So if I use the same HAT on RPi 3 and I select Audiophonics I-Sabre ES90*8Q2M DAC in Ropieee GUI settings this will actually use RPI-DAC modules/drivers etc in system
But if I use a very same HAT with new RPi 4 and select very same option Audiophonics I-Sabre ES90*8Q2M DAC in Ropieee GUI settings this will be properly loaded and become available in system.
So what do change here when the two different versions of RPi’s are used? Is it a different version of kernel?
Because to my understanding something have to be different in the system if on older version these modules are nowhere to find in system.
I remember the time when Audiophonics released this HAT to the market there were some issue where the driver was not included in kernels by default until Audiophonics get approved in by Linux. So that time >>there was a hack<< to sideload these to make it working.
Yes, indeed we use a different kernel on the Pi 4 (newer) than on the Pi 3. This is related to the USB glitches that are related to the kernel version.
This means that on the Pi 3 there’s a fall back to the RPI-DAC driver and on the Pi 4 we use the native Audiophonics driver because it’s present in that newer kernel.
However, I still see people having issues with these HATs. So for the Pi 3 I’m considering (after earlier posts) to switch from the RPI-DAC driver to the Hifiberry driver when selecting the Audiophonics.
For the Pi 4 I’m not sure… I think I leave it as it is for now, although I’m not that convinced about the quality of the driver.
@spockfish
Thank you very much for your reply and explanation. Now it all make sense.
On my RaspDAC MIni I switched back to RPi3 B+ so no more issues with sound going quite, thats the main thing. And I do not see a problem if the Hifiberry DAC driver works with ES9038Q2M HAT. At least it seems to works properly by quick observation an listening test.
For me all these will come to the end in near future as I going off the streamer and just going to add a decent standalone DAC to my system. I have a nice server build sitting in my hifi rack which host Roon so I going to have a staraigh USB out to DAC. Totally silent, 0dB, fanless system with no moving parts sitting in nice Streacom FC5 EVO case matching my Sugden A21 Signature amplifier.
So my streamer is going for sale soon