Recommend Opamp Upgrades for Xduoo XD-05 Plus and Aune X8

[SIY]

I spent weeks listening to each one with a multitude of cds ranging from classical to hip hop. I referred to companies literature on each op amps output. In addition, I used my DB meter and RTA on my Behringer which is set to flat across the board. They all sounded good but Sparkos seemed to have a little more output across the board and was less colored.I also swapped out my speakers throughout. Of course, this is my subjective opinion.
I think the Burson's are great, I just think the Sparkos was better in my application.

OK, so absolutely no controls. That's not "subjective," that's "chasing fairies."

 

[TommyCock]

OK, so absolutely no controls. That's not "subjective," that's "chasing fairies."

Ok your right..buddy..im enamored by your ability to determine what sounds good and what doesnt..im not an engineer..but I imagine you do all your listening in a completey sound proofed room and you got a the proper gear. I bet your one of those types that collects his toe nail clippings in a jar and measures their growth rate after consuming additional 1000mg of biotin in your diet. I said subjective..which is my opinion and the increase of spl levels.lol

 

[TommyCock]

Dude if we were all experts ..we wouldnt be on this forum would we?

 

[highpurityusbcable]

I admire how opamp rollers have reached the consensus about the sound changes and all their impressions tell the same story. What a strong community.
OPA: clinical, analytical sound (better technicalities), they are "operational" after all.
NJR MUSES: more musical sound (of course), wider soundstage.
AD: guess what, analog sound, worse technicalities
Burson: taller soundstage.

 

[SIY]

Ok your right..buddy..im enamored by your ability to determine what sounds good and what doesnt..im not an engineer..but I imagine you do all your listening in a completey sound proofed room and you got a the proper gear. I bet your one of those types that collects his toe nail clippings in a jar and measures their growth rate after consuming additional 1000mg of biotin in your diet. I said subjective..which is my opinion and the increase of spl levels.lol

I'd be happy to send you my toenails if you have an address.

I do understand circuitry and sensory testing enough to recognize what makes sense and what's clearly nonsense. Someone has filled your head with nonsense, and removing it will require firm measures. Opamp changes can only make no difference or degrade performance. The audiophile custom of whipping out a credit card, dropping in parts willy-nilly, then fantasizing about the miraculous changes in the sound is a sadly common one.

Reality: they are not interchangeable jelly beans, and a circuit optimized for one type will underperform if you drop in another. At best, it won't be any worse. And any sound changes are vastly likely to be imaginary.

Since the designer of some of the best opamps ever made is an active participant here, you might ask yourself why he doesn't play this game.

 

[TommyCock]

I'd be happy to send you my toenails if you have an address.

I do understand circuitry and sensory testing enough to recognize what makes sense and what's clearly nonsense. Someone has filled your head with nonsense, and removing it will require firm measures. Opamp changes can only make no difference or degrade performance. The audiophile custom of whipping out a credit card, dropping in parts willy-nilly, then fantasizing about the miraculous changes in the sound is a sadly common one.

Reality: they are not interchangeable jelly beans, and a circuit optimized for one type will underperform if you drop in another. At best, it won't be any worse. And any sound changes are vastly likely to be imaginary.

Since the designer of some of the best opamps ever made is an active participant here, you might ask yourself why he doesn't play this game.

Oh.. I have realized that I have literally drove myself crazy over " tweaks" and most of them have go against my god given sense. So now after all the hoopla and wasted money. I could of just bought a decent DAC with all the proper connections and saved myself the headache. I did feel with my ears ..which are shot from years of loud car stereo systems, concerts, being a bouncer and gun play that the sparkos was brighter. But since , I spent the money Im going to use it. I came to this site to learn. All my degrees are in business. Every tweak that is being pushed now a days is straight marketing hype. Poor marketing at that. Lol.. i love unicorns.. you could of made your point without the jab. Like I said, im here to learn so I can put together a good system without a 2nd mortgage being taken out. I still think that the original findings of GA Briggs holds true today.

