[mitch stl]

This is hardly a new subject as the units have been around for quite a while, but two years ago I built a Raspberry Pi 3B and added a HifiBerry DAC+  board to make a Squeezebox player for my basement workbench system.

About a week ago I brought the RPi upstairs and tried it in my main system. I set things up so I could directly A-B the RPi against the Squeezebox Touch which feeds a digital signal to the Bel Canto C5i's DAC -- even got them level matched for volume.

It is amazing just how good the HifiBerry DAC is. Switching back and forth shows the RPi system has the same tonality, depth and clarity as the Bel Canto's DAC. I was very impressed.

Since the RPi, with DAC, case and power supply can be put together for only about $100, give or take a bit, it is an amazing choice for anyone who wants to get into playing their own ripped music or start online streaming without laying out the big bucks. They are up to Raspberry Pi 4 models now, which are a few bucks more than the one I have, but I noticed 3s are still available. They say the 4 really isn't necessary unless you want to get into 4K video.

[TrungT]

Very interesting.
Thanks for sharing.
 

[mboxler]

I also replaced a SB Touch/DAC combo with a Raspberry Pi/Allo Dac Boss.   I even moved LMS from my Windows 10 machine to the same RPi running PiCorePlayer and Squeezelite.  Controlling it with iPeng on my phone, it's really a nice sounding setup.

[mitch stl]

i've got LMS running on a PC using the Fedora Core 31 OS, and that's the same PC that houses my music collection. I recently moved things there from a Vortexbox as the latter system wasn't keeping up with the new OS releases. One gets nervous these days with all of the security hacks going around.

Right now both the SB Touch and the RPi/Hifiberry are still in the main system and I haven't decided on the next step. Frankly, the one thing I think I'd miss by removing the SB Touch is the nice clock it shows when turned off. 

I would like to think that the Bel Canto DAC is better than the HifFiBerry module, but so far, I'm not hearing a difference. Both play music very nicely.

[zerojeff]

I recently upgraded to a Terra Berry DAC for my RPi 3. Wow, is all I can say.  So much more resolution without being strident. And lots of soundstage. I have dual power supplies; one for the RPi and one for the DAC. For the money invested not sure I can beat it.

[chip]

I recently upgraded to a Terra Berry DAC for my RPi 3. Wow, is all I can say.  So much more resolution without being strident. And lots of soundstage. I have dual power supplies; one for the RPi and one for the DAC. For the money invested not sure I can beat it.

Which Dac is that? Is there different versions of it as well?

[richidoo]

Which Dac is that? Is there different versions of it as well?

https://www.terratechnos.com/products/terraberrydac/index-e.html

Great documentation!

[charmerci]

Anyone compare them to the Schiit Modi - which to me at $100 sounds excellent.

[Mike-48]

I've compared a HiFiBerry DAC Pro+ to an Auralic Vega (original). The HiFiBerry was pleasant, but not as clear, detailed, or dimensional as the Auralic. Well, that's comparing a $65 DAC to one that sold originally for $4000!

Nonetheless, I suspect that some of the other HAT DACs might be superior. If the Allo DACs are as good as their SPDIF cards, they are worth investigating.

[chip]

Currently I have two Pis running different dacs -
HifiBerry DAC+
Hifime S2 USB and SPDIF DAC (Sabre ES9038q2m)


Also use this usb dac for my headphones - HiFime UAE23HD USB DAC (ES9018K2M+SA9023)

For me I seem to prefer the ESS Dacs in my setup.

[mcgsxr]

I'm using a Raspi and a Hifiberry HAT (outputs spdif to my DAC) and happy.

Sure, I'd prefer an Allo, but this was available locally and it sounds good so far.