Another opamp shootout.

Posted by Ehien (A) on May 24, 2003 at 09:18:24

Well, it has been at least an year since I compared a few good opamps. Over the time my system, both analog and digital, improved. And triggered by recent thread about OPA637, I decided to do another quick shootout.

Last time I compared OPA2604, OPA2134, OPA627, OPA637, AD275, AD746, AD825, AD826, and LM6172 and liked OPA627/637 the most. I've been using OPA627 since it has less stability concern and that I didn't detect obvious differences to 637 then. But this time instead of inserting them in my phono stage and playing vinyl alone, I synchronized the same album (Miles Davis Cooking with...) in CD for quick A/B reference. The results were more telling.

Due to the time on hands, I only compared AD826, AD825, OPA627, OPA637, and newly acquired AD8620 (dual version of AD8610). The last 4 were SOICs and soldered to BrownDog's SOIC-DIP adapters.

Well I liked OPA637 the most, it's as organic sounding as 627 but more open and focused. AD826 was almost as good but being leaner and not as organic sounding. This was a surprise as I didn't hear it this good last time. Its high was certainly extended. Another surprise was AD8620. In general ADI AD opamps sounded leaner than BB/TI OPA, but this AD8620 was just too much. Not broken in? It's almost a draw between AD825 and OPA627. But again I prefer the tonal balance of OPA627 in my system. I can understand why someone may prefer AD825 in their systems.

A disclaimer is that this may not be an utmost fair comparison. I have 0.01uF PP cap soldered across +/-15V pins on 825, 627, and 637 but not the rest. And none of the opamps were allowed to warm up more than 5 min. The ones warm up slower may be penalized. But at least I'm quite sure that for my system and taste OPA637 is the best. I may spend some more time with AD826 in the future. This opamp did sound promising.

Cheers.

Ehien

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Topic - Another opamp shootout. - Ehien 09:18:24 05/24/03 (36)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - Xstatic 13:25:51 05/26/03 (5)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - Ola 00:00:49 05/27/03 (0)

Yes and no... - csown 17:30:44 05/26/03 (3)

Your DAC - Ehien 20:27:43 05/26/03 (1)

ack!DAC - csown 05:33:28 05/27/03 (0)

Re: Yes and no... - Xstatic 18:15:17 05/26/03 (0)

My vote: AD826 ! Doesn't get much better (or cheaper $$$) than this! nt - RatFarm 16:35:15 05/25/03 (0)

supply voltage? - csown 07:04:00 05/25/03 (3)

Ooops... +/-15V - Ehien 13:47:10 05/25/03 (2)

About AD8620... - Ehien 00:47:59 05/26/03 (1)

:) - csown 08:03:11 05/26/03 (0)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - dtm1962 18:16:47 05/24/03 (0)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - Davey 18:08:03 05/24/03 (5)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - Ehien 13:59:21 05/25/03 (4)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - Davey 09:30:29 05/26/03 (3)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - highendman 13:10:43 05/26/03 (1)

Good points... - Ehien 20:34:58 05/26/03 (0)

Measurements - Ehien 10:52:23 05/26/03 (0)

LT1364 ? - mac 15:22:13 05/24/03 (5)

Re: LT1364 ? - Dan 13:46:35 05/25/03 (0)

Re: LT1364 ? - mac 18:13:55 05/24/03 (1)

Re: LT1364 ? - highendman 06:08:38 05/25/03 (0)

Re: LT1364 ? - highendman 15:48:35 05/24/03 (0)

Re: LT1364 ? - Ehien 15:35:33 05/24/03 (0)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - highendman 09:37:14 05/24/03 (11)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - Ehien 13:26:37 05/24/03 (0)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - rha61 10:20:18 05/24/03 (9)

Re: Another vote for AD826 - Glenn2 12:02:48 05/25/03 (0)

Re: Another opamp shootout. - fmak 00:20:15 05/25/03 (0)

Regarding AD826 - Ehien 13:23:39 05/24/03 (2)

Re: Regarding AD826 - TimWalpole 14:45:03 05/26/03 (1)

Re: Get AD826 for free. - Glenn2 04:52:26 05/28/03 (0)

yep - highendman 10:25:00 05/24/03 (3)

Re: yep - rha61 02:58:57 05/25/03 (2)

Bypass caps - Ehien 20:23:16 05/26/03 (1)

Re: Bypass caps - rha61 01:20:30 05/28/03 (0)

You can not post to an archived thread.