Ok, just got off the phone with Paul at Pro-Dig and he did an overhaul on my R300. Included activities were (to the best of my memory)
- Re-attaching (screws/soldering/etc.) the analong inputs/oputputs on the back since they were poorly connected originally
- Soldering the headphone connection circuit
- transport clamps added (apparently these are the things that cause it stop playing) - basically stabalizing the transport for the unit. They also added some parts to the transport that will solve this problem. From what they told me, the way this is solved is they take spare parts which were cut from the R300 in production (cost cutting), but were used in older units, and add them to the R300.
- a couple of connection points resoldered in the digital SPDIF chain that would have introduced digi noise
- a few miscelaneous solder points on the board itself.
Bottom line, cost me right under $230 to get these done, and according to Paul, it will fix this problem and any other problems that could happen with the R300.
Just wanted to close out the discussion here, in case anyone was interested in the info. And for what it is worth, Pro-Digi was as easy to deal with as anyone I have ever dealt with. Very patient in walking through the problems and the fixes. I would recommend them to anyone.
Nick