Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

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D-Tuned
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Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by D-Tuned »

Getting set to order both 1/4" jacks for this card and I intend to try to solder the new ones in myself. The image shows the card with the shield already removed (it covered one of the jacks). How can I find out the correct replacement part #'s to get? These jacks cost only about $5-6 each but I don't want to get the wrong ones, or are there equivalent but even superior makes around?

https://imgur.com/jpNyI3E.png

TIA

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by bluzee »

I might try fitting a db9 connector in place and then build a separate breakout box to mount your audio connection jacks. Connect from the card to the box with a serial cable. This way you can use any audio jack even a combo jack.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

Quarter-inch jacks are physically all the same. The only real difference is whether the jack is stereo (ring, tip, and sleeve) or mono (tip and sleeve only). Your card would have mono 1/4 inch jacks, since each jack is a single input channel. Neutrik makes some high quality jacks.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by merlyn »

Might have been an idea to look at the photo, jeff. The jack sockets in the photo are PCB mounted, and they have enough pins to be tip-ring-sleeve. I would call that sealed type of socket a 'jalco' type, which is the brand known for that type of socket.

Using a tip-ring-sleeve (TRS) socket could be because the inputs are balanced, or it could be that one of the contacts is used as a switch to detect when a cable is inserted. On a consumer card I doubt the inputs are balanced.

One possibility is to use an open framed jack socket, like the kind for inside a guitar, and use wires to connect the socket to the PCB. I think there is less to go wrong with a simple jack socket. PCB mounted sockets are used for manufacturing convenience.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by D-Tuned »

This is not a pro card (God knows I've seen some over a thousand bucks!) but a relatively high-end consumer card so I presume it's all stereo. It cost me close to $300 cad if I remember correctly. I'm no electronics guru but 4 solder-points might also say stereo. Found quite a few such jacks here:

https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/deta ... gKQBPD_BwE

My suspicion is that the insides of the jacks are severely underdesigned, sometimes I get only the left channel in the headset and have to jiggle and slide the plug until in one very delicately balanced position both channels come in. With Audacity set to record both channels I sometimes get only one there. My Me80 puts out mono but that shouold work so long as the Mono-Left plug is used, if using the Rec-Out signal that one is surely stereo all the way. The thing is that when you're trying to record something you cannot have a single break either in the input OR the output because that too 'could' be input as far as one can tell then and there. I'll probably do an autopsy on them after I change them, or even before, just to see what exactly the issue is.

Once the new ones are in I'll lockwire adapter pigtails to the case to take all the insertions instead. The next time I buy maybe I'll look for optical everything.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by sunrat »

Are you sure the jack sockets don't have dry solder joints or a hairline crack in the PCB trace? I suspect that is more common than the socket itself to fail, particularly if they are not securely mounted or subject to vibration.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by D-Tuned »

sunrat wrote: Thu May 04, 2023 11:42 pm

Are you sure the jack sockets don't have dry solder joints or a hairline crack in the PCB trace? I suspect that is more common than the socket itself to fail, particularly if they are not securely mounted or subject to vibration.

I don't have much experience with boards or the magnifying glass this job would need. And this board is overpainted black on top of it all. The solder fixing the contact pins looks very solid, I had a 2003 Jimmy with an anti-skid board that had a bad solder problem, you could see it only when forcing board as the pins would actually move in the solder blob. Looking inside the barrels I see how engineers tried to deal with the space constraint maybe without success, the spring contacts may have neither the range nor the force to assure a bulletproof 'make' throughout a million insertions or at least a thousand. I didn't give them more than a hundred before the problem manifested itself.

Since the board is unusable as it is, I'll unsolder one module tomorrow if I can find the time and see what's inside. A plug inserted into a jack shouldn't even move a micrometer laterally and should never break contact unless pulled, that's the point of departure as far as I'm concerned.

Meanwhile what I need is a source and correct part # for a quality replacement.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by merlyn »

OK, so it's two stereo jack sockets. One input and one output. There are four terminals on each socket. That means there is a switch inside the socket.

To find replacements you will have to measure the sockets on the PCB, and find replacements with the same dimensions and layout.

If we look at the socket you linked : https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/deta ... gKQBPD_BwE

It looks about right :

Image

To be sure check the datasheet against the measurements of your PCB.

The datasheet gives the physical dimensions :

Image

And also how the socket is wired up :

Image

Do you have a multimeter? If so you can check the switch is correct.

You will have to de-solder the old sockets, and that is different from soldering. I would recommend de-soldering wick, which is copper braid that soaks up the old solder.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by D-Tuned »

Thanks for the detailed guidance!

