I told them exactly what I was doing ... in general terms, they approved the request.  That is, trying different Opamps to compare sound in trying to optimize an amplifier. I had actually purchased a set before asking for samples.
 
I don't believe that it is clear at all that the samples are not for hobbyists. Rather, they are an inexpensive way for Analog Devices to promote their products.

Question about the AD797's. what's the difference between the ANZ, BRZ, and ARZ? Do they all fit / work in the H10?

"WEll look what I found, the "Quality" grading i was talking about. Ahh who knows if it means anything what I was emailed back about the product codes-

"The first letter, A','B','S' means OPAMP Grade' and the quality is better in following order.

A' < B' < S'

The second letter, U','M','P' means package type'.

P: DIP type

U: SMD(SOIC-8) type

M: Metal Can type(It protects against the noise and electricity)"
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/432749/the-opamp-thread/4185
 

Here's some info on the difference between BRZ and ARZ

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/chip-amps/191319-ad797brz-vs-ad797arz.html

noodlz said:

  Question about the AD797's. what's the difference between the ANZ, BRZ, and ARZ? Do they all fit / work in the H10?

Click to expand...

The ANZ variety is the only one that fits our socket, being an 8 pin Dip, rather than surface mount, so that should be all that matters. The first letter is the "grade" of the chip and 'A' is lower grade than 'B.'  They sample several chips from a large batch and measure them for various deviations in extreme environments, like how much they drift in a very high temperature.  For our application, it is fairly meaningless. I believe the second letter is the form factor of the chip.   So just get the ANZ variant and be happy.
 
Yea, what they said above, lol

Ah great thanks guys. i already got the AD797ANZ actually, but was just curious about the other types, since a couple other people had mentioned BRZ's earlier. (side note if the H10 only fits the ANZ, how'd you guys get the BRZs to fit on? Or was it just typos / mix ups?)

noodlz said:

  Ah great thanks guys. i already got the AD797ANZ actually, but was just curious about the other types, since a couple other people had mentioned BRZ's earlier. (side note if the H10 only fits the ANZ, how'd you guys get the BRZs to fit on? Or was it just typos / mix ups?)

Click to expand...

Danged if I know. The others are all surface mounts. You'd have to de-solder the sockets  and then do a nifty job of soldering on the surface mount tabs.  Nobody's got time for that. 

So I have had the H10 for quite a while, but very new to Op amp rolling (have never opened up and changed anything in my gear ever). I've tried reading a lot of pages on here, but a lot of it doesn't make sense to me (maybe I need more time to go through them much slower).
 
What exactly are the options available and what is the SQ consensus on those options? If someone can summarise something it'll make it so much more easier for me, and for any new member's who are buying the H10. I know I can read many many pages and form my opinion. I'm not being lazy and I have tried that and haven't been able to grasp a lot of it, which is why I'm asking for this. 
 
Thanks!

 
Quote:

jozurr said:

  So I have had the H10 for quite a while, but very new to Op amp rolling (have never opened up and changed anything in my gear ever). I've tried reading a lot of pages on here, but a lot of it doesn't make sense to me (maybe I need more time to go through them much slower).
 
What exactly are the options available and what is the SQ consensus on those options? If someone can summarise something it'll make it so much more easier for me, and for any new member's who are buying the H10. I know I can read many many pages and form my opinion. I'm not being lazy and I have tried that and haven't been able to grasp a lot of it, which is why I'm asking for this. 
 
Thanks!

Click to expand...

I can understand the confusion if you have never done this sort of thing before, but honestly, this is about as simple as it gets. If you have changed a light bulb, or a fuse in your homes circuit box, you have done the mechanical/technical equivalent of swapping out the two sets of op-amp chips in the H10.   If you open your H10 up and take a look, it will be very clear.

Our amplifiers circuit board has these handy little sockets  that allow you  to pull out and pop in corresponding op-amp chips that have the same eight leg configuration.

This is the stock opa134 single op-amp chip in the H10. There are two of them and I have circled them in red in the picture below. In my case, I substituted the AD797 single op-amp chips for these.

This the stock Ne5532 dual op-amp chip at the output of the H10.  There are also two of them and I have circled their location in yellow on the picture below. I substituted the AD823 dual op-amp chips for these.
 

 
I don't have the time or the experience to give you a complete run down on the number of appropriate substitutes and how each effects the sound. You can search the thread for my posts on op-amps and you will find my thoughts on the AD797 and the AD823.  What you are looking for are single and dual opamps that are the electrical equivalents of the opa134 and ne5532 respectively. You can search online and find plenty of examples.  They all sound slightly different so you could drive yourself crazy and spend a lot of dollars on a  plethora of op-amps, or, you can do a little online searching and find the ones that people seem to agree give the sound signature you are looking for.
 
Hope this helps... I just don't have the time..... ha ha. 

stuartmc said:

  I can understand the confusion if you have never done this sort of thing before, but honestly, this is about as simple as it gets. If you have changed a light bulb, or a fuse in your homes circuit box, you have done the mechanical/technical equivalent of swapping out the two sets of op-amp chips in the H10.   If you open your H10 up and take a look, it will be very clear.

Our amplifiers circuit board has these handy little sockets  that allow you  to pull out and pop in corresponding op-amp chips that have the same eight leg configuration.

This is the stock opa134 single op-amp chip in the H10. There are two of them and I have circled them in red in the picture below. In my case, I substituted the AD797 single op-amp chips for these.

This the stock Ne5532 dual op-amp chip at the output of the H10.  There are also two of them and I have circled their location in yellow on the picture below. I substituted the AD823 dual op-amp chips for these.
 

