Would you mind elaborating more on the sound change? I'm considering similar upgrade, but the last thing I would expect is more sparkling treble (while it also being slower, I thought slower = less treble, more relaxed sound)
Burson V7 Classic Pro and V7 Vivid Pro - Hi-Fi audiophile solid-state op-amps
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Ben86
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I agree with your experience. I compared my old V6V to the new V7C and found that V7C sound is more sweet, musical, natural, without sharpness, but less dynamic and "slower", more relaxed and romantic presentation compared to my V6V. V7C suits perfectly with Vocal Jazz, Blues, Classical and similar music genres for natural vocals and instruments. V7C sound of notes is more extended, with slower decay, for example some tracks like "Norah Jones - I don't know why" or "Katie Melua - Maybe I dreamt it" sounded extremely sweet, musical and romantic in my experience. Reminded me a lot of "tube" sound presentation, but with better clarity. On the other hand it is not so great with modern rock, metal, electronic genres. I like my V6V for these genres better. Maybe I will upgrade my V6V to V7V or SS2590, but still can't decide which one is a better choise and investment
how much gap there will be beetween V6V vs V7 abd V7V vs SS2590
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SussyTofu420
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The treble isn't necessarily more intense, but it's like I can hear dust on some tracks. Any kind of crackling seems to pull my attention, this includes a moist mouth.
I agree with your experience. I compared my old V6V to the new V7C and found that V7C sound is more sweet, musical, natural, without sharpness, but less dynamic and "slower", more relaxed and romantic presentation compared to my V6V. V7C suits perfectly with Vocal Jazz, Blues, Classical and similar music genres for natural vocals and instruments, but not so great with modern rock, metal, electronic genres. I like my V6V for these genres better. Maybe I will upgrade my V6V to V7V or SS2590, but still can't decide which one is a better choise and investment for me...
I had a lot of trouble deciding between the Vivid and Classic, I listen to a lot of different types of music. In retrospect I probably should've gone with the Vivids and buy a relaxed headphone. I currently only use the HE1000 Stealth.
sawindra
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I second that.....Vivid vs Classic are like Solid state vs Tubes....I put 2x Vivid V7 in I/V stage recently....Vivid has more pronounced details, more edgy details, they are “attacking” you from all sides, stage is wider, more 3d, sound is fast and dynamic...very precise....instruments are less natural than on classic....depends on your taste but I prefer classic....relaxed, smooth and emotional....I’ll trade last bit of details for engagement and emotional connection with music any day…...
Anyway, you can mix these two and experiment with them on different positions within dac, until you get perfectly seasoned meal i.e. just right amount of details, sharpness and smoothness per your taste...
In any combination, try to run them at least 10 days nonstop in order for them to stretch their legs, so you can make good conclusion what is best for you....cheers
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I have now done a lot of listening and a few comparisons with V7 Vivid against the other op amps I own. I believe the V7 Vivid are more or less fully burned-in. I didn’t notice any dramatic change in sound over time, maybe a slight softening and a cleaner character over time. I wasn’t paying enough attention to capture what was happening. For my specific use case, MUSES03 still wins, so I'm going back to using them instead of V7 Vivid. But V7 Vivid are still excellent and are probably the best choice for many.
I'm using the op amp as the input stage of a Purifi amplifier. According to Bruno Putzeys (in a second-hand account I heard on another forum) who designed the Purifi amplifier board, the op amp in the input stage needs a lot of output power to power the amplifier module optimally. MUSES03 has a ridiculously powerful output stage (150 mA) which seems to make them perfect for this specific use case. V7 Vivid has no output power spec, but SS3602 have 14mA output power in class A and 65mA peak power. For most use cases you don’t need massive output power in your op amps, so I think my use case has different requirements than say I/V, LPF, Buffer or the many other places where an op amp can be used. But I'm just randomly testing the op amps without any measurements, so I could be wrong. But from reading and inferring results based on what I'm hearing, I think that's why MUSES03 is the winner, even though V7 Vivid has its strong points as well. In practice, MUSES03 is far more vivid and dynamic sounding at any volume level. This makes nearly all music far more emotionally engaging, even though you don't get the same spacious and detailed sound as V7 Vivid. With V7 Vivid it's more of an analytical experience, where you can easily pick apart the mix and concentrate on any part with ease. With MUSES03 the sound grabs you and seems to energize the air and pop out of existence with far more drama, so it creates an involuntary emotional response. This is ultimately what I want from my stereo system, so for now V7 Vivid are going on the shelf.
