Since spending more time online nowadays (due to COVID resurgent worldwide), I chance upon some good deals for better OP-Amp(s) from overseas. This was a good opportunity to swap-out the default NE5534P on my DIY TDA1541A DAC with USB interface, as I have (more or less) done all I can with capacitor replacements - not in the blog but had swap out the output capacitors for Elna Stargates since the last post for the DIY DAC.
Have decided I was not going to spend silly amounts on buying blackcaps, silver cabling or anything fancy of that sort since I wanted to see how far I can improve the unit on a budget. So will not splash out on Burson op-amps, MUSES-03 or alike.
Thus have ordered some Philips NE5534P, JRC 5534 and OPA604AP.
Will update once I received the goodies and can do some swap-outs tests.
21Jun2021
Received the above op-amps and did the swap tests.
Ti NE5534 The default which came with the kit. My personal take is that it was the "Jack of all trades" but "Master of None" with a skewed HF reproduction and bass which was not flabby nor tight.
JRC NE5534 The minimalist choice. Has better overall balance than the Ti but came with a "English"-like reserve. Again nothing really wrong but did not excel in any particular area(s).
Philips NE5534 Best way to describe this would be to say it's alike the "Toyota Corolla" of 5534(s). Prefer it over the previous version of 5534(s) but know I could get a better replacement.
BB OPA604AP Initially the HF sounded thin with non-existant LF. After a couple of days usage, the sound stage surfaced. After another few more days, the most astonishing thing happened - the DIY DAC now sounds pretty close (after the unit has warmed up) to my Meridian 602 when performing an A-B comparison, with a slight difference in the output volume during the A-B comparisons.
 |
| OPA604AP x 4 on the DIY DAC PCB |
Yup, left the OPA604AP(s) in-place ....😁
