Audio-Technica AT-SB727 Sound Burger ELO

Review: Audio-Technica AT-SB727 aka Sound Burger! Part II by ELO

Sound Burger Part I covers the Basics, as reported by Doctorjohn and Shawn P

Douk U4, Part I covers the basics, as reported by Doctorjohn

Editor: ELO's Sound Burger journey overlapped with his epic struggles with the Douk U4 (not to mention Douk E6). His chronicle cannot really be properly teased out and separated into a Sound Burger article and a Douk U4 article, but that is what we are doing here. So in this article there would be some mentioning of Douk U4 that might seem to have come out of nowhere. ELO's Douk U4 journey will be published together with Shawn P's experience in the coming Part II of Douk U4. A bit confusing to follow, but hopefully useful. I have inserted passages (in italics) to hopefully clarify the proceedings.

Sound Burger by ELO

My previous journey in Vinyl ended in 1991 and all my LPs were lost somehow in transition but I still remember the wonderful memories of music coming out from the Linn LP12/Ittok II/ Ortofon MC30 (Editor: that's a nice and cheap MC! Before today's ridiculous prices; I had the MC15!). When DJ bought himself the Sound Burger and introduced it to me, I immediately pulled the trigger and ordered one. I still got some LPs at home and Sound Burger is really a one-stop solution which fits my style and is cordless in power and signal, and compact. 

SB to Aiyima A08 Pro

Placed an order of the Sound Burger (SB) from Audio-Technica Amazon JP in May and purchased a generic TaoBao Bluetooth antenna. I finally got the Sound Burger in early June in bright yellow which was so sharp and handsome! I then charged it for 24 hours and was ready for some wireless and cordless vinyl playback - how cool! I can even bring it along to BBQ or a hike ! Without putting on my critic's hat, I first listened to the SB through the BT of Aiyima A08 Pro.

The sound was quite acceptable, pleasant with typical vinyl naturalness, airiness and lightness. Of course in hifi parameters it could not be compared to the overall sound quality with the WEA and it would not be a fair comparison at either! Surprisingly, no latency was picked up. I thought I would just occasionally play it and use it as a nice backup when feeling nostalgic. I then put the SB nicely on the shelf and kept on enjoying the sound from the revamped E6/ Aiyma combo streaming Tidal music (last article).

Editor: At this point ELO's U4 has had very limited use due to the Bluetooth compatibility issues with his devices. He actually had unplugged the U4 and prepared to pack up the unit and hand it back to me.

A week had passed before I had some additional music play time. I took this opportunity to bring out the Burger and play it through BT through my Aiyima. Played the Master Music label with songs from Kari Bremmes, Chie Ayado, Ann Marie Gundersen etc. The sound seemed to have shrunken significantly and gain was not sufficient, but analog is analog, which was natural and smooth with some decent bass in the foundation.

SB > Douk U4 > UMI 2 Clarity Plus > Douk E6 > UMI 1 > Aiyima A08 Pro
After a while, I began to think why not hook up the E6 and U4 again, combined with the UMI Duo? Well, since I still got some time left in my session, I immediately set hooked up SB to the U4/E6 combo. Without any expectation....Oh my friggin goodness! The soundstage had expanded and more details were present. There was adequate gain to be able to drive the SB to a respectable level. The extension on both ends were good, though not matching that of WEA. The overall sound was musical and smooth and with microdynamics. I liked the sound from SB a lot!! Sorry DJ, U4 had redeemed itself and it is here to stay - just the enhanced sound quality of SB is worth it!!!

Editor: In this configuration, the SB was hooked up via BT to the Douk U4 and the signal went through the tube buffer before outputting to the UMI 2.

SB's sound is a little light, yet in a comfortable way, with decent amount of  details and great separation of instruments. Bass is tuneful but on the light side; midrange is soothing with no edges, focused and natural (the strong suit of analog). I am surprised that I'm actually pretty used to the ceremonial side of playing LPs, thanks to the convenience of SB, which makes it a breeze! Soundstage is wide, and can project a nice stage in front of me. It's the ease of music that reminds me of how good analog is. The enjoyment is high and I can get to play the whole side of disc and stay purely in enjoy mode. How can a turntable that costs so little achieve so much??!! Up to now, Sound Burger is not just an afterthought nor a fad gadget, it's a very legitimate music reproduction device which has a solid place in my setup! Luckily I have around 20 or so LPs and that's enough for start and in the future I will hunt for LPs in Japan whenever I get the chance to visit.

Power Supply Improvements During this period by improving the Power Supply (article to come) I obtained way more music detail and nuance, quieter background and less digital noise, all without sacrificing the dynamics and PRAT of the music! This improvement now also extends to my SB as well!. The soundstage has widened further, dynamics has improved and bass goes deeper and with more body! I immensely enjoyed my new LP from Andrea Vollenwieder (only for 11 USD)!

P.S. Now whenever I flip through then website R33, I will automatically spend time looking at analog stuff. Wondering if there's a ultra cheap LP12 or Rega or Thorens that I could add into my setup....