rme adi-8 qs op-amps [photos]

[peeder]

I think you should judge a circuit on how it sounds, not on what hideous malignancies were done to get it that way.

(I have never heard the new QS converters)

But I do think saying you can't open a chassis up without breaking the warranty is obnoxious on RME's part... tutt

[1954U1]

"Warranty break" or something similar was written on a screw's label, so I'm assuming I've broken it..
[cant resist at bans]

About the sound of the QS, I'm trying to not go in the subjective field..
My goal was to put a general question, not RME-specific related, about the analog paths in converters.

[Jim Williams]

I've not seen the new model, but the older one used M-Dacs to adjust gain, it was a dirty solution. Those Japanese opamps won't win any awards, they are surface mount so they would need de-soldering for replacement. A set of National LME49722 opamps would be an ideal replacement as they are the cleanest opamps made with THD below -155 db, very quiet (1.9 nv/hz/sq) and precision so they have little input bias current and virtually no output offset voltage.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[bojan_1]

I´m a bit surprised by the obeservation, that low-quality opamps are said to be used in rme-products and keep thinking of doing a mod to my rme adi8-ds (or at least one to hear the difference).
Mr. Williams, so do you think changing the opamp to a National LME49722 would change the actual sound or more the s/n-ratio in a favorable way?

A quick googling didn´t show me any dealers with national opamps in germany, any alternatives?

Thanks

bojan_1

[Jim Williams]

This is a new part, not yet into distribution. I bought mine directly from National Semi. These will open up the sound and reduce input noise, but they are still much less noise than the converter chip. They will not recover what is lost in their gain adjustment designs, but still should offer an improvement if you are inclined to do some surface mount re-work.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[1954U1]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

I've not seen the new model, but the older one used M-Dacs to adjust gain, it was a dirty solution.

Thanks a lot for all the info!

Is there a way I can find if MDACs are actually used to adjust gain in my adi8-QS, just by watching at the board?

[Jim Williams]

If you know your way around in this stuff, you should be able to observe gain changes on a scope. Part numbers with a Google search can also tell you what the part is and perhaps what it's doing.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades