[vapman]

 
I actually like it, very analog sounding

Clipped bits and dead black background sound unnatural to my old ears and nothing like getting knocked out of your easy listening chair when volume is at 88DB and a crescendo starts a track

Not unlike the eye of a tornado I like to hear that train a comin'

For $27 I want to leave this little jewel just like she is but to each their own and if you need to upgrade I sure think it's A-O-K

The lack of screen and shuffle also give the Walnut that vintage touch, reminds me of my first CMOY and Nomad having a baby

LOL

I felt the same way you do. Luckily now I have several walnuts so I can keep one stock, but even then, after all my opamp rolling, I almost insist on replacing the TI NE5532 with a different brand's. They just improve the sound all around and the sound sig stays exactly the same.
 
This is definitely a player loved by anyone who used vintage audio in its day, or even as recent as portable cassette players before the advent of cheap PCDP's.

 

[macky112]

while I was on the official Taobao page, i continued reading some more customer review/comments and noticed that OPA2604 was mentioned a few times, and then I tried searching this thread for that opamp but couldnt find anything.
 
has anyone on here tried that opamp?

 

[macky112]

 
I actually like it, very analog sounding

Clipped bits and dead black background sound unnatural to my old ears and nothing like getting knocked out of your easy listening chair when volume is at 88DB and a crescendo starts a track

Not unlike the eye of a tornado I like to hear that train a comin'

For $27 I want to leave this little jewel just like she is but to each their own and if you need to upgrade I sure think it's A-O-K

The lack of screen and shuffle also give the Walnut that vintage touch, reminds me of my first CMOY and Nomad having a baby

LOL

no its not that, after reading some customers reviews on the official taobao page, I get the feeling that due to QC, there are some walnut out there (including mine) that has background hiss issue, noticeable when you pause music, and is not volume related.
 
AND the Walnut creator seems to have helped at least one customer resolve that issue, so I want to know what was done.

 

[macky112]

@vapman i think you will like this:
 

 
this customer review talked about double amping, one Walnut NE5532 DAP and another walnut OPA2604 as AMP, review claims nice vocals and nice bass, heehee

 

[vapman]

  @vapman i think you will like this:
 

 
this customer review talked about double amping, one Walnut NE5532 DAP and another walnut OPA2604 as AMP, review claims nice vocals and nice bass, heehee

I did try that! 
 
if you do 2 walnut with same opamp it is messy.
 
if you use a brighter/airier opamp in the amp walnut it is not bad.... but i realized it's better when mixed with other amps. because the walnut is better at amping other things than its own circuit over again IMO
 
so now my Bengkel Macro bMac with the Burson V5i is permanently hooked up to my PC sound card's RCA line out, and sometimes i listen to that but almost always i run that output into one of my walnuts in amp mode!
 
(I do not keep a V5i in the Walnut because its design is not conducive to bringing out the best of the opamp's capabilities.)

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

OPA2604 is nice in walnut, its flat and balanced, I prefer it over most LME's, but most AD's are better.

 

[bzfrank]

OPA2604: too laid back and boring for my taste, does not pair too well with the Walnut as it enhances the roll-off at both ends of the spectrum IMHO.

My advise is still to use an AD825, stable, up to 50mA output current, great sound. Almost magical with the TK13.

 

[vapman]

OPA2604: too laid back and boring for my taste, does not pair too well with the Walnut as it enhances the roll-off at both ends of the spectrum IMHO.

My advise is still to use an AD825, stable, up to 50mA output current, great sound. Almost magical with the TK13.

I don't know if @T.R.A.N.C.E.  even has a single all stock walnut anymore?
Swapping caps will have a big effect on the sound. I am keeping some opamps I did not like with stock walnut around because they might be very good in my recapped units

 

[BruceBanner]

Hi guys, new Walnut guy here joining the fray. I will eventually go through each page of this thread, but till then I wanted to ask a couple of things;
 
1) Mines hiss, apparently normal, can swapping out that chip thingy and replacing with another one make it less hissy?
2) What's the deal with these thingy chips u swap out and replace with another, can anyone point me to a place to go learn about all that etc.
 
In short I am really impressed with my unit, just wanting to learn more about it and what's possible from it.
 
Cheers,
 
Bruce
 

 

[vapman]

  Hi guys, new Walnut guy here joining the fray. I will eventually go through each page of this thread, but till then I wanted to ask a couple of things;
 
1) Mines hiss, apparently normal, can swapping out that chip thingy and replacing with another one make it less hissy?
2) What's the deal with these thingy chips u swap out and replace with another, can anyone point me to a place to go learn about all that etc.
 
In short I am really impressed with my unit, just wanting to learn more about it and what's possible from it.
 
Cheers,
 
Bruce
 
 

 
Welcome Bruce and welcome to the club!
 
First off if you are using sensitive IEMs the hiss may always be present to some degree. If you are using full size headphones and you have less than 40ish hours on your Walnut, try letting it run for a little while. I have 3 Walnuts and while one had almost no glitches from the start, the other two were a little more noisy at first, that all went away though by the 2nd charge.
 
Second, the chips we are swapping out are opamps. Because of the Walnut's very simple design, it allows the character of each opamp to shine through far more than they can make a difference in more typical (but more complex) amplifiers.  And yes, changing the opamp can change the noise level. I have noticed almost every OPA or AD brand opamp I try is much quieter in terms of background noise and turn on "pop" than the 5532 the Walnut comes with Some even don't make the "pop" when you turn it on.
 

