Sutherland PHD

I am probably one of the first overseas buyer of the PhD, and I bought it "blind" without listening to it first, and even way before Michael Fremer reviewed it

Anyway, it was one of the best audio components & hifi investment I have ever made.

The purity & honest presentation of the PhD has to be heard to be believed, and obviously, the batteries got a lot to do with it. I had 7 wonderful years with it, and upgraded to the AMR PH-77 two years ago.

The PhD is now residing in my friend's rig, and he is thoroughly enjoying it ;)

In a recent thread on akarma, it appears that one can do a minor upgrade to the PhD, by changing out 2 Op Amps on the output section of the motherboard.

Changing from OPA134PA, to OPA627AP at positions U7 and U10 on the motherboard. They are simple 8 pin plug an play, no soldering involved.

This upgrade has Ron Sutherland's blessings, and he said it's a worthy upgrade. The original factory installed op amp chip is about $3 each, the better OPA627AP replacement about $22 each at Digikey.

I;m going to be doing this upgrade myself soon. Mark

I'll have to try the upgrade and hear the difference.