Hi - I have a Raspberry Pi with display that is used primarily for displaying what is playing and controlling another zone. Works fine. I’d like to beef up this unit by adding a low-cost HAT that acts like a DAC and can power a set of Audeze planar headphones. I realize a HAT may not have a ton of output, but has anyone done this? Need a recommended HAT that is supported by Ropieee that someones’ done this with. The HAT will probably stick out of the rear of the display but that’s no big deal to me. Also it’s important that I can control volume within roon for this and not have to use another remote.
I’m not aware of a suitable HAT.
Something like a Chord Mojo /Mojo 2 driven from the USB would work well.
As would many other USB DAC/headphone amps.
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Agreed. It also feels (imho of course) that using a HAT is not making use of an Audeze to it’s full potential.
thanks. now ignore the fact that I mentioend Audeze headphones, what is the best HAT Dac out there with a headphone output volume-controllable via roon? thanks
I use a Hifiberry Digi+ Pro and then hook that up to my DAC (yggdrasil) via optical or coax (could also just hook it up USB but like the Optical better). This way i am not tied to one DAc I can connect other as needed. I also use a Schiit HEL (dac/amp), Fulla (dac/amp), And Bifrost (DAC then to an amp i.e. Cavalli LAu or others) all from the USB on some of the RPis so no Hat needed. The Mojo suggested above would also be a good option.
Not too familiar with plain DAC hats but an amp would be recommended in any case to drive the Audeze. Most of the DAC hats I have seen need an amp, but like I said not too familiar with them as I have never used them.
For reference I use HD800 headphones, Stax earspeakers, Hifiman headphones, and others with the setups mentioned above. As well as speaker systems of various configurations.
thanks but i want to keep this simple. I have many DACS I can use, but i’d prefer a clean HAT with a basic headphone output. There are a ton of them. I’m just interested in a low cost HAT that is supported by Ropieee natively and allows me to control volume via roon’s interface. thanks!
Here are three that have headphone jacks and aren’t expensive:
Raspberry Pi DAC Pro (on list of devices in Ropieee)
IQaudio DAC Pro (on list of devices in Ropieee)
Raspiaudio Audio+ V3 – Hi-Fi DAC HAT for Raspberry Pi (V3 not on list of devices in Ropieee v2 is…)
Don’t know how well they work so YMMV…worth a try?
I’d recommend the Innomaker HiFi DAC Pro HAT through its balanced output.
See Archimago’s blog post for measurements and review.