I compared V7 Vivid against AD797BRZ, and in that particular matchup V7 Vivid won by a huge margin. They made the AD797BRZ feel truly obsolete, even though they're the higher-grade B variant which is still highly regarded by some. I also rate V7 Vivid above SS3602 and V6 Vivid by a large margin. I also prefer their sound to OPA828. What V7 Vivid do best is their transparent, controlled and resolving character. They're very easy and pleasant to listen to. Even though they're named "vivid", they're actually one of the least vivid and characterless op amps I've ever come across. They impart as little of their own sound to the signal as possible. The most striking effect they have on the sound is the enlarging of the sound stage. I think the center image is probably too diffuse and maybe hazy, but that could be because of the Phonitor X I use as pre-amp, as it also has an enlarging character to its output signal. I noticed this when I compared using a dac with volume adjustment as pre-amp vs running the signal via the Phonitor X to the same speaker amp. The sound grew in size when I used the Phonitor X, so double stacking an enlarging effect with V7 Vivid might be too much in my system. In the end it's about what makes the system as a whole sound the best, when all parts are playing together.
I'm using the op amp as the input stage of a Purifi amplifier. According to Bruno Putzeys (in a second-hand account I heard on another forum) who designed the Purifi amplifier board, the op amp in the input stage needs a lot of output power to power the amplifier module optimally. MUSES03 has a ridiculously powerful output stage (150 mA) which seems to make them perfect for this specific use case. V7 Vivid has no output power spec, but SS3602 have 14mA output power in class A and 65mA peak power. For most use cases you don’t need massive output power in your op amps, so I think my use case has different requirements than say I/V, LPF, Buffer or the many other places where an op amp can be used. But I'm just randomly testing the op amps without any measurements, so I could be wrong. But from reading and inferring results based on what I'm hearing, I think that's why MUSES03 is the winner, even though V7 Vivid has its strong points as well. In practice, MUSES03 is far more vivid and dynamic sounding at any volume level. This makes nearly all music far more emotionally engaging, even though you don't get the same spacious and detailed sound as V7 Vivid. With V7 Vivid it's more of an analytical experience, where you can easily pick apart the mix and concentrate on any part with ease. With MUSES03 the sound grabs you and seems to energize the air and pop out of existence with far more drama, so it creates an involuntary emotional response. This is ultimately what I want from my stereo system, so for now V7 Vivid are going on the shelf.
I compared V7 Vivid against AD797BRZ, and in that particular matchup V7 Vivid won by a huge margin. They made the AD797BRZ feel truly obsolete, even though they're the higher-grade B variant which is still highly regarded by some. I also rate V7 Vivid above SS3602 and V6 Vivid by a large margin. I also prefer their sound to OPA828. What V7 Vivid do best is their transparent, controlled and resolving character. They're very easy and pleasant to listen to. Even though they're named "vivid", they're actually one of the least vivid and characterless op amps I've ever come across. They impart as little of their own sound to the signal as possible. The most striking effect they have on the sound is the enlarging of the sound stage. I think the center image is probably too diffuse and maybe hazy, but that could be because of the Phonitor X I use as pre-amp, as it also has an enlarging character to its output signal. I noticed this when I compared using a dac with volume adjustment as pre-amp vs running the signal via the Phonitor X to the same speaker amp. The sound grew in size when I used the Phonitor X, so double stacking an enlarging effect with V7 Vivid might be too much in my system. In the end it's about what makes the system as a whole sound the best, when all parts are playing together.
Ben86
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Have you ever tried to compare your Muses03 to Sparkos SS2590?
