InnoMaker Raspberry Pi HiFi DAC HAT PCM5122 HiFi DAC Audio Card Expansion Board for Raspberry Pi 5 4 3 B+ Pi Zero etc. (DAC HAT)

I first heard about Pi DAC HATS a few years ago. Have tried HiFiBerry. Was blown away by the sound and how easy it was to operate with Volumio operating system. I haven't listened to it in a while and decided to give it a try again. Something happened to the HiFiBerry...it was in-op. I wanted to get back to streaming my CD rips again. I saw this HAT and the DAC chip is quality and the coupling caps are rather good. I though I would try again with this unit. Now I'm using a Pi4b instead of the 3b. I powered the Pi and the HAT through a linear power supply hooked up to GPIO pins 4 and 6. OMG!!!!!! My audiophile heart is all a flutter! Everything I remember and more is there. I have access to my 5K+ CDs and the touch of my smart phone screen with Volumio. I have not even tried the internet radio or Tidal or other streaming services. I am very impressed with the unit and the price!Note-- There is a bit of a learning curve and the Pi does take a while to boot up at first. I just leave mine on. This is unfortunate but I have a bit of time to not have to pay $$$$$ for a streaming playback unit. Very happy. Listening now!

I am using this dac hat on RPI 3b running Raspberry pi os Bullseyes. I have another RPI 3A+ running Raspberry pi os lite which installed Logitech Media Server for LAN devices playing music. I just installed squeezelite to play music. Setup as below1. type "sudo nano /boot/config.txt" without "" , follow the manual instruction add a line at the end of the filedtoverlay=allo-boss-dac-pcm512x-audio2. sudo reboot3. right click on desktop volume icon there is "BossDAC" , you can change output from here4. install squeezelite by typing " sudo apt update ; sudo apt install squeezelite" without ""5. check the DAC by typing "aplay -L" without "" , should seehw:CARD=BossDAC,DEV=0BossDAC, Boss DAC HiFi [Master] pcm512x-hifi-0Direct hardware device without any conversionsplughw:CARD=BossDAC,DEV=0BossDAC, Boss DAC HiFi [Master] pcm512x-hifi-0Hardware device with all software conversionssysdefault:CARD=BossDACBossDAC, Boss DAC HiFi [Master] pcm512x-hifi-0Default Audio Devicedmix:CARD=BossDAC,DEV=0BossDAC, Boss DAC HiFi [Master] pcm512x-hifi-0Direct sample mixing deviceusbstream:CARD=BossDACBossDACUSB Stream Output6. connect to Logitech Media Server, type "squeezelite -o hw:CARD=BossDAC,DEV=0" without ""7. open browser and type LMS IP change the player8. enjoy.Sound quality is very good. It seems more musical and more power than my another DAT HAT Hifiberry DAC2 Pro, It is installed on RPI 3A+ powered by Hifiberry OS. Both of these DAC are using headphone jack as output.Highly recommanded RPI DAC hat, worth for every penny.The only complain is no stand provided with the DAC hat======Update 04 May, 2025 ==============Change OS to MoodeAudio, still rock solid. My another dac hat hifiberry dac2 pro was not working any more. :( No sound & no lights, mostly damage

Purchased this to go with a Raspberry Pi board, to make a headless audio streamer. It was easy to set up, and once configured, the sound from either headphones or line-out jacks was very good, probably better than what I was getting from my old Squeezebox Classic streamer.The only issue I ran into was that the manufacturer/vendor did not include any specific instructions for running this streamer with Pi-Core-Player. However, after reviewing the other setups that were described, I was able to pick a setup option that worked very nicely.This DAC HAT has good sound output, is easy to set up, and works quite well.

tl;dr summary for the DAC and caseNice sounding DAC, better than built-in audio on rPi but not as good as quality USB DAC.Case well built, works for rPi 3 and 4 but has poor quality soft metal fasteners that can strip or be easily damaged.---------------Now the longer details for those who might be interested.We have a music and video streamer on a small server (Zimaboard). Using Jellyfin for video and Logitech Media Server (LMS) for audio. LMS connects to local media (FLAC, opus, mp3) and qobuz streaming high def audio.We have a rPi 3B+ and a rPi 4 connected to stereos in our living room and family room. The 3 was connected to an old FiiO e10K USB DAC and the rPi 4 to a Topping E10 Lite DAC also via USB. The rPi 4/Topping sounded incredible using moOde. The rPi 3/FiiO, also running moOde, sounded ok, but not nearly as clear or detailed as Topping.Wanted to upgrade the rPi3 and rather than pay $99 for another Topping to pair with the old rPi, decided to go with the InnoMaker HAT and case. Both came well packaged. The case needed to be assembled after getting the paper wrapping off the pieces. Took some time and patience, but they came off. Instructions for the DAC and case were online at the URL in the DAC box. Very detailed and helpful especially since you get 3 different sized standoffs. Only negative was the quality of the standoffs and screws. Very soft metal. The threads either arrived damaged on one of the screws, or else they got damaged when I put the screw thru the hole in the rPi board. Simple contact with the hole in the board should NOT have damaged the threads but they were damaged and with no spares, I had to force thru the bad threads using needle nose pliers and a pair or regular pliers. Unlikely I wll be able to unscrew it when/if the board or DAC ever dies and needs replacing. Would have preferred nylon screws or some of type of fastener. But other than that, with care, it all got assembled and looked pretty good.Plugged it in. Went to moOde and changed the audio source to Allo Boss DAC and rebooted the rPi 3. It sounds really good. Not as good as the rPi 4 with the $99 Topping DAC but still really good. And much better than with the old FiiO USB DAC. Didn't mention the change to my wife and she remarked last evening that the music sounds better, much more clear. I took that as a good sign as she rarely comments about the quality of the music so for her to notice says something.All in all happy with the purchase. If I had been using a rPi 4 I might have gone for another $99 Topping E30 Lite or the similar quality $79 S.M.S.L SU-1 DAC instead of the Pi HAT for the minimal price difference but I decided to give these a try and am glad I did.I hope this helps.