Thanks Merlin!
I did watch some videos and bought magnifying glass eyeglasses with 4 different magnitude from Amazon and I hear you what you are saying about the eyes not being too good anymore!
The sucker was hard to get off even with tweezers but I evenly did get the op275 off and unsoldered two capacitors in the process (that evenly soldered back together).
The problem I experienced wasn’t anything anyone mention what my actual solder. It wasn’t made up of Rosin Flux and came Stock with my iron. It just burnt in clumps and it was hard to maneuver.
Honestly, my boards isn’t as messy as other mods I’ve seen so I’m not really worried that I can’t fix it even with zero and little knowledge. In my experience the only way to learn something is to get through the growing pains of making mistakes NOT giving up.
So here’s where I’m at with the Amp since it is soldered terribly and I waiting to receive some Chip Quik which ain’t cheap to remove it on low heat.
There’s a resistor to the right of one of them I’m concerned got misplaced with heat too so it’s trial and error.
As far as giving less volume in some amps in normal conditions, I believe you have to mod even more of the specs to accommodate the board.
What is odd is that EVERYONE and there mother has tried to make the ak4497 on Zishan Dsd board and there are NO upgrades to the ARM board on the software side.
Having Zero Experience again I’d like to know if could drop a Raspberry Pi Or Quad Core Chip board for even more usability, options and better performance but that’s in the long run.
Evenly I want to make a dual mono ak4497eq balanced with 2 boards each running on one channel.
So if you have say you have two boards running independently on mono with one chip per channel you have more option and quality in sound of the op amps and filters.
The AK4499 will have 4 channels per chips makes 8 if it’s in stereo on two chips a bit of overload but hey!
Lastly, I’ve read these forums and they have been HIGHLY informative I’ve learn at lot just reading people’s experiments.
One thing that missing is with all the mods nobody as actually written down what sound they are chasing. That’s a good starting point to know what you want and where you are heading... and at the end it’s all about experiencing the ultimate sonic sounds to your ears!
Some opamps will give a bit lower volume, but you only need to increase the volume 1 or 2 steps to compensate, not more.
Maybe they aren't well soldered or there's a short somewhere, you shouldn't need to change anything else in the circuit after changing the opamps (if you use a compatible/equivalent opamp).
After you solder something that small, you need to inspect if all pins are connected and there aren't any short circuits, before you power it on.
I use a 3 eur chinese plastic lens microscope if my eyes can't see.
Another idea is to use a digital camera macro lens and connect it to the computer display/TV for real time video.
Simple method is just taking some photos and zoom for circuit inspection.
When things don't work like they should, I use a multimeter to check for the circuit continuity, meaning I look at the circuit schematic in paper and trace it in the PCB to the components, checking if the same paths are connected or if there are any short circuits.
I also measure the power supply pins, to see if the ICs are powered and with what voltage.
Those SMD opamps are difficult to remove with the wrong tools, you should use a hot air soldering station and precision tweezers, it only requires a steady hand.
When we don't have previous experience, best is to see some videos in youtube and then pratice the same you will be doing with a trash old board.
This was the first time I used a hot air gun, so I practiced a bit in a old board, the first thing I discovered is the fan speed must be low or all the components will fly from the PCB.
Now I do it very well.
If you want post some photos of the soldered opamps, maybe we can see something.[/QUOTE]
