Which OpAmp is Better for 20W Class A Amplifier - OPA2604 vs NE5532?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- I will show the difference between the OPA2604 vs the NE5532 OpAmp. This video title is; 2Which OpAmp is Better for 20W Class A Amplifier - OPA2604 vs NE5532?. There is a playlist for this 20 Watt Class A Amplifier (see below). It is titled 20W Class-A Amplifier meets Big Capacitor. #OpAmp, #NE5532, #OPA2504
Link to OPA2604: 5pcs for about $25: amzn.to/3wXX7od
Link to 1 Watt Zener diode kit: amzn.to/32qUahI
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Patreon.com/KissAnalog
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Class A Power Amplifier Playlist: • Class A Power Amplifiers
Yaung Jing is the brand, and the following is the specifications for it:
Basic Parameters
Supply voltage: DC +/-25V ~ +/-35V
Output power: 20W @ 8 Ohm, 40W @ 4 Ohm, 80W @ 2 Ohm
Speaker impedance: ohm 2 ~ 8 Ohm
Zener Diodes: amzn.to/3qlKoYH
Wire clamps: Wago assortment: amzn.to/3qkY4mQ
Keadic assortment: amzn.to/2N80vKT
Link to 20W Power Amplifier Board: amzn.to/3oB0VWW
Link to silicone lead set: amzn.to/3j23ksq
Link to Blue silicone mat: amzn.to/36qpIqD
Please use this link for the Hiraga Power supply kit:
rover.ebay.com... Power Supply
Please use this link for Aleph 5, Class A Amplifier kit used in this project: rover.ebay.com/...
Another Aleph 5 Class A amplifier link:
rover.ebay.com... 5 Amplifier
Irwin Drill and Tap set: amzn.to/3l7coxb
Titanium drill and tap bit set: amzn.to/3rDU1Cz
Tap and Die 40 piece set: amzn.to/2PHTUb1
Cutting Fluid: amzn.to/3qyFR4l
Klein Tool Heavy duty wire stripper: amzn.to/2OcV26n
I don't know much about electronics but I swapped the NE5532's for OPA2604's in a TPA3255-based amp I've been using and quite pleased with the results. Didn't A/B but sound definitely improved. Thanks for the video for the extra context/info!
Thanks for sharing!
The best aspect of the jfet input is that the bias current is orders of magnitude less than with a bipolar input. This allows much lower noise voltage densities and is essential for good noise performance if the input is coming from a high impedance source such as any kind of unbuffered piezoelectric input...
Great point - Thank you!
At room temperature....
@@KissAnalog hello, how about using RC4558? Or 4580 😂
I think both Op amps are great.
The burr browns are great upgrade in solid state guitar gear as well as hifi.
But having said that, i prefer the NE5532 in lot of cases.
Money , doesn't always mean better, neither do better specs.
I guess what i am saying is trust your ears and have fun!
Thanks for the great feedback!
HI!!!! I really don’t know what your talking about, but like seeing your face.
You are awesome! ;) Thank you!
Over 11% increase in power is really great. Sounds like it will be a jamming little amp. I am using the 5532 in a kit build I am making. I may swap it out now that I know about the Opa2504.
Thanks Tron! Let us know how you like it if you do;)
also you can try TLE2082, AD825, burson v6 vivid, AD797
The exchange of NE5532 to OPA2604 only makes the difference in more output voltage swing due to power supply voltage increase from max +/-22V to +/-25 V. Relating most of the other parameters the OPA2604 is worser that the NE5532. Espacially it is 2 to 3 times more noisy especially in the lower frequency range between 10 Hz and 1 kHz. I'd personally prefer the NE5532.
Kala AD 823 bagai mana abang
I've never used that op-amp. Filet mignon / burr brown is just outside my taste budget hehe. That's really cool. You know, you could now call that 20W amp a 5KW amp if ya want to use the normal advertising hype stuff that has become so prevalent these days. A few years ago I bought an car amp from Walmart on a whim claiming 500W. I was interested in seeing how they boosted the voltage up. Turns out it produced barely 25W if into 8 ohm. It did have a cheesy inverter though. Again, another really nice video. Thanks Eddit :)
Thanks Keith. LOL, I think you are so right;)
Well done Eddie, you nailed it. That op amp's output swings closer to rails and quiescent current is lower hence the slight increase in rails. Third order harmonic are somewhat dissonant that is why they don't sound good to our brains, it's like playing a cord and getting one note wrong. JFET input is very high impedance and does not load the signal generator output either, you can reduce the input cap value and use a better cap if you like, may improve distortion a tad.
