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In Reply to: RE: Are I2S DACs The Future? posted by jaydacus on September 05, 2016 at 20:43:56
Welcome to the club!My preferred HAT-DAC for the time being is the MamboBerry LT with Sabre DAC, which sells for 55Euro.
Most of these PI/HAT-DAC combos have quite some tweaking potential.
My first recommendation would be to buy an iFi iPower.If the DAC and your wallet allows, feeding the combo with a
2nd supply usually turns out into a slightly better performance.These HAT-DACs come with certain limitations though!!!
One of the weak spots is the rather low quality PI-I2S bus.
Poor I2S fed right into the DAC translates right into poor audio.
That's why numerous modifications will have a rather direct impact to the sound.
One potential solution. A HAT DAC with Sabre DAC. Sabre claims that their DACs are able to cope with rather low-Q I2S.
The poor PI I2S shouldn't be problem then. Hmmh. Life is a bitch. That's not the case. I think Sabre could do better. Still it performs OK.Slaving the PI I2S with quality clocks from the DAC side is another option.
HifiBerry tries this with its DAC+ Pro.
Result: People can hardly tell a difference between the DAC+ Pro and the standard DAC+. Hmmh. Another dead-end.I2S is also used by USB DACs btw. These basically convert the USB supplied data stream into highest quality I2S signals towards the DAC.
Comparing PI I2S and USB I2S would show two different worlds.
The typical clocking scheme of USB DACs is usually much more advanced than the one you'll find on the PI.
However. We all know how much money can be spent to clean up USB properly.
USB has other issues.
And as you said. These DACs have no right to sound as good as they do considering all these potential flaws.Over at DIY-Audio there are several projects ongoing which concentrate
on PI-HAT-I2S-isolators/reclockers which will be squeezed between DAC and PI.There are also other DACs, like the great Soekris I2S R2R DAC board (300$). It's no HAT DAC. However. That one comes with I2S isolator and reclocker onboard and can be attached to the PI-I2S too.
Bottom line. I announced several months back that I'm fed up with the USB audio mess. I'm more than happy with my current setup. And look forward to the developments to come.
I btw recommend to update to the most current Moode Audio for getting access to the most up2date kernel (which comes with enhanced/updated I2S drivers)
Enjoy.
Edits: 09/08/16Follow Ups:
The PI is becoming popular.
Here is another DAC
http://www.collybia.com/product/mamboberry-hifi-dac-192khz-24bit/
The Well Tempered Computer
"Here is another DAC"
Hmmh. Thx for the hint.
But. You might missed it. I wrote that I own this DAC. ;)
"The PI is becoming popular"
Hmmh. They just announced the 10millionth piece sold.
It is popular!
It's just the problem with many of the folks over here that
1. They seem to prefer a stoneaged PC in the living room
2. They just jump on the train as soon as one of the major manufacturers
gives his go.
3. Or it's just too cheap.
People just don't realize how much more fun it is to build your own audio
device. Especially nowadays, where toddlers can assemble a PI system.
Enjoy.
Are you powering your Pi through the Dac or the Pi Board?
Cut-Throat
I'm running two separate supplies.
Hi soundcheck,
Could you please give us more details, maybe pics ?
Thx.
Have a look at my system in the profile. It's up2date.
I also run a MamboBerry LS and a HifiBerry DAC+ Pro thread
Hi Soundcheck,
Do you have a link for these thread ? I couldn`t find myself .
Thanks.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/295880-mamboberry-ls-my-new-pi-hat.html
Thanks..
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