Best raspberry pi dac

[GeorgeWalk]

EDIT: I find the ability to connect by Bluetooth neat, too. And having a volume control

Exactly the same system and setup. (I double checked now, and with the D30 it's not a gentle pop either!)
Thanks for the new command to see the bitrate. The D30 has no display, but the info is in LMS too.

My impression is that there are fewer problems with optical/coax out, and I thought about adding one of those boards. However, it didn't seem to fit in the touch screen case that I'm using, but I could be wrong. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0153R2A9I

I think I have the same touchscreen case. The Pi 4 is has different connectors that don't all line up with the cutouts in the touchscreen case. I added four short standoffs to the case and it fits fine. It is now flush with the back of the case, but that is fine with me.

 

[laudio]

Picoreplayer user here. 3b+ to smsl m7 dac in one setup, 3b to teac ai-501 in another. Also have a pi4 but it's the LMS server.

 

[somebodyelse]

Hi! I listen to music through a web browser on the site Yandex Music on a laptop with windows (https://music.yandex.ru/users/*username*/tracks). Tidal doesn't listen much. I am looking for a device to listen to music through the browser without changes (без пересжатия). Just as the operating system of the hi fi player (for example fiio m6) does. I'm not sure that windows gives this feature (bit perfect [без пересжатия]). And Pi -- compact \ inexpensive \ can be carried at home. For Pi there is a system or a way to output the bit perfect from any program to the DAC (external-usb or special for Pi dac ?View attachment 45441

I'm assuming you want to run the browser on the Pi, not stream from your laptop browser to the Pi. It should be possible, but you probably need to do some configuration as major browsers (Firefox, Chrome/Chromium) want PulseAudio which usually isn't bit perfect by default. The alternatives are to reconfigure PulseAudio to avoid resampling and set volume to full, or to kill PulseAudio and use a wrapper such as apulse when starting the browser. You could look at configuring the browser in kiosk mode so that it's the only thing running, so it behaves more like a hifi player.

I don't know if any of the usual Pi players has a plugin to support yandex music.

 

[captain paranoia]

Looks like Rune only supports what is in my screenshot. I am curious if the other players are any better. Good Luck!

Are you sure it's not simply offering the hardware audio devices it can find on your system? If it's anything like Volumio, it doesn't offer every DAC it has a driver for; it's smart enough to only offer devices actually available to it...

 

[GeorgeWalk]

Are you sure it's not simply offering the hardware audio devices it can find on your system? If it's anything like Volumio, it doesn't offer every DAC it has a driver for; it's smart enough to only offer devices actually available to it...

I am not sure what the original poster was asking. I have used Volumio on Pi3 and Pi4 with many different Hats (including a tube/audio hat) and it recognized them all.
I did have an issue getting it to recognize the Topping D50s over USB. I had to remove the Allo BOSS hat DAC and reboot with only the D50s connected and then I had to run the first/new config wizard and it was fine after that.

 

[socksrolleddown]

I am not sure what the original poster was asking. I have used Volumio on Pi3 and Pi4 with many different Hats (including a tube/audio hat) and it recognized them all.
I did have an issue getting it to recognize the Topping D50s over USB. I had to remove the Allo BOSS hat DAC and reboot with only the D50s connected and then I had to run the first/new config wizard and it was fine after that.

Did the D50s perform well after that? I am about to have the same config when my D50s arrives.

 

[GeorgeWalk]

Did the D50s perform well after that? I am about to have the same config when my D50s arrives.

Yes, it has been working like a charm since. I also have th Pi touchscreen. I mostly listen to Radio Paradise and Spotify with it. They sound great to me.

 

[Xombul]

My remarks regarding the topic:

First, the direct use of the USB connector on the Raspberry don't give good results as the level of noise is very high.

Then, there are two technical options to connect a Raspberry board to a dac:

1) A hat plugged on the I2S connector of the hat. This kind of hat embeds a spdif and/or coax connectors to an external dac: I believe that the best value for money is allodigione, then comes hifiberry pro. Sound quality wise, the inexpensive Chinese hat previously mentioned, did not give good results on my system. I also believe that allodigione signature is overkill for my old ears.
2) A dac hat plugged to the I2S connector: audio phonics, allo katana and apple pie dacs seem to be good technical solutions, however their price is not so competitive compared to an external dac. As a remark they are all based on ess chips : Lusya board seems to be the only board using an akm chip and this why I kindly suggest Amirm to test it.
Eventually, regarding the player, if we put aside Roon, my favourite free player is Moode but it is just subjective

 

[0bs3rv3r]

First, the direct use of the USB connector on the Raspberry don't give good results as the level of noise is very high.

Well I don't hear it. A simple Topping D10 plugged into a USB port here, sounds VERY quiet, and makes marvellous sound. Are there any tests/measurements of this noise you say is "very high"?

 

[tw99]

Archimago didn't find any problems with USB noise...

 

[socksrolleddown]

Archimago didn't find any problems with USB noise...

Interesting with the differing opinions, with or without the noise on USB is it to do with USB DAC used or if the RPi is using ethernet or WiFi as my understanding is with all RPi up to 3B+ (inc) the Ethernet and USB bus is shared and could be the source of contention/noise?

 

[0bs3rv3r]

Interesting with the differing opinions, with or without the noise on USB is it to do with USB DAC used or if the RPi is using ethernet or WiFi as my understanding is with all RPi up to 3B+ (inc) the Ethernet and USB bus is shared and could be the source of contention/noise?

