pi audio dac install

Posted this before I saw the HiFi thread.

To expand the question a bit further, which DAC would the team recommend?

However you often get what you pay for, and DACs in HiFi equipment are not all the same. Burr Brown is a known name. The site above doesn't say much about the specifications. However

says "Dedicated 192kHz/24bit high-quality Burr-Brown DAC for best sound quality (ESS instead of Burr-Brown on DAC+ Light)" which looks promising.

checked that VAT and shipping is included in either price)

Has anyone compared different DAC packages on the Pi?

Cheers

Dave R

O.K. - just found "Also note that our prices do not include VAT for all shipping addresses outside Switzerland. Depending on your country, you may have to pay the VAT and/or additional customs and processing fees on import. Please ask your local postal provider about these costs."

this.

Cheers

Dave R

Check

The Amazon one you linked to has a UDA1334A chip from NXP in it, that speaks I2S.

It can do up to 96kHz / 24 bit (not necessarily at the same time).

Instead of going by brand name, the datasheets give figures like THD, SNR, channel separation and PSRR that you might wish to compare. Of course these are only so good as the board design - a bad board can really mess up the performance.

Theo

Also consider the listening environment (& your own hearing which deteriorates considerably with age for example at 50 I doubt that I cn hear much above 12-13khz).

in the average home environment the differences claimed by audiophile quality equipment are simply in-detectable by the average listener (probably why the 1st thing they tell you about their equipment is "It

Thanks - all useful information.

However I still haven't found anybody who has actually installed a DAC board on a Pi and is willing to review the sound quality.

If I do decide to go ahead, the Burr Brown DAC may be the (expensive) best option.

Cheers

Dave R

Hmmm......average home environment and average listener...audiophile equipment....cost...bit of an imprecise definition.

When auditioning audio equipment I listen to the same track on all set ups and generally the better equipment gives better stereo separation and more clarity to (or even reveals) additional instruments and voices in the background.

I can tell the difference. For example I decided to go one grade better on the speakers with the last system after having a good listen. However

qualifies as "audiophile quality" equipment. Oh, and I don't usually start out telling everyone what it cost.

There are some obvious differences. One track is "Love is the drug" by Roxy Music where the introduction is the sound of someone striking a match, lighting a cigarette, then walking to a car, starting it, and driving away. Budget equipment doesn't even reveal this, medium equipment (especially speakers) does reveal it but not fully and better speakers reveal it with clarity.

Perhaps not all people can hear this. Perhaps all people aren't active listeners. However up to a certain point better designed, specified and constructed equipment properly set up will increase the listening accuracy (not necessarily the listening pleasure) as you spend more money.

I suspect that your comparison might work with wine, for example. Most

rare occasions) you are in the realms of buying the wine to show everyone that you can afford it.

If this is your benchmark range then it isn't really appropriate to the

Oh, and I am over 50 but (regardless of khz range) I can still tell the difference between really cheap and modest budget systems.

Cheers

Dave R

If the vendor discourages blind testing, it's not worth the money.

(This seems to be a universal characteristic of "audiophile" vendors, and a very useful way of avoiding most of the scams.)

Indeed and deliberately so

Which is what my point was designed to encourage

Which is why I encouraged you to make sure that you can actually hear the difference & were not simply buying based on meaningless specifications (super expensive speaker cable is something I consider to be a scam as I do not believe the difference can be heard except with you head clamped in the optimal position in an an-echoic chamber)

price is no guarantee (& is something due to personal taste)

Really cheap is bad as witnessed buy connecting the IPO audio out to even a cheap amp. My post was aimed at the difference between Good equipment & ludicrously expensive equipment which is not necessarily noticeable top a

If you can genuinely tell the difference - in you home not a specifically set-up demo suite then obviously purchase the one that sound best to you. it does sound like you are actually listening rather than falling for marketing PR which is good.

Oh you can hear the difference, IME 2.5mm T&E sounds better than any of the super expensive cables.

I did, Rpi2 and hifiberry dac+ (phone jack version so I didn't have to buy another box for the rpi). Got it so I can connect directly the Rpi to the Hifi, intead of go through the TV (with HDMI connection).

Much better than the audio output of the rpi. At least same level than the DAC of the TV (TV-Hifi is still RCA connection , I have an old Hifi).

Bye Jack

Yep, going from heavy duty bell wire to 2.5 mm^2 1,000 and something strand OFC copper loudspeaker cable(*) is the only time I've heard a change simply by changing a cable. Simply due to better damping of the speakers by the amp. Amps at/in speakers is the way to go. With a limited budget spend the money on the speakers, that's the really hard and thus expensive, bit to do well.

(*) More expensive than T&E but only a quid or two per metre not the

I remember how "damping factor" used to be defined as the ratio of the nominal loudspeaker impedance, to the amplifier's output impedance. No self-respecting audiophile would be content with a damping factor of less than 100.

The trouble with this is that the resistance of the loudspeaker's equivalent circuit always appears in series with the amplifier's output impedance. For an 8 ohm loduspeaker system, the resistance is typically in the region of 5 ohms (and very remperature-dependent too - it's the resistance of the voice coils, which experience quite big temperature excursions; the resistance is proportional to absolute temperature). So you can never achieve a damping factor as high as 2.

Definitely true.

Dave

Thanks - in the other thread so I must have overlooked it. Not sure what you mean by "phone jack version" - I tend to think of phone jacks as an RJ11 (or variant) type plug.

Audio jack as the kind you find on the end of headphones.

RCA as the red and white jack plug connectors you find on most HiFi amps.

Cheers

Dave R

Agree. With my last system purchase I had three matching components lined up, at roughly matching prices, but remembered that you should always try to spend more on the speakers.

Re-auditioned with more expensive speakers and there was a worthwhile improvement.

Run through my Mission 773s, as expected there was a further improvement by the modern equivalent was outside my budget range for this system.

Cheers

Dave R

Yes, price range a bit too close.

vineyard.

However I think we may be in violent agreement on the general principle. :- )

Cheers

Dave R

o:

yes I meant audio jack (3.5 mm). Somewhere else in the thread it was called "phone jack" (form headphone I think) so I used the same name for the sake of continuity.

Bye Jack

oh yes total agreement, forget prices & paper specification listen & by the one YOU like best (even if everyone else hates it)