Squeezebox analog mods

[tsingle999]

So i finally tried the sb3 mods after all these years. Its a good thing i waited because i would never do it again. I tried replacing the op amp. Not a chance. Tore up solder pads trying to put it in. Luckily the other mod was to rip out the op amp and take the output directly from the dac chip. (Thank god the dac chip didn't need to be upgraded) i was able to remove a cap and solder a wire to that pad as an output for the right channel. The left channel had to come off the pin of the chip. After soldering the wire to 4 pins all together at the same time i knew i was in trouble. Off to my local repair guy who cleaned up the chip and was able to solder a wire to the pin.
I rigged the output to some 10uf auricaps and nice rca jacks. I have to clean it up some as i just wanted to make sure it worked. It works! And it sounds really good! I lost some volume (80 is now 90) but its still plenty loud enough.

 

[2wo]

The SB2 and 3 were my intro to computer music. I did a lot of mods. I think the 2 got a new op amp and some Black Gates. The improvement was huge. for the SB3 I think I went somewhat the way you did. but I thing think there was a way to eliminate the output caps with the Wolfson DAC, not sure.
This was about the time I went to the Vortexbox and cheep USB DACs...John

 

[John EH]

The SB2 and 3 were my intro to computer music. I did a lot of mods. I think the 2 got a new op amp and some Black Gates. The improvement was huge. for the SB3 I think I went somewhat the way you did. but I thing think there was a way to eliminate the output caps with the Wolfson DAC, not sure.
This was about the time I went to the Vortexbox and cheep USB DACs...John

What's your impression of the cheap USB DAC's?  I personally can't tell the difference between the el cheapos and the high end stuff in the high end audio store near here.

 

[tsingle999]

Ya John i had a new op amp and some bg caps ready to go. I just couldnt get the op amp in place. So what your saying is i could take the output direct from the dac to the rca jacks without caps?  The sb3 already has the ke dac chip. I like the idea of the vortex box. I bought a mac mini and use it thru the headphone jack. Waiting for the bh dac.

 

[2wo]

Hi John, The great thing about the kits is I can experiment on the cheep and its a great way to learn to solder SMD. I will post a pic or 2 with some comments...John 

 

[2wo]

Taran, The SB2 was the one I replaced the op amp. It was not easy, beyond working with the SMD part, the PCB is of such poor quality that you might want to give it a pass.

For the SB3, I just jumped the output caps. I guess they are there for DC blocking but I only measured a very tiny DC offset. I see you are using a SR-45, as am I and it works fine. as well as my other tube gear.

Not saying that it wouldn't kill someone else  set up...John