How to Mod your Fosi Audio ZA3: OP Amp Replacement

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This is a quick and easy tutorial on how to replace the OP Amps inside the Fosi Audio ZA3 amplifier.
Fosi Audio ZA3: bit.ly/41Dg7Io
Sparkos Labs SS3602 OP AMPS: ebay.us/ob0Xz7
iFu Precision Screwdriver: amzn.to/3H1wPYu
IC Extractor: amzn.to/3RYuSC8
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27 дек 2023

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Комментарии : 91

@videoshire 6 месяцев назад

Really helpful and simple video. Here is a handy tip. If you are planning on running two in mono, you only need to upgrade the op amp on the right channel in each unit. That is all that gets used in mono. That saves you $136 on two sparkos (with 15% discount running at the moment). Makes running in mono with the upgrade more affordable. Confirmed with Fosi.

@mykandrew 6 месяцев назад

Nice 👍 that’s awesome information thank you!

@butchbantug4731 6 месяцев назад

Thank you. Have you actually tried or has anyone? I'll probably order later today.

@videoshire 6 месяцев назад

@@butchbantug4731 confirmed with FOSI and planning on executing when I get my second unit. Here is their reply to me: Fosi Audio Hello, if you want to use it in mono mode, replacing only the right channel op-amp will change the sound quality most obviously, regardless of rca or xlr input mode; but in xlr mode, replacing the right channel op-amp and then replacing the op-amp chip of the xlr will improve it a bit; if you are a more professional audiophile, you can replace both op-amps

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@butchbantug4731 It should be easy to test ... take out the chip marked L-Opamp and switch to mono mode... does it work correctly?

@urka-off-world-adventures 5 месяцев назад

Thanks for the heads up! I’m using two in mono with XLR. Does that mean I have to upgrade the XLR opamp too? So Right channel output and XLR together? Thanks for any help you can offer 🙏

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

A couple of very important steps were missed... The bottom of the board has the Chip's heat spreader which uses thermal compound to assist in heat transfer to the case. It is like grease, it picks up dust and dirt like crazy and any that gets in between the spreader and the case is going to degrade the cooling significantly. It is essential that, before reassembling the amp, you clean away the old compound both from the heat spreader and the inside of the case and use new compound -> every single time! The best way is to make a small line of compound inside the case where the back of the heat spreader will sit so that it self-coats and pushes the compound forward as you put the board back into the case. Use just enough to cover the surface. More is not better, just messier. Second, while it is okay to power up while it's out of the case, to make sure your op-amps are working, you do have to keep in mind that the case is the largest part of the cooling solution. Outside of the casing, the chip will run much hotter so don't even think about power testing it outside of it's casings.

@mikecampbell5856 6 месяцев назад

Yes thermal compound is so important.

@mykandrew 6 месяцев назад

I've never done any of these steps with supreme success. So as much as these steps could very well help, I don't feel they are essential.

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@mykandrew Trust me ... if you want that amp to last more then 6 months, it is essential. Any job worth doing is worth doing well, my friend.

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@mikecampbell5856 Any idea how many PCs have been killed by improper use of thermal compounds? In my experience it's like 50% of the problems...

@mattfranklin3622 6 месяцев назад

⁠@@Douglas_Blake_579in my experience 50% of the time 100% of them die. 😂

@mikecampbell5856 6 месяцев назад

Great job Michael! I replaced many many chips in my 40 years of working on office machines. The company supplied chip puller was crap so I got very good at using a small screwdriver. I did put a chip in backwards once and not only do they smoke, but they smell real bad!

@mykandrew 6 месяцев назад

Thanks Mike, yeah it can be quite bad if they aren't put in correctly.

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

Been there ... done that... burned the T-Shirt. Had one line of products using an 80 pin DIL processor chip that was rather failure prone... I can attest to just how bad that smells.

@irukard 6 месяцев назад

Once magic smoke is released it's kind of hard to put it back in the chip :)

@mikecampbell5856 6 месяцев назад

@@irukard LOL

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@irukard 😄Yep, they do tend to stop working after that happens.

