So, a Pi3 will have wifi and an optical out if I add the Digi (+). That’s an option, and perhaps the best so far. I’ll take some screen shots tomorrow to see what I’m rigging up.
Thanks guys and gals!
Have a look at eBay for the Digi+ board. They are very well made copies of the Hifiberry product.
Mine is working splendid and have even got a galvanic isolation on the electrical SPDIF output.
Heres an example:
This one includes a case with the necessary height for the Pi and HAT.
I suppose when I say “optical output” I could use toslink. Other than the airport express what would you recommend that has a toslink out?
I would say CuBox, there is an issue with the optical port being a bit narrow that can create issues for some cables. A cheap right angle adaptor can solve the issue. The Pi/Digi+ also has an optical out.
The Squeezebox Touch is also a very reasonable solution, if you can find one.
I use the Squeezebox Touch with USB out. I find the USB to be less bright than the optical with a little more detail through my Dragonfly. It’s a nice sound.
Anyone looking for Squeezebox Touch players, I have two still factory sealed and another that’s been functioning as a Roon endpoint for a kitchen radio.
1 Like
I’ve been looking on ebay for a touch to add teh EDO mod and stream 24/192. PM me.
1 Like
I’m about to take off from JHB for London, back home Thu. Will send pm in morning when I’ve arrived.
Good idea guys thx.
One more thing: I dig the concept of using an external USB battery. Maybe this is the Redwine Audio fan in me. Blacker backgrounds? We are going to find out shortly. 
I found the USB battery smoothed out the HiFiBerry. It doesn’t seem to make much of a difference with my USB DAC.
I have tried my Pi2B with PiFi DiGi+ with three different sets of power supplys this morning:
Standard switched charging PSU for phones, remotes etc (Logitech, 5VA)
Batterypack for Phones, 1.400mAh
Linear PSU LT1083-based from eBay (25VA)
The differences are slight, but the switched wall plug does certainly give more hash i the “backdrop” as well as etched cymbals and sibilants.
The battery pack and the linear psu sounds very much alike, but i imagine im hearing a more laid back sound from the battery pack, while the LPSU creates a more muscular sound with bigger dynamic capabilities.
I will try the other Pi2B with the DACPlus HAT later, the differences may be more obvious with that one.
No, im not blind… 
Make what you want of it… YMMV!
2 Likes
ROFL!!
(extra characters provided to meet minimum criteria)
Has anyone tried one of the Sonic.Build products? They start at $219, and offer plug and play endpoints based on Raspberry Pi. Three flavors include digital out ($219), dac w/ RCA out ($249), and integrated dac / class d amp ($429). Nice offering it seems for those of us with less diy inclinations.
Has anyone had any experience with these?
The DYI-ness of building a Pi yourself is really limited to three easy steps:
- Click Pi and HAT together
- Attach to case with a handful of screws
- Flash image to SD card
No soldering or other trickery required – and all for about 50% or less compared to the prices mentioned above.
That being said, Sonic.Build offers nice, preassembled, turnkey units that will look and function exactly the same as when following DIY path, with a little less effort and a little more money involved. Both are valid routes to the same means – the choice is yours entirely.
1 Like
Yes you’re right putting the hardware together is extremely easy. What was not easy, at least to a linux neophyte, was getting the software up and running. I had never messed around with linux before, so getting the card ready to accept the image, flashing the image, and then loading the Roon program on was not exactly a snap for a first timer. It took me about fifteen to twenty hours of trial and error with lots of help from forumites to get the code correct. However, now that it’s up and running, it works great!
While I can appreciate that a full Linux install can be a bit daunting for first-timers, even when following a step-by-step guide, things have gotten a lot easier with the ready-to-run RoonReady images from HifiBerry and IQAudio.
2 Likes