Raspberry Pi + DAC board

**bob_m_54** · 05-01-16, 04:22 PM

After fruitless searching for something to use to replace my old XboX running the original XBMC, I have decided to have a go at a Raspberry Pi setup, with a DAC card on board, and ideally a HDD all mounted in the one case. This way I have the Kodi interface for music selection and queue-ing, with analogue outputs at decent quality to run into an good stereo amp.

I have seen a few websites that talk about using a HIFIberry DAC+, with the Pi, but it can't find where to buy one. I have seen a couple of others on Ebay, but not sure of the conversion qualitly and compatbility with the Raspberry Pi 2.

What I'm keen to know is, has anyone gone down this path already? and how successful was it? Which components did you end up using and would you have done it differently if you were starting from scratch again?

Cheers
Bob

**mickstv** · 06-01-16, 07:31 AM

Found the link below......

**ol' boy** · 06-01-16, 07:41 AM

I have the same Burr-Brown 192Khz/24bit in my Yamaha Receiver bob, i am very happy with it.
196 or 320 MP3's sound great through it, far superior to the DAC that comes with my Android box.

**bob_m_54** · 06-01-16, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by mickstv

Found the link below......

Thanks mate, i feel a bit dumb now LOL, I checked out Jaycar, when looking for the Raspberry Pi a few days ago, before I started searching for the DAC.

**bob_m_54** · 06-01-16, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by oceanboy

I have the same Burr-Brown 192Khz/24bit in my Yamaha Receiver bob, i am very happy with it.
196 or 320 MP3's sound great through it, far superior to the DAC that comes with my Android box.

Yes, I can't understand why a reasonably priced digital audio player with a user friendly interface and storage isn't more readily available on the market now.

**Bibliophile** · 07-01-16, 04:09 PM

You might find some useful discussion of this topic here .
You may need to register to view some material but it's painless and free.
If you sign up, you first few posts will be moderated so there will be a delay before they appears on the board.

**bob_m_54** · 07-01-16, 05:21 PM

Thanks Bibliophile, I did sign up for that forum and have been reading heaps of stuff there. The only problem is, it has given me more questions to ponder LOL. Which DAC, which OS, which player.. great site though and heaps of info, even if a lot of it is a bit more in depth than I need.

**bob_m_54** · 01-03-16, 03:27 PM

Bit of an update to my playing around with a Pi:

I bought a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B a couple of weeks ago, and an IQaudIO DAC plus (has a TI PCM5122 DAC), together with a little plastic box to mount them in. (wouldn't you know they have just brought out the Pi 3 with onboard wifi, bluetooth and a faster processor)
I didn't bother with wifi for my setup because it will be for use in my shed, which does have a wired LAN connection. I plugged a cannibalised 1TB SATA HDD into a cannibalised SATA to USB3 powered adaptor, mouse, power supply and fed the output into a Kenwood amp I picked up from a garage sale along with speakers from another garage sale.

I played around with a couple of different OS's and think I have settled on the OSMC incarnation of XBMC (Kodi)
It's working well, and I can control it remotely via a kodi remote app on my tablet or phone, it has a nice user interface and I can use it to access catchup TV if I want to.

In all I'm pretty impressed. The sound quality is pretty good, better than my old xbox, although just a tad aggressive. I Will try it with a different power supply, when I get around to building one, as I'm only using an old phone charger to supply it at the moment. From reading up on a few sites, the power supply does make a noticeable difference.

**Crootie** · 02-03-16, 10:20 PM

i have been using raspberry pis for a few years now. I am running plex through mine all via a cable. Audio is passed through to my yamaha amp via hdmi and is perfect.

I used to use the previous incarnation of osmc which was RaspBMC but as soon as i found plex it was an awesome love affair. it doesn't have all the addons as kodi.... i would love exodus to work on it, but otherwise it just works. and fast... loads up your directories way faster than kodi.

As for the Pi i haven't got the 3 yet but i have a 2 and several older. i have 3 serving tv's in various areas and i have 1 setup to control my outdoor lighting and garage door.

I love this thing. they are awesome.

**allover** · 03-03-16, 08:34 AM

Another new board released onto the market

**tristen** · 03-03-16, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by allover

Another new board released onto the market

Thanks for posting that.

Very impressive bit of gear.

**novica** · 04-03-16, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by oceanboy

I have the same Burr-Brown 192Khz/24bit in my Yamaha Receiver bob, i am very happy with it.
196 or 320 MP3's sound great through it, far superior to the DAC that comes with my Android box.

How did you put it in your yamaha

**bob_m_54** · 06-03-16, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by novica

How did you put it in your yamaha

He didn't, Mr Yamaha did

**ol' boy** · 15-07-16, 12:02 AM

Just thought i'd add this here.

As mentioned the Raspberry Pli 3 is out, and not so cheap at $56, a far cry from the Raspberry Pli starting price of $35

Between the versatility of these things some very smart individuals, i just found a Melbourne guy that has developed a Pli to interface with a cars OEM Navigation system (IBUS), allowing not only a good quality DAC, but also Kodi to be run in the vehicle, using the OEM buttons on the dash to control it.
Very clever indeed.
The system comprises of a Raspberry Pli and his own custom PiBUS logic board, so the Pli can communicate with the vehicles IBUS system.
Thus allowing factory codes to be sent and received from the vehicles modules (ie: button assignment etc).

To think, this is 3 years old now!
The Pli 3 might be handy for those looking to add Bluetooth Streaming to a vehicle.

How is your set up working bob?
Made any improvements of changes?

**bob_m_54** · 15-07-16, 11:06 AM

I've been a bit lazy OB, apart from changing my preferred OS to Moode player, because of better sound quality, I've mainly been re-ripping 900 plus CDs to flac. The only other change I've made is to power it from a phone charger bank (battery in a box). The sound quality is good though, and with flac, I can't notice any difference between playing from the Pi or from using a CD player as the source.

**ol' boy** · 15-07-16, 11:27 AM

Are you using the Battery Pack to eliminate any possible noise induced into the Pli circuitry?

Does your Raspberry Pli and DAC look like this?

**bob_m_54** · 15-07-16, 02:31 PM

Yes the battery pack is to get rid of the switchmode power supply that I have been using, and it does sound different/better. Not sure if the difference is due to not having the noise from the switchmode wall wart, or just because the battery pack can supply higher than the 1.2A wall wart I had. I haven't pulled the battery pack apart, but it may also use a swmode or similar converter in it, to give the 5V output.

I used the IQaudIO Pi DAC plus, which looks like this

and fitted into the housing I bought, looks like this