Socket mounting instead of soldering

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I have never liked using sockets but agree they can be an advantage if you like trying different parts.
On a practical level they do introduce a little stray capacitance/inductance etc that certainly can be an issue with HF work etc.
 
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The first are better for fiddling about with... opamp swapping etc as many on here like to do.
The second are a better product but not suited IMO to keep inserting and removing parts. Think they are Berrylium copper ? plated contacts.

Best of all... get the design right and don't use any :)
 
Hi Max,

Soldering and desoldering on a PCB is hard on the PCB and IC. Sometimes it's beneficial to remove the IC for diagnostics if something breaks down.

Also IC manufacturers are always coming out with "bigger and better" versions of their predecessors. I have stereo EQ's that had they used sockets, I could have easily gone over time from 4558 to TL071 to the new Analog Devices fancy chips out now :)

Sockets are also useful for "chip rolling". For example, would you buy a tube preamp with a 12AX7 welded to the PCB? Not likely ;)

Physically, the dielectrics are chosen for sockets (other than the real cheap ones) that their properties degrade nothing, especially at audio. Matter of fact, the board pad roughness and lefotover solder flux from desoldering and resoldering straight to the board can and will degrade the connection far worse than using a socket in the first place (I discovered this in an electrostatic audio power amp where impedances are high).

None of these examples involve "prototyping", or "getting the design right", they involve production units.

:2c:

Cheers!
 
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There is no right or wrong answer...
if you add a socket where one was not fitted before then the HF characteristics of the circuit will be altered, particularly if the surrounding circuitry is high impedance.

As with most things... take them into account in the design and use appropriately and they should be fine.
 
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