RCA output fell apart BOSS2 streamer

[mrdrew]

I was able to pop the blue aluminum case off, but of course it was the lower of the two RCA outlets that broke! The center got pushed in - I'm pretty sure I got this little blue streamer 9/2021, no idea about warranties. But if I'm gonna keep trying to fix this, there's a really good chance I'll break something else! Any ideas?

https://www.allo.com/sparky/boss2-player.html

Is this a return/fix thing? or an "I'm on my own" thing? thanks!

[mrdrew]

I am capable of this repair for sure; but of course I'll have to monkey with it for a while to get to the parts. The screen, for instance, seems to be glued onto the inside of the bezel, which is covering up a screw that fastens the internal HAT board down! Good times. Have you @reprap done one of these before? I'd like to make sure I'm not missing anything before I needlessly rip into the streamer.

thanks for the reply!

 

 

[mrdrew]

Got it replaced. I think what happened was whomever soldered the original wire to RCA connector got it too hot perhaps? The inside sleeve fell out of the RCA connector. Hopefully I did a better job ;)

[mrdrew]

I really like Allo's stuff. Seems to me that they paid great attention to their DAC and really hit it out of the park for quality and value. Both this BOSS 2 and the BOSS. I've had both of them, and their little AMP+.

 

At the moment, I'm on a Allo Digione Signature Plus into a Denafrips Ares II. I don't think I could pick it out in a blind test; but I haven't done one. I should.

[mrdrew]

Got the jack replaced, and now it's misbehaving even more; dang it. I need this little guy working! Is mailing it back to Allo for repair out of the question? The static-y music coming out of one side, I think I have some wires touching somewhere, or grounded incorrectly or something awful like that. I'll follow up on this again in a few weeks after I get back from work. Thanks for the feedback! Maybe I'll just pick up another one for the interim.

[mrdrew]

The amp I was using to listen to the output was bunk. Whew! Problem: fixed.

[mrdrew]

@JamesPRyan check out that pic I posted above, the one where I circled a little screw in red. As I recall, yes: you have to pull more hardware out of the thing. Best to just go and order some new chassis mount RCA jacks amazon $8. Then, if you get in there and the jack is busted, you have the part to fix it.

so you gotta unscrew a few of those brass riser, and pop the screen off the chassis. I think it was just tape/glued down. So go slow, pry slowly, use some heat if ya need. Take pictures. Once you have access to the last board screw, you can pull the board open and remove that bunk RCA jack. If you can fix it, great: remember you don't want it to fail again in the same manner.

Jeeeeesus the "rca soldering" youtube videos are total dogshit. When/if you do it, you need to heat up that brass, and it'll take a lot of heat. You need the solder to "flow." If you haven't seen it before, maybe buy four RCA plugs and heat the shit out of one of them until the plastic melts and the whole thing is hot as hell, it will DEFINITLEY flow. You'll see it, and that's what you're going for for the solder joint. Just the flow: yes, RCA destruction: no.

Dry fit everything first. If you choose to do heat-shrink, that goes on first. One of these "third hands" are also real helpful $8 amazon.

In reviewing the pics, the J18 jumper, I think that has something to do with the board needing two power inputs a "clean" and "dirty" for the DAC and the RaspberryPi.

The other pics are visually inspecting the RCA Left and Right connections. I probably checked for continuity too just in case.

 

Good luck!

[mrdrew]

That looks about right. Get that RCA jack all assembled so it looks the same as the other side before you solder that brown wire on. Remember you’re heating up the brass on the Jack until that solder puddles, then put the brown, pre-tinned wire, into the puddle. Once that connection is made, you don’t want to have forgotten something!

my issue and your issue of the poor ORM solder comes back to Quality Control issues at Allo. 😞