Burmester 101 Integrated Amplifier

By Tom Martin

Punchline  

I’d like to start this review with a summary of what I found. That may save you time, though it may do some damage to the subtleties of the equipment being tested. Stay tuned if you are interested in that. 

I loved the sound of the Burmester 101. The standout quality here is a top-to-bottom clarity coupled with very low noise levels. What these two factors do, musically, is to spotlight each musician and enable them to be placed in space in an engagingly realistic way. If you very much enjoy listening to musical groups, and following what each musician is doing, this amp is your friend. The other hallmark of the 101 is the highly dynamic sensibility it brings to the music. Again, from bass on up to treble.  

That said, there are one and a half limitations here. The one limitation is that this is a medium-power amp, and will not be ideal for low sensitivity speakers in a large room. The half limitation is that the bass is detailed rather than rich and bloomy and the treble is …