My Karan KA L, a very highly regarded pre amp made in Serbia, have got a few OP Amps in it and the newer versions of this one (MkII/MkIII) have discrete modules.
I wanted to try discrete modules in the two pairs that Milan Karan selected for the discrete upgrades. Besides, the Karan modules was priced at 225Gbp each!
The SS-Audio V5 discrete Op-amps were chosen as a lower cost alternative to evaluate the sound improvement, if any.
They were ordered on the 7th of April and arrived on the 21st of April. They were immediately installed as in the pictures shown.
The first impressions were that the changes were significant, not all in favor though. A little harsh, but lively and dynamic. After some hours the sound matured and the liveliness was retained along with both a fast, articulate and very powerful bass. The higher notes were beautifully expressed without grain or harshness and the imaging was very, very good.
All in all the improvement was astounding, a very good preamp was upgraded into a different class.
The more hours under the SS-Audio Op-amps, the better the sound and i was truly impressed with the results as of the day before yesterday.
Mikael O.