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Easy come, easy go. The next judge was my €20.000/pr Aries Cerat Gladius. As a 12-inch sealed three-way with 91dB efficiency, it was designed by a valve electronics maker to suit low-power triode amps. My 10-watt SIT1 monos drive it to perfection. Unlike the Lithuanians, the Cypriots don't need ultra-low output impedance or high power. They were an ideal test bed to clock a Timekeeper stereo/mono race and decide whether under such benign circumstances the move to four times the power for twice the coin remained sane. They were equally ideal for a BBQ of Burson vs. Bakoon. Because they'd told me so, I knew how the men from Down Under had aimed at the compact fair-priced ultra-fi spot which—that timing again—had been usurped in our pages by the AMP-11R. But first the power question.

I kicked off with a favorite Dulce Pontes track from Momentos. It combines Portuguese solo guitar with what on the right day continues to be the best voice in Fado. Challenging on her vocal modulations to require amplifier refinement, it's not a cut you'd expect to benefit from a massive increase in power. But two Timekeepers proved me wrong by demonstrably scaling up space and locking down harder on focus. Everything sounded bigger, easier and clearer. Dedicated rather than shared power supplies per channel went farther than anticipated. Whilst I can't speak to very low-Ω loads where bridging usually diminishes stability, the sonic benefits of bridge mode on a benign speaker with simple vocal fare were impossible to deny. This logically extended to more complex taxing material to make the verdict quick and unequivocal: two Timekeepers were better than one. Time for the B-off.
 

$5.200 for Timekeeper squared versus $4.995 for the Bakoon was as close a match on price as one could wish for. On raw power the Aussies held the ace card of ten times more. To continue with the Fado theme, I followed Dulce Pontes with Telmo Pires on Fado Promessa to switch gender. For this session the stacked two-boxer from Korea had a tri fold advantage. Top-end informativeness so fully elucidated by this speaker's Raal ribbon was higher; inside-out illumination across the audible bandwidth was greater; and lateral stage expansion broader as though the tweeters had opened window shutters fully to let in light from outside the speakers. The quick upshot? On this speaker I'd buy the Bakoon. On the previous speaker anyone outside the US would buy two Timekeepers. Those in the US should opt for the Job 225. Time to hone in on the decisive difference.


As seems to be a calling card of wide-bandwidth circuits—Goldmund, Job, Soulution, Norma, Alef—transients better peel out of the surrounding thicket to exhibit very different textures. Unlike needly speakers which turn everything spiky to feel perennially nervous and triple-espresso jittery, a Bakoon manages to render spiky angular elements coincident with the lushness of legato aspects. Like Thai cuisine that's sweet and pungent at the same time. Here the AMP-11R had the broader textural palette. Reviewers often talk of how the best components stretch the scope of difference between various productions. Albums sound more rather than less different from one another. What's rarely talked about is the scope of difference on a single track. A con arco cello has a different spiciness than a plucked guitar whose attacks are different again from a drummer. Sharp and soft coexist with 47 shades of grey in-between. The more of these values a component can express, the more interesting and rich any given cut becomes. It grows texturally more dimensional. That's a very different matter than your basic width, height and depth markers.

This added dimension of inner differentiation was the prime distinction between Bakoon and Burson. The Timekeepers were less articulate about these textural differences. This made them softer and a bit more homogenous. Surfaces which the Bakoon showed in rich constantly changing relief the Bursons drew in shallower relief with less variety. That's the true meaning behind my calling the AMP-11R "lit up all over" in its own review. That's not at all function of transcribing a metal-tweeter flavor to all other drivers because lit up usually suggests a treble quality. It's about heightened contrast between simultaneous texture flavors. Given that Bakoon's Akira Nagai has polished and generationally updated his Satri current-mode circuit over already 20+ years, team B's 'defeat' was again that of young grasshopper overcome by old sifu. What had increased the performance gap was these speakers' higher resolution compared to the previous Rhapsody 200.

Burson triplets. Preceding two bridged Timekeepers with their stable mate Conductor DAC/preamp netted higher sound pressure than desired at already click four on the dial; and this with the Conductor's lowest gain setting. For my system (here room, speakers, sitting distance and SPL preferences will vary from user to user) the attenuation values of Burson's stepper were wrong. Like Thrax's 24-step TVC on their Dionysos preamp, things got too loud too quickly to mean insufficient gradations. Now also steal my remote which I think of as essential for any modern preamp and I personally couldn't and wouldn't live with this particular combination.

Weighing the evidence. With their Timekeeper, Burson offer a two-stage 'layaway' plan. Buy 75wpc now, go 240wpc later. For the desktop nobody needs more than one. In a bigger system going twin has advantages which exceed what might be expected from a raw power quadruple (i.e. just superior bass). Sonically the Timekeeper is a direct alternative to my ModWright 100-watter. At slightly lower power one far smaller box undercuts it very attractively on price. At more power two still narrower boxes now cost a G more than the KWA-100SE's $4.295. That's a nice spread of price/power options to suit various needs. Burson's compact very cleanly styled casings are a timely bow to modern sensibilities about cohabitating with hifi. The less seen the better. In keeping with Burson's signature sound, there's high tone density and concomitant warmth if not ultimate resolution. This is a very non-offensive slightly dark sound that puts some milk in the coffee, then tops off with one sugar cube. With recorded material that spans the gamut from audiophile to trash, this voicing is more pleasant than one which renders less sterling productions disagreeable. That choice is epitomized by the question "what good is your hifi if it stops you from wanting to listen to 80% of your library?"

Had I not just crossed paths with Job's 225 and didn't already own the ModWright... the Timekeepers would be keepers. If you're currently playing below their level, they could be your keepers. Should you find them slightly beneath your ideal of incisiveness and separation, a preamp/DAC like Wyred4Sound's mPRE clearly injects more than Burson's Conductor. Here the Timekeepers' balanced inputs nicely accommodate such a dual-diff line stage (entering balanced caused a loop with the previously floated grounds whilst reverting them to normal was perfectly silent). The Wyred's far lazier volume with remote also made the perfect complement on user comforts. I'd nearly go as far as saying that if you only heard the Timekeeper with its stable mate, you'd have missed out on some things the amp/s can do. It's a minor case of same + same = too much.


A single amp is very fine value for the money. Two of them butt heads with cheaper single-chassis competitors. With the Timekeeper Burson have stamped their popular very meaty transistor sound on the amplifier category and done so in a tidy package which bridged manifests far more power than seems possible (though it's been paid for by delivering barely more into 4 ohms than 8). It's a crafty combination of fidelity and comfort. You could pursue higher resolution but that easily impinges on listening pleasure unless all six moons align just so. Here think dense, slightly sweet, a tad dry—Cabernet, not Gewürztraminer—and a bit soft like Sam Tellig's infamous Mosfet mist. Voilà, the Burson Timekeeper. Might I suggest a slice of Roby Lakatos' brilliant Fire Dance to go with it for a both heady and saucy mix of Jazz, Gipsy and conservatoire? Bon appetit!
 
Quality of packing: Very good.
Reusability of packing: A few times.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: A cinch.
Condition of component received: Flawless.
Completeness of delivery: Perfect.
Human interactions: Good.
Pricing: Good value for one. Bridge two for mono and there are competitors like ModWright which offer equivalent sound for less.
 Final comments & suggestions: For desktop use, relocating the power switch to the belly or cheek would be more convenient. In tandem with the Conductor DAC/preamp gain comes on very quick. For the big system there's no remote and no second variable pre-out for subwoofing.
Burson website