This content provides a subjective review and recommendation guide for various operational amplifiers (op-amps) across different audio devices like amplifiers, preamps, and DACs, emphasizing how specific op-amps can tailor sound quality.
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hey everybody at Hood old guy highi
Channel hope everyone's doing well today
today should be a fun video we're going
to talk about op apps and lots of them
so sit back relax and we'll get going on
this video [Music]
[Music]
so today's video is going to be a bit of
a tech talk sort of video I want to talk
about opamps obviously and I want to
talk about you know which opamp I think
works best in what product or what style
of product um so we'll do that um in
just a second but hopefully if you enjoy
the video you'd be willing to give me a
like and your subscription so let's get
started on this well let's talk about
amplifiers first integrated amplifiers
and and obviously Standalone amplifiers
in my mind um spending a lot of money on
a real high-end op amp for an amplifier
doesn't yield as big a benefit as I as I
think it would do in another product so
what I've got here is the 3E audio A7
integrated now this is a high-end $300
class D integrated amplifier it's worth
putting a couple bucks into good opamps
on that this is Ema a70
mono this is a fzy V3
mono and this is the Duke audio A5 now
in the fzy V3 and in the Aima
a70 I'm running right now I'm running at
a NOS bur Brown Opa 2134 I think this is
a great chip for an amp like this or an
amp like this now I've only got I've
only got uh the stock op amps in the V3
only because I took it out of the system
and when I do that I put the stock op
amps back in uh and then cuz I only have
a limited number of op amps so if I'm
going to use the opamp somewhere else I
do that now on the V70 mon or a70 monos
I have two of those you'll see another
one over here in the rack um I did put
21 34s in there I use these all the time
and it's not that these aren't a great
amp this a great little amp it's just
these happen to be the ones that I have
a little bit of a preference for
soundwise and in with good Synergy with
what I've got so I think the OPA 2134
works really well in here now here's the
thing the ti Opa 1656 is the utility
player of the game these are the the
Jack of all trades they work well in a
lot of different circuits so if you
don't want to do the 20 the 21 34s do
the OPA 1656 it works great in there um
and I think you'd be just as happy with
it the OPA 1656 works great in the F in
the fzy V3 it worked great in the uh 3
ea7 now the 3 ea7 is a bit of a high-end
product so I did run the uh LPA 1656 is
in it it and it that's what it came with
and then I did run the SX 52 BS now in
the hierarchy of things you know the
basic any 5532 opamps you know they're a
dime a dozen and they're fine they work
well um and you know what here tip if
you buy a product that has a swappable
opamp option do not swap the opamps
listen to it for 3 or 4 months seriously
listen to it for a good period of time
so you get used to the sound and then
when you make a change you'll hear that
change and you'll know whether or not
that change has value to you or not and
only change one thing in your system a
time at a time don't change more than
one thing because if you change two
things or three things you'll never know
what change which change had the effect
so again one change at a time and stick
with a stock op amps for literally 4
months before you change them and that
way you get used to the sound so in the
hierarchy of things 5532 is a come
stocking a lot of these things they work
really well they sound good there's no
question about it but you can refine the
sound you can tailor the sound a little
bit so again 1656 is the utility player
jack of all trades works well in almost
any circuit I've tried it in and you can
see I got a bunch of those things here
now the SX 52b this is a discrete opamp
which means it rather than being on an
IC chip all the components are are on
double boards now you'll see in Aller of
picture this is a dual board so this is
dual op amp everything we're talking
about is a dual opamp single op amps are
only used in special circuits you can
use them but they have a greatly reduced
output so you got to turn the volume up
way high so really not applicable but
anyway the SX 52 BS I buy these on
AliExpress I get them for I don't know
whether they 12 or 14 bucks and I you
know I know a lot of people have
trepidation and concern about buying on
AliExpress I agree I mean I use PayPal
so I feel like I'm very insulated from
my identity being stolen or whatever um
and also too AliExpress has been great I
ordered a power supply and the vendor
couldn't deliver and AliExpress refunded
my money right away so it was really
good anyway SX 52 BS are above the 1656
as far as performance and they can work
good in an amp so stock op amps are good
1656 are good SX 52 BS are good in amps
you don't need to go SX 52b I I like I
said I do like the buron 234s or the
burron opa2604 in this you can also you
know what you can use the jrc uh e2s
that's a good opamp but I just like the
21 34s or 1656 is so we've talked about
amplifiers hang on one special uh case
the Duke AIO A5 this thing is a little
wonderful little amplifier really really
nice I have the SX 52 BS in there I was running
running
1656 um I'm I was trying a couple of
different configurations this worked
really well cuz it's also in the preamp section
section
as well as being in the amplifier
section and this is just a wonderful
