Tutorial  Updated

Increase the earphone output volume of your 3DS (some models so far).

THIS MOD WILL NOT INCREASE THE POWER OF LOUDSPEAKERS.


If you want to go straight to the modding process, skip the following paragraph.


When I tried to use the 3DS for the first time, I am very disappointed on the earphone volume of the system. It's very weak compared to other Nintendo handhelds even with in-ear earphones with low impedance. To mitigate this problem, I built a DIY headphone amp because I don't have a spare budget for buying a commercial amp and I like to build my own amp. The problem is, every time that I travel with my 3DS, I need bring my amp to fully enjoy the sounds of the games that I play. One day when I disassembled my unit to clean its buttons, I used that time to analyze the connected components to the earphone socket and I discovered resistors connected to the left and right output channels in series. I measured the resistance of these resistors and the value of both resistors is 25 ohms. When I plugged in my 16 ohm earphones, I measured again the resistance of both channels and and the result is approximately 45 ohms per channel. There's some additional resistance from the coil connected to the aforementioned resistors and the wire of earphones.

After performing measurements, I suddenly thought if eliminating these resistors will increase the output because of reduced resistance of the earphones. So, I bridged the ends of resistors to bring down the resistance to 0 ohms. After soldering the resistors, I turned on my unit to test my hypothesis if it works. And the result? The output is way louder than before! I compared it to my neighbor's unit and the difference is night and day. The treble is more crisp and the bass is more deeper. With this mod, I'm not bringing my amp when I use my in-ear earphones anymore.

Well, let's begin with the modding procedure!

Steps:

1. Disassemble your unit. If you never disassembled a 3DS before, go to this site:
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Nintendo_Handheld_Console
You only need to access the side where the earphone socket is mounted.

2. Locate the resistors. Here are the photos of each model of 3DS. The resistors are marked with red boxes.

Old 3DS:



Old 3DS XL:



2DS:

No photo for now since I don't have one.

New 3DS:

Same with 2DS.

New 3DS XL:



3. Bridge the ends of each resistors as shown on the photo below.





Alternate method: remove the resistors and bridge the ends of solder pads. Sorry if I forgot to take a photo of bridged solder pads.



4. Clean the remaining flux on the board (if there's any) and test your unit.

5. If the sounds is louder than before modding, congratulations! You completed this mod!


To describe how loud it is, it's louder than any Nintendo handheld except to DMG-001. Best results with low impedance earphones.

To 2DS and New 3DS users who want to try this mod, the resistors are usually located near to the earphone socket. Let me know if you found these resistors and post some photos.

Thanks for reading!
 
Last edited by KipMudz,

WulfyStylez

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whoa, careful with this! running a small op-amp like this without resistors will almost definitely damage it or whatever's feeding it power fairly quickly.
 

KipMudz

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whoa, careful with this! running a small op-amp like this without resistors will almost definitely damage it or whatever's feeding it power fairly quickly.
If my unit was damaged with this mod then why the hell I made this thread? I'm not wasting my time to create a thread about how I fucked up my unit. I already have this mod for over a year and nothing bad happened. No overheating, random reboots, freezing, BSODs, etc. The resistors removed are on the output stage.
 

Jayro

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Ahh so this hasn't blown any 3ds speakers so far? Interesting.... I wonder why Nintendo put resistors there in the first place then....
To protect the sensitive ears of children. Their bodies are still forming, and loud noises can damage their hearing early on.
 
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Azel

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Thanks for this.

A million.

I use 24 and 32Ohms headphones, and the sound is louder and clearer than ever.

This will also be a big help for NTR video streaming.

More than ever, if you have the skills and the tools, DO IT! you just need to unscrew 8 screws, don't need to do more to access the SMD resistors needed to be desoldered.
 

Foxi4

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Thanks for this.

A million.

I use 24 and 32Ohms headphones, and the sound is louder and clearer than ever.

This will also be a big help for NTR video streaming.

