Burson Audio Output stage upgrade tested

Background:
I spotted the Burson Audio Buffer on ebay while looking for yet another cd player to add to my system, as I've been back and forth between budget items from Japan over the last 15 years.. Sony, JVC, JVC some more, and then Denon.

It's basically a box that hold opamps with an on/off switch and a pair RCA's in and out.

I had doubt about purchasing wonder items off of ebay, so I checked out the company’s site, read some reviews, and took a chance.

Packaging:
Packaging was good, no damage to the unit, although there was a loose screw in the unit I tightened it up and all is well. Considering it traveled from Australia to Louisiana I think it did alright.

Presentation:
The components inside are all very nice, hand soldered and all of that. Good size power supply. Although the packaging is obviously a dressed up project box, that kind of adds to the hand built feel of the item.

Setup:
JVC cd player circa 1991
Denon 1920 Universal disc player
(2) Kinergetics Research KBA-75's in balanced monoblock configuration
Kinergetics KPA-2 preamp (no tone controls)
2 madisound custom speakers.

Performance:
The sound before the buffer was noticeably stale and hollow. The Denon unit was obviously built with home theater in mind, and with the budget price of ~$400 for a universal disc player it made since. This is why I was still using the old jvc for regular cd's as it was a really good unit (reviewed by stereo review, etc, etc) 16 years ago.

Note: The buffer has the effect of adding 6db to the signal path, so I had to adjust my volume knob a little.

After I installed the buffer inline with the Denon's RCA outputs, the sound beat the JVC hands down.. it was a very warm sound, I already have warm sounding equipment, but this was more like velvet coated the walls, or a record without scratches. The sound stage was there in full force, where before I have 2 speakers there is now just sound..

It's sounded so good, I had to see if I was just imagining it, so I put in 2 copies of the same recording one in the JVC unit, and one in the buffered Denon. I flipped the sources back and forth while playing them back and it's as if the soundstage just goes to **** without it. I thought for a minute that the Denon was in mono or something, it made that much of a difference.

Second opinion:
Still skeptical of the actual effect of the "Magic Box" as I was now calling it I called my father who is also quite the audio buff, he has about $10k more into his setup that me.. he demoed a few tracks.. his comments:
"I haven't heard sound like that except out of a tape" referring to the smooth midrange
"Your high end is better than mine" (we use the exact same tweeter in our speakers)
"I guess I need to get one of those magic boxes"
Note: he already has a few filters/tone boxes from music fidelity and regularly listens to his Michell Technodec record player.

Cost:
$269 for the buffer - if you want to just get the opamps from them they are $113 - shipping takes about 3 weeks and costs about 50 bucks.
Here is the ebay store, I contacted them directly to order it, but you can save some phone charges by ordering online.
http://stores.ebay.com/BursonAudio-Melbourne

I would suggest this product to anyone looking to add opamps after a dac, or as a standalone upgrade to a consumer grade cdplayer/dvd player. Even though it is only a stereo component, if you listen to music on your dvd player it makes it all the more important as dvd players below $500 from my experience usually don't even have opamps.