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!Upgrade Upgrade Upgrade!

post #1 of 6
3/18/09 at 5:48am
Thread Starter 
Hi im fairly new to the scene

my first amp/dac is a Practical Devices XM5, its great with lots of features but being its my first one i just wonder what else is out there lol. what would be and upgrade from this? anyone using this amp? compare to others

what other brands or companies make them? seems many of them are smaller companies not very mainstream..only one i know of are pico and headroom

any help tips etc is greatly appreciated! thanks
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post #2 of 6
3/18/09 at 6:48am
Going by their product images, you can roll opamps. If that sounds like gibberish to you, an OPAMP is a small amplifier chip, of which many different models exist. The default amplification chip in it is the OPA134, which is pretty basic. This means with careful selection you could improve the sound considerably, for very little outlay.
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post #3 of 6
3/18/09 at 11:58am
Thread Starter 
In fact i have been reading around and heard about this and yes it sounds like gibberish lol. i figure theres some cutting and soldering involved, im wondering if theres a thread somewhere on this...

and where do you purchase these amp chips? how do you figure whats compatible and good to use?
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post #4 of 6
3/18/09 at 12:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by glnguyen-fi View Post
...i figure theres some cutting and soldering involved, im wondering if theres a thread somewhere on this...

and where do you purchase these amp chips? how do you figure whats compatible and good to use?
Take a look through the DIY Forum or start a thread there. You'll be able to find what you need there.
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post #5 of 6
3/18/09 at 1:13pm
The opamps on the XM5 are socketed (DIP8), meaning you can just plug it off and put on a new one.

You can get opamp from Mouser, Farnel, Digikey and etc.

Try to get opamps in DIP8 package so that just plug and play, opamps in SOIC package would require it to be soldered on an adaptor to fit.

If you do a search you might be able to find the specific opamp model that are compatible for each slot (L channel, R channel, L buffer, R buffer).
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post #6 of 6
3/18/09 at 2:12pm
Thread Starter 
awesome thanks a lot. i'll definitely have to to look into this further! i think this little hobby is turning into something...
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