I guess that I am one the few lucky ones to try out the stock and Bolder-modded Burson Buffers in my own system. I'm not great at explaining what I found, but I'll give it a shot.
I have a SB3 with full digital mods + gold Bybee and the most basic analog mods Wayne offered previously. My plan was to feed the digital out to my DAC and go from there. I tried hooking up the SB3 direct to my amp and had some noise issues, but the sound above the noise was so good that I decided to try the analogs.
I tried out the stock Burson with these results:
+
Improved dynamics
More low end
Slightly smoother sound
No problem driving a 2M cable
-
Voices sounded good, but slightly more rounded
Soundstage got smaller
+/-
More gain in system (I have plenty, but you may need it)
No real change in the noise department
I was sort of on the fence on using the buffer. I can get rid of the noise by running short cables and attenuating just before the amp. I probably gained more than I lost by adding the buffer, but not sure I wanted to spend $600 for the buffer + the extra cable needed.
I attended the July 15 listening session and snagged the modded version to take home for 1.5 days. The modded version is in a different class. It offers all of the advantages of the stock version to an even greater degree, but also does not round off voices and there is no loss in soundstage.
I pay closest attention to voices, so I may be Wayne's first customer for the modded version. I'll try to describe what I hear. Many all-digital systems can seem harsh/with glare and it is assumed that that sound is inherent in digital/solid state systems. To fix it, all kinds of measures are taken to "smooth that sound out" by rounding off "the rough spots". That may seem to work on a bright top-end, but is a disaster on voices, which either become muddy or display even more glare at louder volumes when the voice is stressed. Why? I think that the resulting lack of accuracy results in sort of a "single note" output when the voice is stressed and that is not comfortable to listen to. An accurate reproduction captures all of the nuances and the voice is changing under stress. You may think this all sounds crazy, but that is how I describe why i think that the modded version is so superior. We are closer to getting all of the voice and that is easy to listen to even under stress at higher volume levels. That can be the best part when done right.
Just my opinion in my system, of course:
Edge Nl10.1 amp
Audience AU24 cabling
Green Mountain Audio Callistos
Velodyne DD-18
I did the testing with some borrowed Isotek power conditioners in place. They work.
