Topic: Dissecting the Radio Shack A/D converter...

[hexyjones]

Is all of that shielding to protect from RF noise?

Im not sure I've ever seen anything put together this well...

Im not sure I can actually get it apart...!

It's totally soldered shut...and when I got as far as pic - the board is soldered to the case - like 2 inches of seam - all solder...

I used some solder absorbing braid - that worked well...Incredible they used so much solder in this thing...

I think - it also has a video in and will output a S-Video signal...I assumed there would be some shielding due to the video - but not that much...

[hexyjones]

This link doesn't open for me. 

What specs do you see that aren't so hot? 

The chip is Toshiba

http://www.datasheetarchive.com/datasheet/pdf/62/62041.html

Doesn't look so hot...

[jk labs]

Is all of that shielding to protect from RF noise?

Im not sure I've ever seen anything put together this well...

Im not sure I can actually get it apart...!

It's totally soldered shut...and when I got as far as pic - the board is soldered to the case - like 2 inches of seam - all solder...

I used some solder absorbing braid - that worked well...Incredible they used so much solder in this thing...

I think - it also has a video in and will output a S-Video signal...I assumed there would be some shielding due to the video - but not that much...

Thanks for the detailed information on the parts used, their location as well as color!   


Shielding has to be complete to be effective.  If you look inside an old TV or VCR you see the same thing: only very small holes are allowed in the RF stages. Modern PCs as well: the enclosing shell is conductive and only small holes are allowed in the shell. This prevents RF from leaking out.
   

[Rleeee]

Would this thing be better than the A/D in the JB3?

[hexyjones]

No...

[§†∑∫åµÞ≥¥]

Would a Burr Brown chip fit in this thing? Would it even make a difference?

[sml42]

I just stumbled across this thread. I actually took one of these apart almost 2 years ago. If memory serves the two main chips are an ADC and a S/PDIF driver. I had the opportunity to listen to this through a high-end audio system, and I can confirm it is utter rubbish (or at least, it sounded trash through the system we had hooked up). In this case, you definately get what you pay for.

best regards,
stephen