60's are apparently a bit superior according to some people. I don't hear a difference between them trough K701's. They are IMHO the best op-amps to upgrade to though...better than AD797BRZ, which are totally overpriced in my opinion. 49860 has a very neutral sound with a slight hint of warmth, a bigger soundstage than stock and possibly more detail, while sound more musical, organic and effortless. I never liked the stock ST because it never made the music sound pleasing, it was harsh and too analytical, these opamps change that.
If you only use a headphone output on the card, then buffer op-amp is irrelevant, if you use the RCA out, then you should change the buffer op-amps too.
If you only use a headphone output on the card, then buffer op-amp is irrelevant, if you use the RCA out, then you should change the buffer op-amps too.
60's are apparently a bit superior according to some people. I don't hear a difference between them trough K701's. They are IMHO the best op-amps to upgrade to though...better than AD797BRZ, which are totally overpriced in my opinion. 49860 has a very neutral sound with a slight hint of warmth, a bigger soundstage than stock and possibly more detail, while sound more musical, organic and effortless. I never liked the stock ST because it never made the music sound pleasing, it was harsh and too analytical, these opamps change that.
Ironically, I want ultra-analytical, as I need the headphone amplifier on my XONAR® Essence™ STX™ for monitoring an audio stream outbound to the Internet. This also requires ultra-accurate dual op amps in the I-V, as they feed the Texas Instruments® TPA6120A2 headphone amplifier. The weakest link in this chain is, of course, the headset itself; it's not easy to engineer one that has no need of EQ to accurately monitor the outgoing stream; but I'd be remiss to neglect op amps.
Texas Instruments® manufactures all the candidate op amps for my rig's I-V, which run a gamut from high-fidelity audio-optimized designs that can drive a 600Ω load (e.g., the National Semiconductor® LME49990MA, although as a surface-mount op amp it requires a specific adapter board) to low-power-consumption video amplifiers (e.g., the THS4031 and THS4032); the National Semiconductor® LME49860NA is one candidate that plugs into the STX'™ JEDEC 8-pin DIP sockets without need for an adapter board. (The Analog Devices® AD797BR was ruled out of further consideration due to stability issues.)
I got this from frugaphile http://i39.tinypic.com/j9szkh.jpg
This is a lme49990 with a small cap solded to prevent the oscilation, now these runs less hotter that the standar version, aprox 45 ºC I can't say nothing about a difference in SQ , i only try it for an hour, i didn't notice nothing strange.
I just changed back to the OP-rolled Xonar Essence ST after using my stock Xonar DX for a couple of days, when trying out a NAD 116 preamp I picked up and refurbished myself , the difference is huge!
Xonar DX sounds clean and all, but there's no real life, sparkle and impact, the sound is somewhat tiny even if clean. The ST brings all that back, very lively presentation with a large soundstage, it's even cleaner and the bass is as powerful as can be. And everything sounds dynamic.
ST with those OP:s in my sig. is a very satisfying source which I easily can recommend, I've stopped using physical media so a high quality source for presenting all those files and streams is a must!
An OP-amp rolled ST/STX is a bargain compared to those more exotic network-players and USB-DAC:s out there which eventually surpass it SQ-wise.
(Linn for example uses lots of LM4562:s in their players, so we may be on to something here)
As a sidenote, besides the obvious potential of having a fully balanced preamplifier with several outputs so does the NAD 116 outperform my Sony-amp in one important aspect; the NAD has a dead-quiet background when using Xonar ST/HD-600, the Sony has a very slight hum in the left earcup. That alone makes me feel like it being more than a sidegrade, The NAD has no problem driving HD-600 as it features a separate discrete HP-amp on a dedicated circuit-board inside, delivering 8V in 600Ohm, which seems to be more than enough.
I got this from frugaphile http://i39.tinypic.com/j9szkh.jpg
This is a lme49990 with a small cap solded to prevent the oscilation, now these runs less hotter that the standar version, aprox 45 ºC I can't say nothing about a difference in SQ , i only try it for an hour, i didn't notice nothing strange.
Originally Posted by xeizo /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Xonar DX sounds clean and all, but there's no real life, sparkle and impact, the sound is somewhat tiny even if clean. The ST brings all that back, very lively presentation with a large soundstage, it's even cleaner and the bass is as powerful as can be. And everything sounds dynamic.
Note that the ST has about 1 dB higher line output voltage, which would make it sound "better" in a way similar to what you described without accurate level matching.
Note that the ST has about 1 dB higher line output voltage, which would make it sound "better" in a way similar to what you described without accurate level matching.
Nice try In fact, the DX is the louder part by default since I use a -6dB setting as standard for ST and -3dB for DX(Iuse Linux and ALSA). That would make it 2dB louder! But of course I manually adjust the volume on my preamp after that. It's not a small difference, the ST sounds way better
The Unified drivers are better, they are based on a more recent C-Media driver set. For myself I run Linux for my primary stereo music audio needs, it's more "bare naked metal" as the driver is built into the Linux-kernel(I use Windows and M-Audio for audio creation)
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
In fact, the DX is the louder part by default since I use a -6dB setting as standard for ST and -3dB for DX(Iuse Linux and ALSA). That would make it 2dB louder! But of course I manually adjust the volume on my preamp after that. It's not a small difference, the ST sounds way better 
