AMB Laboratories DIY Audio

[linux-works]

have you tried sacrificing a chicken?

(your voltmeter can be turned off for that operation.)

[jschristian44]

Seriously guys, have you given up on helping me or what can I do. This thing is staring me down each and every day screaming why won't you fix me. What can my next step be. I beg you to help. I think I just am bad at soldering those tiny clips on the surface mount pieces or something. Everything else looks perfect.

[MisterX]

Still waiting for pictures that will allow us to the see the numbers on the ICs, soldering on the boards and the measured current draw of the USB section.

[jschristian44]

Coming.

[jschristian44]

Here you go. A creative slideshow.

http://community.webshots.com/slideshow ... Position=9

Let me know what you think MisterX. If you can fix this for me I will give you my new Fiio E-10 I just bought.

[Nebby]

Can you get a clearer picture of the following pic?
http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo ... 9656NLEFvk

What happened to U3U? I think I can see bare PCB material there...
http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo ... 9656fHCFoE

[linux-works]

most of your pics are so out of focus, no one can really say anything. you need to brush up on the basics of taking tech photos.

some tips: look for the macro setting on your camera, if it has one. also, back off on the distance and let the camera actually get a proper focus confirm. if you are too close, the lens simply won't focus. backing off will give a better focal length and its much more important to have focus than to 'fill the frame'.

avoid flash and use the self timer. set the self timer, turn to higher ISO on the camera and hold it still (if you have no tripod).

as for soldering, I think all connections on the chips (at least) need to be reflowed. they are so uneven I would not trust them. you should get paste flux, run a line down the side of the pins and with the slightest amount of solder on the iron tip, 'brush' or 'paint' from the chip plastic toward the end of the pin. with lots of flux (jelly paste stuff) and a clean tip, you should be able to get even, regular looking joints. what you have now is simply untrustable, entirely. that goes for the small voltage reg chips, as well (those are hard to solder for most people).

after you retouch all critical areas, you need to truly clean the board. buy the stuff in the can ($15 a can or so) and use it! use a tooth brush (new one, lol) and brush that off after some canned anti-flux.

if you did all THAT, then there is a chance you could fix it (just by that) or at least people can give you meaningful advice over the net.


tl;dr:

1) quality of soldering, use of lots of flux, no skipped steps in board cleaning

2) quality of photos matters

[amb]

jchristian44, what is shown in photo 013 is not valid.

http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo ... 9656uddxIp

You're trying to measure a voltage test point on the γ1 DAC section, relative to the ground on the γ1 USB section, while it's not mated to the γ2 board. When they are not mated together, the grounds are not connected, so you're essentially measuring nothing. Not only that, since you're using USB power, without mating the boards together, the won't be any power on the γ1 DAC section or the γ2 board.

[jschristian44]

Can you get a clearer picture of the following pic?
http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo ... 9656NLEFvk

What happened to U3U? I think I can see bare PCB material there...
http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo ... 9656fHCFoE

I will get a new clearer picture. As for U3U, yeah there is bare metal there. There was a bridge between those 2 pins or something and something happened I don't know. The solder still touched the metal underneath. That is ok right?

[jschristian44]

most of your pics are so out of focus, no one can really say anything. you need to brush up on the basics of taking tech photos.

some tips: look for the macro setting on your camera, if it has one. also, back off on the distance and let the camera actually get a proper focus confirm. if you are too close, the lens simply won't focus. backing off will give a better focal length and its much more important to have focus than to 'fill the frame'.

avoid flash and use the self timer. set the self timer, turn to higher ISO on the camera and hold it still (if you have no tripod).

as for soldering, I think all connections on the chips (at least) need to be reflowed. they are so uneven I would not trust them. you should get paste flux, run a line down the side of the pins and with the slightest amount of solder on the iron tip, 'brush' or 'paint' from the chip plastic toward the end of the pin. with lots of flux (jelly paste stuff) and a clean tip, you should be able to get even, regular looking joints. what you have now is simply untrustable, entirely. that goes for the small voltage reg chips, as well (those are hard to solder for most people).

after you retouch all critical areas, you need to truly clean the board. buy the stuff in the can ($15 a can or so) and use it! use a tooth brush (new one, lol) and brush that off after some canned anti-flux.

if you did all THAT, then there is a chance you could fix it (just by that) or at least people can give you meaningful advice over the net.


tl;dr:

1) quality of soldering, use of lots of flux, no skipped steps in board cleaning

2) quality of photos matters

All of my photos were taken with the Macro setting, I don't know how much clearer they could be. It took me forever to get them that clear. I see nothing wrong with them, what all do you need to read. I don't know how to solder well. I do have a flux pen which helps stick some pieces to the board, but I will still mess up when using the flow and wipe technique for soldering these on. If anyone could do that for me I think it would probably work, but I am still unsure. At the moment, it seems that is where my problem is for sure, because I see nothing else wrong with the board. Could a few tiny solder bridges, etc at those surface mount pieces cause the power not to work?