Raspberry Pi I2S to SPDIF Hat

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Michael Kelly, Apr 30, 2016.

  1. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    Also I faintly recall the Hifiberry Digi+ Pro as the HAT is the one to use?
     
  2. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    Yes, that’s correct. I’m using the same and it works.
     
  3. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    On the 502DAC the balanced output is driven from a differential driver into a matching transformer, then on to a 6.35MM jack. The jack is not 110 ohm impedance. On the PI2AES the same circuit is used, but it goes to a 3-Pin male XLR which does have the proper 110 ohm impedance. I would guess that accounts for the difference you hear. At the time we designed the 502DAC we did not have access to an RCA/Opto combo jack, so there was not enough room for an XLR.

    Regards,
    Michael
     
  4. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    What, no PI2AES? ;)
     
  5. lehmanhill

    lehmanhill Almost "Made"

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    Now that is interesting. I always wondered if connector impedance matching was something you might hear. Fascinating.
     
  6. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    Of course now that we mention it, everyone will hear it! Just kidding. Sort of!

    Michael
     
  7. Impulse

    Impulse Friend

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    So I ordered a pair of the Pi2AES a few weeks ago, I'm guessing they'll be in that last batch Michael said he'd be sending out soon... I'd been meaning to build a streaming/SPIDF transport for my living room for a while. I've only ordered one RPi 4 for now until I figure out how I'll use the second one, but I've been seeing all that talk about throttling...

    Is there any space between the Raspberry Pi 4 and the HAT once mounted in order to place some small heatsinks on the former? Should I not sweat it?
     
  8. haywood

    haywood Friend

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    There should be room for small passive heatsinks but throttling mostly affects people doing much heavier tasks than audio. Just make sure your case has some ventilation and you’ll be fine.
     
  9. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    Just updated to Ropieee XL and now both Airplay and DLNA are available. So can be used with any apple devices or with players like Audirvana.
     
  10. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    Was this on a pi 4?

    Michael
     
  11. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    I used below for pi board. It's Pi 3 B+. I have no issue so far with RopieeeXL on Pi 3 B+. Used it to airplay apple music from phone, iPad and it works fine. No drop outs

    Element14 Raspberry Pi 3 B+... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BDR5PDW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

    I heard some reports of Pi4 board being noisy so stayed away from it for time being. Not sure how true it is.
     
  12. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    [​IMG][​IMG]
    I2S to Audio-gd Reference 10.32 works like a charm :cool:
     
  13. NDonchev

    NDonchev New

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    Hi guys. I just received my PI2AES however I'm experiencing some difficulties. I would appreciate some help.

    I have hooked the PI2AES on top of a RPi4 and I can't make it to work with either Volumio (RPi 4 experimental build) or Moode 6.10. As I can see, it is comfirmed to work with the Moode. I'm trying to output signal with both Optical and AES/EBU to the Yggdrasil.

    What settings should I use in Moode for the PI2AES? On the I2S dropdown list there is no entry for the PI2AES. I have tried with Pi2Design 502DAC, 502DAC PRO, the Generic 1 I2S (hifiberry-dac), Generic 2 I2S (rpi-dac) and some others. It either gives me an ALSA error or it just doesn't output signal without giving an error. The Yggdrasil doesn't indicate any signal coming in.

    Any ideas? Thanks.
     
  14. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    You can use the “Hifiberry Digi+Pro” setting.

    Michael
     
  15. NDonchev

    NDonchev New

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    That was fast, thanks! It works fine on Moode after selecting the Hifiberry Digi+Pro option!

    As for Volumio's experimental RPi4 build, I couldn't make it to work by using the Hifiberry Digi+Pro I2S. It gives me a "Failed to open ALSA device" error. I guess that is a problem on their part, so I posted on their forum as well. I hope it gets solved soon as I was planning to use Volumio. Anyway, it's great that the PI2AES works with Moode and it's time for some initial listening.

    By the way, is it confirmed that the PI2AES works with Volumio on RPi3?
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2019
  16. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    Thanks for the update and sorry that it was not clear from our manual.

    As for Volumio, we use it for testing on the RPI three. One thing to note however, is that when you select a different card using Volumio, it often takes two or three reboot before it works. I don’t find this on other players, but once it does work it works very well. I have not tested with the 4 but, you might want to do some reboots before you give up on it.

    Regards,
    Michael
     
  17. MisterRogers

    MisterRogers Ethernet Nervosa

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    Finally got around to tapping buffered I2S to feed I2S / Metrum. A noticeable improvement similar to the improvement you hear switching from AES to I2S with an Ambre; a haze is removed, a bit more dynamic, slightly tighter bass. Shout out to @lehmanhill for helping me not have to think too hard about wiring.
     

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  18. MisterRogers

    MisterRogers Ethernet Nervosa

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    I will say that with separate power to Pi and PI2AES, running I2S, this streamer is now my TOTL one, surpassing the Ambre. Of course, the PS's I'm running give it a total cost exceeding Ambre, but yea - I'm stupid like that.

    @Michael Kelly - You've done awesome work with this HAT, keep it up!
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2019
  19. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    Yes, I'm thankful to @lehmanhill as well for reaching out to me with detailed description on wiring scheme.
     
  20. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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