Hello Nico, I think you are the only one talking over the 3rd harmonic and its issues. If I may, and is is pertinent, here goes my5 cents of contribution to the topic.
Hope we can chat about it. This is one of my fav. topics.
The odd harmonics and its unfortunate presence in the modern music. Sound like a title doesnt it? But, if I mayh, lets brake it down.
The 3rd harmonic are present in every instrument and mostly in the wind instruments (mainly in double reeds wind instruments) and yet those instruments sound realy good even when mixed up with a dense sprectrum. The Clarinet for g.e, mostly has odd harmonics.
Also, lets remember that we are using the Equal Temperament System (Since BACH). The Equal temperament System has the perfect fifth wich is the 3rd natural harmonic. The problem is that when we use instruments tunned by fourths (like bass guitar, acoustic guitar and so...) we can not have the perfect tunning (dividing the octave by 12 perfect steps). The thirds will always sound a little bit off.
Now imagine that you have a chord based on a triade (tonic, third and fifth). The fifth is the strongest harmonic on that chord and the fifth by itself also has the natural serie of harmonics.
In a eletric guitar for example, the fifth harmonic of the fifth note of a Cmajor chord is an E, but the third note of a C major chord is also an E... but those E's aren't the same... the E note is alterated by the Equal Temperamented System, while the E harmonic is natural). Almost 99% that we can read about of harmonic distortion's sound quality is a misconception or a misuderstanding of the whole picture
I would like to hear peoples opnion on this subject aswell.
There is three books that I think is worth reading about this subject:
1- How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony by Ross Duffin;
2 - The Physics of Musical Instruments - Fletcher
3 - Distortion. The cause of harmonics and the lie of THD - Dan Bullard
Great Feedback Nico! Thank you! I think this comment nailed it;)
Very interesting information here Eduardo! Thanks for sharing this! I think IMD type testing is done to be sure the input is reproduced accurately.
@@misterjorous I think you've misunderstood what second-harmonic and third-harmonic distortion are. If I play middle C (C4) at 256Hz, then its second harmonic is C5 at 512Hz (2 x 256Hz) and its third harmonic is G5 at 768 Hz (3 x 256Hz). We sometimes call these "overtones". You're talking about chords where a "third" is the note that is in a ratio of 5:4 with the fundamental like E4 (320Hz), and a "fifth" is in a ratio of 3:2 like G4 (384Hz). A clipped sine wave is equivalent to a mixture of the note and all of its odd harmonics in decreasing amplitude, and the ear is very sensitive to that, so we feel that as much worse distortion than second harmonic.
The odd harmonics are not really dissonant as the ear doesn't object to notes in a ratio of 3:1 or 5:1. The problem is that if we add a small amount of third harmonic to a pure sine wave, and then add a smaller amount of fifth harmonic, we start to create a wave that looks like a square wave, rather than a sine wave. That sounds like we've clipped or overdriven the original pure note and that's what our ears find harsh-sounding.
11% increases is quite a Improvement!
Now we know why they cost $5 each.
Yes, BB was never a low cost company;) But, they are known and respected as top of the game. Thanks Ronnie!
For commercially bought equipment, the 2604 will undoubtedly sound better and relative to that is the 2228 which IMO, sounds even better than the 2604 in some circuits. With those points made, designing something to build yourself makes it quite trivial since your filtering can adjust the output waveform and texture. The 2 mentioned chips are tremendously more expensive and now obsolete. Designing around the 5532 which is still one of the most favored audio chips is pretty common today, and makes swapping them produce modest changes rather than profound.
I can't agree more - the filtering and support circuit around the chip can totally make a bigger difference.
