CE644 ESS Sabre Controller, or who's afraid of SMD....

SCompRacer

SMD as in Surface Mount Devices. This is a new controller I am building for my DAC. It will allow use of a better than LCD display, the OLED display. These are not for sale so one must send the gerber files and have the boards made. There is usually a minimum to have circuit boards made, and I bought this from a guy who had an extra. He had a three board minimum.

That little FT232R or USB UART interface chip is gonna be fun as are the mini USB connections.

http://ce-designs.net/



What it should look like when fini. The code is incomplete so if it works, I am back to the horror of coding....

agfrost

You've got this, Rich.

Populate that board and throw it in the oven on a cookie sheet. I like the silver sheets because the bottoms get too brown/crispy using the blackish ones.

Bake 10 minutes at 350°, 5 minutes at 700°, 2.5 minutes at 1400°, or 1.25 minutes (that's 75 seconds) at 2800°. I'm assuming your oven "doubles down" just like your amp does.

Nonstick spray is a must! I recommend Pam over any of the store brands. Wear an apron to protect yourself!

FTGV

Purdy purple PC board.Get your magnifying glass out when your soldering that one.

ambiophonics

I've never minded soldering SMD components, I have more problems desoldering the old components from boards. What I generally use is a product called chipquik which is basically a low melting point solder and some flux to mix with the original solder which helps keep it in a liquid state longer so you can safely remove the damaged SMD. Then you use braid to clean up any excess and install the new parts. Good luck with the install.

SCompRacer

Thanks for the tips!

I like to use my Hakko FR300 desolder gun with small tip to make spaces between the circuits. I'm too old for this small stuff Fred!

I got the two worst ones done, the mini USB and UART chip. .015 solder helps too. It ain't pretty like a Jay shake and bake, but there are 'spaces between the traces'..lol Say, when you coming over, slacker? lol New pre amp, music server, USB to I2S. No where else to go...this is it....

ambiophonics

Looks good. All I had to deal with today were a couple of 4565 op amps. Your camera must be better than mine!

SCompRacer

Thanks!

Tight fit! Nice work! Op amps surrounded by smd parts! I can see many opportunities for collateral...where did they go? Oh, stuck on tip of my iron! lol

The pic of board is just from my cell phone camera. It does a decent job as long as I hold it steady.

pitdogg2

man that is some FINE soldering skills needed. I definitely see some heat migration to unintended parts..... kudos guys on that skill

bikerboy

Rich,
Good luck on the coding. Not something I would want to do. I want to finish the control panel on my Buffalo and thought I would ask you what you use on your dac. I have a switch to go from I2S or SPDIF. Another switch goes between the 2 I2S inputs. One rotor switch selects the various spdif. Thats it. What other things do you switch since you have much more to choose? Filter slope, DSD, ect? What are you doing with the old display/controller. I may be interested if it would be useful in my dac.

SCompRacer

Thanks for the kind words!

bikerboy wrote: »

I want to finish the control panel on my Buffalo and thought I would ask you what you use on your dac.

10-4, I'll need luck when coding! I'll have to have it working before I'd consider getting rid of my current controller.

I use Arduino UNO with CE-Designs Buffalo III shield and CE-Designs modified HiFiDuino code. IIRC there were some tweaks he helped me with dual mono. But Robert (Corpius in forums) went underground. He told me he was going back for higher education and I don't see him in forums anymore.

http://ce-designs.net/

He has the gerber files on his website so one can have the boards made (usually you have a minimum with PCB makers, like three or more). He also has the working code for the BIII shield available (CE328). The main issue is the electroFUN I2C LCD extra IO Robert used on the LCD (I2C control, less wires) is no longer made.

http://www.electrofunltd.com/2011/10/i2c-lcd-extra-io.html

Now TWILCD by Akafugu has a similar I2C controller for LCD, but I don't know if it is compatible with Roberts shield. I'm sure the TWILCD library would be needed along with some tweaks in code. I have a TWILCD attached to an OLED display we tried to make work with the CE328 code, but we failed. That is why he went to the CE644 designs.

