Best raspberry pi dac

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

So i've been using a FiiO BTR5 with my raspberry pi running Volumio and it's totally fine - although to 'complete' the end point it would be great to have a more 'permanent' solution in place, i.e. a nice HAT dac that powers on with the raspberry pi, etc.

 

[kchap]

Job done!

 

[Fidel]

Hi there, I am new. I am setting up a pi 5 with a DAC for Airplay 2 connectivity to an old receiver. After reading this thread I will start with what I already have: a usb c Apple dongle and a Dragonfly black to see how these two will perform. I was leaning towards a hifiberry pro2 HD before I realized I could get started with what I have. I will configure shairport for Airplay 2.

 

[kchap]

Stick with a USB DAC. The sheer size of the USB DAC market and the development that goes with it means they will usually out perform a HAT. There are good HATs out there, the Allo Boss2 for example, but that highlights another issue; the relatively small size of the HAT based DAC market.

If you go to the last couple of pages for the above link you will see that a patch to the linux kernel broke the drivers for the Boss2 DAC. The bug has been acknowledged by the kernel developers and there is a patch but it has still not made it into the main debian/raspbian stream. In the meantime users have been waiting over 6 months for the official fix. Call me a cynic, but I suspect a kernel update that broke the XMOS drivers used by 90% of the USB DACs would not take 6 months to patch.

 

[phofman]

If you go to the last couple of pages for the above link you will see that a patch to the linux kernel broke the drivers for the Boss2 DAC. The bug has been acknowledged by the kernel developers and there is a patch but it has still not made it into the main debian/raspbian stream. In the meantime users have been waiting over 6 months for the official fix. Call me a cynic, but I suspect a kernel update that broke the XMOS drivers used by 90% of the USB DACs would not take 6 months to patch.

IMO the process would be identical. A patch would go to mainline and if it were marked with Fixes, it would be backported by the kernel team to LTS versions.

The patch was submitted to mainline on June 21 and backported to RPi 6.1 kernel on Sept 13 https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/commit/25193037e08339bcb01026f739880a1d3e7873d9 . IMO it's a standard propagation time.

IMO the vendor is responsible for drivers for devices he received the money for. Allo could have lobbied for the patch to be submitted to RPi kernel faster + there does not seem any Allo developer commented the issue report https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/5505

 

[kchap]

IMO the process would be identical. A patch would go to mainline and if it were marked with Fixes, it would be backported by the kernel team to LTS versions.

Your point is fair enough but I still remain cynical

IMO the vendor is responsible for drivers for devices he received the money for. Allo could have lobbied ...

Allo or Cirrus? Either way the end user suffered the inconvenience.

 

[phofman]

Allo or Cirrus?

Good point. I would tend to say Allo as they delivered the ASoC machine-layer driver for their board. ASoC codec drivers are often coded by third parties based on detailed datasheets released by the codec manufacturers.

Either way the end user suffered the inconvenience.

Well, new bugs are an inevitable sign of a living project. I prefer those to abandonware.

 

[antcollinet]

EDIT - Just realised i've replied to a 4 year old post . Still my point is still valid for @Fidel 's purposes.

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While it is true the HAT Dacs don't measure as well as a good exteranl DAC there are some that are so good they are audibly transparent. This one measured (and reccomended) by Amir has a 93 dB sinad and essentially trnasparent measurements. Pair it with a pi zero 2, and you have a very compact solution which should be easy to integrate into your amp.

Forget messing about with linear power supplies, unless this is just making it easier to integrate. They are not needed and will not improve the sound. The stock Pi PSU is fine.

It could also be paired with a pi 4 or pi 5 if you want something to index music faster.

MINIBOSS DAC For PI ZERO Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Allo Miniboss DAC for Raspberry Pi Zero single board computer. The combination provides a compact streamer. Miniboss DAC costs US $41. The owner nicely packaged a 2 watt version of Raspberry Pi Zero with the Miniboss DAC in this tiny and ultra...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Fidel]

Ok, so I managed to set up a Pi5 with Shairport to act as an Airplay 2 device and it works like a charm. My old Kenwood receiver (1994) is driving some nice Bowers and Wilkins 705s2 (2020) bookshelf speakers via this Pi and an old Dragonfly black usb DAC. I wish I hadn't sold my Dragonfly Cobalt earlier last year, but it was doing nothing at the time and still had good value. I am happy with this project but I do feel my speakers could benefit from a better amp. I am looking at the WiiM Amp (but Chinese), the Bluesound Powernode Edge (low wattage) or an NAD C700. Ideally I would hookup a Unity Atom to it but it is not my main device.