The better amp?

http://www.ti.com/product/OPA2134 OR http://www.ti.com/product/TPA6120A2/description the TPA6120A2 can be used fully diferential(balanced) to a studio monitor or amp, just like the OPA2134, but which has a better sound quality? the TPA6120A2 is in a Roland Mobile UA USB interface(https://www.roland.com/global/products/mobile_ua/) with the DAC AKM AK4414EQ, and the OPA2134 in the Emotiva DAC pre-amp XDA1(https://darko.audio/2011/08/emotiva-xda-1-dac/) with the DAC Analog devices AD1955. thanks...

joser961606-18-2019 3:13am

auxinput Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 2,920 posts 06-18-2019 at 04:53am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete joser - TPA6120A2 is a monolothic "chip" type op amp headphone driver. Like mijostyn said, discrete analog stages will almost always sound better than monotholic op amps. Also, Roland is driven by a wal-wart switching power supply, which is never as good as linear power supply (like in Emotiva). I have said this in your other thread.
auxinput Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 2,920 posts 06-18-2019 at 04:54pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete In comparison, the Emotiva DAC has extremely high current power supply that has a +12V and -12V lines to the op amp / audio circuits. This is much better than another DAC that uses switching wal-wart or only a 5V USB power supply.
auxinput Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 2,920 posts 06-18-2019 at 04:53pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete USB contains 2 wires for digital signal and 2 wires for "USB Power". This is just 5V DC and it's driven from the computer/laptop (which is basically the same or worse than a wal-wart switching power supply). Also agree completley with timlub. You can just compare op amp specs and expect it to tell you exactly how good a DAC/preamp is.