TDA1541A DAC through I2S

Hi,

I have got my pi working well and able to stream both internet radio as well as play FLAC files. The next step for me is to get the pi to work through its i2s port with my TDA1541A DAC.

The DAC is home built and is working well through my CD-PRO2M transport. However, when I connect the DAC to the pi I get nothing!

When I have gone into the configuration to switch on the I2S driver the pi will no longer play my files I press play and it goes straight to pause. If I press stop and then play it again goes straight to pause. I have tried rebooting it several times in case that is the problem.

Have I missed something stupid?

For the I2S connection I have taken:
LRCK from pin 4 of the Pi’s P5 and connected it to Pin 1 of the TDA DAC
BCK from pin 3 of the Pi’s P5 and connected it to pin 2 of the TDA DAC
Data from pin 6 of the pi’s P5 and connected it to pin3 of the TDA DAC
Ground from pin 8 of the Pi’s p5 is taken to digital ground of the DAC chip

Pin 4 of the DAC chip is connected to pin2 (BCK) of the Dac chip.

I would be very grateful for any advice.

Best regards,

Ian

I think my issue might be that version B1.1 doesnt work with I2S?

I tried downloading Version B1.0 but each time I try to unzip the file it appears to be corrupted.

Any ideas on an alternative way to download?

Cheers
Ian

I found a different unzipping program and managed to get the image file for B1.0 and loaded it onto the pi.
The pi was then working fine with audio through the jack plug.
.
Next step was to switch I2S on and reboot. I then select 16 bit 44.1Khz and connected to my TDA1541A DAC. I was greeted with silence.

I reconnected the DAC to my I2S CDPRO-2M and got music. So not a problem with the DAC.

I can only conclude that I am doing something wrong or Volumio does not work with TDA1541A DAC chips.

If anybody has successfully got their Pi to talk to TDA1541A via the I2S could they please post some help. I am at the point of selling the Pi.

Thanks
Ian

1 Like

Hi, I connected the TDA1543T to raspberry pi with volumio beta 1.0 and its working out of the box. Check if it is connected properly, after that enable i2s from volumio web gui and reboot, after that reboot again and chech playback settings on audio output should be pcm5102 or sndrpihifiberry.
See here http://volumio.org/forum/i2s-on-raspberry-pi-rev1-256mb-ram-t470.html

Hi

Thanks for your reply I tried your instructions. When I go to playback settings the audio output is sndpipcm5102A.

There is still no sound from the DAC!

Is there anything else I should try?

Cheers
Ian

Hi,
I tried to connect Raspberry to Najda

diyaudio.com/forums/digital- … t-2-a.html
waf-audio.com/products.php?pos=1&lang=en

and have the same issue. Volumio stay in pause if I check the I2S box.
Did you solve?

V

Check on hifiberry website a topic configure your linux system, ans see if you have all the modules listed on their website on your /etc/modules. I successfully connected NOS tda1543T module on volumio. Don’t switch i2s on from volumio gui after you check if you have all the modules in /etc/modules, because it will overwrite your modules.Wich version of volumio do you have?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

hi birca I could try this way, but before I think I will have to install version 1 beta because I read some posts on diyaudio saying that in version 1.1 I2S is not working properly.
which version do you use?

V

Install v1.1 and after that do what is on this website , don’t turn i2s on from volumio gui. hifiberry.com/products/dac/h … -software/

Sent from my TF300T using Tapatalk

Or do this https://community.volumio.com/t/activating-of-hifiberry-dac-without-web-ui/334/16

Sent from my TF300T using Tapatalk

Thankyou Birca,
I modified /etc/modules and now it is OK.

Vince

Hi,

I followed the instructions on the hifiberry website and modified the 1.1 software.

Now with my TDA1541a DAC connected to P5 I get static interference from the speakers when I press play. So at least there is something coming out the speakers, but not music!

Is there something different about the TDA1541a that means I need to make some other changes to get this to work?

I must be getting close.

I am grateful for all advice.

cheers
Ian

1 Like

I have been battling on trying to get the Raspberry pi and volumio to talk to my TDA1541A DAC. Today I discovered that a new version of Volumio has appeared 1.2 which I downloaded and put on my Pi. The software seems to work ok, though I couldn’t configure my wireless and ended up using wicd-curses which worked fine. The bug that stopped I2S in version 1.1 appears to be fixed, in that the software does not stick in pause and hifiberry is listed as the DAC.

However, having doen all the configuration and wired it up to my DAC it still does not work. I will be interested to see if others have any more success than me.

From what I have read so far and the feedback to this thread, others have made the I2S work with their DAC’s but no one has stated that the I2S works with the TDA1541a. So this coupled with my own observations leads me to the conclusion that unfortunately Volumio is unsuitable for use with this very special chip.

I will keep an eye out on different software options as for the time being I am going to give up with this as it simply does not work for my purpose.

Ian

where?

V

Here you go Beta 1.2:

sourceforge.net/projects/volumio/

Cheers
Ian

Hey Ian,

Are you sure the SCK should be connected to the BCK? thought it was a multiple of the sample rate. the TDA1543 doesn’t use the SCK so explains why that worked. Agree the 1541 is a special chip, perhaps look at the hifiberry digi for the SCK?
Whats the datasheet state?

Chuz,

Drew.

Hey Ian,

Are you sure the SCK should be connected to the BCK? thought it was a multiple of the sample rate. the TDA1543 doesn’t use the SCK so explains why that worked. Agree the 1541 is a special chip, perhaps look at the hifiberry digi for the SCK?
Whats the datasheet state?

Chuz,

Drew.

After some time away from my Pi I decided to investigate why I couldnt get the TDA1541a DAC to work through I2S. I checked the BCK, data and LRCK by looking at the signals on an oscilloscope. I found that there was no sign of any LRCK signal. I decided to give things another go and bought a new Pi. I checked the signals again on the scope and all three were present. So I connected the Pi to the TDA1541A DAC and it works!

I know others have had good success with other I2S DAC’s, but I am just delighted to get my system working. I havent had any time for critical listening, though on initial hearing there is no sign of crackles or any other obvious problems.

I used the latest version of Volumio 1.1. From what I could tell the bugs within the software were fixed as the /etc/modules/ were correct.

Cheers
Ian

Hey Ian

So what are you using for SCK to the dac?

Chuz,

Drew.

Hi Drew,

The TDA1541A doesn’t have SCK, it has; pin1 = LRCK, pin 2 = BCK, pin3 = Data, pin5 =gnd.

The TDA1541 has SCK. With the TDA1541 BCK, LRCK and data are the same pins as the TDA1541A, however, you connect pin 4 (DataR/SCK) to pin 2 (BCK), and it should work.

Now whilst I haven’t tried the TDA1541 with the volumio yet it should work as I have got it working with the I2S output of my CD transport. I have some TDA1541’s at home and might try tonightif I have time.

The other difference between the TDA1541 and the TDA1541A is that the TDA1541A requires an external oscillator cap between pins 16 and 17 (I cannot remember the value.

Hope that helps.

Cheers
Ian