Is Burmester 232 worth the price?

Burmester is certainly a highly-regarded brand with good reason, but whether it’s worth it is a personal value judgement and depends largely on if it delivers the sound you’re looking for better than something else because that’s the final arbiter in the end.  Did you research other products from the likes of Gryphon, Vitus, Boulder, Constellation, Soulution, etc. to see which produce sound characteristics you were looking for or did you just buy Burmester blind based on reputation?  Whether it was a good decision depends on your personal tastes/system and how the Burmester sounds to you.  If there are areas you find lacking that may be an indication something to explore further but may not be related to other components besides the amp.  Sorry I know this is a non answer, but it’s a question that’s really impossible to answer at least without knowing a lot more. 

Thanks for your input. I bought Burmester primarily on reputation. It sounded good when I auditioned it and the dealer said it would pair well with my Kanta 3s. Also , the burmester in my Mercedes sounds great. I like warm sound, big soundstage and punchy bass.

My primary concern is whether buying at retail was a smart move. Comparable Japanese brands go on sale on eBay. It will arrive tomorrow and I am sure it will sound great with my Kanta 3s. But then I doubt Burmester goes on sale much, right?

If their home audio is as good as their car audio (according to the dealer their home audio is better), I will be content.

I have a Burmester 218 and it is, to my ears, a superb amp. To my ears, it delivers a very natural, musical sound without being slow or soft. I checked out several good brands and landed on Burmester, but certainly no bad choices among the brands mentioned by @soix. Accuphase is warmer/softer to my ears-as @soix said, its a matter of personal taste, and that might be yours.

Burmester makes high quality, well engineered and well built products, but you should ignore anyone who tells you what you will like best or what is "better" between well regarded brands-only your ears can decide. @soix mentioned a number of great brands and some will say you can match any of them for a fraction of the cost-I don't think so-but each to their own. One thing is for sure, you will have a very well designed, well built product from a highly respected brand. Price is absolute, but value is inherently subjective, and only you can decide what represents value to you. If the sound brings you joy, don't look back.

Lots of folks have great luck buying on ebay-if I were buying used I'd want the comfort of buying from a dealer, but many have great success otherwise.

You are right, you won't see much Burmester stuff on the used market, which speaks to a satisfied customer base. 

Please let us know what you think after you listen. Congrats!

@kerrybh Glad to hear it. I did not purchase Burmester blindly. Listen to it every day in my Mercedes and love the sound. So I know what I am getting. Only question is whether it’s worth twice as much as comparable Japanese brands.

@madhusudan_ramaswamy we all look at that sort of thing differently. Value, and money are unnecessarily divisive in our hobby. There are folks who are happy to pay six figures for an amp if it’s what they want and then there are a lot of folks who enjoy listening to music on a $100 Bluetooth speaker and think spending anything more than that is wasteful. No right or wrong, each to their own.

@kerrybh Agree with you 100%. I like going after what I want aggressively. But there are 2 opposing forces of nature at play here. There is a side of me that believes in best value not just best quality. Anyway, the deal is done now. It was reassuring to read your comments. Thanks.

@soix Thanks. Hope you read my response.

@madhusudan_ramaswamy Burmester is phenomenal product in my opinion. I purchased a previously owned 082 for my office and loved it so much I bought a new 218 reference amp and 077 pre-amp. The quality of the build and the sound stage are remarkable. You will enjoy it for many many years!!

@woots Thank you  Will have it at home tomorrow and let you all know.

Burmeister makes incredibly good audio equipment. You have made a good investment in an amazing piece of equipment... buying some budget gear from another source is not going to rival. 

One important consideration is this the kind of sound you want. Burmeister is on one end of the spectrum... one that I call "sound spectacular". It very convincingly constructs an impressive holographic soundstage and differentiates incredible detail without being tinny. It is a spectacular experience. Not one that I want in my house however. I like natural, musical, lifelike sonic presentation. 

So, provided this is the sound you like, you have made a great decision. 

@ghdprentice I listen to Burmester everyday in my Mercedes and love the punchy bass, big soundstage and statement sound. While auditioning the 232, the dealer told me their home audio is even more spectacular. So I bought it.

@ghdprentice So yes, I think I have made a great decision. Thanks for the advice.

In a lot of ways, its a great time to be into music. There is such an array of equipment choices across the price spectrum that will deliver a great experience-something for everyone and every taste. And we tend to take for granted that we have literally millions of high quality tunes at our fingertips for $15 a month. That's a long way from the 60s when you would join a record club and get 10 records for .49 cents-if you agreed to buy a record a month at full price for the rest of your life. Pretty good time to be an audiophile.

@kerrybh Agreed. BTW, how do older recordings sound on your 218. I also own Luxman 509z which is very good and has tone controls to reduce extra brightness. Ultra high end brands like Burmester don’t have tone controls. Will this be an issue if I don’t like extra brightness. According to the dealer, it won’t.

I don't think it will be an issue-my amp is detailed, but certainly not bright. Your Focals may be on the bright side to some ears. I don't think the Burmester will add to that at all but may not tame it either. If its an issue, you might think about speaker cables at some point. Maybe Cardis or Audience cables and make sure you are not using anything silver. 

@kerrybh Great. So these particular cables will actually reduce extra brightness? My Focals haven’t broken in yet and should sound less bright with time. I already like their match with my !uxman.

Lots of people here know more about cables than I do so maybe greater wisdom will chime in. But yes, I think certain cable brands- like Cardis- are generally thought to deliver a "warmer" sound, so might pair well with speakers that are on the bright side. I think Focal perfectly illustrates how subjective all this is - Focals are very detailed and transparent. Some folks find them bright but obviously many more love the sound-one of the most popular brands in the marketplace.

I think you are right to give all your new equipment time to settle in before making another move.