@scofab 3 месяца назад

Just to add... a pair of wood or bamboo sticks works very nicely to get the volume knob off smoothly and easily, and in a very controlled fashion... and no risk of scratching the faceplate. I used a pair of bamboo chopsticks, whittled slightly thinner, to fit between the face and the knob. One on the top, one on the bottom and pry gently, it'll slide right off. Very nice video, regards.

@videoshire 6 месяцев назад

Great video. Just used it mod my op amps. To remove the knob I used an old credit card to apply some pressure behind and worked it off that way.

@mykandrew 6 месяцев назад

I used my IC puller tool and just pulled lol

@videoshire 6 месяцев назад

@@mykandrewnice tools but the screw driver & ic remover cost as much as the second Za3 that I have on my shopping list.

@cdgerhart 6 месяцев назад

Good video, so how much did the op Amp mod make to the sound? Is it worth the $160?

@jonodiel6440 4 месяца назад

Thanks for the great video! I have a newbie question. If I'm running on XLR and Sub, I only need to replace the only one that's labelled "XLR-OP AMP", "SUB-OP AMP1", & "SUB-OP AMP2"? And I can just ignore the L&R-OP AMP?

@jean-claude307 2 месяца назад

Do you add new thermal paste before reassembling considering the sliding movement when dissambling and reassimbling ? Thanks for your help.

@stacenrob1977 6 месяцев назад

is there a noticeable difference?

@mmzubairi 2 месяца назад

The real question is if you get 2 of these, upgrade the opamps to run them in mono mode, wouldn’t you get close to an a/b class amp pricing especially in the used market?

@prairie122 6 месяцев назад

Does XLR chip also use opamp like muses02 or Sparkos? If I don't use subwoofer out, is it okay to replace only 3?

@mykandrew 6 месяцев назад

I only replaced the two, L and R. And yes you can definitely use Muses02

@elevatorium 2 месяца назад

@@mykandrew I just did this last night with MUSES02; 3 op-amps, 1 for XLR and the right and left channels. WHOA, what a difference! Low end is clear yet big, boisterous and beefy! It behaves so well and knows when to take center stage. Highly recommended to upgrade those op amps.

@SERKAN_HOT34 2 месяца назад

Hello, as anyone tried how fois audio za3 muses03 op amp sound? i'm very curious about this.

@chaiyutasawameiteerungroj3255 4 месяца назад

May I know which type of screwdriver head does you use? T?? H??

@subagon 6 месяцев назад

Newb question, if I had two ZA3 using them as mono amps and only using the XLR outputs, would I only need to replace one op amp in each amp?

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

Okay there are 3 sets of op-amps in there. Check the board, it's marked. The XLR Op-Amp can be changed by itself. The 2 in the Sub Out circuit should be changed together. The L and R OpAmps should be changed together.

@panchosanza8750 6 месяцев назад

@@Douglas_Blake_579 When I'm using my 2 ZA3's in mono mode all connections are IN (RCA or XLR) and OUT (Speaker) RIGHT channel connectors. Which leads me to believe in mono mode only the Right Channel circuits are being used. Which makes me think only the R opamp needs to be replaced.

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@panchosanza8750 You can try it... but I think you'll find they are using both stereo channels, paralleled together in the chip's built in PBTL mode. So both channels are still active.

@panchosanza8750 6 месяцев назад

@@Douglas_Blake_579 That would make replacing the stock opamps with Sparkos a costly affair...

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@panchosanza8750 Yes it will ... and I rather suspect that is deliberate on Sparkos part. Seriously what is it about these overpriced tweaks that draws people like flies? Look what they have you doing... They have you putting $360 worth of parts into a $150 amplifier that works perfectly well without them. Then they have you ripping the amplifier down and later re-assembling it without proper attention to cooling and the longevity of the main chip. Does this sound like a smart thing to be doing???

@maroof8905 2 месяца назад

Compare to NE5532 the difference is not worth of 160$. These tiny pairs of op amp seems expensive for me.

@SERKAN_HOT34 3 месяца назад

Hello, Is Fosi Audio ZA3 muses 03 opamp compatible?

@mykandrew 3 месяца назад

Yes it is!

@SERKAN_HOT34 3 месяца назад

@@mykandrew Thanks

@MultiRalvarado 6 месяцев назад

Ive been swapping opamps on my A07. Im having problems with the opamp poor contact and producing noise and loss of power.

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

How many times? Here's the bad news ... even the very best chip sockets are not designed to be constantly pulled and pushed on. They are generally used only for failure prone parts and intended to be swapped once or twice in their lifetime. And, yes, they are very easy to break... even the good ones are only up to about 4 or 5 swaps before you have to replace them. Check your chips ... are any of the pins bent? That will also cause poor connections, even in a good socket. Sadly, replacing those sockets on a miniature SMT board is a big job and it's likely to cost you more than the price of a new amplifier. (I typically charge $40.00 per hour with a minimum charge of 1 hour, plus parts. Other guys charge double that.)

@andrewsparks3157 6 месяцев назад

Im not sure what op amps you are swapping into the A07, but the discrete op amps shown here require an extra socket to elevate them up in the air to clear some close in parts. The pins on this extra socket (we call it a DIP socket / Riser) are a bit fatter than the pins on many op amps. So if the socket that is directly soldered into the A07 is getting a bit loose and sloppy, you can install one of these DIP socket / Risers into the sloppy socket and you should get a better connection to the socket that is soldered onto the A07 board. Then you just roll your op amps through the fresh socket that is now on top of the old and loose one. Some sockets are rated for bunches of insertions, and others are only rated for a few. Not sue which ones they use in that unit, but, it sounds like one that is rated for a few. You can also try to slightly kink the pins of the op amp to make a little more friction and a little better connection with the looser fitting socket. Hope that helps.

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@andrewsparks3157 Good advice ... it should at least let him get the thing working again, temporarily. The problem is that only lasts until the socket in the riser fails. Just like the ridiculous cables, tubes, and other dodads, this chip flipping thing is nothing but more audiophile snake oil. Overall the best bet is to understand that beyond the slight advantage of replacing the NE5532s no op-amp is ever going to make an A07 into a McIntosh and, then, just leave the thing alone. The only good news here is that the A07 (et al) are cheap enough to replace without grand fits of conscience and a cheap price to pay for a lesson well learned. If it ain't broke ... don't fix it.

@991carreras3 6 месяцев назад

Easy to do swap but at $160 which is more than the cost of the amp do they really make a difference compare to just using an EQ?

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

Apparently a lot of people think they do ... personally I'd say it's minimal at best. I've actually had pretty good luck with RC4558 and TL072 chips which are less than a dollar each.

@thinkIndependent2024 6 месяцев назад

OP-Amps change harmonics at the low signal level before amplification, 1 in this device is for the SUB-OUT if I recall correctly. There are cheaper discrete options. But for sure harmonics ( and how they interact) is what we love about music

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@thinkIndependent2024 Umm... you do understand that even the very basic NE5532 stock chips have distortion at like 0.0001% ... right? Moreover, the two he changed are just phase splitters for the balanced inputs on the TPA3255 chip. They almost certainly operate at unity gain. For all intents and puposes, what goes in is what comes out.

@mikecampbell5856 6 месяцев назад

I think that modifiying things is in our DNA. Ask anyone who has owned a truck or motorcycle. We need to put our own mark on our possessions and make our stuff unique. I wouldn't modify a $169.00 amp but why not?

@991carreras3 6 месяцев назад

@mikecampbell5856 I agree why not. I'm tempted to try them and see if they are better than using just an EQ.

@marcparsons1726 6 месяцев назад

Any noticeable difference in sound quality? Are Fosi OpAmps bad or something? Bumps the price up a lot!

@YitbosSwede 6 месяцев назад

I think it is less of a bad Fosi OpAmp, and more of the Sparkos I keep hearing about being great OpAmps. I would imagine the one that comes is fine or good for the price range, but if you like the sound/price/power that Fosi has to offer, a new OpAmp could be that extra little something you are looking for. Better than spending hundreds on gear and demoing a bunch of stuff for some.

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@YitbosSwede At $80 each those Sparkos op-amps had better get up and make me breakfast in the mornings! Most good op-amps on the OEM market are in the $1 and $2 price range each.

@TeslaCollie День назад

Is it really worth it?

@DuaneMarchand 6 месяцев назад

Why did you only change two of the 5 op amps? Thanks

@mykandrew 6 месяцев назад

Two reasons: 1. I only had two op amps 2. That’s what Fosi recommended in the case I only had two op amps

@andrewsparks3157 6 месяцев назад

The other three op amps are not always in use, but the two that were upgraded are. There is one op amp towards the back of the unit that is ONLY for the XLR input. So if you arent using the XLR input (But instead use RCA inputs) you can leave that one alone. The other two are for subwoofer output. So if you arent using that, you can ignore those too. The two that were upgraded are for driving the Class D amplifier chip. So those are always in use when using the amp to drive speakers.

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@andrewsparks3157 It would be a worthwhile experiment to confirm that the XLR chip is not in use when plugged into the RCA inputs. The test would be simple enough... take the chip out, hook up and switch to RCA and see if you get sound or not. There are some very clever circuits that allow you to plug in XLR or TRS plugs for balanced sound, TS plugs for unbalanced and often these allow for an RCA jack to be connected to the "hot" pin without switching. (The restriction being that you can't use both at once). In that case the XLR chip would always be used.

@andrewsparks3157 6 месяцев назад

@@Douglas_Blake_579 Yes that would be a great experiment. I know those RCA / XLR circuits you mention, and if it is used for RCA input as well, it would then be worth upgrading. Their literature implies its for XLR in though. So I am unsure. Can you preform the experiment and let us know?

@Douglas_Blake_579 6 месяцев назад

@@andrewsparks3157 I would happily do just that if I had a ZA3 on hand... but I don't. I'm not especially fond of spending money on things I already know I will not use and don't want to sell. Anybody who has one and is opening it up to swap in their favourite over-priced op-amps can do the test in just a few seconds. It won't hurt the amplifier... you just won't get any sound from it if that chip is active with RCA inputs. Put the chip back in and all should be well again. If that chip is active all the time, it's the one you probably would get the most sonic benefit from changing.

@fabricegrard1001 Месяц назад

and not the others opa ?

@JavierGarcia-dv2qs 6 месяцев назад

Hey I'm interested in starting to collect cds but don't know what player I should use, have any good recommendations?

@BillyKueekSG 5 месяцев назад

I am a headphone user so I don’t know why I ordered this amp a few days ago, it is on its way to me. I chose the 48V version.

@hamishthecat4370 3 месяца назад

Connect your headphones to a balanced cable, connect the other end of the cable to your speaker outputs. It'll blow your mind.

@BillyKueekSG 3 месяца назад

@@hamishthecat4370 that was my intention. I have 2 sets of cables for it - 1 with spades to 4-pin XLR, 1 with banana plugs to 4-pin XLR and another with dual 3-pin XLR to 4.4. Briefly tested with the Susvara at very low volume, may get the HFM Adapter box for it and hoping to get a pair of Modhouse Tungsten. Using the dual 3-pin XLR out from the back of the Chord Hugo TT2 is already very good.

@mikepxg6406 2 месяца назад

Replacing an op amp is more likely to add distortion as the Fosi is designed around the opamp inside. Most people don't have enough electronic knowledge to do this. Making a difference doesn't mean better, Every mixing desk in the audio chain has gone through hundreds of NE5532. So you put in an unsuitable OPamp in a little box in your living room, you hear some high frequency noise and think it sounds better because you paid more for it, Unless you can test an improvement you are probably making things worse.

@adivarso8175 6 месяцев назад

It's a real shame they didn't actually make this a true mono amp.

@johnshore3095 6 месяцев назад

Are you going to follow up with a review of these mods? Also copper foil wrapping the big capacitors is something I have seen someone do on modified DAC and circuits. This guy tunes TDA1541 kit. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BYtuF-UxVDo.html