Those Awaiting EE Minimax DAC Opamp Rolling...

Mfsoa, thanks for pointing these things out.

I'll have to go over the entire article once again to check for inconsistencies. In the text discussing the Opamps I did not use red lettering, only in the chart and listing of pairings, but I can see how that might be confusing by not carrying it through to the conclusion.

There were a couple reasons why I elected to discuss placement of reversed position of Opamps that influence the SS even though it would not be operative. I was unsure whether the absence of those Opamps might hurt the unit and did not want to run the unit without Opamps. I am not proficient at chart making on Excel and had to keep it simple and wanted the most straightforward system of categorizing and testing the dozen or so different Opamps without having some sit loose or making the charting even more complex. So, perhaps the placement of the inoperative Opamps is redundant but I felt it was better than the alternative potential issues.

I had the same sort of question arise with the Pathos Classic One MkIII tube hybrid integrated amp (reviewed) when used in Mono mode. The question was brought up since the unit would theoretically only use the tube in the right channel could the left tube be removed for preservation. Even Pathos did not know the answer, and I wasn't going to try it and risk a problem. Same with the Opamps; it seemed the most straightforward to keep them engaged rather than not.

I'll seek to rectify any mistakes. :)

Mfsoa, in response to your question about the final selection of Opamps, there were some aspects of the article writing and chart making which were niggling issues, making the choice of whether or not to include information problematic.

I was given a few Opamps which Cimmarron does not have in their listing for purchase, among which was the OPA2604. I indicated in the listing in the article which ones are available. It was among those tested, and performed well; I believe it may be an older Opamp. I wanted to report the entire results, but did not want to get people excited about a chip which is unavailable. Thus, I did not highlight it in the chart so as to not mislead people into looking for a winning combo which was unavailable to them. I found it to be a catch-22 situation, and attempted to report full results as well as not direct people toward an unavailable product. I felt that if I had indicated it in the chart as a "winner" many would look for it at Cimmaron and be disappointed, then rail about being misdirected. I attempted to split the difference between providing information and not giving misinformation. I found there were several situations like this which I attempted to handle in the reporting of the results.

Now, perhaps the OPA2604 is available elsewhere and can be made into a customized Opamp by Cimmaron, but I was not going to get into such discussions.