Listing of Opamps for EE Minimax DAC Plus

Time for a quick update. I've been running my minmiax dac + with Dexas for about 3 months and thought they were a significant upgrade over any of the IC opamps I tried. After reading Doug's review, I decided to try out the Burson's and report back.

First off I'll list my system for reference. Preamp is Shindo Vosne-Romanee. Amp is Shindo Haut-Brion (25W). Speakers are Tonian Labs Classic 12's (96db speaker featuring PHY driver with supertweeter). When listening to redbook CD I used PS Audio PWT as transport. When listening via USB through my windows computer I used flac files via JPLAY.

When I originally read Doug's review I was a little disappointed and thought he was hedging his bets by not declaring a clear preference. After living with both the Dexas and Bursons for a while I now understand his position. The Dexas and Bursons are to my ears a clear step up over any of the IC' opamps I've used. In addition, the inclusion of the discrete opamps makes digital more listenable over an extended time frame. The digital "edge" is gone. The music sounds more analog like than ever.

That being said, the Dexas and Bursons clearly sounded different in my system. With Dexas, the sound was clearer and cleaner with greater extention in the higher frequencies. With the Burson's swapped in, the sound was weighter, with more meat on the bone. The low end was also more impactful. I realize I'm pretty well echoing the comments that Doug made in his article. He pretty much nailed it.

Which do I prefer? If a gun was held to my head and I had to choose one I would probably pick the Dexas today based on my system. My Shindo electronics do a good job conveying weight and body to the music so I like the clean sound of the Dexas. However, if your system is on the lean side, I can easily see you prefering the Burson's.

My next step is to mix and match between the Dexas and Bursons to see if the combo can give me the best of both worlds. Will report back again with my thoughts in a few weeks.

For those of you who have the Minimax or Mimimax plus, go out and get some discrete opamps ASAP. The sonic bang for the buck is as high as anything I've tried in the 20+ years I've been dabbling in this hobby.

Nothing1:

Agree with your asessment of the Dexas. You mentioned the level 3 Lampi had slightly more body than the Minimax. If you like that fuller sound, get a pair of Bursons. Compared to the Dexas the Bursons add (at least in my system) more body and weight to the sound. Having both Dexas and Bursons allows for tremendous flexibility.

inregards to the Lampi having slightly more body it was just a slight difference and was not really anything that concerned me, in my system with a Rotel RC-1550 pre and a Rotel RB-1582 with Wharfedale 9.6's that difference is gone but i still have an incredible amount of detail without any harshness. As you can probably tell I'm loving it

This is a crazy price difference but has anybody did a comparison to the AMR DP-777

After several days of mixing and matching the Dexas and Bursons in the Minmax plus it has become pretty clear that I prefer the Dexas in both U1/U2 and U6/U7 in both tube and SS mode. The Dexas have a crispness and clarity that I really enjoy in my system while being much less fatiguing than any of the IC opamps I've tried. Those looking for more body and weight to the music should try out the Burson's.

After a bunch of experimenting, my current default listening setting (subject to change) is tube mode with NOS Mullard and all Dexa opamps. In addition to the stock EH tube, I have tried Amperex, Mazda/Cifte and Mullard. I prefer the Mullard but all NOS were a clear improvement over the stock tube. Will more than likely try a few other tubes for curiosity sake. For those looking for the utmost clarity and resolution, going all Dexas in SS mode with tube removed is a great choice as well.

That's it for now.