[Patrickhat2001]

Before the showdown between the Etymotic ER-4S and the Sony CD3000 can take place at my house I will need to buy an amp. I'm thinking about a maxed-out Meta but I'm confused as to which op amp I should choose. I have a only three choices from the head-fi member who is going to build the Meta for me--

A637
A627
AD8620

I've heard that the A637/A627 give a warm, laid back presentation while the AD8620 gives the most detail but lacks bass and can be somewhat bright. I'm a guy who doesn't like laid back sound and would much rather have extra detail that the AD8620 would provide. But on the other hand I also like my bass and I'm worried that the AD8620 paired with the CD3000 might be overly bright. So, I'm a little confused. I want to make sure that my choice in op amp doesn't give one phone an advantage over the other. Could any head-fi members with Metas and one or both of these phones offer some advice?

Thanks,

Patrickhat2001

 

[doobooloo]

You know what. You would LOVE the OPA602s.

I've gone through the 627BP, 637BP and the 8610/20, but like you said, the 627/637s were too warm and laid back for my liking, and the 8610/20 were too bright and harsh.

The OPA602BP hit the perfect spot in terms of detail/bass balance, it sounds just right. It actually sounds least altered also... And I also use the ER-4P and the CD3000.

And they're half the price of the 627/637s too!

You should really give them a try. I'm so sure you'll like them.

 

[purk]

Hi,
I have a Meta42 and CD3K. I use OPA637 as an op-amp of choice for the CD3K. OPA637 gives the CD3K a delicate warm, which is very nice in my opinion. The bass on the OPA637 is also good. The soundstage is extremely wide, and the midrange is very smooth. I also have the AD8620/AD8610 and I don't think it works well with the CD3K. AD8620 makes CD3k too agressive, and too bright. The soundstage is also narrow, with in your face sound.

 

[Patrickhat2001]

Alright, so it looks like (from your posts and prior research) that the AD8620 op amp would be out since it does not pair well with the CD3000s. This would leave only the APA637/627 (the OPA602s are not an option from the person who is building the amp for me). I would likely choose the 637s over the 627s since, from what I've read, people think they are a slight improvement over the 627s. It appears the 637s would be the best choice for the CD3000s but I'm coincerned if they would also be best choice for Etys. All the Ety users I've seen with Metas have the AD8620 as their op amp. This could be because many of these Ety users are using portable Metas and the AD8620 is the best op amp that works with a portable Meta. (Correct me if I'm wrong but the 637/627/602 can't fit in portable Metas). But I'm wondering if perhaps the AD8620 may be the best amp for the Ety ER-4S since it provides the most detail and does not color the sound as much as the 637/627.

Could any Ety owners chime in with their thoughts when it comes to the AD8620 vs the APA637/627? I know it mainly comes down to personal taste, but I need something to go on since I only have one chance to get this right.

I don't know what I'll do if I need a different op amp for each phone. Get two Metas? Sheessh!

 

[doobooloo]

Quote:

Originally posted by Patrickhat2001 (the OPA602s are not an option from the person who is building the amp for me)

Why not?

 

[mrkun]

Quote:

(the OPA602s are not an option from the person who is building the amp for me)

If that's what you want then get someone else to build it.

 

[JMT]

It is possible that the builder has not heard the OPA602 and therefore could not recommend them one way or the other.

 

[thsu02]

I have a Meta 42 and use the CD3000. I love the combination.
I have JMT META42 with the 843KN opamp. This is an excellent opamp, it's detailed and full sounding. JMT built this amp with the HD600 in mind, though, as I didn't have the CD3000s when I contacted him.

However, due to this thread I just tried the 637BP and REALLY like it with the CD3000. This opamp is very warm, yet detailed. I think it takes the edge off of what could be felt as "harsh" in the CD3000. Yet the sound is very well balanced, bass is true with good thump.

I also tried the 602 briefly. Granted these haven't been broken in, but out of the box they were too harsh. I'll have to break them in before I can give an accurate review.

However, I think that if you want more detail and a little more forward presentation than the 637BP I would recommend the 843KN.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[mclaren20]

which opamp would give the best bass respoce with the ety's?

 

[mclaren20]

Quote:

Originally posted by mclaren20 which opamp would give the best bass respoce with the ety's?

 

[mmortal03]

Anything new here? I am interested in which direction Patrickhat2001 went. Thanks

 

[Patrickhat2001]

I went with a very cheap discounted Maxed Meta from Headsave that had the 8620 as the op amp. A few weeks ago I got the 637s in the mail, unfortunately they didn't fit correctly because the JFETs (the little black things that bias the amp to class A) got in the way. It didn't help things either that I didn't know that I had to put the op amps in a certain way so I may have fried one of them (two 637s are needed in a Meta, one per channel)--the darn thing started smoking when I tried installing them.

Currently the I can get the op amps to kinda fit (correctly this time) but I only get sound out of the left channel--I don't know if this is because I fried the one for the right channel or if it is just a fit issue. I should be receiving a DIP socket from Norm (of Headsave) any day now which will allow the 637s to fit properly and will let me know if I fried the one for my right channel. If the one for the right channel is fried I'll have to send them back to JMT and start all over again. *Doh!*

But the good news is I have the CD3000 sitting right here waiting to get those 637 installed (although the the CD3000 doesn't sound that bad with the 8620 or strait out of the headphone jack for that matter). I already bought Etys a few monthes ago but returned them because I thought they were a hassle, the soundstage was too small and because I wasn't that impressed by their sound quality. However I was such a newb back when I had the Etys; my source wasn't up to snuff at the time (an M-Audio Revolution--I didn't have Winamp or Foobar fully tweaked yet with upsampling and all, nor did I have the ASIO plugin so I could bypass KMixer). Now that my source is fully pimped-out I'm dying to try the Etys again and will likely take them against the Shure E3s at the same time and have my own little showdown along with my Meta and the 8620 and 637 op amps.

 

[mmortal03]

Well, good luck with that! Sorry about all those troubles. I have this thread subscribed, so when you finally get this amp working, please post to this thread. I would like to hear how it ends up sounding, especially if you get your hands on the ER4P/S again, because I currently own those, but am considering the CD3000.

Thanks

 

[Mr.PD]

I don't know about the other opamps you reffered to but I have Mint META 12v with the 8620 that I use exclusively with my ER-4s. I have another mint amp 9v, with a different chip that I can't remember, that sounds a bit thin. The 8620 really helped the bass with the Etys when I compared the two. I didn't find the 8620 to be bright, but I like Grados.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

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