Originally Posted by haymaker18 /img/forum/go_quote.gif FWIW, both ISL55002IB and LM6172IM appear to be in stock at Avnet Electronics. I just ordered several of each.
-dan
Again, the LM6172 is not (really) recommended for a +5V power supply. Much better the AD8022 and LT1361 (a slightly less smooth and slightly more detailed variant of the LT1364).
As long as it sounds great and I'm not gonna get electrocuted, should I really care? It can't be that dangerous if it sounds that good, can it? If it can't handle the voltage, won't it just wreck the opamp? No big deal there...
Originally Posted by haymaker18 /img/forum/go_quote.gif As long as it sounds great and I'm not gonna get electrocuted, should I really care? It can't be that dangerous if it sounds that good, can it? If it can't handle the voltage, won't it just wreck the opamp? No big deal there...
-dan
It is not as if the opamp cannot handle that much voltage, it will not self-destruct, as it can handle 30vdc or +-15v. On the other hand, the AD8656 will fail if used in the LR or buffer sockets.
I am of the "if it sounds great, use it" camp, assuming the opamp is capable of handling the supply voltage.
FWIW, my only criteria when experimenting with various combinations of opamps is how much the sound resembles what I would hear live. I don't look for bass, mids, trebles, etc, just that elusive perception of LIVE which admittedly has psychoacoustic ramifications as well as simply audio factors.
I also try all of my phones before suggesting a particular combination for folks to try, as I have often found a combo that sounds really great on my circumaural phones, but terrible with my IEMs or vice-versa. Why that happens, I don't know, as in theory, they should all sound the same. I suspect that capacitance and inductance factors throughout the amp circuitry accounts for these differences.
About the only use I make of the datasheet specs is to look at the noise figures and squarewave response to both large and small inputs. I have found that invariably the opamps that have both good squarewave response and low noise sound quite good for audio applications. I do, of course, check to make sure that the opamp is capable of handling the supply voltage used in that particular socket.
Specifications alone are not indicative of how good the opamps will sound. Consider for example the LME49720 and its earlier versions...they have superb specs, but sound rather unemotional, analytical, and, to my ears, not especially realistic in either SQ or imaging.
OK, first impressions on the LM6172IM (DAC), ISL55002IB (L/R), THS4032ID (buffers) after only 3 hours of burn-in:
By FAR the most similar sound to my Corda Move amp I have yet heard from the D1. I have to compliment Ron in finding this combination because--to me--the sound seems to now be in the same ballpark as some of the amps people would call 'very good'. It is now capable of that energetic driving precision that sounds almost effortless.
Alarmingly, I was hearing a few spots in some of my Glenn Gould piano recordings where it sounds like the levels in the recording maxed out a little. I was worried it was the amp's problem, but it sounds like it's the recording in question. As Ron mentioned, you hear whatever is there and it's not cleaning up bad recordings for you (like the AD743/LMH6655 combination will). I still want to listen more before I decide whether to stick with it or go back to the AD743 and LMH6655--I really liked those two for the generous warmth and monstrously separated soundstage...really nice with my music preferences. However, I was listening to Mahler's 2nd symphony with the new setup...when all the choirs and instruments play together at the end, it was the first time that the D1's sound at that spot in the music sounded truly uncompressed. Usually I hear compression in the choir at the top/higher frequencies. This time it sounded natural and fully extended. How exciting!
Originally Posted by tracyrick /img/forum/go_quote.gif Please help me remember. I rolled opamps with AD797 but I'm not a home with my D1 and can't remember all this stuff:
LR: ISL55002IB - Plug and Play? Don't need to use adapter? Can just buy one?
Buffers: THS4032 - Plug and Play? Must buy 2?
DAC: LM6172 - Plug and play or requires soldering? Just buy one?
You only need one ISL55002IB...it's SOIC, so you have to solder it to a browndog adapter.
You'll need 2 THS4032- it's SOIC, so you have to solder it to a browndog adapter
You only need one LM6172 - it's SOIC so you have to solder it to a browndog adapter.
They essentially take a 8-pin SOIC opamp and convert it to work with the 8-pin DIP setup of the iBasso D1. The name of the product you are looking for on their website is "SO8 to 8-pin DIP Adapter (p/n 970601)"
If you aren't up to the soldering yourself (which is quite enjoyable IMHO), you can see if HiFlight will solder the necessary opamps to the adapter and then mail them to you for a few $$.
Quick question about the signal path in the D1. How does signal flow through the D1? Does the USB input flow through the DAC op amp and buffers, while the coax, optical and analog inputs run through the LR op amp and buffers.
Originally Posted by breakfastchef /img/forum/go_quote.gif Quick question about the signal path in the D1. How does signal flow through the D1? Does the USB input flow through the DAC op amp and buffers, while the coax, optical and analog inputs run through the LR op amp and buffers.
It's my understanding that USB, coax and optical all run through the DAC because they contain digital signals that have to be converted. The front analog input would not b/c it's already an analog signal. Now, as far as which signals run through the buffers and/or L/R, I haven't a clue...
Originally Posted by haymaker18 /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's my understanding that USB, coax and optical all run through the DAC because they contain digital signals that have to be converted. The front analog input would not b/c it's already an analog signal. Now, as far as which signals run through the buffers and/or L/R, I haven't a clue...
-dan
Eventually all of the signals, digital and analog run thru LR and buffers.
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