How do I put this, these guys are simply fantastic. If you haven’t already, I suggest their weekly Live Stream, Bilge Tank over on YouTube, weekly on Thursday afternoons (Around 3PM UK Time). Not only do they show off cool stuff, answer your questions; they also do Giveaways. For example, during Bilge Tank 022, I answered a very simple question first and won myself a Raspberry Pi Zero pHat DAC Kit worth £30+Postage. Not only that but I’ve won quite a few freebies from these guys in the past and they offer decent prices with frequent store-wide discounts!


The Pirate-Monkey-Robot-Ninjas over at Pimoroni make quite a lot of their own stuff that is available all over the place and is generally pretty cool. They also happen to be a reseller of goods from the likes of Adafruit and are also one of the few places in the UK to get the Raspberry Pi Zero at its intended price, at the rare times it hasn’t yet sold out.


Update:

The pHat DAC Kit I won arrived today (via Tracked DPD Post, no Expenses Spared!!!)
I fiddled around, unable to decide how I want to stack it all up - desoldered a 2x20 header at one point, and drilled the corner holes of my Pi Zero and the pHat DAC to fit chunkier Nylon Bolts. I felt really picky but I’m truly happy with it. I did not receive this for review purposes, it was a giveaway, so I can talk crap about it if it happens to be rubbish, but unfortunately I can’t as it is really Awesome!
The DAC is suprisingly clear, it happens to be the same DAC as found in the HiFiBerry, so its just a smaller board. 192kHz, 24bit, Line-Level output. - Installation Instructions



The Kit came with:

  • Raspberry Pi Zero
  • pHat DAC
  • Phono Connector
  • USB Shim
  • USB OTG Cable
  • MiniHDMI Adapter
  • 3.5mm Cable
  • 20x2 Female Header
  • 20x2 Male Header
  • Official WiFi Adapter

I soldered it pretty minimally at first, I ended up removing the header that you can see in the image above, in favour for a modified long pin one which you can see below. The thing sounds better than my ChromeCast Audio - very happy with it, also happy with the way it looked stacked ontop of my Pi Zero+PiBow Zero. The project the pirates suggested with this thing is an AirPlay receiver for some speakers which may not be internet-enabled, bringing new life to music around your home. Great value, simple to assemble and setup. Winner in my book.

Small Edit: Slight annoyance, the DAC seems to have no Hardware Audio Control, so you are limited to applications which are capable of Software Audio Control. Seems to be based on the HiFiBerry DAC rather than their DAC+. Still, a nice little package.

Logos and Video are Intellectual Property of Pimoroni Ltd, I hope this post only has the effect of sponsoring those amazing guys some more!