Is This The Most Used Part In Music History?

Douglas Self, one of the best known audio designers, wrote that "there is probably no music on the planet that has not passed through a hundred or more 5532s on its way to the consumer." The NE5532 is a tiny eight pin chip from 1979, and for decades it sat inside almost every mixing console. In December 2025, Texas Instruments changed what was inside it without changing its name. This is the story of Philips and Signetics, the chip that finally beat hand built studio amplifiers, the console builders who used it by the hundred, its thirty years at the top, and the 2026 fight over a datasheet that left engineers furious. Watch the 12AX7 story, the tube this chip helped replace in the studio: [add link to "Is This The Most Important Vacuum Tube Ever Made?"] Watch the Bob Widlar story, the engineer behind the first popular op amps: https://youtu.be/1Hsy1xwxNDE?si=Rxt8MUFUtlagvG-m Do you work with audio gear, or have you ever swapped op amps? Did you hear a difference? Tell me in the comments. And if I got a date, a number or a name wrong, tell me there too. I read every comment and I pin corrections. Parts That Changed History tells the stories behind the chips, machines and parts that shaped the modern world, and the people who built them. Subscribe for a new story every day. #NE5532 #OpAmp #AudioElectronics #MixingConsole #ProAudio #Signetics #Philips #TexasInstruments #Electronics #ElectronicsHistory #TechHistory #Documentary #PartsThatChangedHistory