gbyleveldt
AVForums Grandmaster
I made the statement the other day that I was 'snobbish' about the opamps used in my Behringer xover. That got be wondering about how bad these opamps really are...
Case in point. Over the years I've tinkered with quite a lot of pro-audio gear, from Mackie mixing desks to Yamaha amplifiers. These all seem to be littered with the venerable 4558 opamp, or something similar. Not even in the fancy Yamaha 01V and 02R digital desks will you find opamps in the same league as an OPA2134 (which in itself is not that fancy!). Bear in mind, these kind of desks mix most of what ends up the CD's in the stores (OK, I'm generalising, but you get my point). That made me ask the question: Aren't we taking things too far with all these boutique opamps we insist on using in projects, considering how 'crippled' the recording is with all the 'non-audiophile' opamps and capacitors in the signal path of the mastering mixer?!
Another point, I can get quite carried away with the type of DAC used in a CD player (so much so that it'll ruin the player for me, see previous posts on a Marantz DV6600). If you look at the ADC's in my Behringer DDX3216, they are some plane Jane AD parts (can't really remember, but nothing fantastic). I'm wondering if the ADC's on the pro recording gear is in the same 'league' of the DAC's I keep raving about? In 1973 Neil Diamond did the musical score for Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. I cannot figure out when the CD was mastered, but it was still in the eighty's, when 16 bitt 44kHz DACs were the norm. This is a FANTASTIC recording, even by today's standards. How well do you think the ADCs used in the recording of the time would rate to what we have today??? They did not have these esoteric opamps we have today?
My question is really, aren't we pouring copious amounts of money into 'audiophile' components when you won't achieve anything, because the basis (what's on the CD) was created with 'average' components? Maybe we are too focused on specs instead of appreciating what is good and what is not. Maybe we get too carried away with psyco-acoustics instead of just listening to the music? :banghead:
Hmmmm......
Case in point. Over the years I've tinkered with quite a lot of pro-audio gear, from Mackie mixing desks to Yamaha amplifiers. These all seem to be littered with the venerable 4558 opamp, or something similar. Not even in the fancy Yamaha 01V and 02R digital desks will you find opamps in the same league as an OPA2134 (which in itself is not that fancy!). Bear in mind, these kind of desks mix most of what ends up the CD's in the stores (OK, I'm generalising, but you get my point). That made me ask the question: Aren't we taking things too far with all these boutique opamps we insist on using in projects, considering how 'crippled' the recording is with all the 'non-audiophile' opamps and capacitors in the signal path of the mastering mixer?!
Another point, I can get quite carried away with the type of DAC used in a CD player (so much so that it'll ruin the player for me, see previous posts on a Marantz DV6600). If you look at the ADC's in my Behringer DDX3216, they are some plane Jane AD parts (can't really remember, but nothing fantastic). I'm wondering if the ADC's on the pro recording gear is in the same 'league' of the DAC's I keep raving about? In 1973 Neil Diamond did the musical score for Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. I cannot figure out when the CD was mastered, but it was still in the eighty's, when 16 bitt 44kHz DACs were the norm. This is a FANTASTIC recording, even by today's standards. How well do you think the ADCs used in the recording of the time would rate to what we have today??? They did not have these esoteric opamps we have today?
My question is really, aren't we pouring copious amounts of money into 'audiophile' components when you won't achieve anything, because the basis (what's on the CD) was created with 'average' components? Maybe we are too focused on specs instead of appreciating what is good and what is not. Maybe we get too carried away with psyco-acoustics instead of just listening to the music? :banghead:
Hmmmm......
