Dilemna on which DAC pcb for Pi 2

[danilo]

Gentlemen.. really lost here.
Simply cannot decide which Pi2 DAC to purchase.
Obvious ones are :

- HiFI berry.. Decent priced and fair postages Dac+ (5122) OR Dac+Pro? Ess and twin clocks (Dunno IF thats' actually an advantage)
- RaspyPlay 4.. 5122 a fair bit of add on possibilities (should one want them :-) and fair shippings
- Iquadio.. Higher priced and unfortunately saddled with a usurious (to me) shipping charge (12gbps) to Canada
- Audiophonics Interesting Board, Ess and it's necessary clock But! 22 Euro shipping.

No D amps of any description, not to my tastes.
I assume all of the above sound/perform fairly equally ?
All advise, experiences.. appreciated.

[struth]

Got an IQ and Audiophonics and both are excellent. Not tried the others. of the 2, I would pick the phonics as its better to my ears, but was a lot more expensive for me all in.

[mikmas]

I have also tried both the IQaudio and Sabre DACs and find little to choose between them if I'm honest .... downside of the Sabre DAC is that it won't handle native DSD files and requires conversion to PCM, also you lose the ease of use of the onscreen volume control on the Moode and Volumio apps (a deal breaker for me:( ).

[danilo]

All great Informations..
As result I'm Eyeing the Latest Audiophonics boards with evil intent. Despite their Ludicrous (22 E) shippings
Oddly the Chi Fi 'audiophonics' clone boards are ~10$ ....Delivered. Just bought one.. with full expectation that it's junk, mere Curiousity :-)
Siggh.. It's So easy to get carried away with Audio Lust, Lucid moments are clearly fleeting.
Impressed by the Raspy Designers' clear, honest responses to my query though.
The search continues..

[mikmas]

All great Informations..
As result I'm Eyeing the Latest Audiophonics boards with evil intent. Despite their Ludicrous (22 E) shippings
Oddly the Chi Fi 'audiophonics' clone boards are ~10$ ....Delivered. Just bought one.. with full expectation that it's junk, mere Curiousity :-)
Siggh.. It's So easy to get carried away with Audio Lust, Lucid moments are clearly fleeting.
Impressed by the Raspy Designers' clear, honest responses to my query though.
The search continues..

I got a direct import Sabre board from China (maybe the same one) - indeed a damn sight cheaper and worth the punt I thought. Volumio recognised it as indeed the correct Sabre chip and I have no reason to doubt the rest of the components are kosher and up to spec :)

[Audio Advent]

Twin clocks can be an advantage if the calculation to create a clock for a non-common denominator of the single clock frequency for some sample rates is otherwise not very good... Really depends on the designer of the DAC! Probably safer at this price range to assume it is an advantage unless you rarely switch sample rates i.e. CD at 44.1kHz and its multiples 88.2, 176.4 usually need a different clock to 48KHz, 96kHz and 192kHz

[danilo]

Thanks .. albeit I have No idea Why or How to switch Rates. Vinyl and Cds are enough trouble.. so far.
Tending towards the Raspy. Always a soft spot for the Underdog.
The things' designer gave surprisingly candid response.
Apparently the Pi itself injects a Lot of noise (beyond inconsequential PS noises)
The Pi ..Does... have inbuilt limitations.

That said: I've recently realised Just how 'low' in quality of reproduction gear one can devolve to and still get involuntary
foot tapping happening. Small epiphany there.

A Pi 7'' touch screen gizmo seems as a simple stand alone Pi control device ? Once it's back in stock.
Being obstreperous.. I have No phone.

[struth]

you could always buy a used smart phone and just use it on wifi as a controller. it would be more convenient. even better is an old tablet.it makes the pi experience much better tbh:)

[tiguan]

+1 to Grants recommendation,

Additionaly to get the best from pi+dac combo, I strongly recommend to use pi2 just as client (slave) player without wifi dongle, screen, harddisc etc. meaning anything consuming power
-on one side netbook or pc working as server with vortexbox connected to wireless modem with ethernet cable ( or switch)
-on the other side pi2 with volumio or piCorePlayer connected with ethernet cable to the wireless modem which has just the duty connecting LMS and DAC.

- LMS ( Logitech Media Server) fine tuned with necessary settings at vortexbox server netbook or Pc. All archive will be here.

If there is a NAS this can be also a LMS.
At synology appcenter there is LMS. I heard asustor and qnap nas appcenter has LMS as well.

[danilo]

you could always buy a used smart phone and just use it on wifi as a controller. it would be more convenient. even better is an old tablet.it makes the pi experience much better tbh:)

Actually that is a good thought, which had, albeit fleetingly :-) occurred earlier.
Herr Tiguans' advice, which may be Excellent.. is for me, in another language .. as yet

[larky]

Kindle fire hd

Only 50 quid now, control your PI, browse the web, play games, oh and read books ;)

Great value