[leeperry]

 

Used properly op-amps won't colour the sound and they will all sound exactly the same

Darn, you came late to the party my good friend! Here at the front of the bus, we love it when people with zero field experience talk as if they were the word of God..based on some googley pseudo-science. Especially when hard data contradicts them completely

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

Especially when hard data contradicts them completely

wat
 
Where? I must have missed the blind tests.

 

[JRG1990]

What hard data?.

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Double-Blind Violin Test: Can You Pick The Strad?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/01/02/144482863/double-blind-violin-test-can-you-pick-the-strad
 
Something to think about.

Quote:

If it were an ABX test (which tests the ability to tell a difference, not the ability to identify the test products) I expect the pros would have succeeded. When people know what they're supposed to be comparing, they'll make up plenty of crap. And if they fail, it might just be because their assumptions about certain kinds of gear were false. It doesn't mean they didn't hear a difference that is clearly there, like between two completely different violins.
 
If you're attempting to use that as a defense against ABX and blind testing in general, your reasoning is flawed.
 
So many people try to cite that article and those similar as proof that blind testing is useless 

I'm not sure what Paul Clark means to tell us by posting that link but I think it pretty clearly demonstrates how useful blind testing is.  Clearly the Stradivarius doesn't live up to the hype, like so much else in audio.  Its just a prestigious name.

 

[nick_charles]

 
Quote:

wat
 
Where? I must have missed the blind tests

 
 
Quote:

What hard data?.

Unreconstructed Opamp big difference believer hard data (not naming anyone in particular)
 
 
1. We all know that the NE5532 is crap so it must be crap
2. Some engineers told me 
3. Me and my pals heard it in a sighted listening test
4. Someone on the web swapped an NE5532 for an xxxxx in a CD player and it transformed the sound
5. Audiophiles can remember what an opamp sounds like from 3 , no make that 4 weeks ago
6. Audiophiles can hear distortion better than the evidence of 100+ years of psychophysics research and numerous experimental tests would suggest
7. J. Gordon Holt and other Stereophile writers say we can hear distortion much lower than that actually  empirically tested by Bob Carver and others - oh and all amps are different as well
 

 

[leeperry]

To the guys at the back of the bus: I'm afraid discussing opamps audibility thresholds in this very thread would end up being terribly OT. It took more than 5 pages of pointless blablabla to get the technical answer I was seeking(thanks again SanjiWatsuki!), so I would rather not clutter this thread any further, for future generations sake's at least.
 
Someone recently said to me "if you're so concerned about what we think", that's the thing...I'm very much not. I selfishly opened this thread seeking a technical strike to the "better specs = better sound" urban legend that had been rotting this forum for too long...mostly based on advices from ppl who didn't know better("oh lookee, my awesomey über-neato DIY headamp measures as well as a NE5532 based Benchmark DAC-1, isn't it wunderbar?"

). I've had the answer I wanted, and I'm very glad

 
If you also feel personally knowledge starved about your own demons, well...how about creating your own "all opamps sound the same, don't they?" thread? I promise to chime in if I get the chance, but you might not like the answer

 

[Head Injury]

So I guess that means there's no hard evidence of audible differences?

 

[JRG1990]

I am still waiting for this "hard data" that proves me wrong. I enjoy the NE5532 in my emu 0404 usb it's great I don't even know it's there.

 

[tmars78]

Quote:

I still waiting for this "hard data" that proves me wrong. I enjoy the NE5532 in my emu 0404 usb it's great I don't even know it's there.

Unfortunately you'll continue to wait, and wait, and wait, and ready for this? You'll wait some more. He has no hard evidence, none. Just some I heard it, its true stuff. Well I saw a unicorn today, don't tell me what I saw, I saw it. 

 

[Paul Clark]

Quote:

If it were an ABX test (which tests the ability to tell a difference, not the ability to identify the test products) I expect the pros would have succeeded. When people know what they're supposed to be comparing, they'll make up plenty of crap. And if they fail, it might just be because their assumptions about certain kinds of gear were false. It doesn't mean they didn't hear a difference that is clearly there, like between two completely different violins.
 
If you're attempting to use that as a defense against ABX and blind testing in general, your reasoning is flawed.
 
So many people try to cite that article and those similar as proof that blind testing is useless 

 
You are projecting.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

You are projecting.

No, I'm assuming. If you'd like to explain the reason you shared the article, I won't have to.

 

[Paul Clark]

Quote:

I'm not sure what Paul Clark means to tell us by posting that link but I think it pretty clearly demonstrates how useful blind testing is.  Clearly the Stradivarius doesn't live up to the hype, like so much else in audio.  Its just a prestigious name.

BINGO!  Congratulations - you go to, er, the back of the bus?

 
 

 

[Head Injury]

Unfortunately that has nothing to do with opamps or the discussion in general 

 

[Paul Clark]

My point is that instead of violins I bet blind testing would show no difference between an 5532, a LME497nn or OPA627 or any other respectable opamp.  The only reason that an opamp becomes popular in the DIY realm is because of pompous hype.

 

[thrak]

nm.  this thread is pointless.