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.

I own both DAC HAT's that InnoMaker has for sale here on Amazon, both a great sounding options for Rspberry Pi owners/users. The upper model here is unquestionably a clone card but in its own right is doing everything right in my opinion. With the design and parts implemented the sound quality is top tier again in my opinion. I bought the InnoMaker Balanced and RCA Un-balanced cables that come up in recommended items and everything works as intended. I have mine installed with a Pi4b 4GB, an Anidees heatsink case, with a USB 1TB SSD and my own ripped music FLAC files, with Volumio OS working flawlessly! I bought if before the price increase, but it's still a value even today. Just remember to buy the needed cables for your system as I did and you'll be extremely happy and ready to go.

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.

This is an excellent quality DAC “hat” for Raspberry 4-5. If you use the balanced output you need special cabling using an 1/8” stereo plug for the card and standard XLR connector at the other end. There are multiple powering options but the preferred uses a separate power supply for the DAC. For this option you need a REGULATED 5V @ 1A minimum power supply. Both USB-C and post connections are provided for the power supply. This “hat” sits very close to the main board of the Raspberry Pi so you must add a heat sink/cooling fan unit made for your model. The instruction manual (download) suggests Volumio (open source) for a player and provides full instructions to get it up and running. Volumio has inherent support for this board. Volumio is an excellent headless player actually controlled from another device such as a tablet, phone or PC. The manual specifically says to NOT USE THE INTERNAL RASPBERRY PI BLUETOOTH! If you intend to use Bluetooth to stream music then you will need a separate Bluetooth transceiver to attach to the Raspberry Pi. It will of course play from a thumb drive, SSD or hard drive attached to the Raspberry Pi. Am using this to operate a modern player piano and FINALLY get “DJ-like” access to my tens of thousands of songs instead of the cumbersome, primitive and torturously slow system based upon CDs despite the fact that a physical CD drive is no longer even included in the latest version. The intent is to move everyone to the subscription-based model which I refuse because I own hundreds of expensive player piano CDs and floppies from nearly every available source. The board is installed at the top of the enclosure but pointed downwards in the attached picture.

I bought this thinking the xlr plugs would take RCA! DOH! I had to buy 3.5-xlr pair of cabkes, then female xlr to rca to convert! I hope fhat works of else i just wasted $160! ALSO, the case I bought works for the OTHER Innomaker DAC! So i had to get the other one with RCA out and another bloomon case that fits THIS DAC! Hopefully both work into my PrimaLuna amp and theXLR to RCA conversion works! Doh! DOH! Unfortunately is DOESN'T work if you convert the 3.5 XLR to RCA via male-female-XLR, so it's USELESS with an amp with RCA input.

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.

Ich habe diesen DAC hauptsächlich aus Neugier gekauft - und weil ich auch einen nicht mehr erhältlichen allo Katana THD nutze, der technisch so ziemlich das Maß der Dinge darstellt, aber leider Konstruktionsfehler hat und gern "kaputt geht". Was der "Skylark" für das Geld abliefert, dürfte unschlagbar sein. Er klingt klar und lebendig und reicht weit in den Bass- und Höhenbereich. Der Katana kann technisch IMHO alles etwas besser, kostete aber auch das 5-fache. Der Klangcharakter ist identisch. Der Stereo-Ausgang des Innomaker mit dem integrierten Kopfhörer-Verstärker klingt leicht nervig, ich empfehle den XLR-Ausgang zu nutzen, ggf. mit Cinch-Adapter. Der Innomaker klingt besser als z.B. TI51x2 oder ESS9023 DAC Hats, als der allo Boss v1 DAC Hat oder z.B. ein Topping E50 USB DAC oder ein Bluesound Node 2i. Das bringt mich zu der Vermutung, dass es (deutlich) mehr Geld braucht, um etwas Besseres als den Innomaker zu finden. Getestet auf einem Pi3B mit allo Isolator, allo Shanti, Volumio, Squeezelite, Lyrion Music Server. Wer sich keinen Wiim kaufen möchte, sondern lieber bastelt, ist hier richtig.