Mine are the ...63B models, already on their way. Didn't have any braid but used some stranded copper wire to take up the solder. Took one apart and it immediately screamed at me how inadequate the design is (the 3.5's are no better BTW). The sprung tip contact is not bad, it has enough travel and almost enough pressure but it's the only one to pass. The switch is on that one too. The middle shaft contact is far less well done and the ring connecting to the first segment is a design-atrocity amounting to the bright ring around the orifice if I see it correctly. Anyone who wants to see, just take one apart. I can only speculate that my troubles were related to this last 'feature' but don't really have the setup to pinpoint it, there's nothing worse than intermittent contact to trouble-shoot. Then on a hunch I measured a few of my plugs and got one of the following reads for each:

0.242
0.246
0.247
0.248
0.250

THIS, is a freaking JOKE, so all the sprung points should be like the one for the tip at a minimum!

Anyway, ain't gonna work my blood-pressure up over this, no more Asus anything, it's that simple. I'll install the new jacks when I get them and I'll move forward from there by immediately attaching actual-use adaptor cables to the computer back-panel.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by merlyn »

I've had a few PCB mounted sockets fail over the years. As you've noticed there are metal contacts and tiny springs. If they get bent or go out of whack the socket needs to come out, as the insides are not easily accessible.

D-Tuned wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 7:39 pm

Then on a hunch I measured a few of my plugs and got one of the following reads for each:

0.242
0.246
0.247
0.248
0.250

What were you measuring there?

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by D-Tuned »

merlyn wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 1:23 pm

I've had a few PCB mounted sockets fail over the years. As you've noticed there are metal contacts and tiny springs. If they get bent or go out of whack the socket needs to come out, as the insides are not easily accessible.

D-Tuned wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 7:39 pm

Then on a hunch I measured a few of my plugs and got one of the following reads for each:

0.242
0.246
0.247
0.248
0.250

What were you measuring there?

The diameter of the nominally 1/4" male plugs. I imagine that the manufacturing tolerances leave room for variation but those were originally calculated for the original phone plugs with plenty of contact spring travel and pressure. With these latter having been mostly sacrificed for space almost 10 thou divergence is I think a way to trouble.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by D-Tuned »

I received the jacks and installed the 1/4" output to Headphones & I'm back exactly where I was. As far as I can remember/determine the initial problem was that I was getting static and intermittent contact on one channel in the headphones which could be a headphone problem OR a Line-In problem form the Boss-Me80. I had to continuously fuddle with the headset 3.5mm-1/4"-adapter/1/4"-plug to arrive at a sweet-spot where both channels could be heard. The problem never did and doesn't exist in the speakers output circuit so I'm thinking maybe the core of the issue lies in the 3.5" to 1/4" adapter/1/4"-plug combination that I use for headphone output. I next need to get a proper 2rca-1/4" adapter for my headphones.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by merlyn »

On the positive side you've kept your hand in at soldering.

This time it would be good if you tracked down exactly what it is. Try the headphones in a different piece of gear if possible to make sure the headphones are good. Same for the 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter. When you say the speaker circuit is good, do you mean the RCA connectors? If so that rules out the ME-80, or the line in.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by D-Tuned »

merlyn wrote: Fri May 12, 2023 11:14 am

On the positive side you've kept your hand in at soldering.

This time it would be good if you tracked down exactly what it is. Try the headphones in a different piece of gear if possible to make sure the headphones are good. Same for the 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter. When you say the speaker circuit is good, do you mean the RCA connectors? If so that rules out the ME-80, or the line in.

I could've saved myself a lot of wear & tear! Yes, the RCA 'speakers' outports connected to the speakers works fine, I have the PROPER cables on the way FOR ONCE :-) I'll be back with the result in a week.

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Re: Asus XONAR 1/4" jack replacement

Post by D-Tuned »

D-Tuned wrote: Fri May 12, 2023 4:47 pm

Yes, the RCA 'speakers' outports connected to the speakers works fine, I have the PROPER cables on the way FOR ONCE :-) I'll be back with the result in a week.

Got some cables but issues remain.

Plugging a 1/4" mono cable from my Me80 into the card's 1/4" Line-In port gives no sound at all ...not until I retract it about 1/4". I don't know, I mean back in the 19th century when these telephone-operator plugs were in use everyone knew that you had to insert hem fully, no one would even have tried any other way. Progress means one design-atrocity after another. The plug has a shoulder, an ideal feature (in conjunction with appropriate standards) to serve as a stop to preclude over-insertion as the first line of defense. The female receptacle or jack on the card provides a second level of protection if someone would only think of incorporating a physical bottoming stop at the right depth inside it.

Too, the only way to get both channels in my headphones is to plug into the speaker output, via the RCA connectors that have been holding the fort. This tends to over amplify the signal which actually comes in handy because the 'headphone' output is still down to one channel only and tends to be weak (partly as a result). I replaced that receptacle too, so there may now be a question of a broken printed circuit conduit somewhere down-stream. For that I'd have to take it to a tech, two return trips worth $50 in gas, plus a bill of at least $100 which seems to be a minimum around here. Looks like I'll have to eat this one :x

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