HD Audio Opamp Testing
Let's go on to listening to HD Audio Opamps, starting with the Chinese brand Audio-GD's. The first tested configuration previews the two "Earths" in the gain stage and the Moon at the buffer stage.
With regard to any previous setup base on IC, we can all of a sudden say that the digital sound has completely faded: listening is now less of a strain; there are more dynamics and fluidity, even from the combined LM617/LT1364, and there is better control from the soundstage, with varied and clearer levels.
The "Earths" are certainly very neutral, like their definition. But on the whole, they sound a bit rough: the sound, completely on fire and precise, is, however, a bit impoverished, with the main notes very much in evidence, and lacking in harmonic tone, a fact that one is able to notice, above all, in the acoustic pieces. Moreover, the "Moon" has something that is more or less looking to imitate the softness of a valve sound, however, resulted in a certain kind of "gumminess" in music reproduction, especially in the low portion of the sound scale. In a word, there is improvement with respect to IC's, in some areas, but at the same time there is a worsening in other areas. The setup sounds a bit like it is "crawling," manipulating the sound & signal, instead of just limiting itself to reduce signal loss and preserve as much as possible what comes from the source. They lowered the high notes, and redefining the low notes; in short, altering the listening experience.
Going on to the next setup, the "OPA Sun" placed in the "Moon's" place presented a change in the listening experience, but not the final result. "Sun," like its name indicates, is more brilliant and dynamic, but in the end, it is overly characterized as being the opposite of "Moon," being exceptionally sharp and metallic-sounding, on the high notes, and too dry on the low notes. Generally speaking, the same coarseness is noted in the treatment of the musical message, which lacks finesse, granularity of detail, and tone, almost as if the maker has wanted to create more products to market but spent less attention on audiophile graded designing.
We finally ended our testing with the setup that takes into account three Burson Audio OpAmp 101's.
We were greatly surprised; the OpAmps have, in themselves, the best characteristics that were seen, whether it be with the IC's, or the Audio-GD's, but with a subtlety and neutrality that none of the previous setups had been able to demonstrate. Detail, dynamics, transparency, three dimensionality, power united with control of the bass notes, and energy united with the freshness of the high notes, with the middle notes sharp and bombastic, right at the right time, and a great many natural and present voices.
The music materializes in front of us, with singers and instrumentalists who seem to be present in the listening room. Listening is pleasant and natural, the balance is optimal, and the grain fine: as an example, it is possible to hear the instruments' "tactility," the pianoforte's chords, or those from a bow, the pizzicato of the guitar, the low note harmonies; it is all reproduced, and highly differentiated, and is extremely easy to use and enjoy.
Integrated VS Discrete-What is the best choice for our audio catalog? Final Conclusion.
From the first "Creative's" of so many years ago, a lot of ground has been covered with regard to the reproduction of audio on PC's. And if the Taiwan giant still considers itself to be Number One, based on the volume of worldwide sales, having the advantage of turning to the largest share of consumers, that of videogamers, certainly amounts to nothing more than considering itself a reference point as far as computer High Fidelity.
In this field, there are new and qualitatively strong competitors, among which Audiotrack and ASUS have been able to earn prominent positions, by proposing the two catologs, which today are perhaps more complex and better sounding than anything else on the market, with a cost for the end customer that is rather low if one thinks about how one can buy them with less than 20 euro. And instead, some CD reader would not be found at the same price, nor any pre amplifier of similar quality.
This development was possible, in part, because of the availability of integrated operational amplifiers (IC opamps) that can generate a good sound quality while keeping the prices as low as possible. The rest has come about because, due to their diverse market presence, they are able to have a trademark, like ASUS, as far as any HiFi brand is concerned, which will not create a third of the sales volume, while being restricted, however, to keeping the prices of their own products high to achieve a margin of acceptable profit, also because of production costs, in view of the amount of pieces created, and however, of ordered component parts stock, which will obviously be greater for HiFi manufacturers.
However, as we have seen, or to put it more appropriately, as we have heard, IC opamps have undoubtedly contributed to bringing quality audio to a greater portion of the public; on the other hand, they are not totally exempt from criticisms that many experts in the sector have quickly taken up again, as much as they can. In fact, this qualitative efficiency, which might seem, on the face of it, to be optimal, conceals, from the technical limitations, a certain character of digital freshness and crudeness in handling the musical message that the best discrete creations do not have.
However, it is necessary to clarify a concept; we are talking about diminishing the efficiency of the sound, not of glaring macro details, even if obviously, upon listening, the harmony of the improvements is perceptible. In fact, many consumers, and less so experts, are usually induced to expect that the differences will be enormous, while many obviously depend on so many common factors: the quality of the HiFi system, the effectiveness of the sources used, and above all, the listener's experience, his or her awareness of the music, and the sound of the live instruments.
The OpAmp's used in our tests guarantee, for whomever does not have particularly developed systems, or who simply do not have high expectations, whether because of their ability for discernment of musical awareness, a good listen that can be had for just a few euro: in fact, one goes from 1.99 euro for 2134, to 5.77 euro for LT1364, passing on to 3.14 euro for 2227, 3.50 euro for 6172, and 4.99 euro for LM4562. The discrete systems cost considerably more: the Audio "GD-OPA Earth," stereo version (for this test, all the amplifiers used were stereo amplifiers, and not mono, because the catalog project required that), costs about 17 euro, the "Moon," about 18 euro, and the "Sun," around 21.50 euro, while Burson Audio actually comes to 43.60 euro.
If it is worthwhile or not to pay the difference is difficult to say, a priori, above all if it is directed at a non-expert public. The cost/quality relationship is, in fact, not linear, that is to say, one is certainly able to affirm that Burson sounds 10 times better than the LM4562. Still, the differences are appreciable and clear, obviously better, and this, face to face, however, with a low cost, one is allowed to make a qualitative leap as far as the appropriate equipment is concerned, obviously on the condition that it already be of high quality: in fact, one cannot transform a reader, or an economical and inferior amplifier, into a jewel of musical reproduction, substituting for an amplified stadium.
However, in line with principles, all the integrated systems (IC opamps) have worked well. Decisively speaking, our preference is the combined LM6172/LT1364. Disappointing instead are the Audio-GD's that, in some aspects, sound better than the integrated systems, but which seemed shady, and a bit of an over-priced.
However, the best definitely turned out to be the Burson Audio's, which demonstrated that they possessed high-level characteristics, and guarantee a significant leap in quality for a good system. For this reason, the staff at PC Tuner was unable not to grant it The Best Product Award to this product.
When Alessandro Crea, the Editor in Chief of PC-Tuner (a well respected Hi-End PC magazine in Europe ) decided to compare the most popular opamps used by audiophiles, he had to invite Burson Audio to participate.
After months of careful testing and direct comparison between eight contestants (LM4562, LM6172 LT1364, OPA2134 OPA2227 and etc) the Burson Audio Opamp was honoured with their most prestigious Best Product award.
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