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Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

naughtycomputer.uk

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Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#191

Post by genericone »

flocial wrote: post #121

I'm a bit flabbergasted by all the "wow this person just wasted all his free time fixing a nonexistent problem instead of just getting an iPhone" on Hacker News of all places. Yes there's an ideological bent to the whole exercise but that's precisely the kind of passion you need to deep dive into creating your own audio device over a minor annoyance. Yes it's clunky and expensive to maintain but you have to admire th…

There's a lot of smart and well-off people on HN that are not tinkerers. This article scratches the itch for tinkerers who could envision walking through the described steps themselves. On the flip side, this would be a non-problem to others, simply purchase the other thing and stop griping about manufacturer's cent-saving BOM hacks.

Anyway, if the problem becomes big enough, some individual/organization will see the market opportunity somewhere, hopefully.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#192

Post by bitwize »

chaosite wrote: post #185
dylan604 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can disagree with me, but the legal aspect is still the same. You owned the physical delivery mechanism, and the single use license that delivery mechanism represented. Sure, you could sell that, but the point is still the same in that you never owned the content, legally speaking.

You never owned the copyright on the content, but you did own the thing. Not a "single-use license". Owning a CD is exactly like owning a book, in that way.

Grandparent was correct. Copyright law only allowed for private home exhibition of the music/movie. VHS tapes even came with a warning from the FBI. As in, the people who might show up at your house if you copied the movie or showed it to a large group of people.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#193

Post by orbital-decay »

013a wrote: post #156

I have a pair of powered studio monitors (Mackie MR5), and I completely relate to this problem. Many PCs and phones will emit an audible hissing noise while plugged in. I've tested on a dozen different devices, with integrated and external DACs, five hundred dollar sound cards, massively shielded cables, practically every modern OS you can name, tweaking every audio setting exposed to me. The only devices that work p…

>exposing proprietary application APIs which fundamentally make applications unportable and thus contributing to the rise of Electron/RN.

I don't think there's anything modern about this.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#194

Post by dahtguy »

mgalgs wrote: post #188
edoo wrote: post #103

Pro tip: There are enough PCB shops now that small designs like this can just be done in free EDA software in minutes, 10 boards in your hand with a stencil 9 real days later for less than $50 shipped. The stencil lets you paste the board all at once, you place parts and hit it with a heat gun until everything sets. For audio stuff you get the advantage of keeping everything nice and tight with lower noise. I barely…

I used to use BatchPCB and LOVED the service. When Sparkfun shut it down I couldn't find any decent alternatives and pretty much just quit making boards. It looks like Osh Park has a pretty decent offering these days, but I'm curious who you're using with 9 day turnaround time? That's amazing!

I use PCBway and generally get all my designs within an 8 day turnaround time.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#195

Post by blattimwind »

013a wrote: post #156

I have a pair of powered studio monitors (Mackie MR5), and I completely relate to this problem. Many PCs and phones will emit an audible hissing noise while plugged in. I've tested on a dozen different devices, with integrated and external DACs, five hundred dollar sound cards, massively shielded cables, practically every modern OS you can name, tweaking every audio setting exposed to me. The only devices that work p…

> Watching movies sucks; you now pay full price to effectively indefinitely rent movies, and have them taken away at any time.

The quality of streaming services is also a far cry from BDs.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#196

Post by icebraining »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #26
snarfy wrote: post #7

All that because the android-media-player-service has a bug.

You can't really replace android-media-player-service on your phone with your patched version without replacing the whole OS and losing (among other things) automated security updates and OEM stuff... so I can see how a hardware fix is easier. The system of -- is more modular.

You probably can, by rooting and making an Xposed module. But yeah, the amp is more generally useful.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#197

Post by blattimwind »

edoo wrote: post #103

Pro tip: There are enough PCB shops now that small designs like this can just be done in free EDA software in minutes, 10 boards in your hand with a stencil 9 real days later for less than $50 shipped. The stencil lets you paste the board all at once, you place parts and hit it with a heat gun until everything sets. For audio stuff you get the advantage of keeping everything nice and tight with lower noise. I barely…

> 10 boards in your hand with a stencil 9 real days later for less than $50 shipped

Or I take my perfboard or solid copper base material and be done with it in one afternoon, without waiting 10 days and spending less than $50 shipped.

> For audio stuff you get the advantage of keeping everything nice and tight with lower noise.

IME it is way easier to do low noise / high bandwidth circuits on base material compared to making it work on a PCB layout. This is because the base material gives you a huge, continuous ground plane, and because you use all three dimensions, instead of just two (+- two component layers). Of course, semi-modern components require steady hands.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#198

Post by icebraining »

Trombone12 wrote: post #62
g5095 wrote: post #30

Buy a DAC

Were would that go? The author doesn't seem too keen on actually soldering on the inside of the devices, and they all give analogue out. Maybe you meant an amp?

Android supports digital audio out: https://source.android.com/devices/audio/usb

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#199

Post by wilsonnb3 »

013a wrote: post #156

I have a pair of powered studio monitors (Mackie MR5), and I completely relate to this problem. Many PCs and phones will emit an audible hissing noise while plugged in. I've tested on a dozen different devices, with integrated and external DACs, five hundred dollar sound cards, massively shielded cables, practically every modern OS you can name, tweaking every audio setting exposed to me. The only devices that work p…

Except you’re leaving out all the positives and only focusing on the negatives.

Sure, Google can revoke my access to a movie at any time but I can watch on any of my devices and I dont have to worry about finding it in stock at the local store.

I can carry literally thousands of books with me in a device smaller than a paperback.

I can’t stream lossless music from Spotify but I can stream high enough quality that most people can’t tell the difference. Not to mention you get access to pretty much every song you want for 10$ a month.

Electron apps and the web are replacing desktop apps but they are also making it easier than ever to make a cross platform app, meaning we will get apps that we otherwise wouldn’t. This is especially good for Linux, which would be much further behind macOS and windows without popular electron/web apps available like slack, Spotify, etc.

Re: Do I really need to get out the soldering-iron again?

#200

Post by skybrian »

pdimitar wrote: post #74
thanatropism wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Apple premium has gone so damn high though. I got my first Mac when the Mac mini came up. It was a little more expensive than same-generation PCs but besides being OSX it was a PowerPC that never made any fan noise, and was small . I've subsequently had three Macbooks and two iPhones - but I can't afford this somewhat-better-somewhat-more-expensive racket anymore. Prices have risen too much; to boot, the quality…

Disclaimer: not trying to convince you, just sharing an anecdote like you did. - I agree Apple pricing has gone out of control. I should not have to shell out 1500 EUR for a 256GB phone with a bigger display no matter what (XS Max). I mean okay, it's probably the best phone out there but come on. It's a mobile computing device, not a life's insurance bill. - I fully agree MacBooks and desktop Macs haven't had good ye…

FYI you can get better deals on Apple stuff by buying refurbished.
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