7

When beep, boop, beep just won’t do

BEST OF BREED

e all know that audiophiles

tend to be very particular,

and extremely passionate,

when it comes to the quality

of their audio playback, and

the IQaudIO Pi-DAC+ audio

card aims to please even the most discerning

of those makers. The board can deliver a full HD

audio experience thanks to the on-board Texas

Instruments PCM5122 digital-to-analogue converter

(DAC). This enables a Raspberry Pi A+, B+, Pi 2 or 3,

ometimes you just want to add

sound to your project and don’t

need or want a microcontroller

involved. There are people that (gasp)

don’t know or even like to code! If

that’s you, or even if you love to code,

the Adafruit Audio FX Sound Board might be a

perfect fit for adding all sorts of sounds and noises

to your build.

What’s interesting about this board is you don’t

even need an SD card. All files are stored directly

on the board via built-in mass storage. Just drag and

drop your files on the board after plugging into your

computer. There is 16MB of storage, which is plenty

of space when it comes to WAV/Ogg files.

Once you upload the files, you can simply add up

to eleven buttons or switches to trigger them to play.

And how they play, and on what pin, is determined

by how you name the files. You can have the files

be activated with a simple trigger defining the pin,

or hold and loop playback, a latching loop playback,

or play next or play random. The device can play all

your files at 44.1 kHz in 16-bit stereo sound. This is a

perfect solution for Halloween props, costumes, or

toys. This board packs a lot of functionality without

any code required.

to output 24-bit/192 kHz audio

playback, which is much higher

than many other DIY audio boards.

The Pi-DAC+ also features a headphone amplifier

and industry-standard phono/RCA connectors to

allow for easy integration into your existing setup.

All the power requirements are supplied from the

Raspberry Pi, and it comes fully assembled and

ready to use. And since no soldering is required,

you’ll be up and listening to HD-quality audio on your

Raspberry Pi in just a few minutes.

W

S

IQaudIO Pi-DAC+

Adafruit Audio FX Sound

Board – WAV/OGG Trigger

with 16MB flash

IQAUDIO £33.89 iqaudio.co.uk

ADAFRUIT $19.95 adafruit.com

Don’t

underestimate

the power of

this high-quality

audio board. It’s

really good!

VERDICT

9 / 10

Perfect when

you don’t need a

microcontroller

VERDICT

10 / 10

Upgrade your Pi’s audio

An all-in-one solution

Above

Audio playback on an

Arduino made simple

Credit

Adafruit licensed

under CC

Left

Add high-quality

audio to your

Raspberry Pi

Credit

Iqaudio Limited