More than ever, if you have the skills and the tools, DO IT! you just need to unscrew 8 screws, don't need to do more to access the SMD resistors needed to be desoldered.
Or you can use an amplifier instead of sacrificing sound fidelity for pure volume.
 

Azel

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I honestly don't see how I sacrified sound fidelity.
those were resistors to limit a signal voltage, to limit dB output lower that the law in some countries require, those are in no way filters.
also I can still use an amp after that, removing resistors will only provide a better sound to be amplfied by the amp.

I also do own a decent pair of cans (Sony MDR-1ABT) but with 24Ohm impedance, the signal was with noise outside), I also plug my n3DS on a THX 2.1 audio system with an map, and some parasites where amplified along the way, and not filterd, since to close from the low output signal)

I'm at loss as to why doing this sounds so bad to you. (I'd also like to point out that I have a degree in electrical engeneering and signal treatment, so I think I know what I'm doing, and what I'm talking about)
 
Last edited by Azel,

piratesephiroth

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So I did this mod to my O3DS XL and yeah the volume gets significantly louder and I didn't notice any additional noise.
Some games seem to get a bit too loud when on max volume though.
 

Gizametalman

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Want to do this. My R button ain't working correctly for a long time now, and my Headphone jack needs to be re-soldered again (I can only hear the left channel, but If i pull hard my cable up, the right channel will be "restored")
But I have one question.
In the past, simple things like the fucking L and R triggers in DSLite, ended up with a decomposed system. Apparently, the first two times was because a resistor disoldered itself (Swear I didn't do anything wrong) and the third time I wanted to replace the buttons of my previous broken white DS's to my black DS, you know... and this time, the upper screen ended up all glitched and darker, it eventually broke.

Can something like that happen again if I dissasemble my unit? What do I have to do in order to prevent those mistakes?
 

piratesephiroth

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Want to do this. My R button ain't working correctly for a long time now, and my Headphone jack needs to be re-soldered again (I can only hear the left channel, but If i pull hard my cable up, the right channel will be "restored")
But I have one question.
In the past, simple things like the fucking L and R triggers in DSLite, ended up with a decomposed system. Apparently, the first two times was because a resistor disoldered itself (Swear I didn't do anything wrong) and the third time I wanted to replace the buttons of my previous broken white DS's to my black DS, you know... and this time, the upper screen ended up all glitched and darker, it eventually broke.

Can something like that happen again if I dissasemble my unit? What do I have to do in order to prevent those mistakes?
In the 3DS the L and R switches are connected to the main board. You just buy new ones and replace them without needing to solder anything.

There's probably a little bit of risk in this earphone mod because the resistors are pretty small and there's some other components near one of them (or if you destroy the traces on the board and can't solder anything there and just kill your earphone jack) but as long as you're careful you'll be fine.
 
Last edited by piratesephiroth,

Nazosan

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Sorry for the thread necromancy here, but has anyone successfully done this on the N3DS (non-XL) and maybe has a picture? I've never been very good at telling SMD components apart well since several look just alike to me so I don't particularly want to really mess with it without being sure which is which.

BTW, to those asking about using amps, it's pretty simple actually. This uses the actual abilities of the built in amp. The output is being arbitrarily limited by Nintendo's design at the output stage (meaning it even still amplifies by the same amount.) Thus more sound quality is lost by actually using an amplifier than by simply making better use of the one you're already using. (Yes, it isn't really human audible, but the point is that if your theory is fidelity loss, then this is actually maximum quality.) Anyway, connecting up an external amp can be a bit of a pain at times and sometimes you just want to plug something in and it just work. Simply put, you're decreasing the dynamic range when you lower the output at the first stage, so amplification after the first stage simply increases the noise floor. (And any noise heard when the resistors are removed is basically noise produced by the system to begin with.)
 
