Supreme Sound Audio discrete Op-amp upgrade

[Bigman80]

First of all, I would like to thank Charles for his patience!! This review has been a while in the making.



My current phono stage (Firebottle OTP MK2) is using NE5532 opamps from TI. We have tried multiple variations of opamps. Burr Brown, Texas Instruments and the other usual suspects. We decided on the NE552 due to its clarity and exceptional tonal ability.

Swapping in the V5 delivered everything i didn’t know i wanted!

Let me explain,

Well designed valve phono stages are a thing of beauty. Airy vocals, sweet midrange, smooth and detailed treble and deep, solid bass. Solid state phono stages are usually more immediate and clean sounding, sometimes analytical. Well, imagine now having the best of both worlds, all for the sake of swapping the NE5532 for a pair of V5’s.

That’s where i find myself while i listen to the 50th Anniversary SGT. Pepper. I have listened to this album almost continually since i bought it a few weeks back. I thought this was a fantastic recording. Now it’s a fantastic performance. With the V5’s, It sounds like a living breathing performance. Every track has realism and emotion. Timbre and depth and best of all, the wind instruments now sound, well, windy! It’s not subtle either. The crescendo of the brass sections are stirring and the vocals, well, they are stunning. Still there in the mix is the grip you get with solid state. The detail retrieval hasn’t suffered as far as i can tell and the clarity is also “as you were”. There is guts and drive to each track.

So, would i recommend them – Yes!!!!

Are they worth the money – lets look into this a bit.

The range of opamps we tested were all under £15 (over estimate) and there were some good performers. A favorite of ours was the NE5532 which cost around £1.50 a pair.

The V5’s cost £53 + VAT (£65ish)

SO, are they X42 better than the NE5532? Well, no, BUT is the investment of £63 a lot for the amount of improvement (IMO) to the sound presentation? – NO!

Hearing is a funny thing. No two people usually agree on what they hear. I love what the V5’s are doing to the music. I highly recommend them.

Note: Phono stages need alterations to the offset when opamp rolling with discrete opamps. Please be prepared for some adjusting and soldering if you wish to try Discrete opamps in a phono stage.