JRC MUSES01 J-FET Input Dual Operational Amplifier

I purchased a single MUSES01 and a pair of MUSES02 's to upgrade my Asus Xonar Essence STX. The sound improvement was immediate!!! Over the last few weeks the sound has been improving. After adding these Op-Amps the music became so much warmer. The sound stage width and depth improved. I put on some acoustic material with Piano and vocals. The timber of the notes was so much more realistic lacking much of the grainy harshness the original Op-Amps produced. I have a long way to go in my quest for better sound but this very small $50 x 3 purchase was well worth the investment.I listen to both Digital and Vinyl sources. Vinyl comes through a Denon 103R and Cambridge 641p with all Japanese caps installed. Of course I am using the Asus Xonar Essence STX and outputting to Bi-Amped Martin Logan Prodigy's. My room is damped and the corners treated.

Inserted two of these into the Xonar Essense STX II, replacing the cheap 8920 and there was immediate difference...improvements in bass, soundstage...well everything basically. It tamed the highs...before I heard slight sibilance, but now it's smooth.Now I'm thinking of getting a MUSES02 for the buffer. The question remain...is it worth $50/per? Depends on how you look at it. Personally I think it is. Saved me hundreds of dollar in getting a new headphone amp. BTW I am using a Hifiman HE-560.

I broke a couple pins on my opa2227 when I was taking it out to put this one(muses01) in my Little Dot i+ with 6zh1p-ev. After 5 minutes with the muses01 any thoughts i had about replacing the opa2227 were gone. Along with the thought of rolling in any of the other op amps I currently. have(jrc4556,ad8620,mc33078,opa2227). Its that good.

very good, muses01 arrived 03-17-2020

I kept running into threads discussing these OPAMPS, with most people calling these chips the guardians of sound on Japanese/Chinese audiophile forums. I thought those people were psychotic throwing 50 dollars at some tiny IC, but my curiosity got the better of me as time passed. I finally bought three of these chips from Mouser (official NJR authorized seller) a few days ago for 153 after shipping. I spent three days agonizing while I wait for these chips to arrive, thinking I'd wasted more money on more snake oil, boy was I wrong!It took me about 10 minutes to install these into my Xonar Essence STX II. I launched iTunes with cautious optimism, hoping I'd be surprised, expecting to find disappointment - what I heard was joy. The music became smooth and gentle, like a good cup of coffee. The harshness was gone and everything seem to just gently roll off. You hear more treble without the harsh graininess and the bass became tighter and more well defined. Every element of the music just seem to come together in a blissful way. I stayed up till 2 in the morning rediscovering my music with a huge grin on my face - these OPAMPs are no joke. You can listen to your music for days without getting tired.It's sad that ASUS doesn't include these as default chips on the STX II. The sound quality after the switch is a different beast altogether.