If JFET input opamps have a different sonic characteristic than BJT inputs when you're running them linearly you should easily see it with your test equipment. Even an FFT on a cheap oscilloscope should do the trick. I've tried off-and-on over the years to hear or measure the difference that folks claim is there, no luck. Driving them hot very near the rails is a different story altogether, you can definitely hear a difference and see it on your test gear - but unless I'm building a fuzz pedal I've never found the sound of any overdriven opamp sonically pleasing at all. haha
Thanks for this feedback;) I would have to agree with you. I'll take more measurements at the final build. Let me know what you think;)
We know that JFETs have a quadratic relationship between input and output voltages, while BJTs have an exponential relationship. That implies a JFET will introduce principally second harmonic distortion, while a BJT will add odd harmonics. However, local negative feedback at each stage will reduce that distortion, and then the entire opamp will have overall negative feedback to set a fixed gain. For a TL072 with a gain-bandwidth product of 3MHz, it means that at 1Khz it has an available gain of 3,000. If you use it in a stage with a gain of 10, you're reducing the gain and hence the distortion by roughly 300 times. For an NE5532, it's 10MHz, and a reduction of 1,000 in a comparable setup. It's little wonder you can't hear (or see) the difference. FWIW, the LM4562 has a GBW product of 55MHz typical.
OPA 2132 is also one of the popular op-amps used in the audio world. They do sound different from NE5532. When the music gets busy in the midrange, these sound better than the NE5532. This is all subjective of course.
Thank you for that Tip and for his great feedback! Looks like another great option. It does have lower voltage rail specs but would be great for pre-amps or lower power amps;)
@@KissAnalog Early to mid-2000s, rolling opamps in a circuit was fashionable. Many headphone amp aficionados would build a "cmoy" headphone amp clone and with a socket, for the opamp(s) they would try different opamps and give their subjective opinions. So I wanted to try this on a Pioneer stereo amp and modified the preamp/tone control circuits with IC sockets to see if there is any truth to all of this. I felt that there is a difference in the sound signature of the opamps and if the circuit power supplies, decoupling, etc are good enough, the differences between opamp sound signatures are definitely audible. High-quality headphones, good jazz recordings can show the differences. See this link (not mine) if you are interested - tangentsoft.net/audio/opamps.html
Sadly the OPA2132 is about 10 times the cost of an NE5532 and still considerably more expensive than an LM4562. If you're not using a relatively high impedance source, I doubt they will ever have more than a subjective bias in favour of them.
Have you looked at the LM4562NA ? I just replaced 2 of the NE5532s with them that after one or both failed in a new preamp. I'm thinking I may have overdriven the 5532s but the others are still working fine so not really sure what caused them to fail in just one month.The 4562s sound much better. Now I'm thinking about going with a larger 2.5amp Linear power supply for the next upgrade on these Hi Fi preamps.
Wow - thanks for the feedback! I will have to try the LM4562 OpAmps. Thanks for the tip!!
Very useful video. I just swapped 5532's of my pre-amp for 2604's - I was getting an overload from the DAC and had to run it in preamp mode with attenuated output - this has disappeared now (granted never knew if that 5532 was original). Huge difference in quality of sound - I am listening to 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' by Eric Clapton fifth time! Thank Eddie.
That’s fantastic!
If 100 watts is twice as loud as 10 watts, the very small increase is interesting but kinda pointless. But as you said, you have them so why not use them. Higher voltage always means more power. Until of course, it goes bang!
Thank you for this! Great Point Michael! Maybe if it is pushed a bit above its power rating there will be less distortion. But then, unless I can raise the voltage rails on the OpAmp, the best reason is maybe to offer a JFET input;)
Hi Eddie, Once again a nice Video. Thanks again for the great demonstration.
Thank you!
Interesting video eddie, looks like the power supply for the opamp is to weak, since it dives with ne5532 verses the opa, 1w zeners?
I don't understand the logic of driving op amps to maximum supply rails. It may make more sense to include driver transistors for the output transistor stage.
Thanks for your feedback. There is nothing wrong with maximizing the voltage swing of you OpAmps. If you use OpAmps - you are trying to get away from the discrete circuits - so adding transistors to drive the signal doesn't make sense - if you can find a great OpAmp that can drive the signal from rail to rail. Sure- it is not a problem to use transistors - but now you have to make sure that they don't change your linearity.