Last edited by Nazosan,

Nazosan

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Ah, I just remembered earlier that I had an old N3DS I broke pretty thoroughly. I didn't want to take this one apart because I really really hate dealing with ribbon cables and such and I'm pretty sure it's going to be on the bottom, but the broken one is fine since it's pretty well only good for parts. So here are pictures of the front and rear of the relevant area on it where maybe someone can identify exactly what should be bypassed.
front: front.png
rear: rear.png
 
Last edited by Nazosan,

Dennis G

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Thanks for this.

A million.

I use 24 and 32Ohms headphones, and the sound is louder and clearer than ever.

This will also be a big help for NTR video streaming.

More than ever, if you have the skills and the tools, DO IT! you just need to unscrew 8 screws, don't need to do more to access the SMD resistors needed to be desoldered.
if you liked this mod you could take a look at the bluetooth transmitter mod, it will not take away from your speaker/headphone options but it will add a third option to wireless stream the audio from the 3ds to your laptop while running ntr streaming to get a fully wireless transfer of audio + screen at the same time without delay, it's done by building a bluetooth transmitter inside your New 3ds XL, There is a guide on it + i made one with video tutorial aswell
 

KipMudz

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Ah, I just remembered earlier that I had an old N3DS I broke pretty thoroughly. I didn't want to take this one apart because I really really hate dealing with ribbon cables and such and I'm pretty sure it's going to be on the bottom, but the broken one is fine since it's pretty well only good for parts. So here are pictures of the front and rear of the relevant area on it where maybe someone can identify exactly what should be bypassed.
Looks like the resistor-inductor pair for the audio output is located on your rear photo. Can you please measure the resistance of these two SMD parts that I marked? If it's around 25 ohms, then these are the resistors that you need to bypass. You can verify the connections of these resistors to the earphone jack by testing the continuity from earphone jack pins to the end of resistors or inductor coils.
 

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Nazosan

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Geez, those are so tiny when I looked at the board I just sort of skipped right over them. Well, when I test from end to end they come out indeed really close to 25 ohms (around 24-24.5 or so.) It's a bit hard to hold steady enough on the correct side to get a reading to the headphone jack, but I believe it is confirmed as also being the same reading as end to end. So these are the resistors to bypass then?

I don't relish pulling the board out on my good system, but I truly abhor this extra resistance on the output. I'd feel more comfortable hearing some confirmation of what... I guess I already know in this respect first before I actually do this. I intend to simply bypass (not remove) them, but it's likely that whatever I do will be really really hard if not completely impossible to reverse.
 
Last edited by Nazosan,

KipMudz

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Geez, those are so tiny when I looked at the board I just sort of skipped right over them. Well, when I test from end to end they come out indeed really close to 25 ohms (around 24-24.5 or so.) It's a bit hard to hold steady enough on the correct side to get a reading to the headphone jack, but I believe it is confirmed as also being the same reading as end to end. So these are the resistors to bypass then?
Correct. For extra confirmation that these are the resistors that you need to bypass, connect a pair of earphones to the unit then perform a continuity test on both resistors. If you heard some noise or beep ( it depends if your multimeter is set to ohmmeter or continuity test), then you can finally confirm that these are the resistors that you need to bypass.
 

Nazosan

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GAH! I'm never ever doing that again on one like this. :unsure: Those resistors are so incredibly tiny that even my smallest hemostat and components are nearly completely impossible to maneuver in there. This is something probably best left to the experts. *Sigh* One thing I definitely noticed though... I'm left handed at things like writing and, by extension, soldering. This really needs precision from one's right hand. Luckily I'm relatively ambidextrous, but I would have been much better off if I could have used my left hand. I guess one of those others you showed where the resistors were separate by a much wider area would be easier at least.

