The best sounding audio integrated opamps

[Andrea:]

Originally Posted by leeperry

well, do you still have the Audio-GD HDAM around? borrow whatever source that can run 2*2 op-amps and play around!

or get a stock Prodigy HD2 on ebay or sumthing...it's not because they suck in your ZeroDAC or modded standalone player, that you should rule them out IMO.

in the right set up, they sound fantastic...but boring, so they need to be fed w/ something colored like the 1364, and why not AD797B/1028ACN8/1363 etc etc

they are like the ultimate amp...feed them well and they will reward you w/ premium SQ...they sound like a VERY expensive audiophile set up, not very good as I/V but most fantastic as final buffer after I/V.

many ppl put discrete op-amps on my soundcard(that feeds the op-amps w/ ±8.8V), there's a very good reason for that:

Google Translate

Google Translate

and the high gain JRC4580 on the headphones out goes after those 3 op-amps...it gives a fantastic bass response!

if you like external gear better, a friend of mine bought this: Google Translate

he loves it w/ an OPA2132P! it sounds better than the Asus STX to his ears...and he will put 2*AD797BN if I manage to locate some.

restricting your rolling to only one dual op-amp is a waste of time IMHO.

Ehm... I'm not very much into computer audio.


What I've been looking at (as a potential, though I guess redundant, new purchase ) are this:

Poppulse - POPPULSE PCM1796 - DAC USB2.0 24Bit/192KHz

and this:

Welcome to Audiophilechina



P.S. I still have two single OPA-Earth, but I don't think I'm going to use them soon

[Andrea:]

Actually I think I prefer the DAC with the LT1028 slightly, it seems just a little more authentic sounding.

It's very impressive that the LT1028 should sound so good at 12V!


Although there's that silver interconnect that I bet is not helping the other DAC..

[leeperry]

ok I just received some Sun V2(and some twice shorter extension leads), time to check whether they live up to the legend

and the 1364>Earth is still mind blogging w/ fresh ears, such an amazing 3D-ish SS

[leeperry]

I didn't hear much diference while the Earth was burning in, but I'll let the Sun V2 burn in...it's less tubey than Earth, but the bass is a bit shy to my taste

I love the crazy low end bass on the Earth

humm, the magic is gone...I'll put back the Earth later today, and I'm buying a burson from a friend...that should give

maybe I'll try 2*Sun>1*Earth

[Andrea:]

This is a breakthrough...


Well, I removed the socket and I soldered the browndog with those 2 LT1028CS8 on the pcb. Also, I removed a 33uF tantalum I'd put in the opamp power supply line, and added a 330nF Wima MKS instead (just to speed up a little the energy delivery at high frequency, the main power supply cap being a Rubycon ZL 680uF 16V). A 100nF Wima MKS was already there, just under the opamp.


I don't know why (or do I) but it sounds better now! I guess it's the socket...

Plus, I think that that tantalum cap made the sound just a little edgy sometimes.

At any rate, now the sound is even more refined... And so it will stay

[leeperry]

yep, sockets do nasty stuff/add distortion to your audio...that's what a pro told me anyway

and pressed ones are even worse than machined, very poor actual contact.

[ttan98]

Originally Posted by Andrea:

Actually I think I prefer the DAC with the LT1028 slightly, it seems just a little more authentic sounding.

It's very impressive that the LT1028 should sound so good at 12V!


Although there's that silver interconnect that I bet is not helping the other DAC..

Are you referring to I/V position in the DAC? But it has only 11V/uS slew rate. You still think it will sound good in this position. Any comment?

[leeperry]

well, LT1364 gives a magic touch to vocals but it basically mono-izes them to death..2*LT1363 on adapters was a far cry as far as stereo separation was concerned.

2*Sun>1*Earth is true dual mono from A to Z, amazing!

[Andrea:]

No the LT1028 has a 15 V/uS slew rate (the same as the AD8599) and I'm using it on the output of a CS4398 which is a voltage output DAC.

[Andrea:]

Now I'm considering the possibility of biasing the LT1028's to class A with a pair of 4.7K resistors (would result in a 1.2 mA bias). It was said to work well with this opamp.

But I want to listen extensively enough first...