Burson Conductor Stellar Review – Class-A Authority With a Soft Spot for IEMs
General Burson needs little introduction. Their fully discrete Class-A designs and V-series op-amps have earned them a loyal following over the years. The Conductor Stellar is the all-in-one model from their new Stellar series, distilling much of what the larger Voyager line offers into a far more desk-friendly chassis. It houses a DAC, a headphone amplifier and a preamp in one enclosure. And for the first time on a Burson, there is a dedicated low-noise amplification stage purpose-built for IEMs. At its core sits the flagship ESS9039PRO DAC chip, paired with Burson's discrete output stage and four Onsemi MJE15032 transistors per channel. Power output is rated at 8W into 16Ω via XLR and 4W single-ended. The IEM mode is a genuinely separate, much quieter stage rather than a simple low gain setting. It is rated at 1W into 16Ω balanced, with Burson quoting 120dB SNR at the IEM output. The Stellar comes in three packages. The Standard uses NE5532 op-amps, Silent Power 01 modules and ...
