Usually all discussion on op amps for audio centers around a
bunch of well proven ones from BB/TI, AD and to some extent NS.
However, also companies like Elantec and Maxim have a number
of op amps that, at least on paper, seem to be interesting
competitors, but those are seldom if ever mentioned. Searchin
the forum, I did find quite a number of post about people using
or suggesting Elantec, but there are never any discussion of
their performance. Why is this? Are these brands simply not
up to it to compete or what is the reason?
bunch of well proven ones from BB/TI, AD and to some extent NS.
However, also companies like Elantec and Maxim have a number
of op amps that, at least on paper, seem to be interesting
competitors, but those are seldom if ever mentioned. Searchin
the forum, I did find quite a number of post about people using
or suggesting Elantec, but there are never any discussion of
their performance. Why is this? Are these brands simply not
up to it to compete or what is the reason?
Prejudice and fashion
I am continually amazed that a group of people who one would assume should be able to assess a product in purely rational terms should have developed such irrational prejudices.
Who cares what is "hip", the facts are that the NE5534 has some qualities that are hard to beat, in the right circumstances.
See the likes of D. Self's Site and http://tangentsoft.net/audio/opamps.html for some interesting anaysis.
I am continually amazed that a group of people who one would assume should be able to assess a product in purely rational terms should have developed such irrational prejudices.
Who cares what is "hip", the facts are that the NE5534 has some qualities that are hard to beat, in the right circumstances.
See the likes of D. Self's Site and http://tangentsoft.net/audio/opamps.html for some interesting anaysis.
Re: Addendum
I'll go out on a limb and propose my theory, based on a few years of observation of audio DIY discussions.
"The more liberal a company's sampling policy is, the more likely their devices become popular to the DIY community: get used, talked about, experimented with, etc."
mlloyd1
I'll go out on a limb and propose my theory, based on a few years of observation of audio DIY discussions.
"The more liberal a company's sampling policy is, the more likely their devices become popular to the DIY community: get used, talked about, experimented with, etc."
mlloyd1
Christer said:
Going out on a limb???
No, don't think so. Saying that a '553x is good does qualify though.....regardless of price or who makes it. Can't see any reason for using them.
Have seen circuits designed with them that other op-amps will not work in.......ones with inputs near the negative rail. Yeah, you guessed it.....British hi-fi.........
Those guys over there must not get out much either. At least the Swedes have an excuse........[joke]
Jocko
No, don't think so. Saying that a '553x is good does qualify though.....regardless of price or who makes it. Can't see any reason for using them.
Have seen circuits designed with them that other op-amps will not work in.......ones with inputs near the negative rail. Yeah, you guessed it.....British hi-fi.........
Those guys over there must not get out much either. At least the Swedes have an excuse........[joke]
Jocko
Re: Re: Addendum
A somewhat cynical theory, but there might be some truth to
it perhaps.
Well, sometimes I see people complaining about availability
of Maxim and Elantec, but since there seems no problem to
get them here in Sweden I cannot quite see why it should be
a problem in most other countries. They're not made here
Quite true, especilly for Maxim, but there are some that run
on normal voltages, eg. those Elantec ones I mentioned above,
and that seem potentially attractive.
mlloyd1 said:
A somewhat cynical theory, but there might be some truth to
it perhaps.
jean-paul said:
Well, sometimes I see people complaining about availability
of Maxim and Elantec, but since there seems no problem to
get them here in Sweden I cannot quite see why it should be
a problem in most other countries. They're not made here
Pjotr said:
Quite true, especilly for Maxim, but there are some that run
on normal voltages, eg. those Elantec ones I mentioned above,
and that seem potentially attractive.
purplepeople said:Quick peek at the datasheets shows many graphs that do not cover f < 10kHz. It's as if Intersil doesn't expect anyone to use it below that frequency.
Also, the noise is about 15nV/Hz^.5 which is not so low, but really increase at f < 100Hz.
Seems to be better suited for video.
True about the graphs, but you will see exactly the same
thing in the datasheets of many high BW op amps from AD
which are popular in audio. We can only guess and hope,
for instance, that distorsion continues to decrease or at least
not increase for lower frequencies. Some of the popular audio
op amps are advertised as video amps in the datasheets.
they have some great Current Feedback amps -- that's where you get the 50 ohm 100MHz stuff -- but availabilty iseems a bit dodgy -- I guess if you're an OEM you would feel differently -- at least to my experience -- TI was kind enough to recommend a substitute.Pjotr said:Hi,
Most Elantec op-amps are primarily made for video and stand only + and – 5V for powering.
the high speed transistor arrays are very good to work with.
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