Thanks! Was looking for some numbers to relate to the op amps I was thinking about.
Thank you!
You need to take advantage of the higher supply rail capability by changing the zener diodes to 24v, two 12v in series would do, calculate zener current to make sure it's enough.
I used LM7824/7924 regulators for my OPA2604, I don't have to make a profit.
FET opamps are noisier, you could measure it to see what that means in practice.
Great feedback - thank you! I agree, if I were making this board I think I'd use actual linear regulators too. ;)
A discrete amp with matched jfets at the input and the feedback can be cheaper and much better.
Thank you! I once started a design this way. I'll have to get back to that in another series down the road;)
Cool op amp v rail improvement.
High quality caps probably a little under rating can live at max voltage
Great feedback - thank you!
Thank you
I was wait for this video
Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for the feedback!
No smoke this time ? Good video Eddie !
It is still contained in the parts;) Thank you!
I haven't heard of Burr- Brown for ages...
5 dollar op amp is really significant price in bill of materials. Thank you for another video!
Well in that case use LM741, they are probably free these days. The board is supposed to be hi-fi hopefully.
@@nicoras8803 Not worth to step down so much when you're professional engineer, but when you are getting your degree it's another story.
Thank you! I appreciate you! For those that want to squeak out every once of quality, the OPA604 or OPA2604 is a great part, but for the money - the NE5532 is pretty darn good too.
Listening tests will show that the 50 year old 5532 NEVER is a good choice. It might measure OK at some points, but it will never sound good.
Actually it can ruin the sound in any good Hifi device. It is used extensively because it is dirt cheap, and it is often socket-ed because the vendors
know that it does not sound good.
If you want the best sound, go with a Sparkos discrete dual op-amp - or If you want to go cheap try an LM4567 / LM49720.
Thank you!! I can show why in science that the 5532 is not the best choice:P) What to you think of the OPA2604? Science would show that it should be better:)
Plus of course every album made since approx 1975 has gone through a hundred 5532s
Thanks Martin! Do you mean that so many amps out there have 5532s?
@@KissAnalog I was talking about studio desks/mixing. Great channel.
My fav is JRC 2114D
Thank you Jeff! I never heard of them before - always great to learn something new. From their spec, it looks like they are close to the NE5532. Both BiPolar and similar specs. Maybe easier to get real ones - maybe the Japan made parts are not intimidated?
Thanks Eddie.
Do you remember when you first looked at the distortion on this amp? It was full of 2nd harmonic distortion.
I'm wondering if the BB chip has better rail to rail specs?
Yes, the BB part can operate at a higher voltage on the rails. I originally thought I'd try to get more power - and maybe I will;)
One measures better and the other sound better.
Which is which? LOL thanks for your feedback. I'm still trying to find which is better;)
Thanks for the video I have been wondering how the 2604 would work in my Session 500 Peavey Amp. It's about to get 9 of them installed. Thanks again.
Thanks - that’s great! Let us know how it works out!
@@KissAnalog It s a servo op amp , it remove offset DC on the output of amplifier.
Nice job again!
Thank you Tony! Cheers!
Hi, i know that chip in that amplifier stay in the feedback line for 0 volt out, because this amplifier Is 0 feedback . I Hope that you repeat the test on a really preamplifier for Major info.
Thanx Michele
Thanks for the great feedback! I have the amp back and will do some testing!
Real NE5532 are really hard to beat for the money. My question is the NE5532 that the amp came with real? There are a lot of fakes out there and I keep a stick of them so I can change them. I also only buy them from DigKey as you can get fakes from Amazon and Ebay.
I do like the OPA2604 and my main pre-amp uses them.
It is hard to tell, but they do look legit;) They have tested well so far.
@@KissAnalog Yeah it is hard to tell, and a lot of the time they test well. I have found the fake by looking at their leads. They always seem to look like they have solder on them and they seem to be made of a lower quality of metal i.e. very soft and bend very easily. If you have a real one next to a fake one you would see what I mean.
Thank you! I'll have a look at the leads of the new ones that I have. I could see that their process might not be as good...
