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Joined 2006
To me its not a hyper critical exercise but fun it is as those vintage opamps are involved, thats where the interesting part lies (pun intended)😀 and I believe there could be surprises😉
🙂 Welcome to the wacky world of DIY audio.
😀 I know what your saying we are all in the pursuit of audio perfection.
So how are you going to vote?
I'll probably like the 741 because its vintage<<<LOL
But would be a bit of a difficult pill to swallow 😀
Regards
M. Gregg
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I'm not going to vote.
One, because the proper testing (ABC/HR) would take up at least a week if not a couple of weeks.
Two, because I want my hifi system to be audibly the same as what's been put into it. And I know from myself and others, who have done the proper testing, that you don't need expensive opams to achieve this.
Three, I like roasting steaks better.
You worry too much. Open your mind and listen to this:
Even if you level the spl, the result won't worth much. It will worth more if you also test the respondents to qualify them.
My preference has nothing to do with spl. At all. I play the music in background and when I'm impressed with musicality of a file I checked and it is always banana. In several blind test, banana consistently got my favor comment on musicality.
Whatever opamp the banana is, and whatever the result of the poll, I will always respect the chip. I have expensive opamps that I don't use and I have cheap opamp that I use (along with black gate N and expensive resistors). That's because I value my ears.
If banana is a high slew rate opamp, it will only reinforce what I already know.
😀 Roast a steak sit back listen and cast your vote!
You have to be in it to win it🙂
What type of Opamp do you think you would pick if you voted?
Regards
M. Gregg
You don't need to repeat because I have read and I know what you are talking about. Now, do you know what Im talking about? That's why I wrote "open your mind and listen to this:". Because most people don't understand and won't pay attention.
I even know the reason why you don't vote. Do you know? May be you dont.
A little diversion... 741 vs OPA134
Exactly 🙂
Now I have been listening to all your comments and I wanted to try something and well 😀 heres another simple fun test. What I wanted to prove to myself was how limiting (or otherwise) the A-D process is. Now that said,
whatever it does to one opamp it surely does to the next but what I have done now is get a master WAV file that is recorded from the start at -20 db. So we have no clipping to worry about. What this did show however is that the record process with Audacity does add a bit of audible noise.
So, for those interested and I really hope you'll all just try this really simple "test", "challenge" whatever you want to call it, and see what you make of it. Its a much shorter sample, just 36 seconds. The picture hopefully shows that the levels between A, the master, and B (or C) when imported into Audacity were essentially the same.
Here are three files A, B and C.
File A is the WAV master.
File B and file C follow the same pattern as before. And I'll tell you that one choice is the 741 and the other, the OPA134.
Which is which folks 😀
Edit This quick test 741 vs OPA134 also has its own poll, Click Here To Vote
File A
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vndg41ujzw5091e/A.wav
File B
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ger74r7f01vqb9b/B.wav
File C
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ur26y1q22q5lseq/C.wav
Exactly 🙂
Now I have been listening to all your comments and I wanted to try something and well 😀 heres another simple fun test. What I wanted to prove to myself was how limiting (or otherwise) the A-D process is. Now that said,
whatever it does to one opamp it surely does to the next but what I have done now is get a master WAV file that is recorded from the start at -20 db. So we have no clipping to worry about. What this did show however is that the record process with Audacity does add a bit of audible noise.
So, for those interested and I really hope you'll all just try this really simple "test", "challenge" whatever you want to call it, and see what you make of it. Its a much shorter sample, just 36 seconds. The picture hopefully shows that the levels between A, the master, and B (or C) when imported into Audacity were essentially the same.
Here are three files A, B and C.
File A is the WAV master.
File B and file C follow the same pattern as before. And I'll tell you that one choice is the 741 and the other, the OPA134.
Which is which folks 😀
Edit This quick test 741 vs OPA134 also has its own poll, Click Here To Vote
File A
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vndg41ujzw5091e/A.wav
File B
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ger74r7f01vqb9b/B.wav
File C
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ur26y1q22q5lseq/C.wav
Attachments
A quick listen,
Laptop permitting. 🙂
😕 is it me or does C sound closer to the master and B have what sounds like more 3rd harmonic? LOL
Anyone else got any ideas? 😀
Regards
M. Gregg
Laptop permitting. 🙂
😕 is it me or does C sound closer to the master and B have what sounds like more 3rd harmonic? LOL
Anyone else got any ideas? 😀
Regards
M. Gregg
Its not obvious is it 😀 Nail your colours to the mast. Which is the 741 ?
(You need to listen on a good set up, and my preference for this kind of test is listening with really good headphones)
(You need to listen on a good set up, and my preference for this kind of test is listening with really good headphones)
What package is the 741? The TO99 is supposed to be better than the DIP in industry. We used to bend the legs to fit in the DIP sockets.
😀😀.. LMAO
Still looking for the mast...🙂
Regards
M. Gregg
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Mooly, I cannot download the files now. Please don't reveal the answer too soon 😀
I found out from previous test that it is possible to focus on "distortion". I don't know if you can hide this distortion. Hopefully you can't.
I have no experience with 741 but I think it is also possible tho very difficult to detect the sonic or speed due to limited slew rate of the 741. Only 2 files makes the trial simpler thus more accurate.
I found out from previous test that it is possible to focus on "distortion". I don't know if you can hide this distortion. Hopefully you can't.
I have no experience with 741 but I think it is also possible tho very difficult to detect the sonic or speed due to limited slew rate of the 741. Only 2 files makes the trial simpler thus more accurate.
In your new test both recordings are similar, C has just a bit more noise than B. Can only hear that on headphones, tho.
Great Idea Mooly!
A brief listen on the laptop and Grados reveals... very little.
Sounds like a challenge just trying to discern any difference!
A brief listen on the laptop and Grados reveals... very little.
Sounds like a challenge just trying to discern any difference!
As I listened to each file, I become more familiar with the music and picked up new nuances in the sound. I really can't tell at this point. I will have to try again, maybe with cans and listen in a reverse or random order.
If the test could be randomized for each user would be ideal. People talking about what they hear could bias others. That pretty much invalidates the test.
Overall, the music selection is good and seems well recorded. The inclusion of the piano is good in that I find it is easier to pick out harmonic distortion from its sound when compared to most other instruments. In a test I performed once, I setup an amplifier with a purposely built in distortion issue and it was so much easier to pick out the distortion in piano music where it was masked much more in other types of music including vocals.
If the test could be randomized for each user would be ideal. People talking about what they hear could bias others. That pretty much invalidates the test.
Overall, the music selection is good and seems well recorded. The inclusion of the piano is good in that I find it is easier to pick out harmonic distortion from its sound when compared to most other instruments. In a test I performed once, I setup an amplifier with a purposely built in distortion issue and it was so much easier to pick out the distortion in piano music where it was masked much more in other types of music including vocals.
Nice John. So better opamp should show sharpness in violin? In previous test I found that violin is too sharp with banana, but orange which has the highest distortion can mask this sharpness. Is that the logic so you think the non sharp one is 741?