Good luck!

@kerrybh Thanks. Will give you all my initial impressions when my 232 arrives tomorrow. But something inside tells me I won’t be disappointed since I’m quite familiar with the Burmester sound in my car.

Every time I wait for a new piece to arrive. I get the whataboutism, glad to hear that I am not the only person who suffers from this problem. Fortunately I always have wonderful results and all is well. my confidence is high that you will share similar experiences. Good luck and enjoy tomorrow it will be a lot of fun. I bet!

Loved burmister in my Porsche twinn turbo panamara.let us know how you like it once broke in. Work hard play hard and enjoy the music.

You made a good decision  ... 

@mark200mph what is the break in perriod

Is it tomorrow yet?

@johnread57 it is today and my 232 is out for delivery. Wanna see a photo of it?

we all wanna see a photo of it!

@gkelly And you all will see a photo of it. Wait till 4pm CST

You get what you pay for.  After driving the Benz, would you buy a Lexus?

I guess, before asking your question, you should have listened Accuphase or Esoteric and compare them with Burmester sound.Than you should buy one that you like most

As for the Burmester, there is not much to add. Superb sound, quality of construction, hand made in Germany, longevity of product lines, great factory support, if needed, excellent resale value, if you ever decide to upgrade. Of course, its much more expensive in US than in Europe 

As for the cables, aldo you own Focal, I would not recommend Cardas anywhere in Burmester system. You will have time to experiment with that, but you should try their own copper based speaker cables (they make silver as well). You will get their (’silver’) power cable with amp, no need to change it as well. Burmester sounds best when all components are theirs, depending on your source and power conditioner, you may consider adding more their stuff later on. 

In any case, sleep in peace, Burmester gear is a great stuff

It would sound better if you hooked up that $90,000 power cable to it. 

According to your A'gon profile you live in Houston, TX and right now on Ebay someone with a user name of madhurama0 is selling a 232 shipping from Houston, TX.

What a coincidence?

@jetter yes, that's me. Will delete the listing  today after reading the comments on this forum re 232. I will keep it.

@jetter the people have spoken 

Don't get me wrong, I am all for you being happy with your purchase.   Second guessing is human nature.

@jetter will find out today at 4 when it arrives but like I mentioned I know Burmester sound fr6m my mercedes. Not second guessing anymore. Am almost 100% sure I will keep it. Plus the price went up yesterday to $25,000. So it doesn't make sense to sell it so soon.

@jetter because of Trump tarrifs. Bur I think I have gold in my hands. So I highly doubt I will ever sell it.

@alexatpos thank you. Will keep it 

@boxcarman Agreed. But Japanese high end electronics is as good as any on this good as any on this planet and tends to be much cheaper than European stuff. That is one notable exception to the rule.

@boxcarman my mercedes is lovely but I don't believe in throwing money. Even Bill Gates doesn't.

Can I post a video of my audio setup on this forum? Wanna thank all the wonderful people who reassured me re the 232.

The manual will have the break in period.but in general many amps new sound better the longer you play them . Sometimes >100 hours.best of luck enjoy because you have a nice amp.

@mark200mph thank you. Most companies don't mail  manuals now but I will try the web.

From my perspective, you have purchased one of the best sounding integrated amps on the market that is also an industrial engineering masterpiece from its build quality and aesthetics.  I have the previous model, the 032.  I previously had Krell separates.  My Krell dealer gave me the preowned 032 he had on consignment as a loaner when he was recapping the Krells.  He never got the 032 back and we worked out a deal. Since then, I compared the Burmester to integrated amps from Accuphase, Gryphon, Solution, Krell, and Audionet, as well as the tube based ARC.  My preference was the Audionet Humboldt, doing everything the Burmester did to a greater extent, but alas ‘twas way out of budget.  I chose Burmester for its exceptional clarity, timbral accuracy, detail, transient speed, and dynamic (micro and macro) response while maintaining tube like dimensionality, image density, sweet treble and midrange bloom.  The midrange bloom champ was the ARC, but it did not touch my soul the way the Burmester did.  The Accuphase you mention is a different pallet.  There is a colored sound that some like, that in my opinion homogenizes the sound of different recordings and timbral differences between instruments.  However, you need to determine if the Burmester sound pallet is to your taste, and whether you per the Accuphase pallet better.  There is no right or wrong.  It what sounds right to you. 

@jsalerno277 well said. You have a wonderful system. I'm not surprised. I'm a Kentuckian living in the middle of bourbon country and can see that your taste in brown liquor is impeccable. That obviously applies to your taste in hifi gear as well. 

I highly doubt you’ll be unhappy with the 232, although given you said you prefer a warmer sound I might have pointed you toward Gryphon or Vitus but I’m sure the Burmester will sound fantastic.  My bigger concern is with your speakers that are decidedly not warm sounding speakers but may still sound great with the 232.  What amp are you using now, and what are your source components, cables and interconnects?  And by all means give the amp around 200 hours of playing time before making any firm conclusions. 

Just setup my new 232. Someone…call the doctor. This is quite possibly the best product I’ve ever owned. Rocks my Focals!! Thanks to everyone on this forum.

Stupid question….how do I upload a photo?

@jsalerno277 Thanks. Just setup my new 232. Focal Kanta 3s + 232 = Heaven! WOW!!!!

@soix Thanks. I am in heaven right now.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1a5N1h8Jjh/

Goodness me. What sound!

Congratulations! I’m very pleased that you are happy with your purchase. It’s a beautiful piece of equipment. Might get even better with some break-in time, although to be honest with my 218 and then the 808 mark five preamp I didn’t notice much change as I got some hours on them. I tend to think that Break in is a much bigger thing with mechanical as opposed to electrical devices, but your experience may be different. At any rate, I hope you enjoy the music !