Burl Audio – finest audio equipment
In Middle English, spoken in the years roughly from 1150 to 1500, “burl” meant ”strongly” and “heavily built”. Furthermore, the tough and knotty parts of the old Sequoia trees in western USA are being referred to as “burl”.
Burl Audio is based in Santa Cruz, California. They do not only design but also build their units there. Owner Rich Williams is a recording engineer, who has been running a commercial studio for a long time. There is still a recording studio the company runs. And the Burl guys brew their own beer! Unfortunately for us, they don't sell that, as it's only available on tap at the company and in the studio. But they also have different types of products that might be interesting…
Burl is well known for analog-to-digital- and digital-to-analog-converters. But there are also Microphone Preamps (like B1 and B1D). A comprehensive Monitor Controller called Burl Audio B26 Orca can be bought and a 32-in-2 summing amp that is listening to the name of B32 Vancouver is also in Burl's portfolio.
Burl pursued the plan to offer analog and digital interfacing units that are tailored to the specific needs of a studio and/or engineer. So they invented the B80 Mothership: Burl Mothership is a modular system, that can be fitted with several kinds of modules. For instance, a single B80 Mothership can house up to 80 channels of ADC and/or DAC! The Mothership houses up to eleven modules, one of which has to be a “Motherboard”-Card, ensuring connectivity to the realm of either DANTE, MADI, DIGILINK or SOUNDGRID.
ADCs and DACs can be added in various configurations. But there is also a four-channel mic pre (up to 40 channels per Mothership… including AD!) and a monitoring section available. If eleven bays seem to be over the top, Burl offers a B16 Mothership, featuring three bays altogether.
|
Product |
Format |
Features |
|---|---|---|
| B26 Orca | 19”/2HU | feature-rich monitor controller with talkback |
| B32 Vancouver | 19”/1HU | 32x2 summing amplifier |
| B80 Mothership | 19”/4HU+1HU PS | frame with 11 bays and power supply |
| B16 Mothership | 19”/2HU | frame with 3 bays |
| BMB1 | Module | Digilink Card |
| BMB2 | Module | MADI Card |
| BMB3 | Module | DANTE Card |
| BMB4 | Module | SoundGrid Card |
| BMB6 | Module | AES Card |
| BCLK | Module | clock with 9 BNC, 1 XLR out |
| BAD8 | Module | 8-channel ADC |
| BDA4 | Module | 4-channel DAC |
| BDA8 | Module | 8-channel DAC |
| BAD4M | Module | 4-channel mastering ADC |
| BDA4M | Module | 4-channel mastering DAC |
| BAES4 | Module | 4/4 AES I/O |
| B22 Orca | Module | Monitor Controller |
| B4 Mic Pre | Module | 4-channel mic pre with ADCs |
| B2 Bomber ADC | 19”/1HU | 2-channel ADC |
| B2 Bomber DAC | 19”/1HU | 2-channel DAC |
| B1 | Series 500/1U | 1-channel mic pre, nickel transformer |
| B1D | Series 500/1U | 1-channel mic pre, iron transformer |
You may ask yourself “Why should I buy Burl instead of another brand?” Burl Audios goal is not to run after utmost transparency. Or, put in different words: The gear does not really colour, but it never sterilises.
“Getting sound” does not mean that you will find lots of parts in Burl equipment, smashing all those transients and details or sounding blurry: The use only all-discrete Class-A circuits without any capacitors in the signal path. And Burl build their own discrete OP-amp! Burl does not only sound “sturdy”, everything is built to last.
Both the Burl Audio B1 and the B1D are microphone preamps in “Lunchbox module format” for API's Series 500. They feature up to 70 dB of (stepped) gain. Their only difference is the output transformer. B1 uses a Burl BX2 nickel core tranny for a purer sound. Burl Audio B1D uses the BX4 iron transformer instead, being capable of really rich and gritty sounds, if desired and pushed hard.