Hi Pat, Yes you are right, the Burson website is incorrect and whoever made the site is wrongly describing what their product even does! Their product doesn't "match" impedances as in making them equal, but they misleadingly call it "matching" on their website. And then, they further complicate it with sidebar info about how impedance matching gives max power transfer etc (which has no place in line-level voltage (vs. power) transfer and no relevance to their product at all)!
Interestingly, they did once have the buffer I/O impedances posted there, but it now looks like they took them out when they last redesigned the page (weird). The buffer impedance specs are input 550K ohms, and output is under 30 ohms. Instead of calling it "impedance matching", perhaps they should call it "impedance optimizing" or "impedance correcting" or (?) I think their buffer is essentially a pair of their 'discrete op-amps ' (http://www.bursonaudio.com/burson_hdam_module.htm)in a separate box with its own power supply using their' super regulators' (http://www.bursonaudio.com/burson_super_regulator.htm). My own naive questions: Is an external buffer essentially a separate output-stage-in-a-box? Is it really a voltage amplifier / preamp without a volume control? Does the buffer's high input Z and 6db gain, allow the previous output stage to run in a more optimum range with less distortion? Does it perhaps filter out ultrasonics from the audio signal? etc. etc. :) Here are some 'similar chinese versions' (http://www.audio-gd.com/enweb/en-part.htm) (their descriptions can be very amusing!). Both PS Audio and Bryston also swear by their own proprietary Class A discrete output stages, claiming they have many significant performance advantages over IC's. Modders like 'Bolder Cables' (http://www.boldercables.com/servlet/Detail?no=390) are recommending and modding the Burson Buffer for use with both stock and modified SB3 units. Certainly -somebody- here must know something about the uses/advantages/disadvantages etc of internal (or buffer/external) Class-A discrete output stages? I ask because I personally don't know - I am NOT an expert, just a listener, and very interested in learning what products like the Burson Buffer are actually doing. To our ears, the Burson product sounds great (after level matching) and makes a very definite improvement especially when driving passive attenuators - but I still wonder exactly how is it doing this? Burson's web descriptions and marketing are full of misleading statements and errors, which is really frustrating... -- NewBuyer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NewBuyer's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=7862 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=56068 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
