Burson Super Charger 3A – Improving Burson Sound by Power Supply

Burson Super Charger 3A – Improving Burson Sound by Power Supply

Burson Super Charger 3A is a high-end power supply for Burson products, priced at 284 USD, made to pair with a few of their products. I will be comparing it with the default charger that came with Burson Funk (550 USD). 

 

Introduction

Burson likes to optimize their products, and they are one of the very few companies out there that promotes selling, selling and designing their amplifiers and DACs with interchangeable OP-AMPs, so you can always tweak and optimize their sound. They are also one of the companies that sells reliable products, and you can see every now and then a Burson Play, and old units that are long out of production, but still being sold second hand and used by music lovers, Burson products having the advantage of holding value and making good investments for music lovers. 

Burson actually has such a high belief in the quality of their products that they offer a 30-Day Satisfaction guarantee, where they will refund your original payment (minus a 10% fee and postage fees). They also have Lifetime warranty for all their OP-AMPs, as long as you register your OP-AMPs for warranty within one month after purchase. 

It should be noted that I have absolutely no affiliation with Burson Audio. I’d like to thank Burson for providing the sample for this review. This review reflects my personal experience with the Burson Super Charger 3A. Every opinion expressed is mine and I stand by it. The purpose of this review is to help those interested in Burson Super Charger 3A find their next music companion. 

 

Product Link

Official Link: https://www.bursonaudio.com/product/super-charger-3a/

You can grab one from www.amazon.com here: https://amzn.to/3uE8mDn

If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here: https://amzn.to/3sB1unU

And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here: https://amzn.to/3BiSwzy

 

Packaging

First things first, let’s get the packaging out of the way:

Since Super Charger 3A is a pretty simple and straightforward product, it does not have an overly complex package, but it does come seated in a nice plastic cutout with multiple adapters for different outlet types. 

 

Build Quality/Aesthetics/Functionality

Since at the exterior level, Super Charger 3A looks fairly basic, we should talk about what’s going on the inside, before we study how it changes sound and what its effects are. There are two variants of SuperCharger, 3A and 5A, and both work with almost all Burson products, except for Timekeeper 3Ri, which doesn’t work with neither, and Soloist 3X GT, which only works with Super Charger 5A. There is a 100 USD difference between them. 

After the development of it in 2017, Burson made their own approach to power supply manufacturing, and they started deploying Max Current Power Supply, or MCPS. Those are theoretically better than both transformers and switching power supplies, because they have a lower inherent noise compared to most power supply designs. 

The theory is that for all power supplies, electrical current comes in at a 50Hz or 60Hz alternative current sine wave, and they typically use a large coil to lower the voltage to 12 – 30 Volts, and a selection of large rectifiers and coupling capacitors to convert the alternative current into Direct Current or DC that powers the audio circuits. Theoretically, this approach uses an extremely long copper wire, which has an inherent impedance of about 15 Ohms, and has some drawbacks, including a somewhat slow slew rate and dynamic response. Burson designed their MCPS unit to remove the impedance entirely, but using transistors, leading to a circuit that has less than 1 ohm of resistance. 

Comparing the MCPS to Linear Power Supplies, the theory states that for them to work, Linear Power Supplies will work by combining a series of large capacitors, along with a source that discharges 50 or 60 times per second. This comes with some drawbacks as well, including a somewhat elevated noise that’s within the audible range. 

Burson Audio employed a different approach in their MCPS, and has a working frequency of 170kHz, which is considerably above the threshold of human hearing. It also does a conversion, converting the typical sine wave into a square wave, allowing MCPS to charge the capacitors considerably faster than is possible with SMPS (Switching Power Supplies) or LPS (Linear Power Supplies). The resulting sound has a higher power output and comes through as stronger, Burson stating that this is one of the secrets behind their products being so good at driving hard to drive headphones, and a Burson Fun at 2W feeling more powerful than an average 4W headphone amplifier.  I can actually confirm that all Burson amplifiers deliver a lot of power and are among the strongest sounding with the least distortions I have reviewed to date, something which you can check in my reviews of Burson Playmate and Burson Funk. 

