Opamps and Modding thread.

Its at the lower bottom left of that picture.

 

Just to digress but what is the best opamps for the Asus HDAV. Like i said before when i got my Essence STX i really don't want to faff arround trying to find the best so i would rather get some opinions and make my decision from there.

BTW this question is mostly directed at Robscix

Cheers fellas

 

Heh I seen it right away when I rechecked the picture, guess I was tired last time ^^

I was really suprised but I seen today a huge deal, it was the (Harman Kardon AVR-1600) at FutureShop for only 400$. It was their last unit and the guy even told me it was almost at the "cost/manufacturer's price". Otherwise there was the AVR-2600 of 65w per channel instead of 50 but he said that would be overkill for speakers of 100w per channel so I wasn't gonna spend a few hundred more just for more power that I wouldn't need since the sound quality remains the same. Elsewhere at a audio store I seen the AVR-254 (previous gen of the 1600) for 650$ and my lame Onkyo 607 for 700$ so that's obviously a killer deal I've found for only 400$CAD. I'm gonna pick it up tomorow since I was on bike earlier, can't wait to see the sound difference since:
1- Harman Kardon is much more reputated for SQ than other brands.
2- Finaly I'll be using analog on my high-end speakers rather than a compressed DTS signal over optical.

Question #1:
The next thing I'll need to do if I want to improve it even further would be to change the front opamp of my Forte I'd guess thought I know next to nothing on this since there's very very few reviews on the net and places to buy it other than directly from Auzentech. In order to choose the right opamp do I need to choose it according to the type of music I mostly listen to or any opamp will be quite better (all-around) for anything than the stock one??

Question #2:
I went today to a third store and the old guy which didn't really seem to know much said that I would have a better sound quality by having even less noise if I'd be using banana plugs rather than just use a bare-wire that I'd screw behind the receiver. Is that true or it's complete BS just to sell me his kit of monster 4 pins for 25$? I'm pretty sure that I recall seeing somewhere on the net that it was just for convenience and esthetic and that it wouldn't affect at all SQ... so who's right?! 0_o

 

Can anyone recommend a good op amp for acoustical music? I really want something that will bring out the details, but not overly bright. Clean highs & mellow lows. It will be used on my Auzen Forte for now. Thanks

 

Its bs he just trying to get you to buy some monster over price stuff. I used both bare wire and banana plugs. The only thing banana plugs do is make it easier to plug in and unplug without having to install the speakers to it bare wire.

For the op-amp part your gonna have to go op-amp rolling, When you change the op-amp on the forte. It changes it for the headphone amp only sady.

The bravura is the one that has op-amp sockets for muiti channel speakers.

@shadow You can try some LME2277s, LME49720NAs. But you really gonna have to roll op-amps til you find what you like. Tho i dont remember how the other LME sound as I havent used those types in a while. Then I have totally diffent headphones/speakers then you.

 

Ah what a joke so it's even worse than the prelude if only the headphone amp is exchangeable :bang:. Seriously why can't these idiot make their card with all opamp removeable instead of just 0-1, that's just so lame. Yes the Bravura does it but it will lack gaming power so you just can't have both on the same card.

So I've finaly installed the (Harman Kardon AVR-2600) in order to use the analog output and do some comparison with the optical/dts and here's what I've noticed.
1- In DTS without any EQ the sound is over-bassy and not that good.

2- With optical, I have to set all the crossover (I've tryed 80Hz on everything) in the receiver's options. Even if I enable bass redirection in my Auzen Forte, it won't have any effect.

3- With multi-channel analog, I have 0 bass unless I enable "Bass Redirection" in the X-Fi and set it to something like 80Hz. In analog all the crossover and audio effects gets disabled on the receiver. It's quite annoying that it means I can't use the (Dynamic EQ) as it's prolly what enhance the most the sounds since the EQ seems to be perfect for every type of music and games rather than having a horrible sound with a flat EQ or to have a custom EQ that will only be good in a few situations.

4- Really is the sound is suppose to be much better in analog rather than in DTS cause it sounds god damn horrible in comparison and for some reason lacks a lot of bass too :3eyes:

 

HT Omega Claro Plus Opamp Question

Hi guys,

Firstly thank you for making this amazing thread sticky..

Ive had my Claro Plus for about 3 year now and run a fairly high quality 5.1 setup from this card.

Basic summary :

Rotel power amp
Boston acoustic VR floorstanding reference fronts , CRC center and bookshelf rears, QED cabling and high quality minijack connectors.

Question:
What type of OpAmp's are used in the centre and rear channels of this soundcard,
I know the fronts use the AD8620BR model.

If anyone can shed light on this for my I would really appreciate it.

Regards
/L

 

Bravura not having a X-FI chipset or EAX5 do not means it lack gaming power, I use my Bravura to play games besides listening to Music. Of course you can listen to music and play games at the same time. All you need to do is Disable Exclusive Mode in the Adv tab within your Speaker/headphones settings in sound device. It applies to the Forte as well. Exclusive mode basically give the app that playing the Priority to the sound devices. In music cases bit match playback while using Wasapi(bravura) Asio(Forte). Tho when you disable Exclusive mode it disable bit match play back.

Thats uncall for calling them idiots because they do not make all of there cards with all op-amp socket swapable. The Cards are for diffent markets and give users diffent options for what they need and dont need. X-meridian had it because it was a audiophile card aimed at audiophiles. Only reason why X-meridian doesnt exist now well other then ebay, is because auzentech ran out of chips.

Prelude has one socket swappable because those that did do it, did it for there headphones, Forte has the one slot for the same reason. Both has muiti output speakers but it main aim was for Audiophile markets while had gaming features that people wanted.