little amplifier so I don't know if I'd
spend you know for sx5 tobs I'm looking
at what 30 bucks worth of opamps at $100
amp that's fine the the OPA 21 34s are
probably 12 15 bucks um and you only
need a single one in the monos although
the V3 monos from uh fzy use two opamps
that's worth it this one I would put SX
52 BS in all day long now let's talk
about preamps and line level sources so
for preamps like the this fzy P4 which
is a marvelous little preamp I have the
stock op amp in there right now again I
only have a limited number of opamps
this isn't hasn't been in the system if
it goes back in the system it will
definitely get at a bare minimum an SX
52b probably I'll put
um probably I'll put a bur in probably a
V7 classic in this because man that
sounds really good um you could use a
3602 from sparkos as well I've done that
and that works really well so on a
preamp we were talking about line level
signals to me now we need to up our game
with opamps and it's worth considering
you know maybe a a A40 or $50 opamp um
for this maybe even a little higher or
certainly the SX 52 BS at 12 or 14 bucks
work really really well so that's a good
combination on preamps it's I you know
again it's only I think a $100 pre to
start you know is it worth spending 60
bucks on the opamp I think it might be
this elevated the game on this really a
lot so the f I love this little piece by
the way now let's talk about Dax to me
Dax are where opamps play the biggest
role for sure so for Dax for me it is
really important because I think the the
daak is the first link in the chain
obviously your streaming Source whatever
that is and you know if you've got a wi
there's nothing you can do about that if
you're using something like HQ player or
Rune or aravana or something like that
then I mean obviously you've got bit
perfect playback but then the next Link
in the chain becomes your deck and to me
that's where all right we need to pay a
little bit more attention to what we're
doing in that so I've got a couple of
decks here I've got the Duke audio Dack
q11 which I I really like this deck a
lot because it's got both an akm chip
and an ESS chip in it now when you're
rolling opamps you're only rolling the
opamps on the akm side because the ESS
side that's a little chip right there
has two PA tiopa 1656 is solded to the
board there's nothing you can do about
it but for the akm side which is a side
I only listen to I really like the 3602
the sparkos 3602 in there they work
really well I did use U SX 52 BS in it
for a time and that worked well so the
the 3602 has worked really well in here
the SX 52 BS work okay I think the 3602
are way better better detail akm chips
have a little bit of a slightly warmer
SI sound the NS and I'll talk about that
when we get to this this deck here I
and that was really really good but now
I've got a dilemma I've got a $160 DAC
and I've got $160 worth opamps I you
know what I'll leave that up to you I'm
real pleased with it with the 3602 in it
I thought it sounded really good with
the SX 52 BS I love this deck and so
yeah because I have access to all these
opamps I'll put good opamps in it um
I've already bought them right so I
might as well try it this one's probably
worth upgrading to at least an SX 52b
maybe a 3602 really nice little deck
anyway so now here comes the the two
that are really the ones to me that
stand out more than anything this is a
fzy audio zd3 and this is a saber chip
deck and I am not a saber chip fan and I
will tell you it came stock with
ne5532 and it also came with a package
of three uh jrc
E2 opamp so uh fzy provided opamps for
you to swap and by the way if you're if
you're going to swap opamps get an opamp
tool I'll put a link there's an Amazon
affiliate link for the opamp tool to
pull these out to make it safe so you
don't damage them because the pins on
these little things are so delicate it's
unbelievable so I put in when I
initially got it I put in uh Opa 16 56s
and that really elevated it and then I
put in SX 52 BS now here's the thing
with this deck it has a single opamp for
the single-ended output and two opamps
for the balanced out put so that's
pretty common if you're only going to
use single-ended you only need to
replace the one opap you don't need to
do both if you're only going to do
balance you only need to replace the two
you don't need to replace the other one
I use this both both uh balanced and
single Ed at the same time cuz I go
balanced out into my uh X Doo ta20 plus
headphone amp and then I run the line
level out into it as well and then from
this as a preamp it only goes line level
RCA out to the two iima a70
amps putting this the OPA 1656 is this
is a saber deck again I'm not a fan of
saber decks they have this glare saber
glare and you've heard me refer to it a
million times the 1656 were better than
the n55 32s and the jrc o2s without
question I did try just quick cuz I had
them the OPA
234s not bad not as good as the
1656 then I went to the SX50 2bs and
again it was an incremental Improvement
not bad pretty livable um gets a little
crowded on the balance side with those
opamps so then I got the Bens and
initially I put in or excuse me I got
sparkos and I put in
3602 really elevated to game but again
this is an ESS chip deck and I think it
has a little digital Edge to it and I
think sparkos hop amps are super clean
and really detailed and they ride the
warm side of cool for sound for me and I
think with the ESS deck and the sparkos
it was a little too much energy little
too much glare for me a little bit it