 
I don't have the time or the experience to give you a complete run down on the number of appropriate substitutes and how each effects the sound. You can search the thread for my posts on op-amps and you will find my thoughts on the AD797 and the AD823.  What you are looking for are single and dual opamps that are the electrical equivalents of the opa134 and ne5532 respectively. You can search online and find plenty of examples.  They all sound slightly different so you could drive yourself crazy and spend a lot of dollars on a  plethora of op-amps, or, you can do a little online searching and find the ones that people seem to agree give the sound signature you are looking for.
 
Hope this helps... I just don't have the time..... ha ha. 

Click to expand...

 
 
Thank you very much! That helps a lot. If I can just ask some follow up questions, which you can respond to whenever you feel you have some time 
 
1) What is the difference between the single and dual op amps and what do they do? how do they individually affect the sound? (What is the effect or replacing either the single or dual op-amps?)
2) Do I have to change both the single and dual opamps to match something or various different combos work?
3) When you replace the opamps, you take away the house sound and change it to something different? basically using the circuitry of the H10 to make the sound closer to what you want? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of having the H10 (which is supposed to be a copy sound wise as well of the V200?)
 
Thanks!

jozurr said:

   
 
Thank you very much! That helps a lot. If I can just ask some follow up questions, which you can respond to whenever you feel you have some time 

 
1) What is the difference between the single and dual op amps and what do they do? how do they individually affect the sound? (What is the effect or replacing either the single or dual op-amps?)
2) Do I have to change both the single and dual opamps to match something or various different combos work?
3) When you replace the opamps, you take away the house sound and change it to something different? basically using the circuitry of the H10 to make the sound closer to what you want? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of having the H10 (which is supposed to be a copy sound wise as well of the V200?)
 
Thanks!

Click to expand...

 
When people ask these sorts of questions, I feel like I should teach them to fish, rather than give them the fish. I'm a lawyer, not an engineer and I have had to teach myself about these things. Earlier on in this thread, I said the following about learning to fish, or in this particular case, "tuning your bow" :
 
I'm definitely a tweak-a-holic. Everything I own gets fiddled with - cars, bikes, phones, the works. I find it to be particularly gratifying with audio gear. I think we're all frustrated musicians and we want to be part of the musical process in some way. By altering the sound, whether it be by cables, tube rolling, or any other hands on tweaks, we connect with the music on a much deeper level. We might not be the musician or conductor, but in a real, tangible way, we are like the studio engineer sitting at the mixing board getting the sound "just right." My late friend Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenburg used to speak of this as a deep, primitive connection that is hardwired into all of us. Harvey called it "tuning your bow." His take was focused on the gear itself, rather than the music, speaking of being connected to it with the hands on tweaking and transforming the gear into a totem. Either way you look at it, the experience is elevated when you mix the sound, or tune your bow.
 
That being said, I think you and all the swabbies will really benefit from tuning the H10 bow.  Your questions are valid, but I would rather see you do your own homework for the more complete answers. I will therefore be brief.
 
1. Think of "operational amplifers" (op-amps) as little programmed amplifiers that combine in one very small package what can be done with a much larger discreet array. They effect the sound the way any amplifier does, just on a smaller scale.
 
2. You should change both op-amps in each stage. They are representing right and left channels, so you wouldn't want to swap one ad797 for an opa134 and leave the other opa134 in place. That would give you an imbalance in sound, although electrically, it wouldn't hurt the H10 at all.  You can chose to just change the single op-amp chips, or the dual op-amp chips, or both.  I changed out the opa134's first and listened for several days to become familiar with the sound before I then  changed out the ne5532's.
 
3. As I said before, changing op-amps is not like changing a Salmon Steak to Filet Mignon. It's a little more subtle than that.  I don't think the H10 was supposed to be a sonic copy of the V200. In fact a few of our brothers here say that it is not all that similar sounding.  If you want to "tune your bow" to fit your particular subtle tastes, then op-amp "swabbing" can be a lot of fun.  If you have a hard time hearing differences, or have not yet cultivated an ear for a particular sound, then you might find this exercise a waste of time. I'm assuming you haven't heard the V200 in your system, and neither have I, so why should I care if I'm making my H10 sound more or less like an unknown amplifier. 

Well said my captain! Cheers from Oz.

stuartmc said:

  I can understand the confusion ...
 
This is the stock opa134 single op-amp chip in the H10. There are two of them and I have circled them in red in the picture below. In my case, I substituted the AD797 single op-amp chips for these.
 
This the stock Ne5532 dual op-amp chip at the output of the H10.  There are also two of them and I have circled their location in yellow on the picture below. I substituted the AD823 dual op-amp chips for these.
 

Click to expand...

 
Hi Cap'n. Thanks for the detailed (and illustrated) instructions. (Which I won't repost in their entirety)
 
I have a query, just for my own curiosity; I don't think that it actually makes any difference for your instructions: The location that you have indicated for the Ne5532/AD823, is this the input or the output?
 
I only ask, because I think that I can understand the basic layout of the amp (pre-input + amp output), but now I'm not so sure.
 
Thanks again.

That would be the input where the ne5532's are. Very near the housings for the xlr input jacks.

stuartmc said:

Danged if I know. The others are all surface mounts. You'd have to de-solder the sockets  and then do a nifty job of soldering on the surface mount tabs.  Nobody's got time for that. :blink:

Click to expand...

You can use a SOIC to DIP-8 adapter pre-mounted with a AD797BRZ, such as these here:

http://cimarrontechnology.com/so8to8-pindipadapterpn970601-3.aspx

http://www.analogmetric.com/goods.php?id=2031