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Alien DAC v1.1 Construction Thread - Page 83

post #1231 of 1560
5/30/08 at 3:25am
Did you use the flux pen when you soldered the caps and other parts?
You should not be getting those little solder peaks
(L15 is the worst example but a lot of the caps on the top side them have them to)
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post #1232 of 1560
5/30/08 at 11:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterX View Post
Did you use the flux pen when you soldered the caps and other parts?
You should not be getting those little solder peaks.
You don't like my pastry-chef talents?

Well, it did seem to vary quite a bit (the solder peaks, not my pastry talents). Should I have used more or less of the flux pen?

Edit: I'm thinking it should have been less. I've not had trouble with that roll of Kester solder with other projects.

Thanks for the feedback.
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post #1233 of 1560
5/30/08 at 10:19pm
this is probably a stupid question but here goes anyway.
I am assembling parts to do an alien dac and have some leftover opa634u 's from another project. Can i use one instead of buf634u for ic4?
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post #1234 of 1560
5/30/08 at 10:43pm
Quote:
Should I have used more or less of the flux pen?
More.
And to answer the question from the original reply.
I did.
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post #1235 of 1560
5/30/08 at 10:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mik000000 View Post
this is probably a stupid question but here goes anyway.
I am assembling parts to do an alien dac and have some leftover opa634u 's from another project. Can i use one instead of buf634u for ic4?

Do you even need either of them?
(if you are not planning on powering the "DAC" from "A virtual ground amp" you don't need either of them)
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post #1236 of 1560
5/30/08 at 11:06pm
i am not actually sure. I have 2 boards and am going to make 1 as a standalone and probably incorporate the other into a millet max
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post #1237 of 1560
5/30/08 at 11:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterX View Post
Do you even need either of them?
(if you are not planning on powering the "DAC" from "A virtual ground amp" you don't need either of them)
Quote:
Originally Posted by mik000000 View Post
i am not actually sure. I have 2 boards and am going to make 1 as a standalone no and probably incorporate the other into a millet max more no
Comments inline, but you don't need to populate ic4. Power it from the USB port.
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post #1238 of 1560
5/31/08 at 1:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterX View Post
More.
Then more it'll be! Thank you. I've got three more boards to play with in the future, so I should be able to get it right by then!
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post #1239 of 1560
5/31/08 at 6:18pm
Nice, MisterX. How very Clive Barker of you. That rocks.

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post #1240 of 1560
6/2/08 at 2:30am
I have a working Alien DAC! Non-boxed, spread across my work table. Currently using some substitute C13s (panasonic fc 47uF/35V) because I can't wait for the others to arrive. Sounds pretty damn good. Can't wait to get the high-buck caps on there!

Thanks all. I appreciate your help! More soon!
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post #1241 of 1560
6/9/08 at 6:01am
I finished soldering and troubleshooting my Alien DAC, and the computer picks it up fine, but I'm getting ~5mV of DC offset on the right channel, and ~20mV on the left. I'm measuring OR/OR with respect to OG. This sounds high -- does anyone have tips on how to get the DC offset down? I'm using the 33uF Nichicon Muse ES caps for CL/CR from Jeff's kit.
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post #1242 of 1560
6/9/08 at 8:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CingKrab View Post
I finished soldering and troubleshooting my Alien DAC, and the computer picks it up fine, but I'm getting ~5mV of DC offset on the right channel, and ~20mV on the left. I'm measuring OR/OR with respect to OG. This sounds high -- does anyone have tips on how to get the DC offset down? I'm using the 33uF Nichicon Muse ES caps for CL/CR from Jeff's kit.
CL and CR are DC blocking caps used on the output. Properly installed, you should not be reading anything above 1mV, and that's only the residual reading from a cheap DMM. In fact, it may be your DMM - or perhaps some issue with how CL/CR or R15/16 are soldered.
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post #1243 of 1560
6/9/08 at 4:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomb View Post
CL and CR are DC blocking caps used on the output. Properly installed, you should not be reading anything above 1mV, and that's only the residual reading from a cheap DMM. In fact, it may be your DMM - or perhaps some issue with how CL/CR or R15/16 are soldered.
I cleaned up those pads a little and now I'm getting ~5mV on OR/OG and ~8mV on OL/OG, so it might be my meter I guess. I'll keep an eye on the DC offset on the amp output once I finish up with that part.
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post #1244 of 1560
6/9/08 at 7:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CingKrab View Post
I cleaned up those pads a little and now I'm getting ~5mV on OR/OG and ~8mV on OL/OG, so it might be my meter I guess. I'll keep an eye on the DC offset on the amp output once I finish up with that part.
Those are pretty trivial offset readings, anyway. I'd chill out and enjoy.
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post #1245 of 1560
6/9/08 at 11:51pm
Hmm, I hooked everything up to my amp and while the right channel sounds fine, the left channel has no sound. It shows 0V AC on the DAC output. I also checked upstream at the PCM side of CL, and it is also 0V AC. Is there anything else I should check? I hope the PCM isn't fried...
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