Op-amp power squared and squared again – Grzegorz Rulka, co-developer of Cube and Qualio speakers and owner of the Virtual Hifi YouTube channel, has engaged an experiment involving listening to a plethora of available opamps, grading them, selecting the best-sounding ones then wiring them up in two, four or eight-pack modules with heatsinks and stabilizing circuity. These plug'n'play opamps start at €25 and end at €129 for the Brute Force One octo opamp. "Anyone into DIY upgrading gear that uses opamps can use them instead of any standard NE5532, OPA2134 etc. types or discrete opamps whilst drawing significantly more current." As long as the stock circuit can support the Virtual's draw and has sufficient room to accommodate the footprint of the heatsinks, these are drop-in upgrades for socketed opamps à la Burson. The difference is, these aren't discrete but instead paralleled/bridged versions of stock ICs to give DIYers an easy way to experiment with sonic changes from opamp rolling. Grzegorz loves them for example in a €150 Chinese class D amp which he routinely brings to hifi shows and prefers to a €7'000 Naim.
