[luckyeights]

Hello everyone, I have a creative zxr and I am wanting to play with the OP AMPs to see if I can get some better sound out of my card.  I have very little understanding as to how these work.  I know my card has 4 op amps I assume 2 for each channel?   I have seen pictures of people putting 2 of one kind in the front 2 op amp slots and then 2 of a different kind in the other 2 slots.  I was wondering why that is or how this affects the sound.
 
I think I am aiming for a either neutral or warmer/lush sound signature.  But I am all for buying a couple of different op amps and seeing which ones work best i just dont know how to combine them or tell which op amps have a warmer or neutral tone.  So is there guide of some kind on here that gives a basic rundown of the popular op amps and their sound signatures or is it all guess work? 
 
Also what makes are there of OP-AMPS I know of Texas instrument, Bursons, Muse are there others ?
 
Sorry for so many questions but i would really like to learn about this stuff so any help you could provide would be very much appreciated. 

 

[luckyeights]

Also i assume the zxr uses single channel op amps ? Is there a way to tell if they are single or dual ?

 

[Rhamnetin]

  Also i assume the zxr uses single channel op amps ? Is there a way to tell if they are single or dual ?

 
The part name should be able to give it away.  Better yet, this review says one pair uses single opamps, and based on the spec sheet the other pair is dual.
 
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/soundblaster_zxr_review,10.html

 

[luckyeights]

ok so which are the buffers and which are the amplification (not what else to call it) stage opamps and how do they affect the sound when aiming for warmer or neutral tone?

 

[Rhamnetin]

I don't own the ZxR but you may want to ask here after reading through this thread (the guy uses many different opamps in the ZxR).
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/728124/asus-stx-ii-vs-creative-zxr