Bravura is aimed at those who are like you who wants op-amp sockets on there muiti channel outputs besides the headphone out.But still able to play games, Not having EAX5 dont make the bravura a non gaming card. Thats silly thing to say, lacking gaming power dont make sense either. X-meridian having eax1-2 didn't stop people from enjoying it in games either. Bravura pretty much dont have eax5 or CMSS3D but thats it. Games will just use EAX3HD/4HD instead if no EAX5 is present. This doesnt stop me like I mention.

Also Analogs on these cards give you better sound quality, when your using digital your using the receiver DAC, you would have to pay 1000+ for those receivers with very good Digital Dacs. This why analog Sound better then Digital on your receiver besides the components.

@zen I think JRC's are used for the rest of the HT omegas claros op-amps but I not totally sure.

 

Hmm, well right now I'm on the (Harman Kardon AVR-2600) which is 800$+ though it's the same DAC as the AVR-1600 of 500+ but with more power, so would the DAC of my Forte still be better than the one of such expensive receivers? What I don't understand is that I used to have awesome sound with my previous receiver (Onkyo TX-SR607) in DTS with the Dynamic EQ enabled but if I try the same thing on my newer receiver, it sounds like total sh*t and it gets even worse if I use the automatic settings the microphone give me when it calibrates "mess up" the receiver. If you want to see exactly how it mess everything up, you can see my small post HERE.

So with such a bad sound in optical, I had no choice but to revert to the multi-channel 7.1 analog, however when I do so here's what happens:
1- I lose the "Dynamic EQ" but anyway it's just so wrong on this receiver so... not a big loss I guess.
2- I can't set anymore the feet distance in the receiver but I doubt it matters much. CMSS-3D prolly compensate and does a better job to make it sound like if I was in the middle of the 5.1 instead of more toward the front.
3- I can't set anymore the crossover for each speakers seperately on the receiver. I guess though that it's better to just have 1 single crossover instead of 2-3 different values. I know usualy the best is to set it between 80-120Hz so all frequencies below that number goes only to the subwoofer but it said in my sub's manual to set the speakers to 120Hz so if I get it right, I should set 120Hz in my Forte?
4- Now here's the main issue with analogs, at least on this receiver (my previous didn't have multi-chan analogs), it's that I seem to loose A LOT of bass. My sub is already at +12dB on the 40 or 60Hz freq since I enabled that button underneath my receiver but yet I must check the box for (+15dB) in the Forte for the subwoofer otherwise I barrely hear it at all :3eyes: I know I can compensate by checking that box but it doesn't feel right having to do this. I mean, it should sound powerful already without needing the +15dB so again, wtf? 0_o

 

It is a crap shoot, your card may have a betetr DAC or your receiver may. You will have to try out both and use your ears to decide.

 

Thanks Glen,

It turns out the "other" opamps on the HT omega claro plus are LM833's for the "rest" of the channels and the usual AD8620BR for the front.
And not the JRC found on the HALO models

 

HT Omega Claro Halo XT - Burson opamp mod

All I can say is : "EPIC"

 

You might want to look at the Audio GD units. They have a large selections and are cheaper for those just testing. There are many that use discrete opamps on soundcards. I have done alot of testing with these types of units. I actually have custom built units that I use form time to time.

I find discrete opamps can give a cold/digital sounding card some warmth found in analog tube type of gear.

 

I know a lot of this comes down to personal preference, but what are the suggested OPAMP upgrades for the Claro Halo XT? I see the pictures above, and that looks sick, however, I'll need OPAMPS that don't stand that high off the cards because they're right next to one another (no room really to move the daughter card).

I read over @ XS from an old(er) thread that the OPA637 isn't the best choice because they may or may not work. This was stated by NapalmV5 here: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225008

Price isn't really a big deal, though, I don't want to spend a couple hundred bucks and be disappointed by the output/input.

Thanks all.

 

Those are discrete opamps. That names comes from the fact that they are built using discrete components such as transistors..resistors, capacitors...etc. Most just go with chip based opamps. They are cheaper-usually and easier to work with.
The OPA637 is just like any other opamp, good from some things and not others.
I have basically every audio grade opamp out there and some that are special units I use. That includes discrete from about three different companies including some custom built units.
It all boils down to personal choice. There are some good ones that can be recommended for a fast upgrade from the stock generic units on your cards.

Note, if you want to use discrete but don't have the room you can use extension wires.

 

I ended up changing them all on the Halo + XT board ( 7 in all )
Honestly the Burson's are solid, cannot fault it.

Having tried several opamp's I followed liepery's advice and went for the oldschool solution (discrete).. no looking back.

PS: Because of the huge size of these opamps the Halo + XT board now uses 4 slots in the case. If your not using the XT card then only 2 slots

Some people think the Burson's are pricey, I think they're worth every cent.

I got mine here:
http://bursonaudio.com/burson_opamp.htm

PM me if you want more pics or setup details

If you are not negotiable on the case space issue then give the AD8620BR a spin. So clean for an IC

/L

 

There are other companies that make them. Such as Audio-GD, NewclassD and some customs. They can work great for cards that sound a bit too digital...giving them more of a warmer analog sonic profile.

 

I bought some OPA2107AP off ebay for like 2.49 dollars each.there the real deal too, These opa-amps sound nice with my AKG 702. i was orginal using OPA2134 with them but these do a better job. They just came in the mail like 10 mins ago. Funny thing tho I bought 2 but the guy gave me a extra one, Maybe he knew I had a STX.

 

Interesting, I have some 702's and an STX. What kind of difference do they make to the sound?

 

I cant explain it that well, but its like the sound stage is wider and bigger, the sound i dont know how to actually explain it. It just seems like it fits the AKG 702. Where the OPA2134s didnt, I cant explain it any better then that.