Burl Audio B80 Mothership 3

Burl Audio B80 MOTHERSHIP 3 Chassis
with BP300 PSU, BMB1 Mini-Digilink Motherboard


ON SALE !! until June 15, 2026

MOTHERSHIP 3, unlocks the true channel count potential of THE MOTHERSHIP. Now with MOTHERSHIP 3, up to 64 channels of IO (@ 44.1KHz and 48kHz) are possible per daughter card slot!

MOTHERSHIP 3 MAX Channels per daughter card slot:
64 channels @ 44.1kHz, 48kHz
32 channels @ 88.2kHz, 96kHz
16 channels @ 176.4kHz, 192kHz

With the current MOTHERSHIP 3 offerings which include the new BAD16 and BDA16, our maximum channel IO usage is currently 16 channels per slot, but future MOTHERSHIP 3 daughter card offerings will include DANTE and MADI daughter cards which both have a maximum channel count of 64 channels @ 44.1kHz, and 48kHz. Stay tuned for that.

On the MOTHERSHIP 3 BMBx Motherboard side, the max channel counts for both BMB2-MADI and BMB3-DANTE have been expanded to 128 inputs or 128 outputs @ 44.1kHz and 48KHz. With the ten card slots and the BAD16s and BDA16s, a B80-BMB2 or B80-BMB3 MOTHERSHIP can be setup for 128 inputs x 32 outputs, 32 inputs x 128 outputs, 64 inputs x 96 outputs, or any other combination of 10 cards slots x 16 channels per card (160 total) @ 44.1kHz and 48kHz.

These are the maximum IO channels for B80 MOTHERSHIP 3.

Motherboard 44.1kHz 48kHz 88.2kHz 96kHx 176.4kHz 192kHz

B80-BMB1 Digilink 64 64 64 64 64 64
B80-BMB2 MADI 128 128 64 64 32 32
B80-BMB3 DANTE 128 128 64 64 32 32
B80-BMB4 Soundgrid 64 64 64 64 NA NA

These are the max channel IO for B16 MOTHERSHIP 3 (using current 16 channel daughter cards)

Motherboard 44.1kHz 48kHz 88.2kHz 96kHx 176.4kHz 192kHz

B16-BMB1 Digilink 32 32 32 32 32 32
B16-BMB2 MADI 32 32 32 32 32 32
B16-BMB3 DANTE 32 32 32 32 32 32
B16-BMB4 Soundgrid 32 32 32 32 NA NA
B16-BMB6 AES 8 8 8 8 8 8

SECOND:

The MOTHERSHIP 3 enabling technology is a new intercommunication protocol which allows for communication between the Motherboards and the Daughter cards. This allows the BMBx Motherboards to know exactly what daughter cards are occupying the daughter card slots. This then allows the MOTHERSHIP 3 Motherboards to automatically configure the daughter card IO mapping.

What does this mean to you?

No more jumper settings to configure daughter card IO!!

The original MOTHERSHIP 1 just had the 4 input BAD4s and the 8 output BDA8s and there was no configuration.

MOTHERSHIP 2 allowed for 8 channel input cards, i.e. the BAD8, and jumpers were used to set which card slots were used for which specific daughter cards.

Now with MOTHERSHIP 3, any daughter card of any channel count can be put into any MOTHERSHIP slot and the MOTHERSHIP 3 BMBx Motherboard will automatically configure all of the IO.

The left most input channel is channel 1 IN and the left most output channel is channel 1 OUT. The inputs and outputs are then numbered left to right, and input cards and output cards can be intermixed and in any order.

You no longer have to group ADC cards together and group DAC cards together.

For instance you may have input cards BAD4M and BAD16 with the BAD4M in slot 1 and BAD16 in slot 10. MOTHERSHIP 3 will automatically assign those to channels 1 to 20 In.

You may also have output cards B22, BDA8, BDA16. You can put these in any slots and MOTHERSHIP 3 will automatically assign these to channels 1 to 28 OUT.

THIRD:

B16 and B80-BMB1-Digilink MOTHERSHIP 3 automatically set AVID DELAY matching for all daughter cards. No more setting the daughter card jumpers for AVID DELAY matching.

COMPATIBILITY:

MOTHERSHIP 2 vs. MOTHERSHIP 3 COMPATIBILITY:

All MOTHERSHIP Motherboards and Daughter cards will be programmed for MOTHERSHIP 3 as of Oct 7, 2024.

Our existing BURL GREEN line of 4 and 8 channel daughter cards will still be compatible with both MOTHERSHIP 2 and with MOTHERSHIP 3 via the “D Jumper” setting on every GREEN daughter card.

Setting the D Jumper enables MOTHERSHIP 3 on all BURL GREEN Daughter Cards shipped after Oct 7, 2024.

Compatibility chart:

B80 and B16 MOTHERSHIPS M2 BURL GREEN Daughter Cards M3 BURL GREEN Daughter Cards BURL BLACK Daughter Cards
MOTHERSHIP 2 (M2) YES YES NO
MOTHERSHIP 3 (M3) NO YES YES

We recommend that those who already have MOTHERSHIP 2 stick with MOTHERSHIP 2. MOTHERSHIPs cannot be upgraded in the field. They must come back to BURL Audio to be re-programmed, and that is only if all cards are of the latest revision.

MOTHERSHIP 3 does not affect sound quality in any way, so sticking with the existing MOTHERSHIP 2 is just fine.

MOTHERSHIP 2 will continue to work with all 4 and 8 channels cards deep into the future.