was good it was better than the original
opamps but it was just had that little
bit of a I don't know an edge to it I
put in the ver the Bon V7 vivids and
again the edge was still there much
better but the edge was still there I
put in the V7 Classics and holy moly
this quickly became one of my go-to
decks it actually lives on my sound
solver rack on my desktop all the time
it sounds wonderful it's a first saber
deck I really really like the sound of
and I attribute that specifically to the
Bon V7 classic opamps they have this
really warm and very smooth but still
very detailed Sonic character to them
just wonderful sounding now everybody's
going to go well if there's a sound
different you ought to be able to
measure it all right I measure
CAD I measure CAD in furlongs and total
harmonic Distortion in feet so so I know
what my ears tell me and that's what I
trust so measurements people keep your
comments to yourself I know what I I
know what I hear and I know what my
viewers tell me when they comment about
what they hear when they change stuff
like this I really like the V7 Classics
in this remarkable elevated this thing a
ton now granted that's an expensive uh
combination of opamps but again if
you're only doing single-ended you only
need to do one um if you're doing
balance you got to do two if you do it
like I do I cuz I got three I can put
three in um I don't know that I would
buy three for this I'd probably just buy
one and use the single-ended 90% of the
time but man alive did that make a
difference on this and really really made
made
this again the best sounding saber dck
for under 500 bucks I've ever heard no
question about it really really good so
now we come to the bigan and the bigan
is the jelli j2s
ak4499 this bad boy was great out of the
box with the stock 156 the stock 16 56
is in it I ran it with the sparkos 32s
for a long time that's 3602 right there
I'll put pictures all this stuff next to
me on the on the screen and I ran it
that way for a really long time now
generally this sits in my system and it
only runs single-ended so I had a single
3602 in there and then the option came
that I could run the big and these
things are giant the big sparkos SS
2509 dual dip fully assembled dual
Channel opamps these things are
magnificent now it fits in there it
won't fit in the balance there's just no
room I put it on the single-ended side
and I had 3602 on the balanced side cuz
I do do balanced out on this
occasionally the it sounded great it
really sounded good it was much better
than the sx32 602 in the single-ended
side no question 2590 was amazing but
the issue I had was the Dack was running
warm warmer than normal and I do know
that Gino redesigned the j3 which is
virtually identical to this as far as
Sonic characteristic and and the deck
and the and all of the other stuff he
did upgrade the power supply for the
board to be able to supply all of the
voltage and current that these big
monsters need cuz it can on the j3 you
can run three of these things and the J2
just has a standard power supply
obviously he can accommodate we can accommodate
accommodate
332s but not the 2509 I just felt
uncomfortable cuz it was running warm
then I put the Bon V7 Classics in first
Go Round And that sounded really good
about On a par with the 26
2509 maybe a little warmer a
little slightly smoother a little more
friendly sound for my ear anyway but
then but a little again akm chips are a
little bit warm beautifully warm don't
get me wrong but a little bit warm on
their own and the sparkl are a little
bit analytical they're great they're
wonderful for that but I put the Bon V7
vivids in and now this is a combination
of I think the analytical side of the
sparos and the warm side of the Bon V
Vivid Classics the V7 Classics excuse me
not vivid the V7 Classics the V7 vivids
elevated this deck I mean a whole
another level maybe two levels I would
put this on a par with any of the decks
I've tested in and around you know $800
maybe $900 and Le or less maybe up to
1,000 bucks except there's going to be
one exception at $1,000 and you'll see
that review in a little bit and you guys
who know me will know what I'm talking
about this thing sounds amazing I've
been listening to it a ton I would say
that it gets probably 90 or 95% of the
way to the to a stock Daisy it's really
remarkable this just sounds so good
these Bon V7 vivids elevated this thing
to just another level now yes I do use
it with a linear power supply um and
that does make a big difference but
these op amps it was like oh my goodness
I put them in and with it literally
within a I I actually I put them in I
plugged it in and I just let it run on
for I probably 24 hours I don't know if
you need to burn an opamps or not I just
figured I'd do it anyway anyway after
that I came down and I was listening to
them and I had this plugged into um the
Evo 150 and the electro comp ec6 ECI 6dx
Mark I and then into the uh uh Advanced
Paris a12 classic um which is my new
reference amp anyway God almighty this
thing sounded good just amazing oh my
goodness well worth the extra money
again if you're only doing single-ended
you only need to replace one if you're
only doing balance you need to replace
two if you're going to do all you know
balance and single-ended do them all but
again most people are just running
single-ended it is absolutely worth the
price of mission to get that V7 either
the classic or the Vivid for me the
Vivid was the one that just it was magic
it was magic
so that's I think everything I need to
say about that and again there I've got
