DSD/I2S DAC HATs for Raspberry Pi

[franz159]

Hi everybody
I discovered that a DSD DAC for raspberry does exist:

 

 

 

http://www.terratechnos.com/products/te ... index.html

It's not cheap, in fact 25000 yen + 3000 yen shipping from Japan, makes a total of about 220$

https://terra-online.stores.jp/

 

However, it seems an interesting object, with separate power for raspberry and dac

 

Automatic upsample

 

Works with Rune, Volumio, PiCore Player, Moode..

 

Instead, I'm not sure how to interpret this  spec re master clock:
Built-in small crystal oscillator excellent in phase noise characteristics as master clock (45.1584 MHz for 44.1 KHz, 49.152 MHz for 48 KHz)
Automatic switching of master clock

 

[seeteeyou]

I saw your post here as well

 

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/291261-cool-raspberry-pi-odroid-i2s-dsd-isolator-hat-native-dsd-decoder-31.html#post5134815

 

It's certainly an interesting option for those of who would like to avoid USB, and then there's another option from Germany that's even more expensive

 

http://taudac.com

[George Hincapie]

I'm confused, how would you attach this to your system? I see no outputs...

[franz159]

6 minutes ago, George Hincapie said:

I'm confused, how would you attach this to your system? I see no outputs...

Thanks.

I updated the initial post with the picture showing also the 2 single ended RCA output.

 

[George Hincapie]

7 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

I saw your post here as well

 

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/291261-cool-raspberry-pi-odroid-i2s-dsd-isolator-hat-native-dsd-decoder-31.html#post5134815

 

It's certainly an interesting option for those of who would like to avoid USB, and then there's another option from Germany that's even more expensive

 

http://taudac.com

 

How much is it? And how would one get that to work with Roon?

 

Lundahl output transformers on a Pi board is insane. Dual Wolfson DACs as well. OMFG. With a high quality LPSU I bet that will destroy most other options sonically...

[MikeyFresh]

12 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

I saw your post here as well

 

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/291261-cool-raspberry-pi-odroid-i2s-dsd-isolator-hat-native-dsd-decoder-31.html#post5134815

 

It's certainly an interesting option for those of who would like to avoid USB, and then there's another option from Germany that's even more expensive

 

http://taudac.com

 

I believe the TauDAC does not support DSD, they seem to only mention "up to 32/192".

[franz159]

6 hours ago, George Hincapie said:

 

How much is it? And how would one get that to work with Roon?

 

Lundahl output transformers on a Pi board is insane. Dual Wolfson DACs as well. OMFG. With a high quality LPSU I bet that will destroy most other options sonically...

The TerraBerry 2 is about 220$ delivered.

Since it is specified to work with the generic Hifiberry Alsa driver, it should work simply installing the Roon renderer package for Raspberry.

I don't know about the taudac, since there  is no price info in the link posted by seeteeyou.

[George Hincapie]

14 hours ago, franz159 said:

The TerraBerry 2 is about 220$ delivered.

Since it is specified to work with the generic Hifiberry Alsa driver, it should work simply installing the Roon renderer package for Raspberry.

I don't know about the taudac, since there  is no price info in the link posted by seeteeyou.

 

The Tau DAC developers response today:

 

Hi, thanks for your message.


The DAC boards are available, the output stage boards will be available in one or two weeks.

The DAC has been tested with Raspbian, Volumio and piCorePlayer. Didn't had the time to test it with Roon yet, it is on my ToDo list.

The prices are as follows:
TauDAC-DM101: 399 Euro
TauOUT-TP101: 249 Euro
32GB SD card with Volumio, Raspbian оr piCorePlayer, configured for TauDAC: 20 Euro

Best regards

Sergej
 

[franz159]

14 hours ago, George Hincapie said:

 

The Tau DAC developers response today:

 

Hi, thanks for your message.


The DAC boards are available, the output stage boards will be available in one or two weeks.

The DAC has been tested with Raspbian, Volumio and piCorePlayer. Didn't had the time to test it with Roon yet, it is on my ToDo list.

The prices are as follows:
TauDAC-DM101: 399 Euro
TauOUT-TP101: 249 Euro
32GB SD card with Volumio, Raspbian оr piCorePlayer, configured for TauDAC: 20 Euro

Best regards

Sergej
 

At this price level I'm not sure I would personally pursue the option of a raspberry PI Hat Dac. Beyond a certain price threshold you enter the "territory" where good external DACs alternatives become a possibility, thus providing more flexibility and a more "future" proof solution, decoupled from the player itself.

[semente]

Apparently this Audiophonics DAC can also decode DSD:

 

http://www.audiophonics.fr/fr/dac-diy/audiophonics-dac-i-sabre-es9028q2m-raspberry-pi-3-pi-2-a-b-spdif-i2s-p-12105.html

[franz159]

11 hours ago, semente said:

Apparently this Audiophonics DAC can also decode DSD:

 

http://www.audiophonics.fr/fr/dac-diy/audiophonics-dac-i-sabre-es9028q2m-raspberry-pi-3-pi-2-a-b-spdif-i2s-p-12105.html

True, on the Audiophonics site there are instructions on how to activate DOP/DSD64 with PiCorePlayer,  but only 32/384Khz with Moode (which is the distro I use)

[George Hincapie]

12 hours ago, franz159 said:

At this price level I'm not sure I would personally pursue the option of a raspberry PI Hat Dac. Beyond a certain price threshold you enter the "territory" where good external DACs alternatives become a possibility, thus providing more flexibility and a more "future" proof solution, decoupled from the player itself.

 

I guess it has to depend on the performance to a degree? If it is insane and betters external DACs costing £XXXX then surely it's worth buying? It would be used with a quality LPSU as well. This is all academic of course, we need to hear the bloody thing!

[George Hincapie]

So an update on this. The designer has been in touch now to let me know that the output stage is now available and has been tested with Roon successfully.

 

The DAC, Output Stage, SD card with Diet Pi & Roon = £650. Add £200 for an SBooster PSU and it looks expensive for a Pi, but if the quality meets expectation it could embarrass a lot of four figure solutions.