HiFi DAC Pro Hat with ES9038Q2M Chip for Raspberry Pi 5/4/3B+/3B/Zero - High-Resolution 384KHz/32bit & DSD512 Audio Card, DAC Converter for Volumio, Moode, Headphone & Balanced Output

I have 2 of these hats. One on a Pi 5 and one on a Pi Zero W. Both are running Volumio v3 with an SMB share to my NAS for the music library of mostly FLAC cd rips and some high-res downloads. Simply selecting "Allo Katana" as the I2S dac was all that was needed to enable. The Pi 5 works great with just the 5v 5a DC power supply from geekworm. I used the balanced audio outs to my Behringer mixer to ATH-R50x headphones. I was amazed listening to most of my audio tracks and how much detail it was pulling out. Can't say if wifi worked or not as I had a wired network connection. For the Pi zero w, I found that using just a simple 5v 1a phone charger was limiting. I connected a dedicated jameco linear 5v wall-wart to the USB-c on the hat and removed the power sharing jumper. Bass specifically was much more defined where it was muddy and weak using the phone charger. I connected the stereo output to a JDS Labs element for headphone output which sounded great. I did have a problem with wifi connectivity. I have an aluminum 52pi case on the zero with this bare hat on top. The wifi on the zero was basically un-usable so I used a usb wired ethernet adapter. As an aside, Volumio 3 is really a hard lift for a low cpu-power device like the zero. The audio worked fine, but waiting for processing to complete such as importing a library was super slow. I would highly suggest a pi3 or zero 2 as the lowest spec if you want a responsive Volumio UI with this hat.

The Innomaker DAC Pro is an exceptional value, offering impressive sound quality for a fraction of the price of other DACs using the same ES9038 chip. It features an upgraded 3.5mm gold-plated jack and performs seamlessly with Volumio on a Raspberry Pi 5. Paired with an I²C display for song info and a meter, the setup offers a satisfying DIY experience, even for beginners. The DAC delivers an excellent soundstage with comfortable highs and a full, dynamic sound, even at high volumes. Using a vintage Yamaha receiver and budget Sony speakers, the performance is remarkable, leaving room to imagine how much better it would sound with high-end equipment. Tracks in 44.1kHz/16-bit sound great, but the warmth and clarity of 192kHz/24-bit truly stand out, evoking the feel of vinyl with depth and precision. Even my kids love the music this DAC produces! I also plan to build a custom enclosure for the setup, making it a perfect long-term addition to our home. Highly recommended for an affordable entry into DIY HiFi audio.

This is the ultimate DAC HAT for the Raspberry Pi. Another reviewer stated it does not work with the Pi 5, but look at the pics posted and you can see the HAT was one pin offset to the right. It works flawlessly on the Pi 5 when properly connected to the GPIO using Volumio. I connected the XLR outputs to my vintage Kenwood Basic C2 preamp. To do this order the Inno Maker XLR cable set of 2, order the Emotiva XLR to RCA adapter (it is properly wired for the conversion) and a set of short male to male RCA cables. Works perfectly and literally blows away the Hifi Berry DAC HD for less $$. I’m very impressed.

This audio board I purchased delivers fantastic sound. It handles DSD254 and 32-bit FLAC playback flawlessly. My only minor hiccup, which I resolved after some investigation, was that Moodeaudio wouldn't play DSD files beyond 64. I researched online and found that Volumio was reported to work. So, I downloaded Volumio, and it performed perfectly, no problems at all.

Just set up a new RPi5 with Volumio and this DAC hat. Volumio was super easy to set up with drop down menus to select the DAC Pro. Was pleasantly surprised that the DAC kit includes a 40 pin spacer and long stand offs to lift the DAC above the heat sink and fan assembly on the RPi. Sound quality is fantastic, super clean and smooth. I'm so pleased. Previously had been using a Zorloo USB ZuperDAC-S on a Windows 11 laptop, this DAC hat blows it away in every metric. For context this review was written while streaming Spotify Premium at 320kbs listening on Bowers & Wilkens P9 Signature headphones.

Works great for a two channel media player (FLAC ALAC or even lower quality sources like bluetooth/internet radio ). After trying a bunch of configurations I settled on the following and have a few around the house and in my workshop connected to various levels of audio equipment (ranging from emotiva monoblocks driving Revel floorstanders to a Fosi ZA3 with Polk XT-20s). MoOde OS, Rpi5 4GB and Pi Display 2, SmartiPi Touch Pro 3 case, Innomaker HiFi DAC Pro hat, Music files on a Samsung Fit Plus USB stick, Hualeu 90 degree 3.5mm to XLR cables (the Innomaker cables work great for other cases but you need 90 degree for this one), Anker 90 degree USB-A to USB-C (powering the DAC card separately seems to give better sound, I use old Apple 1A wall warts),

Excellent sound quality for th eprice, decent headphone amp too. Used on RP3b, RP4 and RP5. Used with power conditioner and without. A tad better with conditioner. Works flawlessly with Moodeaudio

Good...Ok.... 3.5 mm output only working.

It sounds somewhat cold and harsh compared to the Iquadio dac pro on my Genelecs with 3.5mm to XLR balanced input. I tried linear powersupply and powering the dac standalone.

In gebruik als PiCorePlayer in combinatie met een Pi 3 Model B Plus. Spacers worden geleverd om deze HAT stevig op de Pi te monteren. Deze kaart heeft 3 manieren om voeding te krijgen. Twee werken niet in deze combinatie en een aparte 1A voeding voor deze kaart is noodzakelijk. Dit is overigens een pluspunt. Ik heb mij ietwat verkeken op de audio aansluitingen; vanwege het ontbreken van XLR op mijn versterker deze nu aangesloten met een phone-jack to RCA kabel. Ik kwam erachter dat de service van inno-maker uitstekend is; een vraag hierover was de volgende ochtend beantwoord. Citaat: "Get single end signal from headphone to RCA is the correct way to use it. it wouldn't cause any quality degrade." Het heeft dus geen zin om moeilijk te doen met extra conversie kabels XLR to RCA (scheelt weer minstens €30). Het geluid is in eerste instantie wel zacht. Dit kan worden verholpen met een correcte instelling van de Salsa Mixer door deze op 0db te zetten. Tip zet wel eerst het volume van de versterker weer terug. Hoe is het geluid? Goede vraag dat laat ik aan de deskundige over. Ik gebruik deze combi voornamelijk voor Internet radio. Wellicht overkill maar een goede basis voor de toekomst.

Works well and I can recommend it. I plugged it into the Raspberry Pi 3 and installed Moode. Configuration was easy and it worked immediately. The sound quality I found very good although audiophiles might want something better.