NE5532 decoupling capacitors

Since the LM4562 has been mentioned, what might be a more suitable decoupling capacitor type in the common B configuration - X7R ceramic or C0G?

*Examples in this case might be:
-Vishay K104K15X7RF5UL2 100nF X7R ceramic.
-Wima MKP2D031001F00JSSD 100nF polypropylene.
 
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There are plenty examples of cheap op amp circuits that use minimal cacacitor decoupling. They usually have one thing in common - poor audio performance.
Many low ESR electrolytics do not work well with an adjacent small bi-pass capacitor. If small caps are local to the amplifier better to have a bigger physical distance to the bigger decoupling caps.
The OP amp may be requied to actually drive the following circuit wih a little current. if that is the case larger decoupling caps actually complete the current path.
 
High frequency decoupling capacitors must not have routed tracks to a remote ground location.
That makes them much less effective due to the added trace inductance and loop area.
The capacitor ground lead must go directly to the ground plane without appreciable trace length,
just like the capacitor's other lead must go directly to the IC supply pin.

Ok. Maybe I've got this wrong. If option B is used the bypass capacitor should be connected to the same ground plane as the signal at the PCB, thus making the trace length shorter?

I thought that these decoupling capacitor should be connected to a separate ground at the pcb, and then to the central ground star or similar. This to avoid noise to be injected to the signal.

Wellif that's the case, option B does not complicates the pcb layout very much more than option A, if this is how it's suppose to be done. I've actually build a few circuits like this before and it worked ok. But it was quite small circuits using one or to opamps, so I thought it was just luck then...
 
Well that pretty much answers my question. I was thinking of designing a two layer pcb, so one groundplane. No need for separate grounds either, since both the signal and decoupling capacitors should be connected to same ground plane.

However I think option A will be enough anyway. But interesting to know for future design.
 
Self is wrong. The correct way to decouple OPAs is the use B with cheapo Aluminium ELECTROLYTIC caps; AS CLOSE TO THE OPAs as possible. And yes. You will need separate CLEAN & DIRTY earths and work out where to join them.
This is of little importance if you have only one 5532 but if you have 2 or more, you will better THD bla bla if you do this.
 
If you can measure very low levels of HF THD with reactive loads, why don't you check out the difference between
  • just 100n ceramics
  • 100n ceramics and cheapo electrolytics
  • just cheapo electrolytics
.. and also the difference between A & B schemes.
 
If you can measure very low levels of HF THD with reactive loads, why don't you check out the difference between
  • just 100n ceramics
  • 100n ceramics and cheapo electrolytics
  • just cheapo electrolytics
.. and also the difference between A & B schemes.

I'm very tempted o do actually, when I get the time. At least between option A and B would be very interesting, also trying different op-amps and see if there's any difference.

Mean while I was reading some in R. Slone's book "The Audiophile's project sourcebook". He uses a different decoupling of opamp, with 4,7 uF tantalum in parallel with 0,1uF ceramic between each supply pin and ground. Then 0,1 uF ceramic in parallel with a 0,1uF mylar (= polyester?) between each supply and ground per board.

Screenshot from 2023-08-12 14-23-11.png


It probably worked for him, but I guess it's overkill for the NE5532 at least. He uses TL074/TL084 in some design I've seen. I also studied the PCB layout he uses, and I can conclude that he does not uses a separate ground for the decoupling capacitors, as I first intended to do.

Finally I got the right answer I was looking, regarding how to ground the the decoupling capacitors, after reading this thread;

https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/op-amp-decoupling-best-practice.274567/page-2

The ground path or the decoupling capacitor should not be to long from the load that the op amp is driving. Meaning there should not be a separate ground for the signal and decoupling capacitors at the board. There might be I risk for noise being injected into the the ground of course, but for now I will use this design then I'm designing my next PCB, let's see how it works.

Even though I'm quite convinced that option A should work just fine for the NE5532 (also according to Elliot and Self). I think I'll use option B, just to have the possibility to change the op amps to others in the future. Nothing really says (including the datasheet) that option B shouldn't be used for NE5532....
 
Self is wrong. The correct way to decouple OPAs is the use B with cheapo Aluminium ELECTROLYTIC caps; AS CLOSE TO THE OPAs as possible. And yes. You will need separate CLEAN & DIRTY earths and work out where to join them.
This is of little importance if you have only one 5532 but if you have 2 or more, you will better THD bla bla if you do this.

This is not the semi mfr recommended method, nor is it standard practice.
 
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Two ceramic caps, one from VCC to GND, one from VEE to GND with their ground terminals ideally placed right next to each other and connected to a solid ground plane. Works well on the bottom layer right below the OpAmp with SMD capacitors but can also be implemented on the top layer. Move both caps to the same side of the IC and then make the connection to the GND plane together and have an imaginary "keep out area" around that connection point (don't use it as a reference). At the low currents in line level OpAmp circuits and the low impedance a solid ground plane provides that shouldn't be a problem in my limited experience. As soon as you are starting to drive heavier loads and higher currents are involved, start thinking more about what should go where to keep the high currents localised. PCB design is like real estate: Location, location, location.