MOTM

My philosophy:

No question, using sockets adds one more potential thing to go wrong: 
the contacts could oxidize and cause bad connections.

Sometimes sockets might make sense, with parts you may want to remove 
(RAM on a MiniWave, e.g.), or other expensive parts that may have 
reliability problems. I socketed all the SSM chips on my EMu voice 
boards. I would never socket inexpensive opamps - just cut them out 
and replace them with new ones. On the DarkStar, I'd probably socket 
the big TI chip, but nothing else.

I've never had a socket go bad. Paul takes the purist's attitude 
because he's the designer<g>. In practice, it's probably not such a 
bad thing, but you should NEVER use cheap sockets. If you decide to 
use them, buy the machined round pin kind, NOT the everyday Radio 
Shack flat contact kind.

YMMV

Moe

--- In motm@y..., "Tentochi" <tentochi@c...> wrote:
> I am in a constant state of internal conflict over this question.
> 
> Paul strongly believes that sockets are not need and end up causing 
more
> problems than the solve.
> 
> On both of my (Blacet) Dark Star Choas boards, I did NOT use the 
sockets and
> soldered everything directly to the board.
> 
> I have several other kits I am building now, I this question is 
still
> bothering me.
> 
> I would like to hear different people's (including Paul's) opinions 
on this.
> 
> Thanks!
> Todd