Anyway, after a lot of effort, I got it to work on one side and had to pull it apart and do the other again (absolutely had to since I guess I fried the resistor -- there was no sound on the right -- which is the bottom one in that picture btw,) but finally now it works. One thing I will say is that this is a mod that should be done more often by those with the proper skills and tools though. WOW it sounds so much better on my higher impedance headphones. The volume is still just a tad low on maximum, but overall it's well within an acceptable range and I no longer feel like I must use an amp for just everything. When I do need an amp it won't need nearly as much amplification (btw, on the subject of fidelity, the lower the multiplier the better) but most of the time probably won't bother. Plus when I want to connect it to an external speaker I won't have to hook up an amp in between just to get it to sufficient volume anymore now. (Even on maximum my speaker amplifier wasn't getting quite enough volume from the N3DS. It was FAR less than everything else I own. So much so I'm actually a little surprised that the resistance was only 25 ohms.) If I'm REALLY in a jam session I might still need a pre-amp in there for just a little bit (it's still a tad quieter than most of my other devices) but overall the result is just excellent.

Really what is probably needed here is one of those circuit drawing pens. I don't know how good quality the circuits they produce are though. For future reference, do you know how well those do for audio circuits?
 

KipMudz

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GAH! I'm never ever doing that again on one like this. :unsure: Those resistors are so incredibly tiny that even my smallest hemostat and components are nearly completely impossible to maneuver in there. This is something probably best left to the experts. *Sigh* One thing I definitely noticed though... I'm left handed at things like writing and, by extension, soldering. This really needs precision from one's right hand. Luckily I'm relatively ambidextrous, but I would have been much better off if I could have used my left hand. I guess one of those others you showed where the resistors were separate by a much wider area would be easier at least.

Anyway, after a lot of effort, I got it to work on one side and had to pull it apart and do the other again (absolutely had to since I guess I fried the resistor -- there was no sound on the right -- which is the bottom one in that picture btw,) but finally now it works. One thing I will say is that this is a mod that should be done more often by those with the proper skills and tools though. WOW it sounds so much better on my higher impedance headphones. The volume is still just a tad low on maximum, but overall it's well within an acceptable range and I no longer feel like I must use an amp for just everything. When I do need an amp it won't need nearly as much amplification (btw, on the subject of fidelity, the lower the multiplier the better) but most of the time probably won't bother. Plus when I want to connect it to an external speaker I won't have to hook up an amp in between just to get it to sufficient volume anymore now. (Even on maximum my speaker amplifier wasn't getting quite enough volume from the N3DS. It was FAR less than everything else I own. So much so I'm actually a little surprised that the resistance was only 25 ohms.) If I'm REALLY in a jam session I might still need a pre-amp in there for just a little bit (it's still a tad quieter than most of my other devices) but overall the result is just excellent.

Really what is probably needed here is one of those circuit drawing pens. I don't know how good quality the circuits they produce are though. For future reference, do you know how well those do for audio circuits?
I'm glad that you successfully performed the mod. It's kinda late but I would like to say thank you for taking a photo of n3DS board. I will update the OP later for the n3DS section.

Regarding to the circuit drawing pens, I haven't tried one personally but as long as it doesn't have any significant impedance on small traces, then I think it's fine to use.
 

Nazosan

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Yeah, you're more than welcome to use those pictures as you need. Maybe someday I'll get brave and try it on my 2DS and provide pictures there. I'm willing to bet that it is something between the old 3DS and the 3DS XL as it has plenty of space on the board to work with in comparison but is built on the old 3DS design principles. Sorry I couldn't get it a bit clearer. I don't have a real camera, just my phone. But I guess it did fairly well since, despite my excellent vision, I still used slight magnification to deal with this and I felt like it, as blurry as it is, still showed more detail than I could see with my naked eye.

As far as circuit pens go, they do definitely produce impedance and have a very low capacity for actual current. With audio over such an incredibly short area though it may not matter. You definitely wouldn't want to use one for any real power lines or over a large distance, but if you could find one with a fine enough tip it might be perfect for this sort of thing. I don't have one right now though and I'm not sure if any have a fine enough tip (the last one I saw was relatively large.)
 
Last edited by Nazosan,

Yepi69

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I might do this, although I'm afraid of fucking something up but I'm quite confident with my soldering skills already.

Sent from my Vodafone Smart ultra 6 using Tapatalk
 

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