Recently, the Raspberry Pi officially released four high-fidelity (Hi-Fi) audio playback devices IQaudio, the models are DAC + , DAC Pro , DigiAMP + and Codec Zero , which can be used with Raspberry Pi devices, and have a good sense of Hi-Fi sound quality. Interested DIY developers can purchase through official Raspberry Pi channels.
IQaudio was originally a startup company established in 2015. Its main business is to develop and produce Hi-Fi audio playback equipment based on the Raspberry Pi. IQaudio's player products have been widely adopted by amateurs and enterprises after its launch. Therefore, the Raspberry Pi officially acquired the IQaudio brand and product line at the end of last year.
It is reported that the four Hi-Fi players officially launched by the Raspberry Pi are all priced between 20 and 30 US dollars, and they can all be used with Raspberry Pi products:
IQaudio DAC +
DAC+ only costs $20, is the lowest-priced audio output HAT among the four products, and supports 24-bit 192 kHz high-resolution digital audio. It uses Texas Instruments (TI) PCM5122 DAC to transmit stereo analog audio to a pair of phono connectors, and also provides a dedicated headphone amplifier.
IQaudio DAC Professional Edition
The price of DAC Pro is $25, which is the audio output HAT with the highest fidelity among the four products. It supports the same audio input format and output connector as DAC+, but uses TI's PCM5242 DAC, which can provide a higher signal-to-noise ratio. Combined with the optional daughter board (to be relaunched in the first quarter of 2021), the DAC Pro can support balanced outputs from a pair of XLR connectors.
IQaudio DigiAMP +
IQaudio DigiAMP+ is priced at $30. In the case of DAC+ and DAC Pro designed to be used with external amplifiers, DigiAMP+ integrates TI’s TAS5756M digital input amplifier directly into the HAT, which can drive a pair of passives with a maximum of 35W per channel speaker. At the same time, DigiAMP+ is only a deck of cards, which can be integrated into the Raspberry Pi development board to become a complete high-fidelity speaker.
Codec Zero
Codec Zero is an audio I/O HAT priced at $20, which is about the same size as Raspberry Pi Zero. It is built around the Dialog Semiconductor DA7212 codec and supports various input and output devices, including built-in MEMS microphones, external mono electret microphones, and 1.2W 8 ohm mono speakers.
These four Hi-Fi products are currently on the shelves, and more detailed information can be obtained from the Raspberry Pi official website .