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Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ.

Higher speed is not always best

A fine distinction: the Burson opamp was designed to work in audio circuits; most commercial opamps will work in audio circuits.

A higher slew rate is not always a positive decisive factor in the sound of an opamp. In fact, too high a slew rate can make an opamp perform worse in a circuit if it leads to oscillation and instability. Local PS decoupling is essential. Luckily for the OP, this little headphone amp has decent decoupling. I know because I built exactly the same circuit from a bare PCB using very high quality parts (But not the opamp socket.
See post below.). The parts used in the assembled stock unit shown here are very inexpensive and probably not the highest grade, so it should respond well to any amount of tweaking.

There are several discrete opamps on the market designed specifically for audio circuits, and I bet all of them sound better than a 5532. I use a couple from Sparkos Labs, and it is superior to the OPA627 in my active crossovers.

Peace,
Tom E


berate is 8 and benign is 9


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  • Higher speed is not always best - madisonears 07/1/1818:16:48 07/1/18 (0)

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