1. One particular comparison of many opamps which is probably most helpful to dive into: https://tangentsoft.net/audio/opamps.html
2. A big head-fi thread about opamps which is mostly disorganized: http://www.head-fi.org/t/432749/the-opamp-thread
3. If you want to learn about the science behind opamps: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Electronic/opamp.html

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

I would disagree that the walnut allows the opamps character to shine, due to walnut's single rail design we aren't actually hearing the opamps true character, rather the walnut actually tames (and somewhat lessens the performance of) the opamps due to this, opamps that usually sound bright and very detailed in more complex amps sound more mellow but still neutral in walnut, but won't be as detailed or tight as dual rail amps.
 
But this also makes the walnut very fun to opamp roll with, because of it's forgiving nature every opamp sounds good, while more complex amps are not as friendly, yet possibly more rewarding with the right combo's.
 
In saying that, a modded walnut is pretty much all I need sound wise, I don't need more performance, I have expensive amps that surely put out more detail and power, but something about the walnut is enough for me, perhaps I don't have to think about the sound as much with walnut, it's smooth and groovy, throw in some fancy opamps and caps and it's smooth and groovy x10.

 

[BruceBanner]

   
Welcome Bruce and welcome to the club!
 
First off if you are using sensitive IEMs the hiss may always be present to some degree. If you are using full size headphones and you have less than 40ish hours on your Walnut, try letting it run for a little while. I have 3 Walnuts and while one had almost no glitches from the start, the other two were a little more noisy at first, that all went away though by the 2nd charge.
 
Second, the chips we are swapping out are opamps. Because of the Walnut's very simple design, it allows the character of each opamp to shine through far more than they can make a difference in more typical (but more complex) amplifiers.  And yes, changing the opamp can change the noise level. I have noticed almost every OPA or AD brand opamp I try is much quieter in terms of background noise and turn on "pop" than the 5532 the Walnut comes with Some even don't make the "pop" when you turn it on.
 

1. One particular comparison of many opamps which is probably most helpful to dive into: https://tangentsoft.net/audio/opamps.html
2. A big head-fi thread about opamps which is mostly disorganized: http://www.head-fi.org/t/432749/the-opamp-thread
3. If you want to learn about the science behind opamps: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Electronic/opamp.html

 
Thanks for that, I got some homework to do hehe. Just lastly, does changing the opamps change the volume at all? To get an idea of my 'insane' volume levels I was playing Mp3gained files at 93db at maximum volume on my walnut through my PFE 232's, and I woulda liked a little more volume. I'll try Mp3gaining to 96gb and see how I go, I'm just curous as to whether another opamp can increase overall volume. I also felt as tho the volume knob was not consistent, with the last 1/4 turn not resulting in much gain, and the first 1/3rd-1/2 quite sensitive (like even tiny adjustments were quite audibly different). Is that normal?

 

[vapman]

  I would disagree that the walnut allows the opamps character to shine, due to walnut's single rail design we aren't actually hearing the opamps true character, rather the walnut actually tames (and somewhat lessens the performance of) the opamps due to this, opamps that usually sound bright and very detailed in more complex amps sound more mellow but still neutral in walnut, but won't be as detailed or tight as dual rail amps.
 
But this also makes the walnut very fun to opamp roll with, because of it's forgiving nature every opamp sounds good, while more complex amps are not as friendly, yet more rewarding with the right combo's.

I do not disagree with anything you said. I did kinda oversimplify it though. I do not think I would use a discrete opamp in the Walnut though, that curbs the potential gains of the discretes too much.

 

[vapman]

   
Thanks for that, I got some homework to do hehe. Just lastly, does changing the opamps change the volume at all? To get an idea of my 'insane' volume levels I was playing Mp3gained files at 93db at maximum volume on my walnut through my PFE 232's, and I woulda liked a little more volume. I'll try Mp3gaining to 96gb and see how I go, I'm just curous as to whether another opamp can increase overall volume. I also felt as tho the volume knob was not consistent, with the last 1/4 turn not resulting in much gain, and the first 1/3rd-1/2 quite sensitive (like even tiny adjustments were quite audibly different). Is that normal?

I have noticed slight volume variations between opamps. Like, if I swap opamps and don't touch the volume knob at all, some will be just a bit louder or quieter than the others. But, it is not very extreme at all. If you are a SPL freak I would probably recommend getting a non-TI brand NE5532. But, the 2114D is the loudest I personally have tried.
 
Have you been sure to hold the "next" button down during playback to be sure the digital volume control is maximized?

 

[BruceBanner]

  I have noticed slight volume variations between opamps. Like, if I swap opamps and don't touch the volume knob at all, some will be just a bit louder or quieter than the others. But, it is not very extreme at all. If you are a SPL freak I would probably recommend getting a non-TI brand NE5532. But, the 2114D is the loudest I personally have tried.
 
Have you been sure to hold the "next" button down during playback to be sure the digital volume control is maximized?

 
Hmm... nop, will try that tomorrow! I didn't know about a digital volume, what other secrets does this thing have, I mean mine didn't come with a manual, is there anything a newb like me should be aware of before properly playing with it? I ain't even charged it yet... what's the go with charging, does a light light up when charging and toggle off once fully charged?