The best sounding audio integrated opamps

[Andrea:]

peranders, whether the circuit is fully optimised or not, every opamp has (and keeps) its own unique sonic flavor. Those I have listed are my favorite flavors, i.e. those which I find to make me enjoy my music the most.


adason, I don't like tubes and I find they even less desirable than opamps. Have you ever tried, say, an LT1028? Things can hardly get more transparent...

Something similar for the LME49720HA, i.e. the TO99 package of it which sounds a lot more interesting than the plastic package. In plastic package I prefer the LME49723 to the LME49720.

[Ted205]

Originally Posted by Andrea:

peranders, whether the circuit is fully optimised or not, every opamp has (and keeps) its own unique sonic flavor. Those I have listed are my favorite flavors, i.e. those which I find to make me enjoy my music the most.


adason, I don't like tubes and I find they even less desirable than opamps. Have you ever tried, say, an LT1028? Things can hardly get more transparent...

Something similar for the LME49720HA, i.e. the TO99 package of it which sounds a lot more interesting than the plastic package. In plastic package I prefer the LME49723 to the LME49720.

have you tried the LM4562 to compare. I've read that its even better in the metal can (LM4562HA/NOPB).

[peranders]

Originally Posted by Andrea:

peranders, whether the circuit is fully optimised or not, every opamp has (and keeps) its own unique sonic flavor.

Yes, but for example JFET opamps suffers from increased distortion when the inputs see different impedances so if you use a JFET opamp in for example a active filter, you will get more distortion than from a BJT model, unless you are aware about this compensate. Walt Jung has written a good piece about this.

[janneman]

Originally Posted by peranders

Yes, but for example JFET opamps suffers from increased distortion when the inputs see different impedances so if you use a JFET opamp in for example a active filter, you will get more distortion than from a BJT model, unless you are aware about this compensate. Walt Jung has written a good piece about this.

It also makes a lot of difference whether you have an inverting (virtual earth) or non-inverting circuit. Some opamps do well in inverting circuits but when faced with higher common mode input in an non-inverting circuit they do much worse. You can't generalize without knowing the application. I mean, you can, but that then means that someone else can have completely different results than you because it is another app.

jd

[peranders]

http://www.sg-acoustics.ch/analogue_...distortion.pdf
Huge file, huge pile of measurements!
We are talking about 436 pages. A masterpiece. Check out his test rig for this!

[Andrea:]

Originally Posted by janneman

It also makes a lot of difference whether you have an inverting (virtual earth) or non-inverting circuit. Some opamps do well in inverting circuits but when faced with higher common mode input in an non-inverting circuit they do much worse. You can't generalize without knowing the application. I mean, you can, but that then means that someone else can have completely different results than you because it is another app.

jd

I'm aware of these facts, the way FET opamps distort more with higher input impedances, and the other problem of opamps behaving differently in inverting and noninverting mode.

However, for the first, a V-out DAC output buffer application makes this problem nonexistent; as to the second, for me an audio opamp has to sound good mostly in noninverting mode (such as in my DAC), or it's worth looking elsewhere...



Oh, at any rate, I wanted to mention that I find the LME49723 to be more transparent (tonally as well) than the 2x OPA132UA, and more dynamic, notwithstanding its low cost. So... I guess that the good bipolar opamps always tend to outperform the good FET opamps for me and in an even situation (as above).


I have used the LME4562NA but recently I have found the LME49723MA to sound significantly better... I would like to try the LM4562HA too.

[SoNic_real_one]

Originally Posted by ratza

Andrea: thank you for informations. I'm using a OPA2134 based preamplifier and the sound transparency is great.

For an analog preamplifier there are some slighty better ones, with lower noise voltage that 1.2 uV (NJM2068 for exemple). I/V stagewoluld be a better application for it since it has slew rate of 20V/us and 1us settling time.

Bafta.

[janneman]

Originally Posted by SoNic_real_one

For an analog preamplifier there are some slighty better ones, with lower noise voltage that 1.2 uV (NJM2068 for exemple). I/V stagewoluld be a better application for it since it has slew rate of 20V/us and 1us settling time.

Bafta.

Which one is that that has slew rate of 20V/us and 1us settling time?
Are you saying that this sounds well in an I/V application?

jd

[Andrea:]

Is noise really so very important? I personally don't listen to the background hiss with no music playing and the amp's volume set at max.

It would be kind of like smelling a car's exhaust

[SoNic_real_one]

Well, you have to, unless you are listening only to the forte passages of a song or to music that is very compressed in dynamics. In other words if you don't need all the 16-24 bits recorded...
PS: If noise is not important, what's next? Distorssion, slew rate, unitary gain freq? A LM741 will suffice, I guess...