 

[Mnyb]

I admire how opamp rollers have reached the consensus about the sound changes and all their impressions tell the same story. What a strong community.
OPA: clinical, analytical sound (better technicalities), they are "operational" after all.
NJR MUSES: more musical sound (of course), wider soundstage.
AD: guess what, analog sound, worse technicalities
Burson: taller soundstage.

it happen all the time. example.
How UFO's got their saucer shape , it had been reports before but not in the now suddenly ubiquitous shape, it came later and subsequently formed every report after that.
Flying Saucers in the Sky: How the UFO Myth Got Its Shape | Time

In the same theme , this little grey men alien with big yes that everyone sees ?

Its everywhere idea's as a kind social virus (for good or bad ) and do they "preset" people to think in a certain way ?

I admittedly chose some funny examples , no offence meant .

In audio community we have some chestnuts like silver cables are brighter than copper cables etc. They stick and everyone just knows this ?

 

[MrPeabody]

Very many audio people take for granted that the hobbyist approach of tinkering and listening casually, etc., is just the sort of thing that audio people should naturally be doing. But then we have a clash of mindsets, because people who are scientifically minded cannot abide this attitude and are often compelled to inject comments that are worded in a very matter-of-fact way and that say that what hobbyists are doing, with their non-scientific approach, isn't genuine and that people do not actually hear what they say they hear, and that even when they genuinely hear a difference, the sound that is subjectively preferred isn't necessarily the sound that is truer to the signal.

Anyone who is scientifically minded, who would take the position that one brand of op-amp is sounds better than another, would be compelled to follow a systematic scientific approach to determine why the different op-amps sound different. An obvious possibility, that would be a good place to start, is with differences in noise. I expect that people with strong knowledge of op-amps will be able to identify other possible reasons why different op-amps would sound different. For people to assert that different brands have different characteristic sound and to use common audiophile-speak language to describe these differences, without there being any rigorous effort to identify the reason why they sound different and without discovering a quantitative approach to describing how they sound different, is a mindset that is anathema to anyone who understands science and who believes that there is no good reason why fundamental scientific principles shouldn't apply to audio the same as does to most any other technological endeavor.

 

[highpurityusbcable]

it happen all the time. example.
How UFO's got their saucer shape , it had been reports before but not in the now suddenly ubiquitous shape, it came later and subsequently formed every report after that.
Flying Saucers in the Sky: How the UFO Myth Got Its Shape | Time

In the same theme , this little grey men alien with big yes that everyone sees ?

Its everywhere idea's as a kind social virus (for good or bad ) and do they "preset" people to think in a certain way ?

I admittedly chose some funny examples , no offence meant .

In audio community we have some chestnuts like silver cables are brighter than copper cables etc. They stick and everyone just knows this ?

Your examples are very tame and accurate, don't worry. I think it's just conformity, simple as that. And audiofoolia has one of the worst examples of it.

 

[Shadez]

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that people buy gear and then swap out the op amps in search of "better" sound.

I mean, doesn't that imply that you think the designer(s) picked inferior/inappropriate op amps?

And if that's the case, why buy that piece of equipment?

Because the Burston op amps for example which are a hybrid integrated and discreet would raise the cost by enough to tip it into the next 100 bucks, i saw the links to the articles I have also seen links to flat earth theory, of course an op amp changes the sound otherwise all would use 15 cent units as long as they could produce the voltage required.

 

[SIY]

Because the Burston op amps for example which are a hybrid integrated and discreet would raise the cost by enough to tip it into the next 100 bucks,

And degrade the performance in most cases, as well as take up more space so increase susceptibility to noise pickup. Seems like a good idea.

of course an op amp changes the sound otherwise all would use 15 cent units as long as they could produce the voltage required.

More than just voltage requirements, but yes, that function only requires a cheap component to accomplish the task at near-perfection.

 

[bill poster]