The Importance of Component Matching
The importance of component matching for superior tone in guitar amplifiers and pedals is indeed a significant topic.
The (un)Famous Orange Drop Capacitors
The original manufacturer of Orange Drop capacitors, Sprague Electric Company, ceased operations in the early 2000s. This closure created a significant void in the market, given the component’s popularity and perceived superiority. As demand persisted, a problematic trend emerged: the proliferation of counterfeit Orange Drop capacitors, primarily originating from manufacturers in Asia.
Discrete Transistors vs. Op-Amps
In the world of high-end audio (Hifi or music gear), the debate between using discrete transistors and integrated operational amplifiers (op-amps) has been ongoing for decades. This article examines the technical merits of discrete transistor designs in comparison to op-amp-based circuits, particularly in the context of audio applications.
High-End Audio Components: Capacitors
Capacitors come in two main types: electrolytics and non-electrolytics. There are not ideal elements, less to say, and intrinsically present Equivalent Series Resistance (the famous ESR), current leakage, dielectric absorption and, as usual with real […]
High-End Audio Components: Resistors
Resistors have two main issues when you want to design a low noise, low distorsion system : noise and linearity. Imagine also that you design a RIAA filter : tolerance and linearity are major concerns […]
Op-Amp: an Audio Purist Public Enemy?
Op-amps are used everywhere today, especially in audio design because of their outstanding price-performance ratio against discrete components. But in the premium audio purist world, op-amps are often considered as little daemons, children of the […]