Nosce Te Ipsum
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2016
- Posts
- 25
- Likes
- 12
Just installed the LME49990MA's ( LM6172 in buffer ) now and am listening to my reference track , from Al di Meola's " Cielo e Terra " - " Traces of a Tear " . Wow ! SQ is amazing , stage is wide , high and deep and extremely well-defined . Noisefloor is non-existant , by my perception anyway . This track has many quiet nuances , which all appear to be crystal-clear , timing is spot-on . Beautiful .
Hmm ... what to try for something with a bit of bass .... OK - Robert Rich's " Seven Veils " , 1st track " Coils " . Again , lots of fine detail , between the relentless onslaught of the very deep drums . It's very fast , LM6172 has slewrate that few can keep up with , so no bottlenecking . Definitely worth a try !
Now for some visceral psychedelic bad craziness . Track no.2 from White Zombie's " Supersexy Swingin' Sounds " - " More Human than Human " . The STX doesn't get befuddled here either , everything stops and start exactly on time , juxtaposition of jagged noise and barely instantaneous silence . Gotta hear it to believe it . Ok , I think I'm freaking my neighbours out now .
Remember , the buffer shouldn't affect headphones , only RCA outs , thus me using amp and speakers to listen .
Between LME49990MA and OPA1612 it's pretty close , but I'd still say that LME49990MA wins the day - damn they sound good .
Thanks for your listening impressions. Yes, you're right, the buffer only affects RCAs. Headphone out instead uses both the I/Vs and buffer if I remember correctly. Would you consider the LME49990MAs among the best of all those you tried? I just looked at the datasheet of both 4562/6172 and looks like the 4562 is more suited for a sound card etc. than the 6172... or maybe it's just my impression, don't know much about all that technical stuff. The "suspect" came from reading the data under the "Application" tabs.
Here are the links: http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm4562.pdf | http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm6172.pdf
Anyway, could you try the default 4562 (buffer) with 49990s (I/V) combination if you're not too lazy like me? Maybe you could find out that the 4562 is better than the 6172...