TI End of Life Annoucement of the LM386

Discussion and topics that don't fit elsewhere.
Desdinova
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2015 10:14 pm

TI End of Life Annoucement of the LM386

Post by Desdinova »

Wasn't sure where to post this but I just received an email from DigiKey because I recently purchased a LM386N. This is a Texas Instruments chip and it has reached "end of life." The LTB Date is 9/28/2016 so I think I'll order me a couple more just in case. There are two in the X-100.

"End of Life (EOL) refers to the planned demise of a product. Reasons for this may include market demands, technological innovation, and development driving changes in the product. The EOL process consists of a series of technical milestones and activities that, once completed, make a product obsolete." "Last Time Buy (LTB) date, is the date the supplier intends to discontinue taking orders for the product. At this point, Digi-Key can no longer purchase the product and can only sell the current available inventory, or the inventory already on order that has not already been otherwise reserved. Last Time Buy is informational only; parts in this phase are active."

There is an alternate version of the same chip, but it's a surface mount. I would not want to be the one to try and make it work. There is at least one other manufacturer who make this chip, and while it would fit, it wouldn't be an exact replacement. Not sure you'd hear the difference, but you'd most certainly want to replace in pairs. (one for each channel).