Probably all fixed now with the rPi 4. New improved USB setup - don't think they are shared anymore.

Still, didn't hear any problems with the rPi 3B I was running before either.

 

[GeorgeWalk]

My remarks regarding the topic:

First, the direct use of the USB connector on the Raspberry don't give good results as the level of noise is very high.

Then, there are two technical options to connect a Raspberry board to a dac:

1) A hat plugged on the I2S connector of the hat. This kind of hat embeds a spdif and/or coax connectors to an external dac: I believe that the best value for money is allodigione, then comes hifiberry pro. Sound quality wise, the inexpensive Chinese hat previously mentioned, did not give good results on my system. I also believe that allodigione signature is overkill for my old ears.
2) A dac hat plugged to the I2S connector: audio phonics, allo katana and apple pie dacs seem to be good technical solutions, however their price is not so competitive compared to an external dac. As a remark they are all based on ess chips : Lusya board seems to be the only board using an akm chip and this why I kindly suggest Amirm to test it.
Eventually, regarding the player, if we put aside Roon, my favourite free player is Moode but it is just subjective

I have a Raspberry Pi (both RPI3 & RPI4) with an Allo DigiOne, as well as the Allo Boss, (yes, an RPI and DAC geek) both work extremely well and sound great. I also have the D50s on the USB and it works just as transparently as the I2S hats. I prefer the D50s because it allows me to easily switch between BT and USB for different sources easily. I also think it sounds better, but that is probably confirmation bias on my part.

 

[Rinaldi Moreira]

In my opinion this is one of the faults of Archimago and ASR, they only take data and numbers into account, as far as I know we can't hear data, we hear sound.
My RPi3B +'s USB output no is noisy but not perfect either. Earlier I had an iFi iDAC2 connected to the USB output and it had a good sound, after I put a Uptone Regen in the signal path I was startled, the sound was much better, a show, with more details and everything clearer. Here at ASR the regen was evaluated and the data showed the opposite, that there would be no improvement in the signal.
About MPD based players I test several periodically and moodeaudio always find the best in several aspects that I consider important.

 

[laudio]

Never had any issues with eth and usb. That said I use wifi mostly, and it is not shared with USB afaik. Just eth.

 

[socksrolleddown]

In my opinion this is one of the faults of Archimago and ASR, they only take data and numbers into account, as far as I know we can't hear data, we hear sound.
{snip}.

Its not a fault imo, ASR helps us be able to make informed choices on equipment that will enable us to get the most unadulterated audio path to our ears. It always states or the site states you should listen and also get the features you want

Sometimes the distortion/noise that ranks a device much lower than the other wiill either still be fairly undetectable to our ears or the distortion/noise is something our subjective hearing likes

So far my RPi 3B+ via USB to D50s to my old tinnitus ear sounds great through speakers and through headphones feeding the Geshelli Archel2 and HD6XX so I am happy as a pig in the mire

 

[tw99]

In my opinion this is one of the faults of Archimago and ASR, they only take data and numbers into account, as far as I know we can't hear data, we hear sound.
My RPi3B +'s USB output no is noisy but not perfect either. Earlier I had an iFi iDAC2 connected to the USB output and it had a good sound, after I put a Uptone Regen in the signal path I was startled, the sound was much better, a show, with more details and everything clearer. Here at ASR the regen was evaluated and the data showed the opposite, that there would be no improvement in the signal.
About MPD based players I test several periodically and moodeaudio always find the best in several aspects that I consider important.

Amir has tested the Regen and found that it essentially does nothing. Your sighted, informally tested, preferences are completely irrelevant to anyone else. There's plenty of material in the reference section on this site where you can educate yourself about this.

 

[Rinaldi Moreira]

Amir has tested the Regen and found that it essentially does nothing. Your sighted, informally tested, preferences are completely irrelevant to anyone else. There's plenty of material in the reference section on this site where you can educate yourself about this.

If it was only visual effect as you say, why do I have to adjust the volume of the amplifier with and without the regen ??? The difference in both situations is clear to the point that I have to adjust the volume to maintain the same level of hearing.
I find interesting some measurements made by the ASR, in my opinion serves only as a guide, who will tell if your sound is good or bad are your ears. If you like to be stuck only with data and numbers is your choice, I prefer to test with my ears and find the sound that pleases me, visual does not interest me ...

 

[JoachimStrobel]

One connect a DAC via HDMI too ... that sounds definitely not very good (R4)

 

[captain paranoia]

Earlier I had an iFi iDAC2 connected to the USB output and it had a good sound, after I put a Uptone Regen in the signal path I was startled, the sound was much better, a show, with more details and everything clearer.

Was this comparison done blind, or sighted? i.e. did you know whether the regenerator was in circuit when you made the comparison, or not? Ideally, you would do a controlled ABX test, with something randomly, automatically selecting A or B (regen in, regen out), and you having to pick which you 'prefer', but that's quite hard to do when you have to change the hardware configuration.

ASR is about taking a scientific approach to audio. As such, personal preferences are perfectly valid, but there is a strong encouragement to measure those preferences blind; closely level-matched, and with no knowledge of which device/format is being heard. There are far too many psychological biases involved with sighted comparison. Your ears aren't a good judge when your brain is telling you to expect something to sound better because you've just added an expensive widget.

Test instruments, used appropriately, aren't subject to psychological bias. The interpretation of complex test results can be subject to psychological bias.