OPamps still inferior to discrete circuits?


Do the current OPamps sound good? Are they comparable to the best "discrete OPamp" designs? If you have two identical DAC's. One DAC has world's best OPamps and the other DAC has a state of the art discrete analog section: which will sound better? Of course: the unit with the OPamps will be (much) cheaper than the one with the discrete analog section, but that's another discussion.

Chris
dazzdax

Showing 2 responses by undertow

OPA627 is a burr brown sound.. Exactly in its name a color "Brown" sound... Just kidding but its DARKer than other opamps... might be the ticket for a cheaper way to make a system that is over excited settle down, but with that goes a lot of strong bass and clarity..
I have used discretes vs. op amps and the burr browns the discrete will kill it if implemented correctly... I like Analog devices Top dog the AD843 best out of all single chip op amps, however very hard to find.
Kijanki
Exactly :-) The burr browns get good reps on headphones, they do produce a certain ambience thats nice.. But if your looking for a raw out rock power with detailed sound they are a bit laid back in many designs.. Again going discrete in fact will take about 20 times the Space as an op amp and way more parts and cost! A good op amp based unit is fine, some cases might be just as good as with some Digital equipment and headphones, so op amps have their place no doubt, and cost effective for sure, a comprable discrete circuit in general the parts alone can cost 100 times the single chip, and just wont even be physically useable in many designs easily. If you can fit it go for it!