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

fairuza · Feb 4, 2021

who do i hire to do this and about how much will it cost? do i just show him/her the original post and they'll know what to do from the picture/description?

Nazosan · Feb 4, 2021

HOLY THREAD NECROMANCY BATMAN!

fairuza said:
who do i hire to do this and about how much will it cost?

I don't know if anyone can actually directly answer that. Anyone who is good with electronics and a precision tip low power soldering iron can do this probably. The process is relatively quick and easy for those who know what they're doing, so theoretically it wouldn't cost a lot relatively speaking (not as much as something like a modchip on a modern console for instance.) Beyond that I really have no idea and I suspect not many here could tell you either really. Good luck I guess.

do i just show him/her the original post and they'll know what to do from the picture/description?

Probably. The basic mechanism is extremely simple. There are a couple of unnecessary resistors on the output stage (really stupid and lazy way of them to do this btw -- better just to lower the amplification than to tack on extra resistance after it) and the whole mod is just to simply bypass them. It's not even terribly hard to get to this part of the PCB.

fairuza · Feb 5, 2021

thanks. i guess what i was trying to ask is what is the job title and type of business of a person who could do this? do i search for local electronic repair shops? i just have a feeling the person at the register will have idea no idea what i'm talking about. they probably deal with "my phone is broke" and "my laptop won't turn on", not "i need someone to modify my perfectly functioning device by doing this very specific thing i found on the internet." and they'll think i'm an idiot (because i am).

Nazosan · Feb 5, 2021

Well, anyone who can deal with SMD components can do it. That would include some repair places, although in most cases they may be used to modular components (eg screen, digitizer, etc) where you buy a complete component and attach a ribbon cable or whatever and no soldering. The types of places with people who can repair things like, just for example, the Switch charge circuit would absolutely be able to do this. This mod is simply bypassing two easy to access components, so anyone who can deal with things like replacing SMD diodes and such can easily deal with this -- especially since you don't even have to actually replace them (a solder bridge is sufficient.) So perhaps you might start there. As for pricing, I would guess a relative fraction of the cost of dealing with that since there are no components to replace and the process is considerably simpler, but there's still the labor itself which, while significantly reduced, is still going to end up being the biggest factor.

It's definitely advantageous in pretty much every way to perform this mod versus the alternatives since it's the cleanest and most efficient way, but if you're actually having to go this far, are you sure you wouldn't be better served by simply using an external amplifier? The 3DS has a pretty decent quality output, but it's still relatively weak an and external amplifier certainly offer quality improvements anyway. It's certainly more inconvenient to deal with, but if you're struggling even to find someone to do the mod it may be worth going that way instead. Some, like the Fiio A1 can handle things about as well as the 3DS's own internals while being small enough that you could just double sided tape or velcro it to the bottom of the system perhaps. Just making sure you're considering all your options anyway. It may even be worthwhile to put the actual mod itself on the backburner, using an amplifier for now, and coming back to it later after messing around with other (less expensive, preferably already broken) electronics when you have the confidence to just do it yourself.

All that said, the hardest part of finding someone else to do it is definitely the matter of how even to ask, so I guess look for people who do stuff like the Switch charger repair as those are the sorts of people who know which end of the soldering iron to hold and have the tools to do this fairly easily.

SaltyClown_ · Mar 21, 2021

Thank you for the tutorial! It worked totally fine on mine!

SG6000 · May 21, 2021

I always meant to be investigate the audio circuit in my main 3DS because I'm pretty certain the volume balance between the L and R channels is off.

As much as I don't enjoy soldering work on modern electronics (I lack the equipment and eyesight these days) this mod seems too straightforward not to do.

Massively belated thank you for this guide.

Jayro · May 21, 2021

Do these limitations exist on a Gameboy too, or no?

BigBankBailey · Aug 1, 2022

Awesome! I can't wait for someone (you) lol to help do this to the ps vita. It needs it as well thank you so much this worked and helped a full 25 percent gain at least which is better than nothing. N3DS XL

Nazosan · Aug 2, 2022

I believe the Vita implements volume limiting via software -- AVLS they call it. You'd probably have to either buy a different region model if you have an affected one (namely EU models) or get a CFW installed and use homebrew to disable it. (I found this in a really quick google search for example: https://github.com/SKGleba/VITA-NoAutoAvls )

It's actually not normal for a manufacturer to add extra unnecessary resistors to the headphone output stage. I don't think you'll find a lot of other devices that do it this way. (I don't know about the Gameboy btw, but it seems unlikely given its age.)

