xonar essence chip upgrades

[kevin7.1]

I have the asus xonar essence sound card and use it to send music to my av receiver when i want to listen to spotify or music on my pc.

I have read that people with this soundcard swap out the op amp?? chips in order to tailor the sound to how they want it. The board is designed with push fittings for these chips to facilitate this.

I would like to know if anyone has experience doing this? is it worth it? and do burr brown make chips that i could try in my sound card this way?

Thanks

Kev.

 

[gurux]

You haven't done your homework. Burr Brown manufactures DAC's, the opamps are a different story. Yes, you can try to do some swapping but it's a fairly expensive affair and from my (very limited) experience the benefits are debatable at best. The experiment will certainly not take your midrange soundcard to the next level, it will not be a mindblowing experience, you will not hear things you've never heard before. Besides most of the time the manufacturer actually uses the best opamps for the job. If you ask me, better save your money for the next source upgrade.

PS: I've just noticed that you actually send signal from the card to a receiver, probably using the digital interface. The opamps only work on the analogic section so absolutely no point in fiddling with them.

 

[kevin7.1]

thanks for your advise. I thought since as I don't know what an op amp is that burr Brown might make them as well. swapping op amps does seem like a lot of trouble for no real gain.I think I will carry on using my soundcardias I am. ps I do connect via the aanalogue outs as it sounds better for music than when my receiver does the decoding.

 

[Overdose]

Opamps are fairly cheap, but consider that the circuit is optimised for the existing opamp fitted. The ability to 'roll' opamps is more of a gimmick than anything.

 

[kevin7.1]

thanks for all the advice. Back on a pc now so i can type properly! yeah i think i am going to leave the sound card as it is.