Teardown, few basic measurements and personal thoughts of the Focusrite Solo Gen3

[Lemrod]

I am also having USB problems, Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 3rd gen.
I turned my equipment on one morning and there was no communication between my DAW and the Focusrite.
Tried another cable and a different PC.
I took it apart but there is nothing that is obviously fried.
It comes on with the power supply, the unit still passes audio through but the USB port looks dead.
I've been doing continuity tests and I can't find anything wrong.
There is full continuety through the cable to the board so it is not the cable or the USB C connector.
In fact there is continuety on the D+ and D- lines right to the XMos chip.
It is extremely difficult diagnosing a circuit without a diagram, even a block or simple flow diagram will help.
Does anyone have a schematic diagram that I can look at?
I'm in South Africa and there is no local agency that can help me.

 

[Jim_VN]

i'm hesitating between id4 mk1 and solo gen 3, i have a separate DAC for mixing&mastering and i just need an interface that can record well. With the above price, which interface can I choose? thanks!

 

[gamerpaddy]

Sorry for digging this old thread up, but ive tried the opamp swap of the mic input mentioned in the first post.

i swapped the njm2122 opamp with a opa1612 but it doesnt seem to work
its pin compatible but it seems like the opa isnt happy with such a low supply voltage. theres just no amplification going on.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Sorry for digging this old thread up, but ive tried the opamp swap of the mic input mentioned in the first post.

i swapped the njm2122 opamp with a opa1612 but it doesnt seem to work
its pin compatible but it seems like the opa isnt happy with such a low supply voltage. theres just no amplification going on.

Given its factory/ default performance. Why would anyone switch the OP in the first place? Look, over 100dB SINAD seen on the graph from the first post. Put the original one back in as you have no way to test what it would technically improve let alone if it makes it worse. Provided you even get it to work.

 

[Roland68]

Sorry for digging this old thread up, but ive tried the opamp swap of the mic input mentioned in the first post.

i swapped the njm2122 opamp with a opa1612 but it doesnt seem to work
its pin compatible but it seems like the opa isnt happy with such a low supply voltage. theres just no amplification going on.

The two op amps are of course pin compatible, but that doesn't mean you can just swap the two.
There is no point in swapping op amps without checking the circuit in which they are used.
Such a blind exchange can lead to problems, eg oscillation, or to significantly worse values, no matter how good or better the new operational amplifier is supposed to be theoretically.

 

[AnalogSteph]

i swapped the njm2122 opamp with a opa1612 but it doesnt seem to work
its pin compatible but it seems like the opa isnt happy with such a low supply voltage. theres just no amplification going on.

Where did you get your OPA1612 from? Are you sure it is genuine?

It may also be the external phase compensation required by the NJM2122 at less than 30 dB (!) of gain that's messing you up. That guy is a peculiar little opamp originally designed for the microphone inputs of portable recorders, and I'm pretty sure required a bit of hacking on the part of Focusrite to make it work.

 

[restorer-john]

Given its factory/ default performance. Why would anyone switch the OP in the first place?

Tweakers just can't help themselves.

 

[ampguy]

One big difference on the gen 3 solo is trs balanced outs. Gen 2 was unbalanced rca. I’d recommend 2i2 gen3, then gen 2 over solos, then solo 3rd gen, solo 2nd gen last.