Burson also takes great pride in the fact that their MCPS is small, elegant and does not weigh a ton, plus is considerably more environment-friendly compared to the traditional audiophile approach, where just the power supply weights at least one KG, and that’s one KG of copper. 

 

Sound Quality & Comparisons with Default Power Converter

For the whole concept of a Burson Power Converter improving sound to make sense, and why it would help Burson products a lot, we need to take into account the fact that Bursons’s approach to power supply is different, and their products benefit greatly from power supplies with a high operating frequency, and that it allows the charging rate of the capacitors inside Burson DACs and AMPs to double, practically improving the noise floor, and overall performance of their products. As long as it matches the plug, Super Charger 3A works with other audio products as well. 

Now, the actual result is pretty interesting. I always said that Burson Funk has a really strong power output, and that they can be a glass cannon, shots a lot of power, but at times, can lack control. Super Charger 3A helps greatly with this, and creates a considerably more controlled sound for Burson Frunk. It also helps contour the overall definition of Funk, improving the dynamic range, overall perceived bass depth, and seems to deepen the soundstage, creating a more holographic effect for music that’s played when using it. 

The bass of Funk is deep, but using the Super Charger 3A seems to give it a slightly more natural decay, also seems to improve the nuance and overall depth it is able to reach. As I cannot do quick switching between the power supplies, and it takes me more than 30 seconds to switch between the default power supply and Super Charger 3A, my impressions are highly subjective, but the bass of Funk seems to be better controlled, deeper and more imposing when employing Super Charger 3A. 

The midrange of Funk is more detailed, and has a cleaner overall presentation. There are certain background elements, including background voices and synths in both metal, rock and orchestral music. I noticed more of a difference in sonics with bands that have a high difference between flac and MP3, for example Sirenia, where a lot of the background information and a lot of the upper treble information tends to get lost, because the band has such extreme dynamic compression and is recorded extremely loud. Adding Super Charger 3A to Funk helps a lot with Closure in Moscow and Dance Gavin Dance too, makes background instruments and effects more clean and stand out better. I had the experience where iFi’s iPowerX also helps some devices, but less than Super Charger 3A helps Burson Devices, here we have differences big, to the point where songs feel like a veil has been taken off. 

The treble is actually pretty similar when using Super Charger, it doesn’t get smoother, and actually it gets a bit brighter and more peppy, more sparkly. There’s more soundstage information, more width and more height, more depth too. Imaging gets a bit better, and so does overall separation, so I consider Super Charger 3A a good investment for those who want a wider, more airy presentation. 

 

Value and Conclusion

At the end of the day, if you purchased one of the high-end flagship Burson units, the Super Charger 3A or even 5A won’t cost very much in comparison to the original unit, but comparing it to the default price of funk, both are about half the price of the unit. They are a good investment for sure, the improvements they bring to Funk as well as the other Burson units is high, and they make the sound more live, more peppy, and more detailed. 

The package is simplistic, and so is the unit as well. This is an elegant device with a simple task: improve sound and disappear from the scene. It does this fairly well, and I can safely recommend Super Charger 3A to basically anyone who’s looking to get a better sonic performance from their Burson unit without investing in an entirely new unit. 

At the end of the day, if you’re into details, if you want a more controlled sound with better staging, more treble sparkle, and more depth in the lows, Super Charger 3A is a really neat way to improve your listening experience. 

 

Product Link

Official Link: https://www.bursonaudio.com/product/super-charger-3a/

You can grab one from www.amazon.com here: https://amzn.to/3uE8mDn

If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here: https://amzn.to/3sB1unU

And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here: https://amzn.to/3BiSwzy

 

---

--- Please remember to stay safe, and always have fun while listening to music!---

 - If you have a dime to spare, please donate, and help us! It would make the day brighter for me and my wife- 

---

Full Playlist used for this review

We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature.  I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5

--- Contact Us ---

---