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RE: burson audio op amps

Posted by madisonears (A) on December 24, 2016 at 12:58:15

In Reply to: RE: burson audio op amps posted by KanedaK on December 24, 2016 at 02:05:51:

All the little bits add up, even inches of wire. And the big bits.

You have the discrete/IC argument backwards. There is no reason why a discrete circuit should sound better, and many reasons why a chip can sound better. With the precision of modern manufacturing, every part of an IC can be made with better control and consistency. All the circuit paths will be shorter, sometimes by a huge factor, and have fewer soldered junctions, which is always a good thing. Thermal matching of active devices will always be more precise. There is no need for a circuit to breathe, unless it is producing heat. If opamps get more than fingertip warm, there is something wrong.

I'm not claiming that every IC will sound better than any discrete circuit, but there are reasons why they should. Unless the discrete guys know some secrets about circuit design or component performance, chances are good that a chip will sound better. I have yet to see any concrete proof that a discrete opamp performs better than an equivalent IC in any parameter. If it did, I wouldn't hesitate to spend whatever it cost to get one. I use input coupling caps that cost almost as much as my entire amplifier, so cost is not a limiting factor for me if performance justifies it. I have not seen such justification for discrete opamps, other than ad copy which claims that they sound better.

Now, if you want to discuss discrete buffers instead of discrete (or IC) opamps, that is a completely different approach, one that I would love to try. Any opamp wastes a lot of circuitry and a lot of gain for the little bit it needs to do in a crossover: present appropriate impedances to the filters. A discrete buffer is the perfect device, but nobody sells those and I'm not smart enough to make my own.

Peace,
Tom E
berate is 8 and benign is 9

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