ProtoDAC TDA1387 X8 project

[eculcea]

A cautionary tale...make of it what you will.

I have 4 ProtoDacs... 2 with the module soldered in place and 2 with the module pressed in to soldered headers.

Both soldered versions have failed. Low or no output on one channel.
Both pressed via headers perform fine.

From several posts on this and other threads I suspect the modules are very temperature (solder) sensitive and would suggest that using headers is beneficial.

Today I tried to desolder an errant module that was hardwired.
Would not recommend !
I finally managed to remove the module and replaced with headers and a new module.

I now suspect the soldered module was compromised from installation and had deteriorated  prior to its dropout.
The replacement has all the life and sparkle of the original and with a now pressed fit I hope for it to continue as such.

However, I am now calendaring to unplug-replug modules in their newly installed  headers and perhaps some Cramolin.
(have several modules in reserve just because)

I installed a socket on my ProtoDAC and I can easily change the modules. Recently I had couple of modules go bad and I started to think what could be the problem since it worked well for a while. The I realized lately I changed my setup to something different and for this setup I need to bring the ProtoDAC output volume to the max, I think this is what burned out the TDA1387x8 module.