My previous forays into op amp swapping was a very negative experience.

Was looking to enhance an Eastern Electric Minimax DAC - tried "Burson" op amps - pile of dredful sounding manure from a company with no backup when their "products" fail.

Again I would like to acknowledge Chris Daly for his freely delivered advice.

Had heard one of his players on a previous visit some weeks later heard the thing again - the sound had changed dramatically for the better..

Chris informed me he had changed the op amps - after a pleasant time in the company of a true gentleman I left with a handful of these interesting devices.

A few days later the weather in the vicinity of my abode turned for the worse and provided an opportunity to delve into some of the audio boxes that occupy space around here.

Popped the lid on the Music Labs DAC - had a quick listen on the Lightspeed - SS Mc - Arden 2 system. Changed the 2 x op amps  and repeated the music previously played - instant improvement in detail retrieval without compromising the sound of this lovely low production volume hand built Australian DAC.

Next victim was the Bada HD 26. - a very underrated CD player that is fine in standard form - dismantled the Bada and flipped out the factory supplied op amps - in goes 4 of the Chris supplied chips and then buttoned the player up.

Connected to the same system as the Music Labs was assessed on I had played less then 5 seconds of music when my wife asked what I had done the system? as it had never sounded this clear. This comment from a person who often claims she is unable to hear changes in audio systems..

The HD 26 is better than most players in standard form - now the detail is astonishing - more can be heard and at much lower volumes than before.

Impressed with the op amp swap - very much.

Onto the Eastern Electric Minimax - conferred with Chris the Minimax uses two pairs of op amps - one pair is double and the other single.

Lacking any other choice I replaced the single op amps with the previously rejected Burson product - the doubles were replaced with the Chris supplied chips. In this case the Genelec 8030 system was used to appraise the changes.

Listening to music there was a heap of detail however the sound was harsh/cold and bass light (Signature of the ESS Sabre chip in the Minimax?)

With bleeding ears and gritted teeth off came the lid and out came the Burson op amps - replaced with the original MiniMax pieces (Chris's chips remained in the double sockets)

Reconnected to the Genelecs the sound now lacked some of the extreme detail but the bass had returned along with a more musical presentation.

Conclusion

If your gear has socketed op amps swapping them out is a relatively easy task and the reward may well be worth the small monetary investment.

Hello james - what brand/type of op amp was the Chris daly supplied type?

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Which opamps did you fiddle with? What were the originals?
I’ve had differing luck with Burson opamps in the past on the current to voltage converter (I-V C) as they didn’t stabilise properly and were oscillating ultrasonically. I’m not sure if the current Bursons are more stable in that position. I’ve fiddled with many opamps over the years, with surprising and inconsistent results. I think it comes down to personal preference. If you like it, keep it!
The Music Labs dac uses PCM63 dacs IIRC.

AMR-iFi R&D

I haven't played with opamps at all much, but the Head-Fi guys roll them all the time.

However I always use sockets for ICs, if there's any possiblity of rolling, experimenting or needing replacement.
Otherwise, you have to destroy it to remove it

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Apr 26, 2019 10:32:49 GMT 12 Owen Y said:

I haven't played with opamps at all much, but the Head-Fi guys roll them all the time.

However I always use sockets for ICs, if there's any possiblity of rolling, experimenting or needing replacement.
Otherwise, with multi-pin ICs, you have to destroy it to remove it

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

I haven't played with opamps at all much, but the Head-Fi guys roll them all the time.

However I always use sockets for ICs, if there's any possiblity of rolling, experimenting or needing replacement.
Otherwise, with multi-pin ICs, you have to destroy it to remove it

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

If your device has sockets swapping op amps out is easy enough
Removed
OPA2604AP from the music labs and the Bada

NE5532P from the Minimax

Send me a PM - there is no secret as to which op amp Chris supplied for me.

The intent of the original post is to get people swapping out op amps.

A while back I participated in a DAC comparison

The differences between the DACs was subtle compared to how much change swapping out op amps can make.

We are all aware of people changing cables and similar items to tweak the sound of their gear.

I would suggest that where practicable trying a selection of op amps will give greater sonic changes at way less cost than other more common presentation altering methods.

True!
To roll your opamps takes a slight amount of technical knowledge. Changing a cable etc. less so, and can be done without popping the hood on a component. A lot of enthusiasts will be comfortable with that.
I’ve had lots of fun listening to different opamps over the years. If one has electronic design experience they can work out what type of opamp would work best for a given circuit as well as just seeing which sounds better in a given position. Douglas Self explored some of that in his superb book Small Signal Audio Design. Opamp data sheets are fun to read, but might not tell the whole story.
So I think swapping opamps should ideally be done with an ear on the sound and an eye on measurements. Most audio opamps have quite similar specs in terms of operating voltage and output current, which makes using different ones in the same circuit relatively easy.

AMR-iFi R&D