This also would be very interesting comparison of top class OP-AMPS They don't fit on my input buffer board, so I would have to buy a new one or get ambitious with risers. I just had a look at what new boards from Nord Acoustics would cost including SS2590 pre-mounted. Including tax: £712. I'm sure they sound great, but it's a bit much!
CFGamescape
500+ Head-Fier
I'm trying out the following now in my Soloist 3X GT:
I only have the HD800S right now, so I'm going for the most tube-like sound.
- Voltage: V7 Classics
- Input: SIL994
- Volume: SS3602
I only have the HD800S right now, so I'm going for the most tube-like sound.
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Dear friends, here is my Burson V7 Vivid review.
And here
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/burson-audio-v7-vivid-op-amp.27169/review/33562/
And here
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/burson-audio-v7-vivid-op-amp.27169/review/33562/
Excellent and interesting review. In my Aroma A100TB portable amplifier I have the V6 Vivid and I am very satisfied . Moving on to V7, maybe the Classics could add some hot analogue sound to me, which can bring tubey sound closer?Dear friends, here is my Burson V7 Vivid review.
And here
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/burson-audio-v7-vivid-op-amp.27169/review/33562/
My previous experience was with the V6 Vivid. The V7 Vivid is a superior sounding op-amp. The Classic model should sound warmer - more organic so it might suit you better
raoultrifan
Headphoneus Supremus
I would vote to a mix between the two V7 Pro models, Vivid + Classic, as I already mentioned here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/bur...hile-solid-state-op-amps.971554/post-17970369, but YMMV, of course. I see that there are some SO-8 soldered op-amps in this portable amp, so it might get tricky to change those small ones. In what positions do you have the V6 installed right now?
Output . And a couple of V5i D in the input slots .
terontingen
New Head-Fier
Some conclusions after properly testing the 4 Vivid/2 Classic mix:
-They did level out to more neutral as they burned in more. And the characteristics of the Vivids became dominant over the Classics which acted like nice seasoning/spice overall, like others said. The Classics did not impose excessive warmth or thickness in this combo ratio.
-Classics in Voltage Gain smooth out edges nicely but cut a good amount of the big stage height that I was used to my Gustard R26 providing. They also pushed the stage very deep so it sounded like you were watching a movie far back in a longer theatre and the height of the screen cut off to letterbox.
-Classics in Volume make the Vivids do most of the talking. The staging and layering while nicely open and wide, is flatter so the lead is on par with the background and the V-shape and loss of richness is apparent.
-Classics in Input is the goldilocks choice, just right. Great amount of air, separation, trailing tones, resolution, attack and dynamics while refining edges. The forward presence of the lead vocals/instruments enhances texture and depth very nicely and accurately. This is my favorite feature overall. You are clearly more immersed and invested in the music.
Overall a worthy upgrade to refine the Soloist in the direction of totl amps. Not as a dramatic wow effect as HQPlayer upsampling, but provides a higher foundation to all round performance.
-They did level out to more neutral as they burned in more. And the characteristics of the Vivids became dominant over the Classics which acted like nice seasoning/spice overall, like others said. The Classics did not impose excessive warmth or thickness in this combo ratio.
-Classics in Voltage Gain smooth out edges nicely but cut a good amount of the big stage height that I was used to my Gustard R26 providing. They also pushed the stage very deep so it sounded like you were watching a movie far back in a longer theatre and the height of the screen cut off to letterbox.
-Classics in Volume make the Vivids do most of the talking. The staging and layering while nicely open and wide, is flatter so the lead is on par with the background and the V-shape and loss of richness is apparent.
-Classics in Input is the goldilocks choice, just right. Great amount of air, separation, trailing tones, resolution, attack and dynamics while refining edges. The forward presence of the lead vocals/instruments enhances texture and depth very nicely and accurately. This is my favorite feature overall. You are clearly more immersed and invested in the music.
Overall a worthy upgrade to refine the Soloist in the direction of totl amps. Not as a dramatic wow effect as HQPlayer upsampling, but provides a higher foundation to all round performance.
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