[Slims]

Nice one mate,
Now you just know you'll want to try a pair of singles in LP stage too

 

[Hyde00]

Welcome to op amp rolling hell

 

[kolisten09]

Just wondering how much change will opamp rolling with the LP stage be? What can I expect replacing the single opamp stage can give as the dual IV stage already gave a noticeable difference overall?

 

[dav3]

Just wondering how much change will opamp rolling with the LP stage be? What can I expect replacing the single opamp stage can give as the dual IV stage already gave a noticeable difference overall?

I'll be receiving a set of 4 for my Playmate 2 in a few weeks for review. I'll make sure to test out the difference for you.

 

[kolisten09]

I'll be receiving a set of 4 for my Playmate 2 in a few weeks for review. I'll make sure to test out the difference for you.

Oh that'll be nice, please do. LP stage though gives me the impression that it mostly affects 120hz and below so mostly it's the bass response.

 

[dav3]

Oh that'll be nice, please do. LP stage though gives me the impression that it mostly affects 120hz and below so mostly it's the bass response.

I got the V6 Vivids in for review today. I replaced just the LP stage and had a listen for a bit.

Surprised at how much difference just 2 of them make. First impression: The bass extends deeper, the highs are just as detailed but they are clearer and cleaner. It's like the stock opamps sounded grainy before and I never noticed? It's also added a little bit of warmth. Overall, it's an improvement for sure in my opinion.

I'll install the remaining 2 and write a review in about a week or so.

Cheers

 

[Hyde00]

I got the V6 Vivids in for review today. I replaced just the LP stage and had a listen for a bit.

Surprised at how much difference just 2 of them make. First impression: The bass extends deeper, the highs are just as detailed but they are clearer and cleaner. It's like the stock opamps sounded grainy before and I never noticed? It's also added a little bit of warmth. Overall, it's an improvement for sure in my opinion.

I'll install the remaining 2 and write a review in about a week or so.

Cheers

I think my only complaint with V6 opamp is that I noticed a little bit less treble and vocal not as forward, in regards to that I like stock better (NE5532/NE5534) since it has more exciting treble and intimate vocal, but I guess can more harsh at times where V6 is more refined.

Though I never get to try half and half so I'm looking forward to your finding.

 

[dav3]

I think my only complaint with V6 opamp is that I noticed a little bit less treble and vocal not as forward, in regards to that I like stock better (NE5532/NE5534) since it has more exciting treble and intimate vocal, but I guess can more harsh at times where V6 is more refined.

Though I never get to try half and half so I'm looking forward to your finding.

I would have to agree with you in regards to the stock op-amps being more intimate and volcals/mid focused. The vocals are more present, and the more mid-forward presentation helps with imaging. I do think though, that in all other aspects the vivids handily beats the stock setup;

The reverb sounds more natural and realistic. I didn't really notice the lack of treble, but they sounded less harsh to me with the added warmth. I guess it also depends on the headphones you are using. A more neutral headphone I think would benefit more from the Vivids, while some might prefer the stock opamps on V or U shaped headphones as it may be a more balanced overall sound.

 

[Hyde00]

I would have to agree with you in regards to the stock op-amps being more intimate and volcals/mid focused. The vocals are more present, and the more mid-forward presentation helps with imaging. I do think though, that in all other aspects the vivids handily beats the stock setup;

The reverb sounds more natural and realistic. I didn't really notice the lack of treble, but they sounded less harsh to me with the added warmth. I guess it also depends on the headphones you are using. A more neutral headphone I think would benefit more from the Vivids, while some might prefer the stock opamps on V or U shaped headphones as it may be a more balanced overall sound.

Agree with this 100%. Though unfortunately my headphone at the time was indeed U shaped (Denon D5200 and D9200) also I really like intimate vocal so for me at the time stock op amp were better, despite the V6 are better in all other areas. Which was too bad because I actually liked the stock op amp tonality too, just need more finesse / technicality.

Though I've since moved on to Violectric V200 so I guess it's ok now.

 

[IXOYE]

Has anyone tested this Dac/Amp with the Audeze LCD-X?

 

[gavinfabl]

So I've upgraded the opamps , so the last part I wanted to try was the power supply, so here's my thoughts on the Burson Super Charger.

