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In Reply to: RE: cPlay - the open source high-end audio player using ASIO posted by cics on May 05, 2008 at 13:31:58
Finaly got my OS installation to where it was before doing the removal, and with the new board having to settle in, I am able to hear/not hear what this is doing.
I was expecting a tonal change, even though Mr. Wong made it clear in his posts that this was about extraneous noise in the background.
This morning I am able to appreciate what this does. There is great increase in nothingness between sounds and a seemingly for the moment disappearance of hash within sounds. Of course, the ear is relentless and will become sensitive to some new gremlin in time but for the moment this is perceived as unimproveable.
While I did not find it as difficult as I expected to be it is still scary screwing around with what could end up being one hundred dollars of junk.
For those who might be interested here are some notes of how I did it.
I initially tried to unsolder with the heat gun the connectors at the back fo the board. I removed all but the monitor jack and the PS/2/USB jacks to the right of this. I knew I would never need them and the space this gives made it easier to work.
Since heat wasn't getting them to move I forcefully took them apart. This is crude as it can be but I worried the massive heat needed to remove them elegantly would likely take a toll on the board. Just kept tearing away stuff till I got near the MB and then cut the wires to the traces (most of them are wires that go "up" into the connector assembly.
After this I did use my soldering iron (turned up very high) to clean off the traces. Many of the traces simply disappear. (I did this with all of the devices removed.)
Then to the heat gun. I did find one with a nozzle 0.75 inches in diameter. I set the heat as high as it would go and used the low fan speed. I removed them in the order Mr. Wong recommended This post is linked below.
Sure enough the sound chip actually POPPED off of the board. Made noise and leaped into the air. The others required picking up to get out of the way. I made a heatsink to protect capacitors when they were close with some copper foil, the kind they make crossover inductors with.
I did use the soldering iron to remove the MOSFETS. High heat was required.
Removing the jacks took quite awhile so I did the component removal the next day. I think I needed the time to recover (!) and to plot my course of where I would point the gun. While doing the jack removal you get plenty of time to burn the board's image into your brain which allows you to meditate on it for the next 24 hours. Having never done anything quite like this I wanted to be confident. This is nothing like woring with the typical through-hole PCBs I have worked with for years.
Since it was a new board, though basically the same as my previous MB, it was a later revision which made it different enough that my OS install was not allowed. I had done lots of work on the previous install thinking it would "bolt right in". Oh, well, got to do it again and I tell myself I do it better each time.
I have done so many lately that I think the process has become a transcendental meditation mantra, though a very long one. Only the registry slimming gets old and RESOURCE HACKING; modifying all of the .dlls can get old. Of course, some of what I did was likely superfluous but one figures why not?
With my seriously slimmed .dlls there is a 30 seconds delay between the message LOADING OPERATING SYSTEM and the appearance of the cMP screen. Slightly inconvenient and who knows what I deleted to get that to happen. I can live with it easily.
Also, when you want to turn off the computer or restart the little screen has the buttons but no writing. I think I deteted almost all of the STRING stuff.
SO, it is very worthwhile to do this and while tricky not daunting if you have good soldering skills.
Thanks again to Jack Wong for his ingenuity.
Follow Ups:
You are thorough. Did you also remove the com port ic and small transistors of the USB ports? And the crystal for the sound chip. The last thing, if you dare, the 1394 controller. I'm just joking, don't take this seriously.
If there is something to be gained I am ready to give it a try if you would be kind and show me where these things are.
One can't be satisfied once they know of the existence of the next step.
I hope you are serious.
friends! I don't want to persuade anyone to try something risky like I did. That's all.
I've been working last night and today auditioning CMP on XP Home Edition. Will post soon on this.
I'll show you the components to be removed, but be reminded that it's more risky this time.
There has never been a doubt in my mind that you are as SERIOUS MINDED about audio as one can be.
No one could accuse you of baiting anyone into taking your advice.
But for those of us wanting a challenge ...
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