geom_tol
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2001
- Posts
- 368
- Likes
- 10
I finally decided to try out a bunch of opamps in my meta42 amp tonight.
I used hd580 headphones and a Pioneer pd-54 cd player (a very smooth sounding player unfortunately, it would have been more interesting with a more detailed/clinical player) and kimber pbj interconnects.
My meta42 used el2001 buffers for this. Cause the el2008's don't fit together with the single->dual opamp converters.
And I've got about +/-10V powersupply.
ad8620- fantastic allround
ad825- really close to ad8620, hard pressed to hear a difference.
opa627-more laidback than the ad opamps, not as clear, but really enjoyable to listen to
opa2604- even more laid back than opa627, not as detailed
opa2134- not bad at all, brighter than the two other bb opamps but not as clear as the ad's
ne5534- brightest of the bunch, but not as enjoyble as the ad's or bb's
Conclusion: All opamps sounded damn good in this amp imo.
The best was ad8620.
I got two ad8065's also, but no soic->dip converters left unfortunately.
I really wanted to try those out.
For grins I occasionally plugged in a Grado RA-1 to compare with. My meta42 with any opamp is better than the RA-1.
The RA-1 doesn't sound bad, it sounds better than you would think considering whats in it. Cool.
I used hd580 headphones and a Pioneer pd-54 cd player (a very smooth sounding player unfortunately, it would have been more interesting with a more detailed/clinical player) and kimber pbj interconnects.
My meta42 used el2001 buffers for this. Cause the el2008's don't fit together with the single->dual opamp converters.
And I've got about +/-10V powersupply.
ad8620- fantastic allround
ad825- really close to ad8620, hard pressed to hear a difference.
opa627-more laidback than the ad opamps, not as clear, but really enjoyable to listen to
opa2604- even more laid back than opa627, not as detailed
opa2134- not bad at all, brighter than the two other bb opamps but not as clear as the ad's
ne5534- brightest of the bunch, but not as enjoyble as the ad's or bb's
Conclusion: All opamps sounded damn good in this amp imo.
The best was ad8620.
I got two ad8065's also, but no soic->dip converters left unfortunately.
I really wanted to try those out.
For grins I occasionally plugged in a Grado RA-1 to compare with. My meta42 with any opamp is better than the RA-1.
The RA-1 doesn't sound bad, it sounds better than you would think considering whats in it. Cool.