First, by way of disclosure, this post was made possible by Burson Audio, who supplied me with their Classic and Vivid op-amps after I responded to a post they made elsewhere on this site. I sent those to my friend Robert, whose observations are included here, and ordered more for myself from Parts Connexion.
Second, the system(s) used for comparison: The component in which the op-amps themselves were used was a Pass DIY Whammy headphone amp. Robert's was built from the kit (by me). My Whammy was 'upscale', built with New Class D discrete regulators; Takman REY metal film resistors; Nichicon Muse FG and Elna Silmic II electrolytics outside the power supply; Jantzen Superior Z-Caps for the input coupling caps, and Vishays for the ones around the optocoupler; the pot in mine was an Audio Note Noble-style (which was also in Robert's, as opposed to ALPS in the stock kit). Phones in my case are Focal Utopias; Robert's are Audeze LCD-2s.
The source, in my case, was a DIY turntable with a Graham 2.2 arm and Soundsmith Hyperion Mk II ES cartridge fed through a Pass XP-17 phono preamp. Cables were self-terminated Gotham Audio GAC-4/1 Ultra Pro. Robert also has a DIY turntable with a very obscure arm whose name I can't recall and some Koetsu cartridge. He uses a tube phono stage whose name I also can't recall. Suffice it to say that his his system (VTL Signature MB-450 monoblocks, heavily modified Magnepan 3.6s) is the best I've ever heard outside a high-end audio store. (My system may now be equally good, due to some major pandemic-excused upgrades.)
So, to the op-amps. The various ones used for comparison were: (i) the stock op-amp supplied with the Whammy kit, which I believe is a TI part, about $1; (ii) an Analog Devices op-amp that is about $10; (iii) the Burson V6 Vivid and Classic, which tend to go for about $70; and (iv) the New Class D dual op-amp, which is about the same price as the Bursons. Unfortunately, I do not (yet!) have a SparkoS op-amp to compare.
First point: No matter which of these op-amps you use, the Whammy sounds quite good---totally listenable even with the stock part, if you hadn't heard the others. But, by comparison, the stock (presumably TI) op-amp is pretty terrible. So much so that there's no point describing the ways the other ones are better. Spend the extra $10 at the very least.
Second point: In agreement with almost everyone else who has posted about this, the Vivid is way too bright in the Whammy. It may well be that the Vivid is perfect for other circuits (ones that tend to be a bit dark). If you're replacing an op-amp in a CD player, e.g., then it may well be worth comparing the Vivid and the Classic. Once you take out the old op-amp, make sure you solder in a DIP socket, so then you can swap all kinds of things in and out until you know what's best. But, in the Whammy, as I said, the Vivid is too bright, annoyingly so.
Third point: It's a very close call between the Burson V6 Classic and the New Class D. I think if I had to have just one I'd go for the New Class D, but I've not done enough comparative listening to be really sure. I'm very happy to have both and have swapped them in and out without feeling like I was losing very much. I'm quite sure I'd be happy enough to live with the Burson Classic. Both the Burson Classic and the New Class D are fully capable of revealing details I'd not heard before, but without feeling 'etched'; i.e., they both make music sound like music and leveraging the extra detail to make the music sound MORE like music.
Second, the system(s) used for comparison: The component in which the op-amps themselves were used was a Pass DIY Whammy headphone amp. Robert's was built from the kit (by me). My Whammy was 'upscale', built with New Class D discrete regulators; Takman REY metal film resistors; Nichicon Muse FG and Elna Silmic II electrolytics outside the power supply; Jantzen Superior Z-Caps for the input coupling caps, and Vishays for the ones around the optocoupler; the pot in mine was an Audio Note Noble-style (which was also in Robert's, as opposed to ALPS in the stock kit). Phones in my case are Focal Utopias; Robert's are Audeze LCD-2s.
The source, in my case, was a DIY turntable with a Graham 2.2 arm and Soundsmith Hyperion Mk II ES cartridge fed through a Pass XP-17 phono preamp. Cables were self-terminated Gotham Audio GAC-4/1 Ultra Pro. Robert also has a DIY turntable with a very obscure arm whose name I can't recall and some Koetsu cartridge. He uses a tube phono stage whose name I also can't recall. Suffice it to say that his his system (VTL Signature MB-450 monoblocks, heavily modified Magnepan 3.6s) is the best I've ever heard outside a high-end audio store. (My system may now be equally good, due to some major pandemic-excused upgrades.)
So, to the op-amps. The various ones used for comparison were: (i) the stock op-amp supplied with the Whammy kit, which I believe is a TI part, about $1; (ii) an Analog Devices op-amp that is about $10; (iii) the Burson V6 Vivid and Classic, which tend to go for about $70; and (iv) the New Class D dual op-amp, which is about the same price as the Bursons. Unfortunately, I do not (yet!) have a SparkoS op-amp to compare.
First point: No matter which of these op-amps you use, the Whammy sounds quite good---totally listenable even with the stock part, if you hadn't heard the others. But, by comparison, the stock (presumably TI) op-amp is pretty terrible. So much so that there's no point describing the ways the other ones are better. Spend the extra $10 at the very least.
Second point: In agreement with almost everyone else who has posted about this, the Vivid is way too bright in the Whammy. It may well be that the Vivid is perfect for other circuits (ones that tend to be a bit dark). If you're replacing an op-amp in a CD player, e.g., then it may well be worth comparing the Vivid and the Classic. Once you take out the old op-amp, make sure you solder in a DIP socket, so then you can swap all kinds of things in and out until you know what's best. But, in the Whammy, as I said, the Vivid is too bright, annoyingly so.
Third point: It's a very close call between the Burson V6 Classic and the New Class D. I think if I had to have just one I'd go for the New Class D, but I've not done enough comparative listening to be really sure. I'm very happy to have both and have swapped them in and out without feeling like I was losing very much. I'm quite sure I'd be happy enough to live with the Burson Classic. Both the Burson Classic and the New Class D are fully capable of revealing details I'd not heard before, but without feeling 'etched'; i.e., they both make music sound like music and leveraging the extra detail to make the music sound MORE like music.
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