The best sounding audio integrated opamps

[leeperry]

well, all of these exist..listen to the LT1364 and hear its holographic stereo stage! it's like you're in the studio cabin next to the singer

it's a known fact that this chip is a favorite to put on the Prodigy HD2 soundcard and many external DAC's.

maybe this guy is crazy too? Little Dot MK1 opamp rolling - Head-Fi

if all the op-amps sound identical to an NE5532, I pity you.

[benchtester]

Originally Posted by zapnspark

Andrea: and leeperry,
I started collecting some phrases/adjectives that you both use to describe the "sound" of various op-amps

bland and lifeless
nice, but flawed
fluid and grainless
tonally dull and midbass lacking
mechanic in the mids
unique sonic flavor
more dynamic
creamy and pleasing midrange smoothness
mostly transparent
untameable
mellow and warm sound
Very refined
magic sound
lifelike tonality
distorted/saturated/compressed/I don't know
artificial
surreal
natural weight to sounds
hi-fi color
euphonic sound
Colored but also a bit unresolving
in-between clinical and colored
mids... more dark and smoothed out
authentic sounding
mono-izes
meaty sounding
crippled somehow
more stereo coherent
sounds too round or too spiky
holographic stereo stage
dirty
grainless
too aseptic
trebles were metallic
dryish mids
expressive
screechy mids
shouty
laid back
metallic/thin/blurry/computer-sounding
more fluid

I had to stop there.
I developed a severe headache.
I feared that if I continued, my ears would start bleeding.
That's just my subjective experience.


Cheers.

ZAP

I just wrote a response on another DIY site and found I was short of words; and now I am not.

[leeperry]

Originally Posted by benchtester

I just wrote a response on another DIY site and found I was short of words; and now I am not.

we accept paypal of course

[scott wurcer]

Originally Posted by leeperry

url]

if all the op-amps sound identical to an NE5532, I pity you.

Depeche Mode, I pity you.

[leeperry]

ah well, Violator is wonderfully mixed on SACD..the rest of their work...I don't really like, but gooodamn Violator in 5.1 lossless, that's something!

but don't you have better things to do -as a 2 billion dollars IC chips engineer- than post in this thread to mock ppl who like to roll op-amps? are you posting from your workplace? should I call your boss to let him know? I'm dialing right now

[zapnspark]

I'm just briefly in this thread to help out.
Here, in alphabetical order, are some of my florid favorites lifted from a webzine 2 part article on capacitor "sound".

Airy
Anemic
Anvil-taught
Assertive
Balanced
Bassy
Billowing
Bite
Bloom
Bold
Brassy
Breathy
Bright
Brittle
Broken
Buzz
Clarity
Clean
Clear
Closed
Clouded
Coherence
Compressed
Confident
Damped
Dark
Dense
Detail
Detailed
Diminutive
Distinct
Dynamic
Ear-grabbing
Eargasmic
Effervescent
Elegant
Exotic
Extended
Fast
Feathery
Flair
Flavored
Flowing
Fluffier
Fluid
Full
Glare
Grain
Harsh
Hollow
Impactful
Laid-back
Liquid
Liveliness
Magical
Midrange-centric
Muddy
Musical
Natural
Neutral
Occluded
Open
Overdone
Personality
Pleasing
Polite
Punchy
Refined
Rich
Romantic
Sexy
Slippery
Slow
Smooth
Sophisticated
Sparkling
Spitty
Strained
Subtle
Syrupy
Tasteful
Textured
Thick
Thin
Tight
Transparent
Veiled
Vivid
Warm
Wholesome


Cheers.

ZAP

[leeperry]

is "Effervescent" different from "Sparkling"?

"Sophisticated" & "Syrupy" sound a bit scary.

[Andrea:]

Originally Posted by leeperry

oh yes, I cannot bear LT1364 anymore...LT1124ACN8 is better in every department, 1364 sounds grossly distorted in comparison. It does vocals really well, but all the rest sucks.

get some 1124(get them shipped to a relative if LT banned you ), try them in the NG94..tell me what you think

I think the opposite: the LT1364 shines in the frequency extremes, but tends to overshadow minute details in vocals and the midrange in general. The LT1469 has a better midrange, more resolving and less bland though still not perfect. The LT1028 outshines them, both in naturalness and in transparency.

[Andrea:]

Originally Posted by scott wurcer

There's no hyperbole here, right? None at all? You folks don't invite confidence in your beliefs with such exagerations.

By experience, sometimes you do have to exaggerate a bit for the idea to be understood, in places like an audio forum where it's so very hard to distinguish yourself just with the means a forum provides...

But I disagree with leeperry's attitude of destroying everything that isn't a "Burson".

[Andrea:]

Originally Posted by Andrea:

But I disagree with leeperry's attitude of destroying everything that isn't a "Burson".

Or his current baby, the LT1124.