Best opamp for my cdplayer.

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Best opamp for my CD player

Enzo
I don't know about the best opamp for your player,for reasons mentioned in the previous reply by Crippled chicken.
However, an OPA2134 is a good choice that will sound better than the NE5532, without any problems. You could also try the
LM4562, but in some players it may seem a bit overwhelming with it's high frequency detail.

SandyK
 
So you have a dual op amp.
First thing is to remove the original carefully and install a machined 8 pin DIP socket.
Then you can change chips very easily. Always power down before changing chips !

Try all the chips you can get easily. You must remember that what sounds best to you is what matters . Use others opinion as a guide but don't consider it gospel truth. Settle for a chip you like best .... it might not be one that many others like and it 'might' not be an expensive variety. Higher price 'need not' indicate better sound to your ears.

I have just tried out a TL072 in an old Philips CD850 MkII cd player. Now I understand why that chip still has many followers . Not the best chip for the job but certainly does a great job in this machine.
I can certainly live with it happily if the need arises. ( I had used an OPA2134 earlier !)

Keep an open mind and listen carefully...........AND .........take time when comparing.
Have fun.
Cheers.

some dual chips used in CD players
NE5532
JRC4580
NJM2114
TL072
LM4562
OPA2134
AD826
etc.......
 
OP Amp for CD-850 MkII

Without a doubt!
CD-850 MkII needs at least 24 Hours warmup to sound sweet.
I recently get back my old unit which was with a friend! The unit suffers the usual malware... gear tray broken!
In 1997 i update its power supply with Elna audio series (Standard- Metallic Red) and a pair of BB OPA2604 DIP and a OPA2604 SMD for variable output. It was imediate the upgrade this Opamps gave when i compare it to LM833 and NE5532.After 2 years i try BB OPA2134, still it are more open and detailed, and for my taste it made a good job and arent so expensive as other chips!
So recently i listen again the "Fat Lady", and "goshhh" it sound very good indeed, so much detailed and dinamic, and after a 24 hours warm up, the treble tamed, and the sound become more gutsy.
I compared 2 or 3 cds with my Sony SCD-XA3000 ES!I like both palyers, each of them with it own signature! Despite the aging of Philips it is a very good cd-player!
P.S. Get good capacitors and opamps, and get rid of the fuse resistors in serial with the supply lines of the opamps and dac SAA7350. The dac have 6 power lines, check the schematics and the SAA7350 datasheet!
A remarkable piece of electronic audio engeneering!
The CDM4 transport can read CD-RW 10X with multiple recordings and read once recorded CD-RW 4X.
What are we asking for a cd player with 15 years of existence!?
Kudos for Philips!

Regards


:smash:
 
Eric Juaneda said:

Original Marantz CD 94 use JRC 5534D. Update to OPA604 greatly improve sound.

Eric



Hey Eric,

I cannot argue with you about the 5534D. I was seriously surprised when I popped it in on a whim and it sounded better in my unit. Probably one in a million chance.

-David

BTW, anyone should test out what they have in the parts bin. These ne5534D's I pulled out of one project and replaced with AD797's actually sounded better in another project. For me I started setting aside preconceived notions of good and not so good when tinkering. It's the surprises that are fun for me in the audio hobby.
 
A year ago i saw a review of a high end cd player from Luxman that use in final output stage JRC 2114, wich is the same that Sony use in SCD-XA3000ES, SCD-XB970 and others with exception to SCD-XA9000 ES, which use OPA2132!
One thing we must learn, an optimized power line to the dac and output buffers is crucial for the device perfomance!
Check what opamps Esoteric SA-CD and DVD-A players are using or use in the past! I think they run with JRC!
In the posts JRC 2114 arent quite apreciated, but i think they are not bad! I believe that some opamps are more sensitive to psu noise than anothers, and capacitors have distinct sonic caracteristics regard the effect that higher capacitance usually gave to the sound!

Regards

:smash:
 
Oh... theres lot of things tha interfer whith our opinion...
1- personal taste.
2- system and room acoustics.
3- Beahave of the unit that we are tweaking.

In my system the same unit with the same tweaking could not give the same results in other person system and room!

Never the less, the opinions are allways necessary and welcome!

Regards


:smash:
 
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I use OPA2604 (OPA604 single) and find these sonically some of the best. Even the TL072 is better sonically than the NE5532 in many applications. Always try and add a 0.1 mfd directly across pins 4 and 8 soldering very neatly on the IC itself. That is even more important if you are using sockets.
 
dw8083 said:
I was playing around with all the "hot" and "hifi approved" opamps in a CD player recently. Tried all the latest and expensive options. Ironically the best sounding opamps for this particular application were ne5534D's. They cost about a $1usd a piece.

You never know.

-David

Some say NE5534 sounds not so good.
Others say NE5534 sound good.

I say, a good opamp will NOT Sound at all.

Only a very bad opamp or very bad use of a good opamp
will cause distortion levels, that are even close
to human hearing thresholds.

This can be an explaination for the different opinions on opamp 'sounds'.
That in fact there is no alteration to the signal that can cause sound.
And so people's minds can have it both ways. ;)
Strictly Subjectively.


In performance NE5534 is way above human hearing.
It has many good parameters for general Audio Use.
And NE5534 is a level better, electrically, than NE5532, which is another opamp. Not a dual NE5534.
 
Peter Walker from Quad said something like "The best amplifier is a staight wire with gain"!
"But life insn't that simple" said DNM Boss, and i agree, because sound quality have to deal with impedance, which origins phase shift, THD, IMD, noise, which are direct related with the device in which the opamp is insert and the opamp itself!
All the deviations a "device" cause to the original signal are distortion, in which gain is included, but this we forgive gladly!Its the amplifier job!

Regards

:smash:
 
until we can come up with a better overall measurement
we will have to stick with THD
if it was that really bad, then we would have replaced it many years ago

THD does not give the exact level of all forms of distortion
but you can bet,
if THD is low,
then this indicates a good performance and a good circuit
and most other distortions will be at low level

if THD is high, there is a great probability other distortions can be high
and even if not, it is already bad having a high THD
 
The DACs used in the NAD cd players of the serie C54X, are Burr Brown ICs with digital oversampling filter and digital de-emphasis, bitstream dac and voltage output stage. If we want we can cut the opamp cr...p and get a passive lowpass filter if we attack the output stage with a competent impedance to match the maximum current capability of the DAC!In the PCM1732 case, the HDCD version that is instaled in the C541, C541i and C542, the maximum output voltage is 0,57xVcc, which is in the normal situation 0,57x5=2,85Vpp Maximum, with a minimum impedance of 5K Ohms!What do we need more?!
We need to design a competent passive lowpass network, thats all folks!We dont have balanced outputs per dac like in the old Philips SAA7350 or TDA1547, or other BB dacs, unless we use one PCM1732 per channel with one dac output out of phase to create a diferential output and reduce noise floor, or get a balanced output!

Regards
:smash:
 
Correction to the timeline of Philips CD-850II:
Elnas and OPA2604 - 1996
OPA2134 - 2000
Tray Gear + 3300uF + (50uH Coil 1 Amp) + 1000uf at the +5V power line + 1mH mini coils replaced the 22 Ohms fuse resistors in the +/-15V of the opamps - November 2008
The 3300uF serves all the +5V line after the regulator, the coil and the 1000uF serves the DAC board!

Evaluating with a similar line cable of the NAD C541 (AKA Mr. Kanguroo) because C541 skips sometimes with CD-R, except CD-R from Verbatim!
But i'm dealing with this "smart but"

When i get more news about "Kanguroo" i'll report!

Regards
:smash:
 
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