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y1 gamma-1 DAC - Page 3

post #31 of 1546
9/23/08 at 4:59am
Here is v0.57 of the PCB layout. Ther has been a number of tweaks and fixes since the v0.52 posted above. See the headwize thread for details. Barring any last minute issues we expect this to be the version that we will use for the prototype run.

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post #32 of 1546
9/24/08 at 9:19am
A preliminary BOM (based on v0.57) has been added to the first post of the γ1 headwize thread. Have a look.
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post #33 of 1546
9/24/08 at 12:38pm
amb, apologies if you have answered this previously.

Will you be offering the board with the surface mount chips presoldered? I am slightly confused about the push for through hole if the real hard parts are the chips anyway.

By the way - this looks a good project, i should be purchasing at some point.
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post #34 of 1546
9/24/08 at 4:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by adamus View Post
Will you be offering the board with the surface mount chips presoldered?
I had not planned to, but if this turns out to be cost-effective then I might consider it (I won't be soldering the chips myself, would have to have it done professionally).

Quote:
I am slightly confused about the push for through hole if the real hard parts are the chips anyway.
This has been addressed in the headwize thread.
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post #35 of 1546
9/24/08 at 4:21pm
just had a read. I see your reasons - particularly for avialability etc.

I think you would get a lot of demand if the chips were presoldered. The chips will put a lot of people off. Could well be cost effective.

Good luck with it - i get on well with SMD, so i will porbably get one down the line to have a play with.

Cheers

Adam.
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post #36 of 1546
9/24/08 at 9:10pm
I've yet to try SMD but would like to try it, and principally think also people in my position shouldn't be afraid of it, but can't deny the idea of having presoldered chips would be something I'd be encouraged by and would be happy for it to be reflected in the price of a PCB.
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post #37 of 1546
9/24/08 at 11:29pm
I think most people building this would have the experience to handle the PCM chip and similar sized chip. The first time I handle such sized chip was with the AlienDAC and it turned out ok. I don't think this will be suitable for a first DIY project anyway.

Just my 2 cents.
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post #38 of 1546
9/25/08 at 1:29am
x2, but it'll happen anyway. Jeff's solved that one already.
I'd personally like the challenge
Thanks again Ti, and everyone else contributing! I'm looking forward to it
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post #39 of 1546
9/25/08 at 3:30am
So how soon will this be available??
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post #40 of 1546
9/25/08 at 4:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by adamus View Post
....
Will you be offering the board with the surface mount chips presoldered?.....
I think this would be a great idea, as for some people its hard enough to source the chips themselfs, also it the chips are allready presoldered i think it will encourage quite a few more people to built the dac itself, as the hardest part is allready over, hovever only if it was to turn out cost effective.
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post #41 of 1546
9/25/08 at 4:12am
I'm actually kind of looking forward to getting another shot at the dac chip. The pcm2702 gave me a little trouble, but I won't get better at it unless I keep at it.
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post #42 of 1546
9/25/08 at 5:13am
The nice thing about this design is that all the big & expensive parts on the DAC board are pretty easy to solder. SOIC pitch really isn't difficult at all, and it's easy to visually verify that there aren't any bridges. The four tiny ICs (U1D, TSSOP-8 and the 3 SOT-23-5 chips) are small enough to be easily desoldered. So aside from the USB board, it really shouldn't even be that daunting for SMD newbies, just get a few extras of those tiny parts and you should be okay. You probably don't even need the spares, since modern (low current) power supply parts tend to be fairly tolerant of shorts (built-in current limit). I've shorted the output of an LP2985 for 30-60s and it worked fine when I rectified the issue, for example.

The PCM2707 is, unfortunately, another story. Not only is it fairly difficult to solder correctly, it's pretty much impossible to remove without ruining the board.
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post #43 of 1546
9/25/08 at 6:11am
I believe Jeff Rossell now offers the Alien DAC board with the PCM2702 pre-soldered. This might be a value add that Jeff would consider offering for this kit. That is, presuming Jeff will carry this kit.

It would certainly make his kits even more attractive to many people I'm sure.

With the hard to solder chips already done, I'd be pretty sure that this great little project will be an absolute winner.

Just my 2 cents.

AMB: I apologies if you have already answered this question previously, but do you intend to offer either a group buy or an on demand custom face plate for this DAC?
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post #44 of 1546
9/25/08 at 6:14am
Nevermind.
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post #45 of 1546
9/25/08 at 9:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by fordgtlover View Post
AMB: I apologies if you have already answered this question previously, but do you intend to offer either a group buy or an on demand custom face plate for this DAC?
I would definitely consider it. However, due to γ1's modular nature and number of possible configurations, there isn't a single set of panel design that would work for all of them. There are five main configurations:
  1. USB+DAC "full" (USB board configured for S/PDIF format and the DAC board fully populated with coax and optical S/PDIF inputs with front panel selector switch).
  2. USB+DAC "lite" (USB board configured for I2S format, and the DAC board will have no coax or optical inputs, nor would there be a selector switch up front).
  3. USB board only, as a USB-to-S/PDIF converter.
  4. USB board only, as a USB-to-I2S converter.
  5. DAC board only, with coax and optical S/PDIF inputs only (no USB).

In addition, there are sub-configurations. For example, some might want coax S/PDIF input but omit the optical.

It remains to be seen, but I may only do panels for one of these configurations only.
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