XMOS-based Asynchronous USB to I2S interface
- Thread starter Lorien
- Start date
I am not at all experienced in SMT work, so others can offer their tips.
I watched a few YouTube vids on SMT soldering. I used a soldering iron with a fairly wide chisel tip with some solder braid to remove as much solder as possible on the side that does not have other close parts. Then applied a gentle upward pressure on the chip while running the soldering iron across all the pins on one side. It let go and bent up a bit. Then more gentle pressure with tweezers while running soldering iron across the other set of pins. It slid right off. Then clean up the pcb with the braid and then some alcohol on a Q tip to clean the pcb.
I would like to add to what Walter said above that in my case, removing all the solder with a solder braid prior heating up all the pins didn't worked all the time as expected, especially to the "strong" pads without any thermal relief available: in this case I'm speaking about the GND pin of that EEPROM chip (pin 4). Instead I deliberately add additional solder on my iron tip and try to spread to as many pins as possible on that particular side. This way, when I'll heat it up there are high chances for that joints to melt as well. Keeping the iron there you can gently lift that side of the chip with tweezers (or a needle in my case).
Obviously, this procedure can be applied for both sides of the IC and use the solder braid only when you have to clean up the pads.
A downside to this process is that you have to be careful not to use too much solder.
If you run into troubles and can't manage to heat up all the solder ball properly just rise the iron temp. My chinese crap usually does show ~360 Celsius but I don't know from where does it take that value as I have a strong feeling that's not so 'real'.
Kind regards,
L
Obviously, this procedure can be applied for both sides of the IC and use the solder braid only when you have to clean up the pads.
A downside to this process is that you have to be careful not to use too much solder.
If you run into troubles and can't manage to heat up all the solder ball properly just rise the iron temp. My chinese crap usually does show ~360 Celsius but I don't know from where does it take that value as I have a strong feeling that's not so 'real'.Kind regards,
L
Hello! Last night I managed to finish the customization work so, for anyone interested, a new version of WaveIO drivers for Windows OS is available for downloading here. The pack is taken directly from Thesycon and it seems that XMOS doesn't have it... yet.
Have fun,
Lucian
(P.S. The DDDAC variant will come out in a few hours)
Have fun,
Lucian
(P.S. The DDDAC variant will come out in a few hours)
That's good to hear.
Did you find any improvement in SQ compared to 2.23?
Cheers
Jonathan
I also have the 0330 board and sorry to say the install failed (multiple times). I uninstalled 2.23 first and trying installing 2.24 with and without the WaveIO turned on.
It is failing right at the end. The dialogue says it is copying the CPanel App and fails to copy. But it copies everything before that successfully.
Never had any problems installing Thesycon drivers before with the same PC/WS2012R2.
Lorien - would appreciate help.
Many thanks
Jonathan
sorry to hear that. I followed this path, uninstall 2.23, reboot, install 2.24 with WaveIO turned on, reboot, I got no problem on 8.1.
Is it ok if you reinstall 2.23?
@ Jonathan: I guess there are some changes to the driver installation procedure as well, like it was some versions before this one...and, once again, I'm a bit skeptical when it comes to this. On my side I tried these drivers on Win Vista, 7 and 8.1. If there were some errors or issues I would contact Thesycon immediately and not release this version as I have no gain in running into this kind of cases like yours and put WaveIO users on troubles!
Below is a list of supported Windows OSes taken directly from one of Thesycon documents. They mention Server variants as well! Like Massimo said before me, I kindly ask you to try again and see if there are any changes. I have to make sure that this is a driver issue or my stupidity 'in action' (as I customized those drivers... at some extent). If, indeed there's a driver problem, I'll forward it to Thesycon and ask for a solution.
Below is a list of supported Windows OSes taken directly from one of Thesycon documents. They mention Server variants as well! Like Massimo said before me, I kindly ask you to try again and see if there are any changes. I have to make sure that this is a driver issue or my stupidity 'in action' (as I customized those drivers... at some extent). If, indeed there's a driver problem, I'll forward it to Thesycon and ask for a solution.
Attachments
Tried installing 2.23 back and that failed in the same way. Error copying WaveIOks.inf file. So it must be something in my 2012R2 set-up as I had 2.23 installed before.
Jonathan, I'll come back to you in the following days with a second version of this new driver.. the unpacked one... like all the variants up to v2.23. Maybe there's a problem related to that archive, who knows! It will take some time as I have to build it from scratch!
Meanwhile I'll search for advices to Thesycon...
Cheers,
L
Meanwhile I'll search for advices to Thesycon...
Cheers,
L
Yes - I think so too. Strange though as I installed 2.23 before without issue, and haven't changed the set-up of 2012R2.
Have you noticed any SQ improvement with 2.24?
Jonathan
Yes, I noticed an improvement, but I also noticed that it is depends on what musical material you are listening. Feel that resolution of highs have increased.
At moment I am testing the Exasound U2I board and trying to compare SQ between WaveIO, Exa and Amanero. A really difficult task! Every board has is pros and cons.
Regards
Sigi