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DIY Audio DAC HAT for Pi Zero

Make your own DAC HAT for Raspberry Pi Zero, Raspberry Pi Zero W that has a headphone jack and 3W stereo speaker out.

shivasiddharthshivasiddharth
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Commercially available pHAT DAC costs about $12 and adds just a headphone jack to your Pi Zero. On the other hand, the $14 Adafruit Speaker bonnet provides, two 3W audio channels for the loss of the headphone jack. The DIY HAT shown below strikes a balance between both the commercial HATS, by providing both the headphone output, as well as speaker outputs. Whats more interesting is the cost of implementation of the DAC, which is about $6 or $7.

So, at quarter of the cost of two DAC's you are getting the functionality of both.

  • 1 × PCM5102A I2S DAC
  • 1 × PAM8403 3W Audio Amplifier
  • 1 × Double-sided prototyping board
  • 1 × Terminal Block
  • 1 × Adafruit 2x20 Pi Female Header

  • 1
    Step-1

    Cut the prototyping board to the size of pi zero

  • 2
    Step-2

    Solder the 2x20 Female Pi header onto the prototyping board

  • 3
    Step-3

    Solder the header pins onto the I2S DAC and audio amplifier boards and mount them on the prototyping board.

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harshjohnjack wrote 08/27/2024 at 08:46 • point

This DIY Audio DAC Hat for the Pi Zero is an impressive project! I love how you’re enhancing the audio experience with such a compact setup. It’s amazing what can be achieved with some creativity and technical know-how. Speaking of personal projects and creativity, I recently shared a lighthearted blog post about balancing student life with hobbies. If you're interested, you can check it out here: How I Sleep at Night Knowing I'm Failing All My Classes. Keep up the great work on the DAC Hat, and thanks for inspiring others with your innovations!

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davedarko wrote 08/30/2017 at 11:31 • point

Hey, that's pretty cool, thank you for sharing this :) I didn't know of the PCM5102A module, nice find, just ordered one on eBat for not more than 3 Euros!

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