HifiBerry DAC2 HD Review (Rpi HAT)

[AudioSceptic]

Yup. With the RPi4’s improved USB output, HATs now seem unnecessary unless someone needs something other than a USB connection.

Unless you want the tiny footprint that a HAT allows...

 

[Zensō]

Unless you want the tiny footprint that a HAT allows...

Good point.

 

[m_g_s_g]

Unless you want the tiny footprint that a HAT allows...

And the single power adapter to feed it.

 

[m_g_s_g]

And the single power adapter to feed it.

(Unless you stick to a USB powered DAC )

 

[Long Audio Beard]

The problem with USB is that until the RPi4, all previous version of the RPi does not have a full USB implementation in hardware. USB audio needs isochronous transfers every frame (125 microseconds), and it has to be scheduled in software, and that's really hard to do. So you end up having a lot of popping/clicking noises whenever a frame is missed.

The HAT on the other hand uses GPIO pins to pump out I2S signal driven from a hardware clock, so you won't have timing issues. So HAT is only way to reliably get audio out of RPi3 or earlier.

excellent point, important to use RPi4 or better to get reliable USB transfer for audio to USB DACs

 

[Long Audio Beard]

I did some basic measurements of the Acrylic s50 pro on this forum. Not great. Resamples to 44.1kHz 16 bit on dig output and poor SINAD. Better to use its bluetooth rather than other streaming.

s50 pro measurements

Thanks for posting your testing, I am not a fan of bluetooth audio so I only glanced at the bluetooth references. This is one of a number of companies using the LinkPlay chipset for streaming and I am not sure if even more expensive implementations (Naim for example) are outputting higher than 16/44.1 regardless of the specs of the incoming digital music stream which may be related to LinkPlay itself. As to whether audio specs beyond 16/44.1 sound better I am not trying to debate, just that I have not yet seen a LinkPlay device that does not convert to 16/44.1 so hopefully others can weigh in on that?

 

[mash]

The Allo Boss was recently replaced with the Boss2. Here's what Allo said about the new DAC.....

"For sound quality we decided to use the new Cirrus Logic DAC CS43198 as a master (another first from the ALLO team). Unlike pcm5122, it has excellent THD (-120 vs – 83)."

If I'm not mistaken, that DAC chip is the same one that's used in the Topping D3Pro that Amir measured recently reviewed.........I certainly wouldn't expect those type of results (implementation counts) but I would hope the new Boss2 is a significant step up from the old Boss DAC.

 

[AudioSceptic]

And the single power adapter to feed it.

Yes, and these adapters look more and more clunky as the devices get smaller.

 

[Long Audio Beard]

But does it not produce an audibly identical copy of the music?

sometimes around here gear may have to have higher and higher standard measurements above audibility to be considered good enough you raise a great point that we sometimes forget, we have our actual recordings with limited range compared to the hypothetical potential of any digital source including redbook CD, yet we seek gear performing above and beyond the recordings' range and often beyond what we can detect by ear, and if you prefer the sound of a less performing piece of gear per standard measurements you may be accused of experiencing euphonic distortion

 

[aladar]

Hi everybody, thanks to all for the large amount of informations.
I’d like to know if, in this review, the board is powered by a good power supply, and how this can possibly affects the results.
Thanks

 

[abdo123]

Hi everybody, thanks to all for the large amount of informations.
I’d like to know if, in this review, the board is powered by a good power supply, and how this can possibly affects the results.
Thanks

no effect on the results.

 

[mdsimon2]

Hi everybody, thanks to all for the large amount of informations.
I’d like to know if, in this review, the board is powered by a good power supply, and how this can possibly affects the results.
Thanks

This is a good question. The data sheet shows degraded performance at less than 5V. The review also does not state which RPi model was used. I’ve definitely seen voltage drops well below 5V with my RPi 3B even with no HAT when using an inadequate power supply.

Michael

 

[ctbarker32]

Readers interested in HiFiBerry might enjoy my latest video on HiFiBerry OS. Thank you for watching and subscribing.

Touchscreen Streamer with HiFiBerry OS & DAC for $150

 

[AudioSceptic]

This is a good question. The data sheet shows degraded performance at less than 5V. The review also does not state which RPi model was used. I’ve definitely seen voltage drops well below 5V with my RPi 3B even with no HAT when using an inadequate power supply.

Michael

From the photo, it's a 4B.

 

[aladar]

no effect on the results.

Around 60 hz on the FTT graph there's a spike, generally related to the power supply. I wonder if in this case a poor Walmart usb power supply is creating such noise. I agree with Micheal and I can say that my RPI 3B+ it's very hungry in power consumption and a bad 5 V power supply causes freezing.

 

[MrHifiTunes]

Thanks, I'd forgotten that Amir had tested it. It's a *tiny* bit better than the HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro for 2x the price, but below the DAC2 HD, so still reasonable value I suppose.

It shows how fast the DAC landscape is changing. 2,5y ago the All Boss made the recommended list the hifiberry DAC2 HD that performs marginally better now falls out of grace. I think the raspberry HAT still has a purpose if you want to make a small single box musicplayer (streamer+ DAS player). Hifiberry can come with an in house developed OS system (which will make it more expensive then others) If it is a good strategy from hifiberry? future will till...but I think the competition is steep with a lot of good freeware on hand.

 

[somebodyelse]

There's already HifiBerryOS which I think is mainly there to make the DSP products easier to use.

 

[AudioSceptic]

There's already HifiBerryOS which I think is mainly there to make the DSP products easier to use.

I haven't tried it but presumably it's also an alternative to Volumio, etc.?

 

[AudioSceptic]

It shows how fast the DAC landscape is changing. 2,5y ago the All Boss made the recommended list the hifiberry DAC2 HD that performs marginally better now falls out of grace. I think the raspberry HAT still has a purpose if you want to make a small single box musicplayer (streamer+ DAS player). Hifiberry can come with an in house developed OS system (which will make it more expensive then others) If it is a good strategy from hifiberry? future will till...but I think the competition is steep with a lot of good freeware on hand.

There's also a HiFiBerry DAC+ Zero for only £12.90. I wonder how far behind the bigger ones it is.

 

[somebodyelse]

I haven't tried it but presumably it's also an alternative to Volumio, etc.?

Pretty much - most of the usual services available, supports their hardware but not others, and has its own look and feel. If you've got one of the DSP boards it gives a fair bit of control in a fairly accessible gui, but if you want to add nonstandard hardware or do unusual routing you'll need to use SigmaStudio, and create a mapping file to let the gui control any buts you've chosen to expose. At least that's what I picked up from the docs - not tried any custom configs for real yet.
https://www.hifiberry.com/hifiberryos/