The Best Sounding DUAL opamps

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#303
A couple of days ago after reading posts here i looked at my DAC and decided to plug a LM4562 i had. I already compared 4562 to 49860 once and 4562 felt brighter and bass-light, but i never let it work for even a day. So this time i left DAC playing without amplifier connected for couple of days and today when i came home and listened i simply heard the sound i had with 49860 before i removed it! Brightness and treble emphasis have gone away and a lot of bass came instead.

This proved to me that burn-in is so very real and 4562 is indeed very close to 49860 once both burn-in for at least 24-48 hours 🙂

P.S. LME49990? Maybe worth trying... but it's different enought to need to be checked with a scope in my Buffalo dac. Althought i am yet to see opamp that doesn't work here. It would be nice to hear about it's sound from those who already tried. Specs looks promising
 
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#304
USB Oscilloscope Bandwidth

Mooly said:
A USB scope may not have the bandwidth to show oscillation which is usually at very high frequency, typically 1MHz upward. To check for oscillation you need to look at the opamp outputs but beware, the capacitance of the scope test leads can either stop oscillation or actually cause it. You really need a low capacitance probe.


DEar Mooly,

I checked the specs and found that the Bandwidth is 20 Mhz.
Kindly advice how I can check oscillation with the scope.

Thank you
Click to expand...
 
#305
AlexanderTD said:
A couple of days ago after reading posts here i looked at my DAC and decided to plug a LM4562 i had. I already compared 4562 to 49860 once and 4562 felt brighter and bass-light, but i never let it work for even a day. So this time i left DAC playing without amplifier connected for couple of days and today when i came home and listened i simply heard the sound i had with 49860 before i removed it! Brightness and treble emphasis have gone away and a lot of bass came instead.


Dear AlexanderTD,

So in your opinion which op amp sounded better?
Click to expand...
 
#307
After more than 48 hrs of keeping the DAC on with LM4562 inserted. The sound stage expanded and true to Alexandra's observation the depth/lows were more controlled and higher. With obvious increase in details. will do more critical listening before concluding...
Also will check for oscillation on the scope.

Thanks all for the tips..
 
#312
I,m gonna replace a ne5532 in a preamp kit I ordered from china on ebay with the LME49723MA since it,s touted positively here...unfortunately it,s only available in surface mount, so I checked digikey form the socket adapter...oddly the adapter costs more than the op-amp. I think I will drop solder on each platform contact b4 mounting the op-amp, then tack on the pins of the op-amp. Not as good a connection, but heats up the op-amp less.
Hopefully it will work without circuit modification, I looked at the datasheets and all the inputs and outputs match, and the supply voltage and currents seem to be within the same ballpark. I guess I,ll know after I power the preamp on.
OPA2604 Servo Preamplifier Kit Amp Board Kit for DIY | eBay
 
#313
eddiecurrent said:
I,m gonna replace a ne5532 in a preamp kit I ordered from china on ebay with the LME49723MA since it,s touted positively here...unfortunately it,s only available in surface mount, so I checked digikey form the socket adapter...oddly the adapter costs more than the op-amp. I think I will drop solder on each platform contact b4 mounting the op-amp, then tack on the pins of the op-amp. Not as good a connection, but heats up the op-amp less.
Hopefully it will work without circuit modification, I looked at the datasheets and all the inputs and outputs match, and the supply voltage and currents seem to be within the same ballpark. I guess I,ll know after I power the preamp on.
OPA2604 Servo Preamplifier Kit Amp Board Kit for DIY | eBay
Click to expand...


hi you may wanna try with LME49860 which comes with dip connectors
 
#314
8 pin SOIC to 8 Pins Dip adapter

eddiecurrent said:
I,m gonna replace a ne5532 in a preamp kit I ordered from china on ebay with the LME49723MA since it,s touted positively here...unfortunately it,s only available in surface mount, so I checked digikey form the socket adapter...oddly the adapter costs more than the op-amp. I think I will drop solder on each platform contact b4 mounting the op-amp, then tack on the pins of the op-amp. Not as good a connection, but heats up the op-amp less.
Hopefully it will work without circuit modification, I looked at the datasheets and all the inputs and outputs match, and the supply voltage and currents seem to be within the same ballpark. I guess I,ll know after I power the preamp on.
OPA2604 Servo Preamplifier Kit Amp Board Kit for DIY | eBay
Click to expand...


Hi you may wanna try this site for the adapter too.
20pcs SMD SO/SOP/SOIC 8 to DIP Adapter PCB Board Converter with Cooling Pad F51A free shipping-in Other Electronic Components from Electronic Components & Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Happy rolling.
 
#315
#316
afshindiy said:
Hi I think opa2604 is a reasonable choice and higher for after D/A .. I think if I do my head in a cabin piano. I cant hear Detail Like some chips! HF extreme not natural . thanks.afshin
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My favourite to date is still the OPA2228. The LM4562 follows closely and followed by OPA1642. The LM4562 sound smoother than OPA2228 but the OPA2228 sounds more detailed and less muddy.

Tomorrow I'll try OPA1612.
 
#318
eddiecurrent said:
Thanks hschaser and isisaxon for your suggestions and information.
Click to expand...

Wow.. the OPA1612 is rather insane.. it sounds so quiet it's a little unnatural. but very detailed.

I think at this point in time (1h listening to the OPA1612) I would still rank them as follows..

1) OPA2228 (pro-audio quality, good transients with drums, limitations: potentially unstable for Av<5, not good for +5v operation)

2) LM4562 (very musical, good for hifi, limitations: not enough headroom for +5v operation)

3) OPA1612 (very clean, clinical and detailed, more closed sound than OPA2228 able to operate down to +4.5v, 0.6v from rails. Expensive. Perhaps I might grow to like the highly clinical sound)

4) OPA1642 (last resort, I would interchangeably use the above 3. they give slightly different tones but all are very acceptable to me.)

For driving headphones, my choices are as follows.. (do check datasheet for technical parameters)
1) OPA2822
2) AD8397
 
#320
lsisaxon said:
Wow.. the OPA1612 is rather insane.. it sounds so quiet it's a little unnatural. but very detailed.

I think at this point in time (1h listening to the OPA1612) I would still rank them as follows..

1) OPA2228 (pro-audio quality, good transients with drums, limitations: potentially unstable for Av<5, not good for +5v operation)

2) LM4562 (very musical, good for hifi, limitations: not enough headroom for +5v operation)

3) OPA1612 (very clean, clinical and detailed, more closed sound than OPA2228 able to operate down to +4.5v, 0.6v from rails. Expensive. Perhaps I might grow to like the highly clinical sound)

4) OPA1642 (last resort, I would interchangeably use the above 3. they give slightly different tones but all are very acceptable to me.)

For driving headphones, my choices are as follows.. (do check datasheet for technical parameters)
1) OPA2822
2) AD8397
Click to expand...

3h of listening/tweaking. My opinion has changed. Putting OPA1612s in the entire path makes a lot of difference. Previously, the OPA1612s were still colored by the other OPA2228 and LM4562 in the path.

After changing every opamp in the listening path to OPA1612, the neutrality and precision of the OPA1612 really shines through. I'm putting OPA1612 now ahead of OPA2228 and LM4562 respectively.
 
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