Amazing Op Amp or Audiofoolery?

[synth-dude]

Hi,

I found these novel op amp drop in replacement boards while looking for something else on eBay.

At $140 a pair of op amps I must get in on this separating good money from the wallets of audiofools.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/V4-Dual-SS-discrete-Opamp-x-2-beat-OPA627-NE5534-LME49990-LME49710-OPA2604-/111879938079

Thanks,
Synth-Dude   

 

[dannyf]

At $140 a pair of op amps I must get in on this separating good money from the wallets of audiofools.

You may end up surprised who the fool really is,

[JimRemington]

Well, just read the specs for that replacement op amp!

The resolution and texture of the Supreme Sound Op-Amp completely surpasses IC op-amps of any other kind. The SS op-amp provides more texture and nuance, more refined detail and dynamics. The bass is superbly well controlled and punchy. Double basses clearly take shape in a very three-dimensional soundstage. Classical music reproduction becomes much more realistic and spacious, string sections becoming a group of individual musicians rather than just a homogenized blur. The SS op-amp is an extremely listenable and engaging performer that brings the joy of music to your soul.

[German_EE]

There are some VERY good op amps out there, certainly better than the 5532. Low noise, rail to rail, low distortion, take a look through the 'Amplifiers' section on the Analog Devices website and be amazed at what's now available. I see what these folk are trying to achieve because, even on the same wafer, there will be differences between resistors and transistors inside an IC, but I doubt that going discrete is the way to solve the problem.

Good results can be obtained by modifying any decent audio amplifier by a) replacing every ceramic capacitor in the signal path with a foil equivalent to eliminate microphonics b) replacing every capacitor on the power supply rails with low-ESR devices and c) making sure that the speaker connections are tight. A search for dry joints helps as well.

[helius]

Analog Devices solved the silicon variability problem in their ADCs using laser trimming, 30 years ago. They may also use it for some of their op amps.

[Kalvin]

Well, just read the specs for that replacement op amp!

The resolution and texture of the Supreme Sound Op-Amp completely surpasses IC op-amps of any other kind. The SS op-amp provides more texture and nuance, more refined detail and dynamics. The bass is superbly well controlled and punchy. Double basses clearly take shape in a very three-dimensional soundstage. Classical music reproduction becomes much more realistic and spacious, string sections becoming a group of individual musicians rather than just a homogenized blur. The SS op-amp is an extremely listenable and engaging performer that brings the joy of music to your soul.

These combined with the $$$ tube amplifier will probably be the ultimate high fidelity experience.

[ZeTeX]

http://www.ssaudio.com.au/lycan-op-amp-test-bench/
2.2W & 16Ohm for 250$ is kinda... cheap as f**k im buying 2 of those supreme headphone amplifiers.
they even come with open enclousre so it can break easily and  get dusted if you carry it around, and for 250$ you cant even get schematics for this DIY headphone amplifier!

[Kalvin]

OPA1612 and LME49860  are a bit cheaper.

[wraper]

http://www.ssaudio.com.au/lycan-op-amp-test-bench/
2.2W & 16Ohm for 250$ is kinda... cheap as f**k im buying 2 of those supreme headphone amplifiers.
they even come with open enclousre so it can break easily and  get dusted if you carry it around, and for 250$ you cant even get schematics for this DIY headphone amplifier!

I wonder why they bothered to publish the specifications as they just suck. Especcially like "Seperation" in percents, not db, likely would seem too ridiculously awful. 99%, c'mon, that's  -40db  , SNR is just laughable too, any decent headphone amp IC will beat it. Though they didn't mention measurement conditions which makes those figures pretty useless.

[Zero999]

Yes, it's an audiophool product. Discrete transistors will have inferior matching to those fabricated on the same die and the price is ridiculous.

I made a thread about this sort of thing awhile ago.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/more-audiophoolery-discrete-op-amps-better-than-ics!/msg516653/#msg516653