[Geezer Rock 001]

I am not affiliated in any way with Sparkos Labs. Like most of you I am passionate about getting the best sound possible from my mid fi system and cans. If your amp or amps have op amps in their sound signal path, please read on.

Almost two years ago I got into op amp rolling with a Burson Lycan amp. The changes were subtle and you needed to go to the Burson red and orange tower op amps to get a real improvement. Recently I picked up a Burson Fun amp to try op amp rolling again. In reading up about what was out there I discovered a post about Sparkos Labs op amps and how awesome they were. So I bought a pair of the singles for the Fun and when they got here it was an immediate WOW moment!

I then tried them in two Paul Millette diy amps that I had. A solid state and a hybrid. Two more WOWs. I am thinking that these things are the real deal. I suggested to a few other Head Fi friends to try them. They came back with WOWs as well.

As a final test, I rolled a pair of Sparkos dual op amps into a Violectric V100. The Violectric people told me which two op amps were in the signal path and they were skeptical that any op amp rolled into the V100 would produce much of a change. So I rolled them in and after three separate sessions with Audezes, ZMFs and Grado clones it is still a WOW experience.

To my ears in four different amps, the Sparkos improve clarity, separation, tighten up the bass and produce a more holographic sound stage. Their background is so black that you can be startled after a quiet passage kicks in an instrument or voice. YMMV

So imo the Sparkos Op amps are the real deal and worth consideration ,if your amplifier has op amps in their signal path.

Here is a picture of the Sparkos installed in one position of a V100 board. By comparison the Texas Instrument stock op amp is in the right slot.



Here is a better picture of them.




Enjoy your music!

 

[Alcophone]

SparkoS rocks!

 

[mgh24]

I got back in to headphones about 5 years ago. In that time I have bought and sold more headphones than I want to try and count.

More recently I have tired several different headphone amps. Both headphones and amps are what most would call mid-fi.

I have wanted to try a Burson amp for some time, and finally picked up a used Burson Fun Basic. I liked it, it sounded good, and did well with easy to drive headphones as well as more power hungry headphones. It pushes the HE560 easily.

A fellow Head-fi'er suggested I try replacing the basic op-amps with the Sparkos op-amps. I was skeptical that I would be able to hear much, if any difference. I was wrong. The Sparkos took the Fun to a new level, more resolving, everything I listen to sounds clearer and cleaner. In short, it took a good amp and turned it into a great amp. Every amp has it's own character, but I find the Fun/Sparkos to give me everything I need; detailed and clean, without being sharp or cold.

 

[Geezer Rock 001]

Here are a few tip/pointers if you are considering rolling op amps in your amp. Remove all power to the amp and remove it's top.

1. Look closely at the op amp on the circuit board. Are the eight legs pushed into a socket or are they flat and soldered to the board? If they are soldered to the board, put the top back on the amp. The op amps must be the mounted by being pushed into a socket for you to be able to roll them.

2. Look for two things on the top of the op amp that you are considering rolling. First is the manufacturers part number that is lightly stamped on the top. Write it down exactly as it appears. Second take note of the dished out circle or indention that is on one end of the op amp. That is the indicator for pin one which is very important.

3. You can go to a site like Mouser or just Google in the manufacturers part number to determine if it is a dual or single op amp. Determine what you want to up grade to for a replacement op amp and order it.

4. When your replacement op amps come, take a good picture of the inside of your amp for future reference. Using two pair of tweasers, gently lift/pry from one end and then the other until the legs begin to come out of the socket. Take note of which end of the old op amp has the circle or dished out portion. Note: only pry the op amp out of the eight pin socket. The socket is soldered to the board and must stay in place on the board!

5. I always use the eight pin adapters that are shown in the picture. I mount the replacement op amp in one and as soon as I liberate the old op amp I place it in an adapter because the eight legs are VERY flimsy and bend easily. I also use a marker to dot the circle of the old op amp. I color code them keep track of what they are and what they came out of.

6. Very gently plug in the replacement in the 8 pin socket on the circuit board. Make sure that your pin one indicator, gold dot in the picture and gold corner on the Sparkos in the picture, is in the correct position to match up with the one that was removed. You must be CAREFUL here! If you plug it in backwards you will burn out the op amp as soon as you power it up.

7. Repeat the process for the other op amp in your amp.

8. I always do the first power with the top off of the amp to be sure that there is not a problem. Do not run your amp with the top off after you test it! There are a lot of things in there that you shouldn't touch when it is powered up.

Congratulations, you are done. Now you can sit back and listen to your favorite tracks and see just how your op amp roll changed the sound of your system. Here is a picture to point out some of the things that I mentioned above.

My experience rolling is that the little black spiders can produce some good changes, but it takes a lot of trial and error. The Burson V series towers produce more consistent improvements and the Sparkos singles and duals have produced the most and best sound improvement in the 5 solid state and hybrid amps that I have rolled them in.

Enjoy your music!

 

[Geezer Rock 001]

Pharamboy just posted a very detailed account of his early impressions on his Sparkos op amp roll in the Violectric V281 amp thread. If you are interested in the subject, it is a good read.

The Sparkos roll is not just for Violectric products. It can be done in any amp that has rollable op amps in it's input signal path. Single or Dual op amps.