Bruh!! ''texas instruments'' has some kick ass amp chips!! but, OMG!! are they ''expensive''!! & complicated!! but the ''right 1's'' are perfect!! they do the same thing 99% of chip makers do?? make's 100 of the same/similar chips. and only 4 of them are high quality!! I'm hoping 2 do a video ?one day?? on some op amp chips from ttTexas!! looks like U got this in the bag?
Thank you! And let us know if you make that video. It would be a great one;)
Both op amps are very old devices. The NE5532 is from 1976 and the OPA2604 from 1991. So they do not represent the current state of the art of op amp development. The NE5532 was developed with the main objectiv of very high internal gain and therefore high linearity or low THD and low noise. The OPA2604 was developed for higher operating voltages and slew rates. It has considerably lower internal gain and higher noise.
Today we have much better op amps operating at consideraby lower current with better performance, especially lower noise, better linearity, less offset voltage and higher stabilities over many orders of magnitude of gain. The disadvantage is their SMT packaging. So they are more complicated to use for makers. I like to use them with SMT-to-DIP adapters.
Thanks for the great feedback! Which OpAmp do you think is best for audio? How about with higher voltage rails?
@@KissAnalog it depends. For most of my audio amplifiers I use the NJM4562 because of its high slew rate, good linearity and low noise. For higher voltage rails (above 18 V) I use discret differential input stages
I want to make an amp like this one!
You will have fun!
if you put a 20-20k signal through them will it come out flat with no loss at any frequency?
Great question! Yes - that is no problem for any OpAmp, but with what gain can it still do that - and how much noise? OpAmps are all pretty darn good - and some are just more exceptional.
@@KissAnalog thank you for the reply! The thing that confuses me is that according to the video link below its not flat from 20 to 20k . What's your thoughts on this? th-cam.com/video/QCBUFBJh9bk/w-d-xo.html
why not using square waves for testing waveform skew?
Who listens to sine waves, let alone square waves. You can calculate slew from frequency response.
@@nicoras8803 it's about waveshape rendering, overshoot, ringing etc... it could be triangle or whatever.. music with analog synths use all these waveforms. I cant believe old peoples still think they are not used in music haha it's used in more than 90% of modern music...you think you can test audio gear with AC/DC crapshit.. you could use bandlimited square wav to 25khz for example.. a system should reproduce it perfectly to be perfect.. note that you need an analog generator or a perfect digital to analog converter that also produce perfect square .. + a bandlimited square wave sample..
opamp datasheet have these and they are important in my opinion..
see sansui au-x1 amp for example on perfect square wav amplifier up to 90khz or so
@@lextr3110 I also do like to see the transisent response of a square wave on any audio path.
A 100 pound drummer hiting a snare drum can not be replace by just a sinewave.
@@misterjorous they always have 1000 excuses not to test them ...
Thank you for bringing this up. I think it is a very interesting subject and question:) OK, so first I'd like to say @Nico Ras is right of course, you can verify rise time with bandwidth testing and vis a versa. You can't get a fast rise time if you have a low bandwidth. As for how an amp would respond to a specific rise time (suggesting it has the bandwidth to do it) is interesting thought. If it rings it would be thought to be bad, but in audio - is that true? First, if it is fast enough to rise and then free enough to ring - is that really a bad thing? If you then think about why a 'music' would have a square wave - which is not a natural wave, so it has to be synthesized, and is then can be formed by a compilation of sign waves. So if the amp does have a wide enough band width, yes it can do a square wave, but regarding to the stability or lack of - we are back to why a square wave would be injected into 'music'. That would sound like distortion (as it is not natural) so would ringing be bad - or is it just that it is not accurately reproducing this wave? So, another very important question is twofold, what frequency should this be done at - and what rise/fall time? Then comes, how much inductance/capacitance might there be at the output of the Amp? Great question - and this could lead to more videos;) One more thing that I eluded to above, if the amp is so well controlled that there is no ringing - does it sound that way - well controlled - or does it sound over-controlled? Just asking;)
The genuine NE5532P sound better ! The genuine NE5532P adsorbs 8mA quiescent current ( the fake 2 mA)
Thanks - that's great info on how to tell a fake from the real deal;)
@@KissAnalog The easiest way to detect fake NE5532s is to measure the resistance across the two inputs with a multimeter in diode mode. A real NE5532 has back-to-back diodes as input protection and you'll spot the junctions in both directions.
