i2s dacs for raspberry pi

Audio Gear DACs
1

Hello music lovers. i would like to share my thoughts since no one made a comparison on some of the dacs on the market for RPI.
This is just my personal opinion, based on my personal system.
I have been buying dacs since last year to see their capabilities and if i like their sound. (before i had a metrum octave dac and a usb spdif audiophilleo)

At the moment i have 4 dacs , hifiberry dac+, iqaudio dac+, durio sound pro and mamboberry dac.
The first two dacs have the same chip pcm 5122 the sound is near but the iq audio has a bit more bass. They have clear sound but no musicality (that feeling that is missing something natural on the music). The durio(pcm 5102) sounds better thant the other two but a litle less real (more sintetic sound) than the mamboberry. The mamboberry has more bass definition, and the instruments sound more real, cymbals, voices etc. i ear true music, not sounds.
This is just my personal opinion and based on my system, i tested on volumio and other two similiar systems. I own an luxman amp and i´m a vinil guy with several turtables, so for me is dificult to listening to digital. But this dacs with volumio and or other systems available have very nice sound. (almost analog :slight_smile:

i would like to ear more opinions since there are more RPI Dacs available.
regards

2

Hi Pistorello!
Congratulations for your DAC collection! :smiley:
I have a Durio Sound Pro and a Marantz CD 6003 connected together to a Marantz PM7001 and two Chario Constellation Cygnus.
I don’t ear any big differences between Durio and CD6003, for me are both fantastics!
Open and very clear sound!
Durio is better because is cheaper! :mrgreen:

3

Yes the pcm 5102 sounds very good but the es 9023 has more fuller and natural sound. Give it a try if you can :slight_smile:

4

Hi Pistorello

What do you think of the sound quality of the much higher priced Metrum Octave with Audiophilleo, vs the Hifiberry Dac+ ?

Again a big price difference -can you compare the two S/PDIF outputs - the Audiophilleo to the Digi+

To give perspective, please let us know what speakers and amplifier you use

Thank you!

Otto,
Australia

5

Hello Otto i was disapoited with the metrum audiophilleo combination. I ve compared them with an old modified pioneer cd player and the cd player had much more soundstage and musicality. On the pi i had hifiberry dac +, iq audio same chip similiar type of sound with a lot of detail but for my ears no musicality. Now i have durio, mamboberry and audiophonics last version. I prefer the mamboberry. It has musicality and real natural sound .if you listen to cymbas etc you will see the difference on dacs. I compared with the last hype , ifi idsd micro and i prefer the mambo. I use old amplifiers from the 70s . marantz, luxman but with new speakers.

6

Thanks Pistorello

Are your amps tube, or solid state?

O

7

Solid state. I listened to mamboberry in my neibor system, a plinios (7000 euros) against the ifi micro idsd and prefered the mambo.

8

Dear pistollero,
How are you? Thank you for your comparison of the dacs. How are you powering the mamboberry ?

They sell a 6v 50va Toroidal Transformer (Audio special) to go along with the mamboberry. Thinking of buying the mamboberry and the 6v 50va Toroidal Transformer.

Thank you !