As mentioned before, you won’t find any I2S HAT for RPi able to generate DSD-direct audio stream, because the I2S interface of the RPi does not support it.
Does your DAC have USB input? If yes, maybe it’s the easiest solution for you.
I have a streamer and DAC that does DSD. But I use the Matrix Audio XSPDIF-3 to convert USB to I2S. I just thought I could get a hat that gave me I2S direct out and not need the XSPDIF.
Thanks for the help. I guess I’ll just go but a streamer with I2S (Matrix Audio Element S)
Our Rivo Plus has I2S/DSD over HDMI output as well
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Hi! To understand better: you’re using the usb out to the Matrix XSPDIF-3, and then from that to another DAC for DSD? And what you were looking for is a hat that could do native dsd, but not an external USB dac?
I just use the XSPDIF3 to convert USB to I2S. I thought ethernet into the Pi and I2S out of the Pi and into my DAC for DSD. No biggie. I have a SOtM that does native DSD but it then goes into the XSPDIF3 and I2S out.
Wish they made it clear that these hats won’t do DSD over I2S. Could’ve saved myself some money
Why not just use the Pi with Volumio’s usb out to a DAC that can do native DSD instead? No need for additional hardware.
New to Volumio, so I’m trying to wrap my head around the ecosystem.
My SMSL DO400 is DSD capable, and over USB, Volumio plays DSD to my DAC but it still shows as PCM on the screen. I saw another thread that other are posting the USB spec of their DAC for future updates. Is that something I should do? to get my DAC “registered” for the kernel?
by any chance, do you use software volume control, resampling or any kind of DSP (FusionDSP)?
if yes, please disable all of them and try again.
please also provide a system log, so we can check if your DAC is recognized as DSD-direct capable when connected to USB
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Thank you. I’ve followed your instructions and submitted logs for both pi’s for your review.
pi4b thru USB to SMSL DO400 -
This plays thru USB, all files, including DSD shows up as PCM on the DAC. Once I turned off FusionDSP, the DAC now shows as DSD but no sound.
http://logs.volumio.org/volumio/4vSpFhA.html
pi5 using AliExpress i2s hat thru HDMI to SMSL DO400 -
Turning off FusionDSP made no difference, still no sound @ 192kHz and DSD.
Remember to post links to the logs in this thread so that Darmur easily can access them.
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DSD can’t be equalized. It’s a impossible. So you have to choose between DSD or FusionDsp
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I followed up down this rabbit hole a bit based on this…
pi4b thru USB - After turning off FusionDSP, the DAC showed DSD when I played a DSD file but no sound. Following the logic, I also went and turned off peppymeter basic and VOILA, I got DSD playback on USB now! Thank you. However, one of the reasons I’m using Volumio is to be able to use peppymeter for the VU meter, but I now understand, no dsp, no peppymeter for DSD over USB.
pi5 thru Ali i2s hat - Turned off FusionDSP, turned on “DSD over PCM” option and now it outputs the DSD file thru HDMI and the DAC shows DOP but still not playing 192/24 FLAC thru HDMI. While I was trying it out, I also tried optical out on the i2s hat, and it outputs 192/24 FLAC thru optical. such a weird implementation.
if SPDIF playback at 192kHz works on optical and does not work on coaxial, it is definitely a hardware problem on either the HAT or the DAC, most probably the filter on the HAT is a crappy one, with not enough bandwidth to support 192khz rate
Hi @Darmur, I’m curious: I have an Innomaker Dac Pro hat with an ESS9038Q2M chip that, technically, states can do DSD native. System settings applied are as follows:
Driver: Innomaker Dac Pro
DSD Playback Mode: DSD Direct
DSD Auto Volume Level: Off
Mixer Type: Hardware
Mixer Control Name: Master
Audio Resampling: Off
This is what I see when playing .dff files:
Is this native DSD, or DSD over PCM? If it’s the latter, shouldn’t there be a flag or label indicating it as such? Thanks!
there is a conversion to PCM, because the I2S interface of the RPi does not support DSD direct
the ES9038Q2M can handle DSD direct, but it will not get it when connected to a RPi via I2S
on the Volumio UI you see the format of the file you’re playing, regardless if it is converted or not
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Got it. Thanks for the confirmation!