[Filburt]

I'm considering putting dip sockets in my DAC where currently the op-amps are directly soldered in. How much of a performance hit would this be expected to produce? Note that this is in the buffer stage, not the I/V stage.

 

[Garbz]

none.

 

[ozshadow]

I love sockets. Even RS ones have been good for me - still very very tight and I roll opamps like crazy. Never noticed any difference in using a socket soundwise.

 

[nikongod]

excepting VERY touchy opamps a socket is of no concern.

its actually a benefit because you can opamp roll.

 

[Daroid]

Bye bye barco

(nevermind)

About the sockets, for op-amps i wouldn't worry too much, make sure it is either gold or nickel plated. With other kind of DIP chipsets where impedance is an extremely important matter, avoid it.

 

[kwkarth]

Thanks guys, barco went bye bye along with his spam.

 

[Daroid]

ot:
Heheh, you probably got flooded by notifications?

 

[nikongod]

who was barco?

im guessing a sp[ammer, but fill me in please/.

 

[kwkarth]

I received two notifications and he had spammed 4 or 5 threads. Those were the only posts he had ever submitted.

 

[Filburt]

Well, I was just wondering if it is known to cause much of a performance hit. Sounds like it isn't. I have those gold plated dip sockets with the round holes that people seem to like. I personally do prefer being able to roll op-amps as the DAC I'm using it with is definitely something I'm going to keep around, so it'd be nice to be able to tweak it for fun.

Alright, well maybe what I'll do is put a DIP socket in one of the sockets first and run it on an analyser to measure THD+N and IMD and see if there is a big difference. I'll be using a very precise instrument that'll generate identical functions on each channel, but I'll try to take into account some natural variables when making the assessment.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filburt Well, I was just wondering if it is known to cause much of a performance hit. Sounds like it isn't. I have those gold plated dip sockets with the round holes that people seem to like. I personally do prefer being able to roll op-amps as the DAC I'm using it with is definitely something I'm going to keep around, so it'd be nice to be able to tweak it for fun. Alright, well maybe what I'll do is put a DIP socket in one of the sockets first and run it on an analyser to measure THD+N and IMD and see if there is a big difference. I'll be using a very precise instrument that'll generate identical functions on each channel, but I'll try to take into account some natural variables when making the assessment.

I would expect CAIG ProGold to make a positive difference.

 

[Filburt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwkarth I would expect CAIG ProGold to make a positive difference.

Alright, I'll try to get some and let you know if I get any measureable difference. Sounds like a good idea anyhow as I like to make sure everything is clean before I install it.

 

[thedoctor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filburt Alright, I'll try to get some and let you know if I get any measureable difference.

measureable difference would be interesting. don't forget to post results. i for one quite keen in it.

 

[Filburt]

I'll be sure to let you know.

Current THD+N is at around 0.003%, and SMPTE IMD at about 0.002%. I have OPA627 for I/V w/ OPA134 as buffer (maybe it's gaining, too, I haven't checked the output voltage swing coming out of the 627 yet). Based on this and other tests I've done at other times, OPA134 (and 627, perhaps) seems to live up to its rep as a low distortion part, although maybe I haven't done enough.

I'm really hoping the DIP socket doesn't hurt performance, as being able to roll op-amps in this thing would be pretty sweet.

 

[Filburt]

The results:

DIP Socket - THD+N - seemed to change about .05-.1dB, which is essentially negligible. IMD was roughly the same result. Rejoice, DIP socket users, I suppose ;D

CAIG ProGold - no measureable difference, but it did make things shinier.

Really crappy optical cable versus pretty decent optical cable - no measureable difference.

Yeah I threw that third one in there just because I got curious.

Also wanted to note that I am a happy camper with the OPA627 both as I/V as well as buffer stage.