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RE: Oh ye of little faith...

> > I've said it before many times over the decades. Arguing about which op-amp sounds better is no different than arguing which cake sounds better - Duncan-Heinz or Betty Crocker. < <

Kinda like "dancing about architecture "?

> snip <

> > A discrete circuit can be made the same way, or it can also be made with any circuit topology imaginable, with only the highest quality (best sounding) resistors and capacitors, with each stage tuned for the absolute best sound quality by adjusting bias levels and resistor values at every single location. < <

So your real complaint is is about IC op amps and not op amps in general? IOW, a discrete op amp like Burson's current offerings or the old Jensen 990 (or whatever it was called-as used by early Boulder IIRC) would (or could) be acceptable.

> snip <

> > Do you really think that any IC op-amp has been designed by ear to give the best sonic result? < <

Yes, that's quite possible and even plausible. I recall the intro of the AD 711 / 712 / 714 series where it was claimed they were designed to sound better than then popular offerings such as the TLOXX series implying at least that someone listened at some point during development. A technical review even went into how some traditionally important op amp parameter(s) such as CMRR was "sacrificed" to improve audio performance.

A reasonably current offering is the LME49720. In the data sheet it is stated "The LME49720 is part of the ultra-low distortion, low noise, high slew rate operational amplifier series optimized and fully specified for high performance, high fidelity applications." . I'd assume the designers listened during the development process but maybe you don't . And even if they did listen, they probably listen differently than you.

Could it be that the days of artisanal audio design are coming to an end? Where are the really high quality discrete components going to come from when everything seems to be going the way of cheap and tiny SMD?



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