Hi there,
I've been poking around a bunch of sites, also including Crazy Audio researching. I can't seem to find clear documentation on the matter of using multiple DAC+s with a single Raspberry Pi.
I have an RV that I would like to create 3 unique zones (main area, bedroom, outside) and my intention is to create a centralized system that receives audio and then can send it (Line Level) to any or all of three Stereo RCA outputs (this represents 3 "zones"). Each line level signal would feed its own car audio grade class D amp that would power the speakers for each zone. Zone 1 and 2 would have 4 channels and zone 3 has two channels.
I had one design where the DAC+ pushed out into a 6 channel connector/splitter block then 3 stereo pairs would flow to three PGA2311 or similar multi-channel IC (also connected to the raspberry pie)- those ICs would then feed the amps - however this seems too complicated and dicey for introducing more noise and signal loss.
So a much simpler plan seems to be if I can connect 3 DAC+ boards to a single Raspberry pie, then use software to select/deselect each DAC independently as and output and also control each DACs output volume I can also create 3 unique zones, each with its own mute / volume control.
Am I on the right track here? Can you use 3 DAC+s with a single raspberry pie. If so, can they all be sending signal simultaneously?
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As a bonus, I am also wondering if a 3 DAC+ configuration would also allow me to send a different signal/source to each DAC from the same/single Raspberry Pi, therefor hypothetically allowing for each zone to be playing a different audio source -- this last part is pure bonus and not a necessary feature for me, just curious.
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HiFiBerry team Hi,
you can't use more than a single DAC+ on a Raspberry Pi. This is a technical limitation of the Raspberry Pi sound interface.
Best regards
Daniel -
dex110 Thanks Daniel,
Do you have any ideas on how I could achieve the "zoned" system I was talking about?
Do you think running the signal out of the DAC+ into 3 different PGA2311 (or similar) and then on to their respective amps will work without adding too much noise to the signal?
AD -
Anton (HiFiBerry team) Hi dex,
why not installing LMS (Logitech Media Server, open source, basis of a Squeezebox system) somewhere? This server could run on a Raspberry Pi (e.g. with Max2Play/squeezeplug), a NAS, or any small PC (easy to install would be for example daphile). Each zone gets then a client, running on a Raspberry Pi, e.g. with picoreplayer.
But this would mean not 1 Raspberry Pi, but one per zone (the server device can be a client at the same time). For the clients a Raspberry Pi B+ (or if you use just wifi: A+) would be enough, for the server maybe the newer Raspberry Pi 2B, depending on your music collection.
Like this, you could play all zones synchronously or individually, your own music from a harddrive or NAS, streams (internet radio, spotify etc.), airplay,...
I think this would be much more flexible then 3 amps fed from the same DAC (not sure if this would even work, that's the parts Daniel could answer you...). -
HiFiBerry team Hi Dex,
I fully agree with Anton. Instead of having long casbles to the different rooms with line-level audio, I would recommend to use local Raspberry Pi's. This will provide better sound quality than having line-level audio distributed over RCA cables.
In Professional audio one would use symmetrical connections, but the would need a relatively complex circuit. Therefore local players seem to be the easiest and even cheapest solution. If you need only WLAN even the old Raspberry Pi A+ works well and these are quite cheap.
Best regards
Daniel
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