Of course, you might still get a real NE5532 which is a manufacturer's reject, so caveat emptor!
I have a question about changing the op amps in my 2 bus summing mixer. The current op amps make the sound a bit dark and outdated, so I want to replace them with ones that will make the sound brighter and more spacious in stereo. The op amp model currently used is op2134 PA. Can you suggest any replacement op amps?
NXP 5532a/BPA the best 5532
Difference between 23Watt and 20Watt is only 0.6dB.
Yes it is splitting hairs;) Thanks!
Is it possible just replace opa2604 by muses 01/02 or opa and muses have different requirements for the nominals of the cirquit? The same question about replacing lme49720 by muses 02/01?
Great question. In general - yes - but in my case I wanted the higher voltage rails.
@@KissAnalog Thank you! And will both stock and new opamp be in optimal regime of work then? Is trying to get some improvements of sound quality such way correct?
Great video
Thank you!
@@KissAnalog I’ve been using Sparkos discrete op amps in my Neve console - the op amps have duel compensation class A output current - most discrete op amps don’t sound at all like they are discrete instead sound like extra high frequency - but the sparkos have the class a sound when compared to a Neve 1073 class A pre amp 💯
What about discrete op-amps what about making some? That should be even better
I have received one in the post today. I will be testing them and listening to them on my channel soon. I think the main advantage is current availability, no advantage on a preamp circuit. Might help on headphones...we shall see.
@@MichaelBeeny I think you get less Eddy field current from each stage because of the distance interfering with each other and other interferences
Discrete is always fun - and it allows for tweaks and modifications. The OpAmp is petty amazing though - and probably hard to beat;) But, then there are the voltage limitations for higher Power Amps. Layout and routing are so critical - and this is taken care of where that art can easily be messed up;)
@@KissAnalog what even if you did it in micro-cap could mess it up
Great point @John Sweda. Micro-Cap can give a great place to add parasitics to see how things are affected.
In my active speaker repair project, I discovered the input & E-Xover boards use 2 different types of opamp in each speaker. One unit has TI-5532's & the other Fairchild 5532's. Would this make any difference audibly? Should I consider using identical opamps in each speaker, maybe doing a swap as a post repair project?
Same OpAmp, distinct manufacturers.
@@misterjorous thank you!
Great answer #Eduardo Caetano;) Also, I think these OpAmps are so high level that they seem to work so great!
@@KissAnalog I love the 5532... perfect jellybean.
Thanks Eduardo! I agree - for the cost it is hard to beat! Especially when it takes one 4 or 5 times the cost to get something better - it it really is:)
Please make video on ne5532 vs tl072
That's a great idea! Thank you!
@@KissAnalog welcome sir, Love from India
Tl072 better on dynamic side ....and for live instruments i found ne5532 ...what's your suggestion @ Kiss analog
Most components from eBay and Ali express are fakes or re labelled crappy opamps. The 2604 is pretty expensive, so if you get say, 10 PC's for 10 bucks, they are almost certainly fake. Same goes for the LM chips and TDA units. I did buy some FETs online once, not knowing about fakes, and they're actually working still. Go figure! And certainly stay away from output transistors online too. There's a reason they're more expensive from a reputable supplier.
Great advice. I was lucky earlier when I originally chose that OpAmp for this Amplifier. They were not cheep - except for that batch that came in huge qty. I thought the price was for a single part and expected a high price, so I didn't notice that they were sending multiple pieces for each item. When parts go in surplus they can be lower cost if they are not really an item that is in demand, but if they are like these OpAmps, you would expect to pay closer to $5 per unit. Which I did.
@@KissAnalog I've seen that opamp going for 14-15 bucks now! I was watching a comparison of 8 opamps recently. Honestly, Eddie, I can't hear much difference.
I’d be interested to know where your buying OPA2604. I don’t think TI has made these in quite a while and I only find them on ebay from China.
