- Dave Jones didn't spare words [1] on how insane it was to have a jellybean component changing specs so significantly, particularly the input voltage from 22V to 18V, the removal of offset trim, and more.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22ZmmZ67SMY
by phendrenad2
2 subcomments
- Something is going on over a TI. They tried to scrub their old datasheets from the web a few years ago too [1]
[1] - Texas Instruments sent a DMCA takedown to a site archiving data sheets - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25682785 -
354 points by DyslexicAtheist on Jan 8, 2021 | 122 comments
- An amusing aside: Look at the list of "applications." Netbooks? Multichannel video transcoders? Scalable platforms?
I've seen this in other TI datasheets. One old general purpose 74HC series logic chip included "E Meters" in its applications.
My hunch is that whoever was assigned to add these "applications" to each data sheet was having some harmless fun.
Another note is that I'm a low profile customer of Digi-Key and Mouser. Both of them send out change notifications on parts that I've ordered in the past.
by burnt-resistor
0 subcomment
- EEVblog 1752 - Texas Instruments SCREWED UP the NE5532!
https://youtu.be/22ZmmZ67SMY
----
Summary of changes:
- Input stage changed from NPN to PNP
- Slew rate decreased from 9V/µs to 5V/µs
- Supply voltages absolute ratings decreased from ±22V to ±18V
- This sort of thing really annoys me. Part numbers are for use of engineers, not for the marketing dept. If you change the specs, change the part number.
by mikewarot
2 subcomments
- This is the electronics equivalent of Python3's breaking changes to string handling. It's pure evil, and will have 2nd order effects for decades.
by anonymousiam
0 subcomment
- Also featured here: https://hackaday.com/2026/06/03/texas-instruments-changes-th...
- And here I naively thought Texas Instruments is expensive but at least decent.
Turns out no.
by PunchyHamster
1 subcomments
- This is fucking dire. Lowering voltage will just lead to early failures for poor clueless designers/repairmen that had old datasheet saved and just assume it will never change but slew rate chance is just "well it works, but suddenly it's worse in certain applications"
- There are better and superior alternative of NE5532 these days. People should just move on. OPA1612 is the king in highest-end audio performance, at least on datasheet paper.
- The Boeing 737 Max of chips …
- Oh, wow, I was expecting from the title that, eh, maybe they changed the process or something, and someone was being a bit fussy. But yeah, no, different part.
- It's not clear if the SMT version is also bad?
- This is why you should always order new parts for a new design and never, never trust the old guy with the magic parts box. Also why learning to read and compare data sheets skeptically is a fundamental skill.
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