[sdiy] Discrete Op Amps

[Tom Wiltshire]

On 10 Apr 2017, at 20:15, luther rochester <luther.rochester at gmail.com> wrote:

> Phil Cirocco's current modular offering is all about its discreteness...
> http://www.discretesynthesizers.com/dsc/dsc.htm
> 
> "What is true discrete? It means no chips whatsoever in the audio path. Many of our competitors say discrete - but the real truth is, their circuits are hybrid - meaning they use a combination of transistors, chips and some even use the dreaded "transistors-on-a-chip" devices, and try to claim discrete. The 9000 series circuits use only hand matched pairs, expertly selected from individual, ultra-linear transistors."


What?!? So putting single transistors on a slice of silicon is ok, in fact, is somehow really great, but if you put two or more on a slice of silicon suddenly all that greatness goes away?!

That's "discrete" as marketing nonsense. Since when were transistors-on-a-chip "dreaded"? Like the "dreaded" CA3046 or uA726 that Moog used in that crummy synth they used to build in the 1970's...Oh? It was that good they started again?!

We're getting into serious audiophile magic territory here. There's no actual engineering going on, just marketing. This is so stupid it makes me cross.

The only bit I liked was a mention of "differential". Perhaps their transistor-based modules have fully differential signal paths. They'll need them as the only way to keep the noise down in such a system.

Tom