[hipcat]

Hello all, I'd like to make a dac but I don't have much soldering experience
( a Jan Meier crossfeed and a Cmoy amp). I'm looking at a alien or a bantam. It looks like there a some small solder joints on these dac's ( I would pay to have the pcm soldered) and I'm not sure I've got the skill level. Would a novice be able to do one of these or is there another kit that would be better to start with. I'm going from my computer to my ld mkIII if this helps at all.
Thanks for any help in advance, Hipcat

 

[cobaltmute]

Soldering surface mount resistors and capacitors are not that hard. Place solder on one of the pads, place the part next to the pad, heat the solder up with the iron and while the iron is there, slide the part in, then remove the iron. Apply heat to adjust the part prior to doing the second side. Then apply heat and solder to the other end handling it like you would do a through hole part. It does help to do this under magnification. The hardest part will be trying not to flip/sneeze/blow the parts across the room. For that reason, I would *not* order a kit as they only come with the exact number of parts. You should order spares of each of the small parts (resisitors/capacitors) as you will likely loose one or two pieces along the way as you get used to handling the parts.

There are many that have never done any soldering before that have done the Bantam. The Bantam site has good step by step instructions on how and what order to solder the parts down. The PCM does seem daunting, but if you read on how to do it, and take your time, the reward for getting it down and working is very satisfying.

The gamma1 in USB lite configuration could be an option as it has limited SMT parts. I would also say that the GrubDAC is approximately the same build difficulty as the Bantam and Alien, but I may be biased as it is my board design.

 

[nullstring]

what soldering experience do you have?

I shouldn't talk, cause I've never actually done any SMD soldering. (it's in the works, but I've been too busy).

but, I'm under the understanding that if you're comfortable with through-hole, then you should be good to learn SMD.

if you haven't made a CMOY.. maybe you should.

You can just make a crappy one cause it's for practice.
How to Build the CMoy Pocket Headphone Amplifier for $20

EDIT: and make sure you have a small tip thats able to do the SMD soldering..

 

[aj-kun]

Just do it, regret it later if you f it up, I'm sure as long as you get the right tools, it can't be that hard. Watch all soldering videos on youtube and sparkfun and you should be alright.
FYI I myself have limited experience, only doing headphone recables and reterminations and replacing a headphone jack on an amp(my only thru hole soldering experience). But even with that I'm still attempting to build a few mini3 amps because I want to try it.
If I get any good(which I hope) this will be a cheaper upgrade path for the future.

 

[CodeToad]

From my own experience, my greatest enemy was not being able to see. When I was younger, I had eagle eyes and it would be no problem to do smt parts. Now, I really didn't get with the program until I got a microscope to work under. Then my skills greatly improved and my confidence grew.

If you can't see what you're doing forget it.

You'll need a temp controlled iron and the right tip. Tips seem to really be a personal choice. I like .8mm for stuff like the Gamma2. Something like a mini3 only requires a 1.6mm for everything - if you must.

 

[ujamerstand]

Agreed, Just do it, one can be had for as little as 25 dollars! You really don't loose much if you mess up. Even if you do, you can recycle most of the components and spend less on your new try. At least that's how I came to view it.

 

[aj-kun]

i bought magnifying glasses

 

[pixeljedi]

I'd go for a gamma1, you'll get some great experience. Just have lots of patience, and use lots of flux. Pick up a 30x jewelers loupe and a pair of 4x flipdowns if you need to see closer - even if you have awesome vision, I find they help reduce eyestrain. AMB's site has some excellent recommendations for tools to use.

 

[hipcat]

Thanks for the info. I feel comfortable with through hole soldering(I've been practicing at work with old parts) so I 'm going to give it a try, probally the alien dac. Thanks again for the advice.
Hipcat