Hi,
I have a streamer that uses the 5532 / 5534 (whichever part is single channel) in the output. What is a typically no hassles swap-out part for this op-amp? If you believe opamps have a "sound" then one that might sound a little warmer and smoother would be ideal.
a gentlemen on a forum put 1611 in place of it and said the improvement was worth it.
I have a streamer that uses the 5532 / 5534 (whichever part is single channel) in the output. What is a typically no hassles swap-out part for this op-amp? If you believe opamps have a "sound" then one that might sound a little warmer and smoother would be ideal.
a gentlemen on a forum put 1611 in place of it and said the improvement was worth it.
I think I am going to move this to another forum section, should it go in the digital front end section ?
Correctly implemented, the 5534 is a superb sounding opamp. Swapping it with another will not lead to an outcome that sounds better in a blind test. The opposite could be true, the very real likelihood of introducing instability in the circuit could make the replacement device sound much worse. Don't do any swaps without checking the results with a fast oscilloscope.
If you randomly swap with a chip needing more decoupling you could end up with an oscillating opamp...
There is no reliable swap out with analyzing the circuit against the datasheet specs of each opamp. Blindly rolling opamps can lead to bogus conclusions. No opamps do not have a sound unless they are awful (or oscillating).
Things to be mindful of when changing opamps:
offset voltage
bias current
decoupling requirements
stability in general (some may require a small ceramic between output and inverting input, others might not)
supply voltage
for preamps voltage noise and current noise.
common mode distortion
There is no one universal replacement for the 5532 or 5534A which is why its a great pity they have gone out of production.
BTW the OPA1611 is a noticably queter (voltage noise) than the 5534A, and its noticably noisier (current noise), and it might need upgraded decoupling in some situations. See the issues?
@Mark Tillotson,
Your response was excellent. I've noticed in various groups that people often substitute opamps for comparison purposes. You've addressed most of the criteria, but there's a concept of tradeoff to consider. This involves the undocumented configuration that yields optimal results, a kind of sweet spot in its design. Particularly when you frequently incorporate the opamp in your designs, you become familiar with its nuances. The output quality achieved can be surprisingly high, even with opamps that are commonly labeled as mediocre by people.
Your response was excellent. I've noticed in various groups that people often substitute opamps for comparison purposes. You've addressed most of the criteria, but there's a concept of tradeoff to consider. This involves the undocumented configuration that yields optimal results, a kind of sweet spot in its design. Particularly when you frequently incorporate the opamp in your designs, you become familiar with its nuances. The output quality achieved can be surprisingly high, even with opamps that are commonly labeled as mediocre by people.
Regardless of what opamp you put in there, the performance of that unit, assuming it is the plus version, has vanishingly low distortion. So unless there is something you don’t like about it, it’s probably not going to improve. I also wouldn’t recommend working on unknown multi-layer boards like that one, even simple capacitor swaps can fail catastrophically.
Maybe some decent rca cables would be something to check out. There’s at least one seller on that auction site that sells Migami microphone cable with rca connections for a reasonable price.
Maybe some decent rca cables would be something to check out. There’s at least one seller on that auction site that sells Migami microphone cable with rca connections for a reasonable price.
So that is the 5534 and so you would need to look at the actual circuit used in your streamer to see if it is configured with other parts that would most likely not be needed with many other opamps. I'm thinking specifically of external frequency compensation because the 5534 is not unity gain stable. I have also encountered 5534's used on DAC output stages where the offset null pins are used for trimming.
In other words don't blindly swap a 5534 without knowing how the circuit is configured.
Thanks guys. I'm going to leave that alone then. I like the sound of it quite a bit with a battery pack rather than the switching PSU so I'm just going to keep it that way. The sound you can get out of that as a streaming DAC through the analog out is pretty impressive especially for the price. Good luck to everyone else 10 years down the road if this is what China is doing already. It is the wiim Pro Plus
... I also run its digital coax out to a melior museatex bitstream DAC (a good sounding DAC from back in the day) and its digital optical out to a chord mojo 2. All three sound different and good but the fact that that $240 streamer through its analog outs can play in that league is pretty impressive.