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While clearly from the same stable, with the DA-160 Burson decided to build out analogue values of color saturation and gravitas. To overstate, the HA-160D feels a tad bleached or washed out by comparison. Lean-ish whitish qualities one would never associate with the bigger box. It's surprising then how Burson managed to drive up timbre temperatures and the heft quotient to further solidify their house sound. Depth perception has matured too. It appears as though the circuit's S/N ratio might have improved. At least that's what it sounds like. Albums with a high degree of recorded ambiance exposed just a bit more of that.  

Now identified as TE7022 Audio w/SPDIF rather than USB Audio DAC,
the DA-160 strangely still lacks 88.2kHz compatibility in USB mode.


If asked to draw a sketch in board-walk caricature style where a speed painter deliberately overemphasizes a client's most salient facial features—wild hair, long nose, pointy chin, narrow-set eyes—I'd call the HA-160D a Zu Essence plus subwoofer. That covers gutsy, fleshy, organic, slightly opaque from the midband on up, very potent in the bass and generally drawing softer fuzzier watercolour outlines. The DA-160 doesn't change the Zu Essence speaker. It replaces the amp driving it with a more powerful version (and/or the owner slightly massages the subwoofer's low-pass frequency and amplitude). That's because strategic improvements in the power zone or beefier amplification overall—without for this discussion the compromises which are often associated with more power—tend to sound similar to what separates the two Burson twins. It's unmistakably the same house sound. The changes didn't occur on the 'digital side', hence don't manifest as subjectively more detail, air, speed or what in 5-elements terms I think of as metallic attributes. Rather they occurred on the 'analogue side' as greater solidity and concretisation. To be clear this is not accompanied by more warmth as might be assumed. Nobody touched the thermostat. Warmth is something detractors of the HA-160D sound rightly identified as co-responsible for its minor opacity or lesser directness. The DA-160 gets more robust and assured but not warmer. That's why the more powerful amp simile seems so fitting.

Stello U3. A USB-to-S/PDIF converter like the two Audiophilleo models (apparently separated by features only), the popular M2Tech hiFace and its modified iterations, the KingRex U192 and others like it can easily bypass Burson's own USB transceiver. Obviously there's the added fee for the device plus the extra coaxial cable. Why exactly such a detour would/might be the audible improvement it proved for me with April Music's $499 Stello U3 is up for debate. Academics should likely focus on jitter suppression and superior reclocking. If lower jitter equals higher attack exactitude (crisper clicketty clacks as I think of it) plus sharper micro detail like ambient stuff... then the U3's dual-clock XMOS-powered circuit must have superior jitter suppression over Burson's own implementation. That after all is what the differences were. In the absence of hard measurements I'm simply loathe to make any concrete cause/effect statements that might contribute to more urban audio myths. Regardless of the reason, there's valid room here to experiment. And USB cables sadly do make a difference too.


The CEntrance DACmini. At $795, this converter punches its sticker in below the DA-160. As I put it in the Eximus review, it "produces cutouts overlaid against a black vacuum - very matter of fact. And it really should be about the facts and nothing but. With upscale hifi the facts simply often turn out to have multiple layers or 'hidden meanings' which give them greater context and completeness.Take these sentences. Mary walks her dog. Mary walks her nervous dog. Mary walks her nervous dog under an ominous sky. The first sentence has all the facts relevant for a police statement. The last paints a more complete moody picture for a psychologist looking for meaning. Music and mood are inextricably intertwined. The pure music facts are just tones in proper amplitude and time. The mood facts need more subliminal tertiary data."


All such commentary is always merely relative. While the above did apply vis-à-vis the $2.995 Eximus, now it most assuredly did not. Quite the reverse. In this juxtaposition the DACmini was clearly the more lit up performer, the spatially more informative presenter. Contrast ratio and with it definition and articulation were higher. There was more air, more attack snap on percussive events, more metallic snarl on a plucked upright's strings, more distinct near/far gradations within the soundstage. It's as though the Burson focused deliberately on the physicality of things. This made for an enter-in-front soundstage focus. The DACmini turned on extra stage lights at the rear. This illuminated the same space in a reverse back-to-front sensation kind of way. It enhanced depth of field and quite literally increased the backlighting for more sharply drawn outlines and more worked-out spatial markers. Here the CEntrance added a few mood descriptors to the Burson's shorter sentence of just the plain facts.

The DA-160 was darker, mellower and less piquant of contrast. The DACmini was more energized by light and treble energies and as such more vibrant. That it manages to include a set of analog inputs plus analog-domain volume for a full-size headphone port demonstrates again at what pace this sector changed over a year. Where the HA-160D's feature set was somewhat of a novelty at its launch and price, competitors have caught up. Another fiercely overachieving newcomer is Metrum Acoustic's NOS Mini DAC Octave. At €699 it'll need something like a $150 hiFace and $123 Black Cat Veloce link to accept USB but on price that pits it quite directly against the Burson. That comparison would fare similarly to the CEntrance in added detail but occupy a different flavor as can be readily inferred from its feature review.

Who is the DA-160 for? That appropriate question is best answered with a counter question. Would you rather listen to an affordable analogue or digital source? If your idea of a better time is a $1.000 turntable over a like-priced CD/DVD player or PC audio setup, the Burson belongs on your list. Steve Marsh on staff is far from in a hurry for example to join the streaming audio jet set. His analogue bend is looking for qualities he as yet hasn't encountered sufficiently. While Steve's own system needs should be beyond what the DA-160 offers, I'm quite certain he'd heartily recommend the Burson to an acquaintance in a less ambitious/earlier audiophile stage who for whatever reason couldn't be bothered to get into vinyl. Also, entry-level systems often err on the side of boom-tizz to be in dire need of material substance (what audio lingo calls body). Where hyper-rez converters would merely exasperate the issues for a lean thin hard needling sound, Burson's DA-160 should make for quite the injection of not adrenaline but antidote. So know what ails you. That determines your poison. That and the size of your wallet. By now it should be clear how the DA-160 fits that bill...
Quality of packing: Very good.
Reusability of packing: A few times.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: A cinch.
Condition of component received: Flawless. Includes accessory pack of all necessary digital/analog interconnect cables and owner's manual.
Completeness of delivery: Perfect.
Human interactions: Good.
Pricing: Value.
Final comments & suggestions: None. This is a mature product.
Burson Audio website
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