Trying out different OpAmps!

ROSE Products RD160
#43

@Eleven Couldn’t agree more as - putting aside the quality of your Hi-Fi gear and the money some people spend (or shall I say waste…) on it - it all begins with (and goes back to) the quality of the recording, the equipment, microphones, studio, etc. as well as the remixing process which is hugely important too.

It’s fascinating to travel through time and hear how much recording techniques have changed across the decades (think about some of those highly compressed and ‘busy’ early digital productions in the 80s…) and why certain artists would insist on recording their music in some specific studios and with certain producers. Why some others failed in getting the final mix their music would have deserved, etc.

Personally, I still prefer a number of clean/analogue sounding recordings from the 60s and 70s - whether these are jazz, pop, rock or else it doesn’t matter, you can tell right away how clean that sound is - take for example the work of Kevin Gray (mostly on jazz albums), anything the guy touches, it sounds like gold. And there are so many others that could be named for the quality of their production and remixing work.

1 Like
#44

Because you don’t have any arguments either – or do you also want to question biology, just as you already do with physics?

#45

@Smegel :clown_face:
Your steak analogy is a classic textbook example of a false equivalence, and it completely falls apart under basic scientific scrutiny.

A grass-fed steer and a grain-finished steer have entirely different diets, resulting in completely different chemical structures, fat compositions (like Omega-3 levels), and organic aroma compounds. This difference is highly measurable in a lab long before it ever hits a plate. It is a biological fact, not a mystery.

If you actually want to apply your analogy to the laws of physics and transparent audio gear, it would look like this: You take the exact same cut of meat from the exact same cow, slice it in half, and cook both pieces identically. But because one piece is served on an expensive, branded plate and the other on a budget plate, someone with a “good palette” claims the first one tastes “more holographic and airy.”

That isn’t taste; that is pure psychology. When an op-amp measures at a distortion and noise floor below -110 dB, the physical output signal is identical. There are no different “ingredients” or “flavor profiles” left. Pretending otherwise isn’t a sign of a superior ear—it’s just a refusal to accept verifiable data.

@Eleven @alessandro :clap:t2: :+1:t2: :clap:t2: :+1:t2: :muscle:t2:
Thank you both for your insights! Now that we’ve cleared up the translation barrier, I couldn’t agree more with your points.

You are absolutely right: the quality of the recording, the mixing process, and how the studio captured the music in the first place are the true bottlenecks of the listening experience. A stellar 1970s analog master will always sound incredible on transparent gear, while a modern, brickwalled, compressed mix will sound flat no matter what hardware you throw at it.

It’s great to see that we are completely on the same page regarding what actually matters in the audio chain: the music itself, the recording, and our room acoustics. Cheers!

1 Like
#46

Bonte its not a false equivalence.

Its more of trying to give you a more relatable example.
Of course that assumes you have a good palette and that you actually have tried grass fed steaks.

You are a bit of an irony in that you buy expensive gear yet claim there is no difference in things like op-amps and capacitors on how they impact the sound.

You want to have your mind blown… go listen to a pair of Linkwitz speakers. Then you’ll understand sound stage and a lot of the audiophile jargon.

But then again, you’ll end up not being able to use a Rose amplifier since each channel is amplified separately so you would end up w a RS451 out to your processor/amp to the speakers.

But I digress.

You be you.

Maybe next spring, I’ll pop open my RS520 and see about the op-amps.

#47

Dear boys and girls,

Wise man once said:
“You can bench test the heck out of it, but Tuesday nights in the listening chair make the final call”

1 Like
#48

Translation barrier, what translation barrier? I watch Star Trek and can spew nonsense in 47 different languages including Gorn.

#49

I initially misinterpreted it when reading it quickly. Star Trek is okay, but I don’t know Gorn.

#50

Smegel knows Gorn. image

2 Likes
#51

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

#52

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

#53

Wow.
I guess when you can’t talk about facts, you have to switch to insults.
At least Boris went out to google to try to find facts.
(And still got it wrong.)

Just like how confusing it is to get 1GbE SFP transceivers.

But this thread is about op-amps.

And clearly you have never tried to swap them.

#54

Nope.
But I should.

Why not go play w your Lyngdorf and hang out on ASR? Amir and you could be best buds along w Boris.

#55

Oh Mikey, don’t always distract yourself from your incompetence and YT knowledge.:laughing:

#56

Because my TDAI 3400 just plays perfectly with RoomPerfect and ASR isn’t that interesting, since you’re spreading the bad news here in the Rose Forum. It’s a shame there’s no Amir Majidimehr here; otherwise you would have gotten Boris’s ban and we would have had peace of mind. :joy:

#57

Why don’t you even ask how my 520 is doing??? :thinking:

#58

Aww Bonte,
Why don’t you buy yourself a little toy to experiment w op-amp swapping?

Maybe a vendor will give you a pair to evaluate and write something up.
If they did it for me, maybe they’ll do it for you?

There’s that German guy who buys a bunch of cheap clones off Ali Express … maybe he could give you some advice.

#59

:joy: No, I’ll wait until you want to disassemble your 520 next year and everything explodes. :boom:

:laughing:

#60

Aww Bonte,

That’s called projecting.

But lets not talk about your insecurities and lets talk about op-amps.

#61

@MrBt
I know you had the Bursons… but have you looked at the Sparkos?
I don’t know if some of them would fit because they have a larger footprint.

At the same time… have you looked at the clocks?
Switching to a SC cut chip may also improve the sound…

#62

Officially, this topic went down the toilet. Thank you.

Before I go, someone may actually be still interested with how thigs ended up on my end.

I settled down with 4 Vivids and one original Muses. Somehow this configuration suited my ears better after changing amps.

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