There are many fakes but there are some reliable sources with real opa2604s but you can piggy back a pair of opa604s for the equivalent circiut and they are still in production. The opa2604 has dual opa604s in the same package. Browndog opamp adapters can be ordered with opa604s presoldered for around $18. I have found genuine opa2604s for $6 to $8. I have also some fake opa2604s. Be careful who you order from
Yea, oke thats the specs more power, oke i do not think that some one who did buy a 20 watt kit does care about 11% more power, then he or she will build a 30 watt kit amp or even more to get realy more power, i do think you buy the opamp for the sound, now my opinion if u want a tube sound you buy a tube amp kit, oke maybe the hassle with tubes you do not like than i say this, a 5532 has no sound so its perfect to me, you have not to forget that the class A amps have the nice warm sound, thats wy you build or buy a class A amp, now back to the burr brown opamp, if you put a burr brown befor a Class A amp you get warm and mellow sound from the burr brown opamp and slight warm and mellow sound from the Class A amp so for me its to much warm and mellow, so u change the music to much and thats not good for me, so i do have a dac/preamp before my class A amplifier at home with a clear and no colour sound, so i hear only the Pass amplifier class A, and that let's me hear it's warm and nice sound, but i like to say so many people so many opinions so i say do what you want it's your amplifier
Thanks and great feedback! This is a great topic! I was finally able to get 29 Watts out with the new OpAmps, so they were great to get the power (higher rail voltages). As for coloring the sound, the Class A and tube amps give even harmonics (distortion) as the BJT amps give odd harmonicsre right I think that people hear that as warmer. But using both Class A in preamp and amp stages doesn't multiply or enhance the warmer sound - it just keeps it the same. Mixing would provide both types of distortion and that is what people seem not to like.
O yea when i did buy a better opamp i did go for the AD797 it is a very low noise, low distortion, ideal for use as a preamplifier, the low noise of 0.9 nV/√Hz and low total harmonic distortion, but i have to say it needs a good power supply to the chip, i think yours is a bit low power, and the AD797 its a little more demanding like the NE5532, but did you not buy the kit from Amazon, and does it not com from China, maybe you have got not a real NE5532 but a china one 😂
Thanks Jos! That’s a great part for lower power applications;) This kit seems solid. Good noise performance and ca handle the high (max) voltage. So hard to tell.
@@KissAnalog o yea you are right +/- 15v oke i did mis that ;-) , i did only build 1 opamp pre amp in my life, i now use a dac with a build in preamp, it sounds better than everything i did build ;-), i use a S.M.S.L SU8 for my setup, and it has a THD 0,0003%, so i can never build that, and its cheap yea i am dutch
Replacing an op amp is more likely to add distortion as the Equipment you have is designed around the opamp inside. Most people don't have enough electronic knowledge to do this. Every mixing desk in the audio chain has gone through hundreds of NE5532. So you put in an unsuitable JFet OPamp in a little box in your living room, you hear some high frequency noise and think it sounds better because you paid more for it, Unless you can test an improvement you are probably making things worse. Plenty of High End audio use Philips / Signetics NE5532 because they are perfect for audio.
Thanks for the great feedback! Swapping OpAmps for better sound is not usually beneficial - but in this case - it is for operating range. I need an OpAmp that can swing to higher voltage rails - so it is definately needed. Also, - just a btw - the NE5532 is used as it is a great 'low cost' OpAmp - and used because of this. There are better OpAmps for sure. ;)
So, which was better?
Great question! I am going to do a video where I compare several options. I’ll include a listening test as well;)
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Your video's have some great info, I just can't watch them due to the extra details that drag on the videos. Might want to consider scripting them to keep on track. Sorry, just how I see it. Too may little details that add no real value.
Thanks Jeff for the feedback. I appreciate it. The ironic thing is this was a short video for me;) I am still always trying to get better. I have a tough time with my busy job and also doing this hobby (TH-cam), so it is hard to spend even more time producing these videos. I keep trying to make it a faster process-but it does just take time, but I'll keep trying. Maybe you will give it another chance in the future - to see if I have gotten better;)
@@KissAnalog You do have good topics and ideas. Keep it up.
AAAAAA how can you watch these videos AAAAAAAA ummmmmmm
Sorry about that.