 

[It Hz]

Just found this thread and it's directly related to what I doing / plan I'm doing / just trying to figure out (mostly the latter)

I bought a Playmate 2 a month ago to go with my computer build and plan on swapping out all the op amps with sparkos using a pair of 2590's singles on the LV stage using elevated socket strips from Digi-Key but I'm not sure about the IV stage. It appears the dual 3602's will fit under the 2590's without any modification but my understanding is the dual 2590 may yield better results. Doing that would require either cutting a clearance in the chassis which I'm not willing to do. The other option is to use a pair of flex DIP package extensions that Burson sells which is a little messy but I may be able to fabricate a small bracket to hold them in place

My question is: has anyone ever done this and are there any problems with this approach as far as any negative impact on the operation on the PM2 or sound quality? My understanding is the Sparko's draw a little bit more power than the stock op amps where running (4) 2590's (2 duals and 2 singles) may require more than a 3 amp power supply but I don't know for sure. The "cleaner" option is to use the 3602's on the IV stage but running 2590's is the ultimate set-up

Can anybody shed some light on what I'm doing? I am not expert on this but want a kick-butt audio system for my computer. I plan on getting the Hifiman Arya headphones and have a set of Kento YU desktop and SUB8 powered computer speakers

I plan on sending Andrew at Sparko Labs an email for advice, but I figure it's best to make an inquiry here first

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give

 

[redrol]

I only did 2x of the ss2590s but would have done the flexi adapters. There are certainly no problems and in fact, I think this is the best the PM2 can sound!

 

[It Hz]

I only did 2x of the ss2590s but would have done the flexi adapters. There are certainly no problems and in fact, I think this is the best the PM2 can sound!

I've been doing a lot of research on this (I've read this thread twice) to the point of sensory overload

but I'm leaning towards (4) 2590's (this is going to be a $1000 DAC when finished

)

I sent that email to Andrew so I should hear back from him during the week. Just want to make sure I don't do something stupid and spend money for stuff that won't work, yields the wrong results or damages this PM2 which is a jewel

What I think I'm going to do is use either a combination of DIP socket extensions and flex adapters or all flex adapters and make a small bracket that supports all of them. I'll ask Andrew if the 2590's get warm and would benefit from a heatsink which I may be able to incorporate into my bracket. I package electronics for the defense and communication industry, so I have a lot of experience here and have a well-supplied metal shop in my garage.

If I get the green light from Andrew, my next question will be if the 3 amp power supply is adequate to drive the upgraded PM2. I doubt he knows the answer to this as I'm referring to the total power draw of the PM2 but he will know if the 2590 will added to the overall power budget of the system over the IC's they are replacing. I read somewhere they have a higher current draw than the stock op amps. Normally when I select power supplies for electronic equipment in the course of my job I spec them at 150% of the max load from the electronics just to ensure the power supply has lots of overhead and can brush-off transient spikes.

I'll keep everyone posted on my findings. I'm interested in getting comments on what I plan on doing as I may have overlooked something. I'm pretty stocked about what the end results will be.

This is going inside my water-cooled computer build which is being built by scratch which is one of the reason I chose the PM2 because it will physically fit in the case. No pics of the chassis yet but the metalwork is almost done where I can present it. It's a pretty high-end system and I want a kick-ass audio system to go with the rest of the system. Here is a link to the thread

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/assembling-my-first-dac-headphone-amp-system-need-advice.966078/

 

[Dramlin]

Looking forward to seeing what you create! If you want additional op amp info there's quite a bit in the Conductor 3 Reference thread, particularly closer to the end of the thread. A quick summary is that both myself and one other member did a lot of testing and both came to the conclusion that the Sparkos SS2590 and the Sonic Imagery 992/994Enh's are the best op amps out there from a technical perspective that we could find. Neither are perfect. The SS2590 has a darker than neutral tone, but has the best details, sound stage, and bass of any other op amp. The Sonic Imagery 992/994 is a close second in all those categories, but does have the correct tone. Combining them together using SS2590 duals and 992 singles yielded the best sound that we could find, just about a perfect balance between everything. The inverse of that (SS2590 singles and 994 duals) isn't quite as good as the sound stage decreases and the tone does go lower a little than neutral, but it's a close second in technical performance. Using 4 SS2590's had some tone issues and other oddities that are discussed in the C3R thread, but it did sound fantastic, just not completely ideal. Using any other op amps in the chain other than the SS2590 & 992/994's had a significant decrease in detail. Why I mention all this is that as I was testing op amps in the C3R I found that all the sound testing also applied to the PM2. When there's discussion in the C3R thread about an op amp, putting that same op amp in the PM2 yielded the same sound results just with some quality loss compared to the C3R.

So, long story short the best sound possible in the PM2 is probably using SS2590 Duals and SI 992Enh singles. I say probably as I personally couldn't find any way of fitting the SS2590 duals into the PM2 case. No matter where they go they will always touch something :/ . However, it IS possible to use SS2590 singles and SI 994Enh duals. I'm using that setup now in my PM2 which sounds great, but I know it's not as perfect as it could be. I just couldn't find any creative way of getting those SS2590 duals into the PM2 case.

If you end up wanting to go the SS2590+994 route, let me know and I can post a picture of how those are installed. It's tight, and uses those flex adapters though, so if you are looking for a flat supported install then the SS2590+994's aren't the way to go. Regardless, I look forward to hearing about what you end up with. Sounds like a great project.