Puffin
19-04-2016, 07:08
You will have seen the SS-Audio (Australia) post seeking participants to install some of these op-amps in your equipment and post your impressions.
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?42185-Supreme-Sound-Audio-discrete-Op-amp-upgrade
Round 1:
We will select a few guys from the thread to send the free sample. (We will also announce selected participants on this thread)
Once all the participants have posted their impressions and project photos, we will have the next rounds. That means, more people will be able to participate and try the new V5.
I had been using Audio GD discrete op-amps in a modded Beresford 7510 and after modding my Marantz CD63 I put them in there. I have never seen any reviews of these anywhere having bought them in around 2008/9. I always had the suspicion that they were rather coarse or just a bit too harsh/bright, but they sounded pretty good. Before I got the V5's I replaced the AudioGD's with some NE5532's so that I could refresh my memory of what an ordinary op-amp sounded like. They weren't too bad - well they made music:)
Immediately after installing the V5's I could hear a difference. Initial impressions were "smoother" "competent" and Mmmm...I think I like what these do" (meaning these were something worth the effort) I suppose having been an "audiophile" for over 40 years you know what you like. You know when things sound "right" and you are hearing a coherent whole, not just a set of musicians playing in the same room/studio.
There was significant change after they had been left on for 48 hours. What I had heard initially had increased and matured. Detail was presented articulately and totally unforced. Bass was controlled and tight, Mids and Highs smooth and non-sibilant. Cymbal decays sounded totally natural. Horns in particular rasped, without taking the skin off your teeth.
Is it sometimes that what you don't hear that makes all the difference? Harmonics.
(lifted from Wiki)Most acoustic instruments emit complex tones containing many individual partials (component simple tones or sinusoidal waves), but the untrained human ear typically does not perceive those partials as separate phenomena. Rather musical note is perceived as one sound, the quality or timbre of that sound being a result of the relative strengths of the individual partials.
When we listen we hear a guitar/piano/upright bass, but there is so much more going on that makes up the whole experience. If your system cannot replicate the whole you are missing out on so much and you will feel short changed. If you can easily discern difference by substituting components, cables, source material then you will hear what these can do.
I use Lampizator P17 Open baffle speakers. If you Google you will find Lampizator's page. A lot of people have built these OB's, however the supply of the vintage Saba Greencone units may now be drying up. Lampizator is of the opinion that you would have to pay at least $3,000US to get something close. These are pretty analytical but you can listen to them all day. These are tri-amped with standard no-nonsense Mosfet amps, a Ming Da MC7R Valve Pre, a Pass B1 buffer and occasionally a Musical Fidelity X-Tone (which like the Quad Pre Amps of old only provides a lift or cut of Treb and Bass at certain frequencies)
So...should you buy a pair (or more) of these Burson V5's? well having tweaked and modified gear for over 30 years I would say it is a no-brainer. If you have a CD player or Dac or Pre-Amp with 8 pin DIL sockets you just remove the old and fit these in their place. They are sleek, not too tall and look the business. If you don't have DIL sockets you will have to get the soldering iron out and do some surgery. Not difficult, and in my opinion well worth it.
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?42185-Supreme-Sound-Audio-discrete-Op-amp-upgrade
Round 1:
We will select a few guys from the thread to send the free sample. (We will also announce selected participants on this thread)
Once all the participants have posted their impressions and project photos, we will have the next rounds. That means, more people will be able to participate and try the new V5.
I had been using Audio GD discrete op-amps in a modded Beresford 7510 and after modding my Marantz CD63 I put them in there. I have never seen any reviews of these anywhere having bought them in around 2008/9. I always had the suspicion that they were rather coarse or just a bit too harsh/bright, but they sounded pretty good. Before I got the V5's I replaced the AudioGD's with some NE5532's so that I could refresh my memory of what an ordinary op-amp sounded like. They weren't too bad - well they made music:)
Immediately after installing the V5's I could hear a difference. Initial impressions were "smoother" "competent" and Mmmm...I think I like what these do" (meaning these were something worth the effort) I suppose having been an "audiophile" for over 40 years you know what you like. You know when things sound "right" and you are hearing a coherent whole, not just a set of musicians playing in the same room/studio.
There was significant change after they had been left on for 48 hours. What I had heard initially had increased and matured. Detail was presented articulately and totally unforced. Bass was controlled and tight, Mids and Highs smooth and non-sibilant. Cymbal decays sounded totally natural. Horns in particular rasped, without taking the skin off your teeth.
Is it sometimes that what you don't hear that makes all the difference? Harmonics.
(lifted from Wiki)Most acoustic instruments emit complex tones containing many individual partials (component simple tones or sinusoidal waves), but the untrained human ear typically does not perceive those partials as separate phenomena. Rather musical note is perceived as one sound, the quality or timbre of that sound being a result of the relative strengths of the individual partials.
When we listen we hear a guitar/piano/upright bass, but there is so much more going on that makes up the whole experience. If your system cannot replicate the whole you are missing out on so much and you will feel short changed. If you can easily discern difference by substituting components, cables, source material then you will hear what these can do.
I use Lampizator P17 Open baffle speakers. If you Google you will find Lampizator's page. A lot of people have built these OB's, however the supply of the vintage Saba Greencone units may now be drying up. Lampizator is of the opinion that you would have to pay at least $3,000US to get something close. These are pretty analytical but you can listen to them all day. These are tri-amped with standard no-nonsense Mosfet amps, a Ming Da MC7R Valve Pre, a Pass B1 buffer and occasionally a Musical Fidelity X-Tone (which like the Quad Pre Amps of old only provides a lift or cut of Treb and Bass at certain frequencies)
So...should you buy a pair (or more) of these Burson V5's? well having tweaked and modified gear for over 30 years I would say it is a no-brainer. If you have a CD player or Dac or Pre-Amp with 8 pin DIL sockets you just remove the old and fit these in their place. They are sleek, not too tall and look the business. If you don't have DIL sockets you will have to get the soldering iron out and do some surgery. Not difficult, and in my opinion well worth it.