a million different op amps you know
I've got all kinds of any 55 32s cuz
they're stocking a lot of things I've
got a lot of bur Brown uh the NOS bur
Brown 234s and the NOS bur Brown opa2604
I've got 259s I've got the single uh
2509s I've got the sing Le chip version
of these which looks this is a dual chip
let me pull it apart I've got the single
version of the chip I've got eight of
those in the Daisy DA um and that's
marvelous now let's talk about that real
quick the daisy uses single channel
opamp so these little buron v5s I have
are single channel opamp the v7s all the
other ones here you'll see it's got
there's two boards to it there the sx32
3602 there's two little boards to it
I'll insert pictures they're dual opamps
and that's everything we talking about
almost everything we talk about is going
to be a dual opamp single op amps are
rare rare they can be used but they have
a much lower voltage output so they
don't provide as much gain so you'd have
to turn your volume up a lot on whatever
it is you're listening to um to get the
right to get enough voltage out of it
but they they can sound wonderful now
the daisy uses single but it uses eight
of them it's two DAC chips one per
Channel and you've got four opamps per
channel so a pair is working lit opamps
are working as a pair and the other two
are working as a pair and so forth and
so on to get the right voltage output
but so everything we talk about is dual
channel opamps so there are singles but
don't get those 90% of what we're
talking about it won't work in and then
I have these things and I got these on
AliExpress and they looked really
interesting on the on the web page and
then I got them and they don't fit in
anything they're just huge they really
I'm going to try it in the in the uh uh
j2s but the problem is when I put it in
the case won't go on it's so tall anyway
so that's going to be fun to play with
and I'll let you know what I think of
those all right to
recap um on amplifiers I don't know that
you need to spend a ton I would do Opa
1656 if it come stock with 55 32s again
listen to it for 3 or 4 months before
you want before you consider changing if
you want to change Opa 1656 is Jack of
all trades Works in every one of these
circuits um so that I I would recommend
that I like the 1656 I like the bur
Brown NOS 21 34s those are my choices
you can do SX 52 BS again they're so
inexpensive so the cost of admission is
really low try these everywhere they
actually work pretty well and I'll put
some links into AliExpress I have no
affiliation with them I'll put a link
into the guy on eBay I use to get the 21
34s that's a good you're going to pay a
little bit more for those than you will
for the SX 52 BS and then I've got a guy
on eBay that I get the OPA 60 56 is 2
and again I have no affiliation but I'll
link so on amplifiers unless it's
something really high-end like the 3E A7
just go with a 1656 or an SX 52b and
you'll be golden when we get to preamps
and again we're dealing with low-level
voltage signals it is worth up in game
on this I would definitely consider a
1656 an SX 52b even a
3602 uh on this or a bon V V5 the Dual
Channel Bon V5 would be great in this
that would sound wonderful so on preamps
on and on the little Duke amp this
thing's so special again I like the SX
52b inet on Dax now spend your money on
the Dack absolutely it's worth spending
money on now is it worth spending 160
bucks uh for opamps on a deck that cost
160 bucks I don't know if it is um I
have them around so I get to play with
them this sounds really good with the SX
with the SS 3602 in it and it sounds
really good with the other ones I'm just
362sxe
game amazingly so anyway that's the low
down on
opamps that's everything I want to talk
about I know I'm going to get a lot of
comments um
you know if you like the video please
give me a like and a subscribe your
subscription and your view really counts
a lot um it's helped me make contact
with a lot of Manufacturers are willing
willing to send me some amazing stuff
and I'm looking at a bunch of amazing
stuff in the studio you'll see those
reviews soon um and thank you thank you
thank you um please comment let me know
what you think all this your
measurements guys I you know what
keyboard Warriors go after it if you
want to um remember that my comment
section is not a
democracy I have last say on that stuff
so if you get nasty you're gone anyway I
know what I hear and that's what I trust
and I am a a a completely subjective
reviewer I'm not going to measure I
don't care about measurements that's
enough said about that so please comment
let me know what you think where are you
at what do you want to do are you
looking at these op amps if secret here
if you consider buying a sparkos op amp
go to their website and buy there
because they always have 15% off coupon
anyway so that's opamps like subscribe
comment uh check out the community post
playlist in the video description there
are some affiliate links in the video
description I have no affiliate links
for in the opamp stuff so that's fine um
there will be a link in the video you'll
see it up here somewhere to my DAC
playlist which just covers all the dacks
that's everything I've rambled on long
enough man alive can I talk or what yeah
anyway I'm at Homewood this is the old
guy high-fi Channel and it's now your
duty to get out your toolkit all your
opamps make a mess on your desk get
confused as to what goes no it isn't sit
back relax listen to some beautiful
music and enjoy the balance of your day
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