BigBankBailey · Aug 9, 2022

Thank you for finding it for me and others. That's even better I never want to do this 3ds mod again haha super tiny and one of them is in a very hard spot to get. Almost as bad as trace repairs.

turntable97 · Nov 29, 2022

Nazosan said:
HOLY THREAD NECROMANCY BATMAN!

I don't know if anyone can actually directly answer that. Anyone who is good with electronics and a precision tip low power soldering iron can do this probably. The process is relatively quick and easy for those who know what they're doing, so theoretically it wouldn't cost a lot relatively speaking (not as much as something like a modchip on a modern console for instance.) Beyond that I really have no idea and I suspect not many here could tell you either really. Good luck I guess.

Probably. The basic mechanism is extremely simple. There are a couple of unnecessary resistors on the output stage (really stupid and lazy way of them to do this btw -- better just to lower the amplification than to tack on extra resistance after it) and the whole mod is just to simply bypass them. It's not even terribly hard to get to this part of the PCB.

Thank you for this great tutorial.

I have a N3DSXL and bridged the ends of each resistor together with soldering tin.
On the pictures though, it looks more like these ends are connected with wire.

As soldering tin is conductive it should have the same effect than using wire, right?

I don't really hear a difference in the volume level but I haven't used the 3DS for a while so maybe I'm wrong.
I just wanted to make sure if I didn't do anything stupid

Nazosan · Nov 29, 2022

turntable97 said:
As soldering tin is conductive it should have the same effect than using wire, right?

Yes, same effect. The main difference is it's kind of messy and hard to connect all the way across a SMD component with just solder with more potential something could go wrong such as leaving solder balls loose inside. If you get a clean bridge with solder then you're just fine.

turntable97 said:
I don't really hear a difference in the volume level but I haven't used the 3DS for a while so maybe I'm wrong.
I just wanted to make sure if I didn't do anything stupid

There definitely is a very noticeable difference even on US units (the US doesn't have the volume limiting laws, so most companies simply don't bother, but Nintendo just gets lazy and puts it in all their units worldwide I guess.) It's especially noticeable with IEMs as they are very sensitive and low impedance, so the built-in resistors make much more difference.

Uh, just to be clear, you're not comparing with the speakers, right? This mod is only for the headphone jack and things plugged into that.

Of course, like I said, it's hard to get a good bridge across components using just solder, so if you really do have no difference, you might double check to ensure you really do have a good connection across them.

turntable97 · Dec 5, 2022

Thanks a lot. I will try again in the coming days.
What kind of wire can you recommend? Is there something special i should know when installing/soldering the wire between the two ends of the resistors?
I'm so curious if everything works out well. =)

Nazosan · Dec 5, 2022

You don't need any particularly special wire. Something small and thin mainly. It might be easiest to just take a normal stranded wire and pull it apart to use strands from it rather than actually purchasing anything since we're talking about a very very short length of wires just to cross a couple of SMD components. Just for bridging two very small SMD resistors your actual requirements are very low. You could even probably get a very thick wire (like 14AWG or something, lol) to work by doing something like supergluing two tiny cuts next to each SMD then soldering. Not recommended, but doable. So probably whatever you have on hand is sufficient.

If you do purchase something, you might want to get copper magnet wire in a fairly high AWG (maybe something like 30 AWG, possibly even higher.) I have some 40 I used for running to my Switch payload chip and actually ended up folding it over to double -- or triple even, I forget -- because it was just so thin, so I can say you don't want to go that high. Copper magnet wire has insulation basically painted on and the heat of soldering burns it off the edges, so you can basically just hold it in place, solder, then cut without worrying too much about it shorting anything, so that's a really good thing to have on hand for other projects perhaps.

As for anything to know, there isn't particularly anything to really know. Just the usual soldering tips. Try not to apply really large amounts of heat for a really long time, but your biggest risk is in possibly frying those resistors and since we're talking about bridging them to bypass them that's not an issue, so all you need to be careful of is not to apply so much that you damage anything else along the way.

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