you try sometimes...you just might find...you get what you need.

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