Hi-fi news Review｜Burmester 077/218 Pre/Power Amplifiers

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Date: 2024-04-10

Taking both aesthetic and design cues from the flagship 159 monoblocks, the 218 power amp is the German marque's newest model, teamed here with the 077 preamp.

Never accuse Berlin-based Burmester of timidity... In an interview published to mark the launch of its 216 and 218 power amplifiers, its Team Leader for Quality Management, Thomas Schneider, says, 'We have thought in exactly the right direction'. The 216 amplifier is part of what the company calls its Top Line, and while the 218 may look similar it's actually in the upper tier Reference Line, one step below the Signature Line that features the flagship 159 monoblocks and near-2m-tall BC350 speakers, yours for £233,000 a pair.

Still with me? Well, the 218 is a stereo power amplifier, rated at 165W/8ohm while standing almost 22cm tall and weighing 42kg. Hand built to the company's usual standards of solidity and finish, it sells for £34,600 (the 100W 216 is £23,700) and is partnered here with the £35,900 077 preamplifier, a relatively long-running Burmester model, the original version having been launched in 2007 to mark the 30th anniversary of the company's 777 preamplifier.

Module Choice
Launched as a one-box preamp, with the option of an offboard power supply, the 077 is now only available in two-box form, as a balanced line-only, analogue design, albeit with the option of modules to add digital inputs, MM/MC phono capability and an unbalanced line stage. One module of your choice is included in the price – ours was fitted with the USB-B/coax digital card. RCA-to-XLR adapters are included as is the company's 067 remote handset, which is £500 when bought separately.

Output from the preamplifier is via balanced XLRs, matching the inputs on the 218 power amp, while an additional BurLink connection allows the amplifiers to be integrated into third-party home automation solutions, including Crestron. Despite being separated by more than 15 years, the 077 and 218 remain a perfect visual match, bridging the eras between the company under the helm of founder Dieter Burmester, and the brand today after his passing in 2015.

The heavy aerospace-quality casework has a decidedly 'technical' look, and while the mirror-finish fascia treatment adds visual appeal, the engraved legends above and below the 077's multifunctional toggles are rather tricky to read. For example, a single control handles phase switching but also toggles the display brightness, while another – at least with the digital input module fitted – chooses between Class 1 and 2 USB operation, selects the digital input in use and enables upsampling to 192kHz.

Other controls access the set-up menus, including selecting the main output or the 077's two headphone sockets, the latter somewhat inconveniently located on the rear panel. Input sensitivity, input naming, and so on, is achieved by a combination of up or down movements of the toggles, plus different lengths of hold when doing so.

Taking Control
You can even bypass various switches if required, and while most users will soon become familiar with their basic functionality, it's likely that the supplied remote control, also aluminium-clad, will provide more logical access to the functions of the preamp. Mind you, using the remote deprives you of the tactile 'click-stop' appeal of the 077's chromed volume control. There's not much chance of overshoot through over-enthusiastic twiddling here – in fact, a determinedly positive shove is required to make changes!

The 077 and its power supply are designed to be stacked. As both units have heavy alloy feet, machined to a spike, Burmester supplies protective alloy baseplates for each, the 'points' sitting on carbon-fibre discs set into their surface. Completing the attention to detail is the provision of a cleaning spray and microfibre cloth, designed to maintain the units in pristine condition.

The 218 power amp is of a size and mass to make it a definite 'sit on the floor' device, and features massive aluminium top and bottom plates sandwiching heatsinks wrapping around all four corners of the enclosure. Conduction is improved by a copper heatpipe, as the output devices are actually located behind the solid side-panels between the heatsinks. The amplifier is a symmetrical, dual-mono, and DC-coupled design described as 'a three-stage, fully complementary signal amplifier... with targeted compensation techniques and very narrow-tolerance components'. This is the core of Burmester's proprietary X-AMP technology.

Power Down
Around the back, hefty 'winged' terminals are provided for stereo speaker cable connection. The 218 can also be used as a mono amplifier or as part of a bi-amp configuration using dedicated adapter cables, available as accessories from Burmester dealers at £1300 a set.

A single power button is the only control on the front of the amplifier, with a customisable LED changing colour to show on and standby. Again to the rear there are trigger ports as well as that proprietary BurLink connection. The 218 also has an automatic power down after 30 minutes of no signal, which is on by default but can be bypassed using Burmester's system remote, or via the BurLink port. There's also extensive protection against short circuits, overheating or DC offset, all of which is enabled using circuits lying outside of the direct signal path.