Anyway, I use three pin outs for control, controlled by code and input chosen. One for Sidecar to switch between SPDIF and I2S input, one for OTTO II to switch between Denon 3910 the USB input an one for the DSD remap. (Dual mono really complicates DSD input).

Dimdim has some working code but you'd have to use the big display he chose. HiFiDuino code requires you to build his way, which did not use I2C control of LCD display (lots more wires)!

By far CE-Designs was/is the best way to go. He had every config covered, stereo, dual mono, BII (80MHz clock), BIII (100MHz clock), I2S, DSD, and SPDIF input with the TP 4 channel board. Myself, I'm going simpler and removing the Teleporter for Denon input. Haven't had a BYO music meet since I can't remember. I just don't use it. I'll lose SPDIF too. Just be USB to I2S with OTTO II for DSD input remap.

I'm also going to experiment with running in sync. Trying it right now with single BIII. Of course running in sync means no SPDIF without onboard clock. I'm using the Sonore USB to I2S module. I ordered some of them kewl Ian of FIFO fame BIII adapters (U.fl to header pin). Maybe get some before he runs out.

Input wise you can select and save the best settings per input and its saved in the code. DSD likes more free wheel with DPLL, I2S not, etc. Robert was also the one whom recognized the Arduino had a fixed number of writes, Yeah a lot, like 80,000 plus, but he modified the code where it only writes changes it if you save and exit. Just turning it on and off, changing settings doesn't write until you say so.

The adapters....a clock adapter is included with the U.fl header adapter. In the instructions, he provides digikey part numbers for the bent pin female header. His design was for the first design BIII 1.0.1 board which had no external clock provisions. He had you remove the clock on BIII, attach it to adapter board and solder adapter into board.

I have the BIII V1.0.2 board which has a two pin header next to clock. I just used a two pin header and female connector. The clock has enough internal resistance, just leave it on BIII. I remove shunt module for clock power, attach external clock.

To me, the adapters beats stripping that small coax and soldering it to pin headers. Of course you must purchase the $20 U.fl removal tool...lol

ALL212

I can't even hold the picture's they took still enough to see what they're soldering...

Hand me another cup of coffee - that'll settle me dddddooownn......

SCompRacer

The key to soldering when you shake is lopping part of an old desk fan blade off and vibrating the bench.

SCompRacer

It lives! I had to upload the bootloader from an Arduino UNO before I could upload firmware code via USB. Have to test it with DAC now. This controller has I2C serial isolation. Remote only, no manual encoder code written. Image copied from diyaudio, unsure if it will be visible to all.

SCompRacer

bikerboy wrote: »

I want to finish the control panel on my Buffalo and thought I would ask you what you use on your dac.

I was recently in contact with Gunnar (gwikse). He has been using the Akafugu TWILCD with both LCD and OLED displays using the CE Designs BIII shield. You need to download and install the TWILCD library in the Arduino Library folder and change the CE328 code in regards to the electroFUN I2C LCD.

https://www.tindie.com/products/akafugu/twilcd-standard/

The CE-Designs site has gerber files for the BIII shield so you can have PCB boards made. He also has a BOM and instructions.

http://ce-designs.net/index.php/downloads

Check with gwikse, I'm sure he would share his working code with you. At this point I'm not sure what direction I will take. The new code needs work, so I may just use the OLED display with the BIII shield and old code.

lightman1

Da hell are you talkin' about Rich?

BlueMDPicker

lightman1 wrote: »

Da hell are you talkin' about Rich?

He's gone, Russ.

lightman1

That explains a lot of it. Thank you sir!

Thorton

BlueMDPicker wrote: »

lightman1 wrote: »

Da hell are you talkin' about Rich?

He's gone, Russ.

Lol. I agree. Nice work Rich.

SCompRacer

LMAO! Funny! Thanks for the kind words!

I'm a talking about serial communication with a liquid crystal or OLED display and DAC chip.

You stick one of these on back of display...and a shield (custom PCB) on the Arduino UNO controller.....



to get rid of all that.....



so it looks like this.....



then you upload the code or firmware....



Or in basic terms, you make that DAC chip your beotch via remote control and proudly display it....lol

lightman1

Still got nothin'

SCompRacer

Don't worry....