LM321 Op Amp opinion

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GBP is merely 1.3 MHz and noise is an unimpressive 31 nV/rtHz. Also, max voltage is 5.5V are you aware of this? What is your application?

 
It's hard to beat the TL06x when it comes to low power consumption, which is why its widespread use in guitar FX pedals.
 
saint gillis said:
But I'm more worried about possible unexpected behavior because it's a more recent chip...
In fact I'll not make battery powered effects...

How do you plan to power the 5.5V max chip, with a 9V source?
 
the 321 looks like they are targeting inexpensive general purpose applications.

Besides the obvious PS limit due to CMOS technology, they spec output swing into 10k load suggesting weak output current.

I vaguely recall dedicated ICs designed for that specific application but I don't think they gained much traction in the market, so are probably long gone.

JR 
 
I wouldn't worry about unexpected behavior of a new chip. If you use it correctly, it should behave exactly as advertised. There are a lot of newer chips that are good in various ways. Use the search tool on mouser. I used TLV2170 on something recently and it worked great. But it doesn't have the drive for a rail splitter. For a rail-splitter something like OPA2196 looks like it has really low offset and good drive.
 
If you are only using it as rail splitter it might be ok, for the rest it is not very good, first, the 0.4V/usec slew rate will let you output max 3.18V@20kHz (TL06x has 3.5V/usec), current dissipation is 500uA (TL06x is 200uA). Like I said, for guitar effects its hard to beat the TL06x.
 
saint gillis said:
If thought of it if I need a single op amp for a rail splitter in 9V guitar effects... less pins, small size, small power consumption...


And also

saint gillis said:
Supply current per channel :
TL06x : 200µA
LMV321 : 120µA

But afterwards you say

saint gillis said:
Current consumption is not my issue here

So is current consumption an issue or not?
 
It is not my MAIN concern, my main concern is size and cost.
But it is still something to consider, and 500µA is still small current anyway !

So the TS321 is smaller than classic 8-pins op amps, in terms of sound is there any reason it might be worse than a TL061 or any other classic op amp when used as a rail splitter?

Maybe I should have called this thread "importance of a rail splitter op amp in terms of sound and noise" , but that's how it works, ideas and concerns get more precise when we discuss.
 
I don't think you should commit yourself to a particular op amp for a wide variety of things. The circuit necessitates different capabilities. FET amps are better for conventional circuits that need low offset. Bi-poloar amps are better for low frequency noise. If you're replacing something in an existing circuit you might not be able to use a really fast amp because it could be unstable. Sometimes you want something with a lot of drive. Sometimes you want something that has low quiescent current. There are op amps that do a lot of things well but they tend to be more expensive (not like I care about the price for one-off designs but I just feel a little foolish using an OPA2132 for $10 in a side-chain rectifier circuit that doesn't even pass audio when a TL082 would work just great). You are inevitably going to have to use a variety of different amps for various reasons. I have boxes of connectors and pots and crap that I once decided I was going to standardize on and then I decided I was going to standardize on a different type of connector and then another and so on. Now I try not to buy anything I don't actually need immediately.
 
saint gillis said:
It is not my MAIN concern, my main concern is size and cost.
But it is still something to consider, and 500µA is still small current anyway !

So the TS321 is smaller than classic 8-pins op amps, in terms of sound is there any reason it might be worse than a TL061 or any other classic op amp when used as a rail splitter?

Maybe I should have called this thread "importance of a rail splitter op amp in terms of sound and noise" , but that's how it works, ideas and concerns get more precise when we discuss.

If power consumption is not an issue, probably the only specification you should look into is current drive, how many miliamps are you planning on sourcing/sinking on its output?
 
squarewave said:
I don't think you should commit yourself to a particular op amp for a wide variety of things. The circuit necessitates different capabilities. FET amps are better for conventional circuits that need low offset. Bi-poloar amps are better for low frequency noise. If you're replacing something in an existing circuit you might not be able to use a really fast amp because it could be unstable. Sometimes you want something with a lot of drive. Sometimes you want something that has low quiescent current. There are op amps that do a lot of things well but they tend to be more expensive (not like I care about the price for one-off designs but I just feel a little foolish using an OPA2132 for $10 in a side-chain rectifier circuit that doesn't even pass audio when a TL082 would work just great). You are inevitably going to have to use a variety of different amps for various reasons. I have boxes of connectors and pots and crap that I once decided I was going to standardize on and then I decided I was going to standardize on a different type of connector and then another and so on. Now I try not to buy anything I don't actually need immediately.

Yes of course!
Here I was looking for a small 5 pins op amp to use as a rail splitter on a 9V guitar effect, no battery so power consumption is not the main concern, however it is always good to think of using as less power as possible. In this case, distortion and speed are not an issue.

But it is good to discuss before using a new chip, I even didn't notice the lm321 was not operating above 5V, so thank you user 37518 for that, and for discussing and thank you to everyone else involved in this thread, this is why I love this forum.
 

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