Review on HiLetgo I2S PCM5102 Lossless Digital Audio DAC Decoder Module Stereo DAC Digital-to-Analog Converter Voice Module for Arduino Raspberry Pi by Jose Strong

I needed a high quality way to stream audio from Spotify and my music collection to a new set of powered speakers and subwoofers in my living room. I settled on a replacement Raspberry Pi running Volumio's open source streamer software. I originally had a USB DAC (digital-to-analog converter) connected, but I wanted something smaller and potentially bigger. I found this cheap $8.00 DAC module that uses an old but very powerful Burr Brown PCM5102A chip. Much cheaper than Hifiberry if you can solder the included 6 pin header onto the board a bit. It communicates with the Pi using an I2S digital audio interface that connects to the Pi via six jumpers on the expansion port pins. Volumio takes care of the driver setup. Sounds pretty awesome compared to a USB DAC. The only downside is that the PCM5102 doesn't support internal digital volume control, so Volumio has to scale the digital audio before it is passed to the DAC, with a slight loss of resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. Unobtrusive with powerful speakers and ambient noise, and not a practical concern unless you're a perfectionist audiophile. Connection instructions are easy to find online. The default jumper settings on the back are pre-configured for perfect Pi performance. Be sure to ground the "unused" SCK pin, otherwise the sound will be distorted or not output at all. You can also put a dab of solder between the two pads next to the SCK pin to ground it permanently and save a jumper wire for the Pi. Use the "HiFiBerry DAC" device in the Volumio device options for the correct driver.