Hacking Schiit

too late, that was accomplished years ago

 

Danny Ritchie just posted a tech talk on this subject
I point this out because he has several sound clips of different op-amps for download
I haven't had a listen, but might be worth it

 

I've listened Danny's clips and that was my comment I posted on his video: "
1-2-3 listening results. I did the level matching the address the complaints (btw Sparkos are not "louder", they have better dynamic range, not the same). Listened twice each
#1 boring, boring, I don't want this
#2 Everything improved, good soundstage, details, good enough to listen
#3 A lot more details, I hear how Patty tongue in touching the top of the mouth, the whistle between her teeth
#4 - original from Tidal. I hear every details of Patty's mouth - her tongue, her cheeks, her teeth, her breathing, sound moving between top of of the throat and down towards the lungs. She's actually in the room right in front of me, better than live concert. And a bit more intimate than a woman I don't know I want that close to my face. Better than #3."

 

My OPAMP Rank as below:

Best for IV: AD826
Best for DC-Servo: ADA4620
Best for general purpose or LPF: AD829
Best value for money: 5532A
Second good for treble or female vocal: OPA627 / ADA4627
Best low voltage: njm2115

Most of the operational amplifiers above, except for the driver stage, are of Class A architecture.

 

I dropped a Sparkos SS3602 into my Emotiva XDA-2 since those silly rabbits dip mounted all the opamps. Well the differences were better pretty much in every way that could be quantified by the listener. So much so, it lead me to believe that after a point insofar as the implementation of the decoder is done well enough, it does not play as great a role as line out amplification.

I loved my BF2/64 and the XDA-2 had literally been gathering dust for years during a parade of Schiit DACs. After that change the dust started to accumulate on the BF2/64. The old POS XDA-2 outfitted with the sparkos beats it following several sanity checks later. But that's just like ... my opinion ... man.

So now I'm looking really hard at my iron here, the BF2/64 output board and my spare SS3602 I snagged at check out. I think I just need a SOC to DIP adapter. I've a feeling the weak point in the /64 stock board is likely the dumb opamp. Mind you I'm listening to it right now. Its no slouch - but the little soc probably can't hold a candle to well implemented discrete opamp. My bet would be the /64 sparkos combo might be tough to beat.

Anyone get this far yet?

 

Nah - forget everything I said. The 2/64 has more detail. But it is missing the space compared to SS3602 output.

 

I know this is old, but nobody responded. The Vali 2 looks like besides maybe the output coupling caps and maybe volume pot to a switched network type to have very little in the way of upgrade path. The Vali 2 sounds great to me.

... and is that a CCS circuits I see on the triode in there?