And... Relax
Our initial auditioning of these amplifiers kicked off via the 077's USB-B 'computer audio' input, with music fed to the DAC card using Aurender's W20SE music library [HFN Mar '23]. Speakers were B&W 801 D4s [HFN Nov '21], and it soon became clear that the digital module fitted to the 077, though convenient, was starting to show its age... The sound, while lush and rich in the low frequencies, as one might expect given Burmester's origins as a company created by a bass-player, was somewhat lacking in freshness and vitality in the midband and treble. This was all very relaxing and apparently very 'hi-fi', but the music still lacked spark and excitement, something rapidly addressed by bringing into play dCS's Vivaldi APEX DAC [HFN Jun '22], also connected via USB-B to the Aurender W20SE and with a fixed-level output to the 077's analogue inputs.

Tracks that previously sounded rich but slightly anonymous, such as 'On The Sunny Side Of The Street' from the Bill Charlap Trio's Notes From New York album [Impulse! download], gained extra sparkle and impetus, no longer sounding like a slightly snoozy late afternoon hi-fi demonstration. And Bonobo's 'Otomo', from his Fragments album [Ninja Tune ZENDNL 279], previously distinguished only by its big, thundering bassline which was more about weight than impact, took on extra detail and became faster-sounding and more interesting as a result.

Even those tracks I'd found satisfying when run through the preamp's internal DAC gained new life with the dCS player/DAC in harness, allowing the Burmester amplifiers to deliver all their warmth and weight while gaining new presence. 'Angel Eyes', from Carmen Gomes Inc.'s Thousand Shades Of Blue [Sound Liaison SL-1001A], which is definitely a demonstration-quality recording, combined richness with immediacy and a more detailed view of the singer's voice. Similarly, the slow burn of the 3rd movement of Elgar's First Symphony [Staatskapelle Berlin/Barenboim; Decca 478 9353] brought together stateliness and scale, complemented by a detailed insight into what each section of the orchestra was doing.

Sax Appeal
True, the Roger Waters take on 'Money' from his Dark Side Of The Moon Redux set [SGB Music download] arguably sounded a little slow, if melodramatic, but one can hardly blame the 077/218 amplifiers for that. By contrast, the Espen Eriksen trio/Andy Sheppard 'Passion' from the recent As Good As It Gets release [Rune Grammofon RCD2233] demonstrated much better pace and openness, together with a fine reedy tonality to Sheppard's sax. Furthermore, Fleur Barron's performance of Purcell's 'When I Am Laid In Earth', from the La Nuova Musica recording of Dido and Aeneas [Pentatone PTC 5187032], was positively spine-tingling.

So, yes, this Burmester combination remains warm, generous and still somewhat polite-sounding by comparison with some more obviously upfront amplifier systems, but the immediacy, the thrill and sheer amount of detail thrust at the listener by those latter amplifiers is not always a recipe for satisfaction in the longer term. Moreover, the 077/218 pairing maintains a firm grip on speakers such as the big Bowers & Wilkins floorstanders, which benefit from both confident driving and control if they're not to dominate proceedings.

The grip that's exercised here might be concealed to some extent by the innate richness of the 077/218's presentation, but it's clearly there in the intimate 'in the room' presentation of Ed Sheeran's 'England' from Autumn Variations [Gingerbread Man Records 5054197767272], with superb vocal and instrumental colours. It's even more obvious with the languid country of 'Songs That She Sang In The Shower' from Jason Isbell's 10th anniversary release of Southeastern [Southeastern Records SER9984-10DX], which shows excellent three-dimensional soundstaging.

This ability to let voices and instruments cut through that seemingly rich, 'easy listening' sound is also apparent with Magdalena Kožená's voice on her lovely Folk Songs set of little vignettes, with the Czech Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle – yet another beautifully judged Pentatone recording [PTC 5187075]. Meanwhile the 218 power amplifier proved capable of serious dynamics on the 'March From 1941' on the Jerry Junkin/Dallas Winds John Williams At The Movies release [Reference Recordings RR-142], with crisply resolved snares and startling bass drum strikes. And yes, it really swings with those marching tempi.

Listening Pleasure
Play another Reference set, the Oue/Minnesota Orchestra recording of Respighi [RR-95], and the 'Pini di Roma' sounds suitably dramatic, exuberant and cinematic. Indeed, the scale these amps can deliver is perfectly measured against the detail and tonal shading of the performance, however carried away you get with that weighted volume control. And so, in the round, while this Burmester duo undoubtedly has a 'sound', it's one carefully tailored to delight the listener, and for many this mixture of ease of listening and richly delineated detail will be exceptionally attractive.

Hi-Fi News Verdict
The distinctively rich presentation of the 077/218 pre/power amplifiers may be at odds with the apocryphal Germanic 'sound tuning', but there's no doubt they are superbly easy to enjoy, while at the same time conveying the spirit and emotion of the music. Add in the solid engineering and lavish styling, and there's no gainsaying the appeal of these luxurious components. Nor, indeed, the sound they deliver.