DAC/Headphone Amp Design

[tomchr]

This provides some good guidance on grounding in mixed-signal systems.
https://www.teledyne-e2v.com/content...ard-Layout.pdf

Tom

[Kdent]

I truly appreciate the responses everyone!

Planning on actually getting these soldered professionally as I have a company in mind that is currently offering discounted rates. If the price is reasonable then that will be the play, if not then I might make some modifications per Tom’s suggestions and set up a small oven

Kaden

[kn0ppers]

I wouldn't really suggest having a first revision PCB assembled. You don't know for sure if everything will be working as expected and if changes to the circuit or layout might be required. However, if you choose to have it assembled, there are some things to keep in mind for SMD reflow assembly. You probably know this already but it can't hurt:

1. You should know the solder paste thickness the assembly house uses and adjust the footprint of parts with thermal pads accordingly, same thing if you use a stencil and reflow it yourself. It depends on the package how critical this actually is, but if something goes wrong here and you don't have a hot-air station, it is pretty much impossible to fix. The manufacturer will usually tell you about this towards the end of the datasheet if it applies (I think TI usually does so next to the technical drawing of the footprint).

2. You might want to take precautions to avoid tombstoning, especially when SMD capacitors or resistors are connected to say a ground plane/pour on one of their terminals and to a thin signal line on the other. Not a big deal to fix this if it happens, but it's kind of annoying and mostly avoidable as well.