This is a follow up to my review and measurements of SOtM SMS-200 Networked Audio Player: http://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...w-of-sotm-sms-200-network-player-part-1.1846/
Here, I am tearing down the box and showing the guts. Hope you enjoy
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The unit is rather small but pretty heft. The shroud is a heavy gauge anodized aluminum which gives me no doubt about its ability to dissipate the necessary heat. After taking off the very tight torx screws, we are greated to this beautiful sight:
As you see, it is a two-board configuration. The small board on top is the switchmode DC to DC converter (more on this later). The base board holds the microprocessor (most likely ARM based) and all the necessary peripherals.
I am a sucker for white solder mask and hence my comment about beauty. It doesn't do anything electrically but after decades of seeing green ones, it is an emotional relief.
Zooming into the power board as is, we see high quality choice of electrolytic capacitors:
"Tonerex" is the "audio grade" capacitors from the respected company Elna. No cheap, random brand Chinese part here. Unscrewing the power board shows its full guts:
We see good bit of filtering components and if we zoom in further, we see the main switching dc-to-dc converter:
That's an ST Micro ST1S10 series switching converter: http://www.st.com/content/st_com/en...tching-converters/buck-regulators/st1s10.html
Because it is switching, it means that it has high efficiency so the device doesn't mind having large input supply range. Indeed I powered it with 12 volt supply instead of the 9 volt that it comes with and it ran just fine.
Focusing on the main board, here is a full shot of it:
I must say, I was surprised to see a full custom CPU board. DIY type products like Sonore microRendu use off-the-shelf CPU boards (see http://audiosciencereview.com/forum...ore-microrendu-hardware-tear-down-review.770/). Not here. This is an in-house designed board:
This is shows much higher level of design skill, outside of typical audio tweaker hardware companies who just mess with power supply and such.
I did not want to peel off the heat sink to discover the CPU/SoC in use since this is a loaned unit.
Not that it is all that useful but here is a part that does not have a heatsink:
This is the AXP209 which is from Power-X and performs power management functions (see: http://dl.linux-sunxi.org/AXP/AXP209_Datasheet_v1.0en.pdf)
Overall quality of the board is excellent. I see no hacks, jumpers, hand mods, etc. Check out the silicone adhesive on the power connector:
That is there to make sure the connector does not come loose. Pretty nice quality touch although other connectors were not so treated.
Overall, this is a product created by a company with strong engineering and design expertise. It is a pleasure to open a device and see this level of quality.
Overall, a thumbs up from me!
Here, I am tearing down the box and showing the guts. Hope you enjoy
.The unit is rather small but pretty heft. The shroud is a heavy gauge anodized aluminum which gives me no doubt about its ability to dissipate the necessary heat. After taking off the very tight torx screws, we are greated to this beautiful sight:
As you see, it is a two-board configuration. The small board on top is the switchmode DC to DC converter (more on this later). The base board holds the microprocessor (most likely ARM based) and all the necessary peripherals.
I am a sucker for white solder mask and hence my comment about beauty. It doesn't do anything electrically but after decades of seeing green ones, it is an emotional relief.
Zooming into the power board as is, we see high quality choice of electrolytic capacitors:
"Tonerex" is the "audio grade" capacitors from the respected company Elna. No cheap, random brand Chinese part here. Unscrewing the power board shows its full guts:
We see good bit of filtering components and if we zoom in further, we see the main switching dc-to-dc converter:
That's an ST Micro ST1S10 series switching converter: http://www.st.com/content/st_com/en...tching-converters/buck-regulators/st1s10.html
Because it is switching, it means that it has high efficiency so the device doesn't mind having large input supply range. Indeed I powered it with 12 volt supply instead of the 9 volt that it comes with and it ran just fine.
Focusing on the main board, here is a full shot of it:
I must say, I was surprised to see a full custom CPU board. DIY type products like Sonore microRendu use off-the-shelf CPU boards (see http://audiosciencereview.com/forum...ore-microrendu-hardware-tear-down-review.770/). Not here. This is an in-house designed board:
This is shows much higher level of design skill, outside of typical audio tweaker hardware companies who just mess with power supply and such.
I did not want to peel off the heat sink to discover the CPU/SoC in use since this is a loaned unit.
Not that it is all that useful but here is a part that does not have a heatsink:
This is the AXP209 which is from Power-X and performs power management functions (see: http://dl.linux-sunxi.org/AXP/AXP209_Datasheet_v1.0en.pdf)
Overall quality of the board is excellent. I see no hacks, jumpers, hand mods, etc. Check out the silicone adhesive on the power connector:
That is there to make sure the connector does not come loose. Pretty nice quality touch although other connectors were not so treated.
Overall, this is a product created by a company with strong engineering and design expertise. It is a pleasure to open a device and see this level of quality.
Overall, a thumbs up from me!
