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Success Rolling Opamps in EE Minimax DAC

I'll try to reign in my nearly unbridled enthusiasm for a recent uber-economical tweak, rolling Opamps in the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC.

On encouragement of Chris and Melissa Owens from Clarity Cable I swapped them out (note; this voids the warranty!), with resounding success. A more powerful upgrade per dollar in decades of messing with systems and tweaks does not come to mind.

My brief instructional discussion on this experience appears at Dagogo.com

http://dagogo.com/View-Article.asp?hArticle=841
douglas_schroeder
flemke
596 posts
 
I would like to know how it compares to the wyred4sound dac.

Tim
njs
30 posts
 
Most interesting, Doug... which characteristics of the EE DAC's sound do you feel were changed by the swap of the opamps?
mechans
3,048 posts
 
Makes me wonder how much the parts cost on a $1000 DAC. I know there is the expensive casework, labor and overhead and a necessary profit.
Also it does make you think that if better op amps are $8 why don't they use them in the first place? How much is the difference between the worlds highest regarded DAC chip is VS the ones in most DACs?
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Cheap amps like NE5532 (in my Benchmark DAC1) are so much worse than current best amps like LM4562 or OPA1612 but only if you include DC spects. For AC NE5532 is simply amazing in spite of its age.
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