This is a hybrid build of 3D printed parts and good old fashioned woodworking. I wanted an inexpensive audio DAC for my stereo. I used a Raspberry PI with an IQAudio Dac plus hat. I wanted to store the audio files on a HDD that i could remove easily for adding more audio files. I used Volumio software as the media server. Volumio is open source and free. Of course it can be finicky and has a pretty basic interface, but it works. Volumio can be fully operated from a mobile device, but I wanted to add a touchscreen so I could change tracks without the phone. I found pretty good technical instructions for the RPI at Core Electronics on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zy_Ocq7xCA)
Attached are some pictures of the build parts, assembly and final product.
The first pictuce are the various printed parts. Clockwise from the upper left:
Touchscreen Frame
HDD holder
Raspberry PI holder
Protector plate for the touchscreen control board
Back plate for the touchscreen frame
The next picture shows the inside assembly. I needed to keep the front and back open to get the electronics mounted.
After that is the back of the box. I was going to do the back in wood, but decided to use another 3D print so i could have some air vents but mostly to keep the back really thin.
Finally, the fully assembled dac on the top of the stereo.
Hello,
I just came about your post and thought it was very interesting. I have been away from using Raspberry Pi’s for a while and want to get back into them since I am now retired and trying to keep from becoming too bored. Did you use that particular DAC for a reason or would any Raspi compatible DAC suffice? I have a few 3 B+'s and a couple of 4’s and a couple 7" touchscreens. I am so far behind in the tech world and I was a 20 year school district IT Technician lol
I have little experience with coding, RPI, etc so used that particular DAC only because it was the hat that was used in the Core Electronics YouTube video that I found. Since it was also on the RPI website as an “approved” product, i figured it was the safest bet. I used the same logic for using the RPI Touchscreen and the Volumio software. I would imagine that other hats, touchscreens and/or player software would work fine. You can also use the Volumio without the touchscreen and just use the phone app to select music. I wanted the touch screen to provide an option without the phone.
I am not an audiofile at all, so i am quite pleased with the sound quality… I play this through a dedicated two channel stereo set up with equipment that is a step up from entry level - Yamaha A-S801 reciever and KEF LS50 speakers. The Volumio free version of software is ok, but navigation is clunky and the app has to find the DAC server everytime it wakes up. But is works. I have used JRiver music player and want to see if that will work on a Pi. It is a paid software, but pretty cheap and comes in WIndows, Linux and Mac version.
