Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out)

by Pimoroni

A super-simple, slimline way to hook up a hi-fi amp or powered speakers to your Raspberry Pi! Output punchy digital I2S audio whilst leaving your GPIO pins conveniently accessible.

SHIM is a old Yorkshire term meaning 'Shove Hardware In Middle' - we use it for our Raspberry Pi add-ons that are designed to be sandwiched between your Pi and a HAT or mini HAT. This one has a clever friction fit header which slips handily over your GPIO pins and is easily removable - great for prototyping.

The PCM5100A DAC chip takes high quality digital audio from your Pi and pipes out crisp, line-level 24-bit / 192KHz stereo audio through the 3.5mm jack. Because Audio DAC SHIM adds no extra bulk to your Pi it's perfect for fitting inside sleek cases or hiding inside hi-fis, media centres or radiograms - letting you play music or stream digital radio through that still perfectly good sound system. It's also a handy way to add an an audio output to your Pi Zero or Pi 400!

Please note a Raspberry Pi is not included with this board (but check out the extras tab if you'd like to buy one!)

Features

  • PCM5100A DAC chip (datasheet)
  • Line-level digital audio (24-bit / 192KHz) over I2S
  • 3.5mm stereo jack
  • SHIM-format board with friction-fit connectors
  • 2x mounting holes (M2.5) for if you want to secure everything together with bolts
  • Fully-assembled
  • No soldering required (unless you're using a Pi that comes without a header)*
  • Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models
  • Dimensions: 66.5 x 16.2 x 5.2mm (L x W x D, including 3.5mm jack)

* Note that variation in manufacturing tolerances on both headers and boards can affect the tightness of the friction fit. If you find that yours is not making a good connection, you could try bending the two rows of GPIO pins away from each other very slightly to improve the fit. 

To ensure a robust connection, we'd suggest soldering the SHIM to your Pi's GPIO pins (or a socket header) when you come to install it in your final project.

Software

The easiest way to get everything set up is to to use our Pirate Audio software and installer which configures I2S audio, as well as installing Mopidy and our custom Pirate Audio plugins.

Here's how to get started:

  1. Set an SD card up with the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS.
  2. Connect to Wi-Fi or a wired network.
  3. Open a terminal and type the following:

    git clone https://github.com/pimoroni/pirate-audio
    cd pirate-audio/mopidy
    sudo ./install.sh


  4. Reboot your Pi

You can find more detailed instructions here: https://github.com/pimoroni/pirate-audio/tree/master/mopidy or get tons more info in our Getting Started with Pirate Audio tutorial.

Alternatively, if you'd rather not install all the Mopidy stuff, you can set Audio Amp SHIM as your default Alsa device in Raspberry Pi OS by adding the following line to your /boot/config.txt file:

dtoverlay=hifiberry-dac

If you're using a Pi that has an audio jack you might also need to disable onboard audio by adding a # to the beginning of the following line (this can help applications find the correct audio device automatically):

#dtparam=audio=on

Notes

  • You can use an Audio DAC SHIM with HATs and mini HATs without a booster header, as long as they don't have any chunky components on the underside (it's a good idea to check there are no metal components on the underside of your HAT that touch the metal components on the top of the SHIM).
  • If you want to use one with a Pibow Coupé case (either for the Zero / Zero W or Pi 4), then you'll need to use a booster header to raise it up a little.
  • If you're planning on using Audio DAC SHIM to add an audio output to your Pi 400, you'll also need a booster header. If you're plugging it directly into the back of a Pi 400, bear in mind that the SHIM should be upside down, with the mounting holes at the bottom. Alternatively, you could plug it in via a Flat HAT Hacker (in which case you won't need a booster header or to plug anything in upside down).
  • Audio DAC SHIM uses GPIO 18, 19, and 21 (as well as 5v and various Grounds). If you're planning on using it in conjunction with other boards you'll need to check for pin conflicts using pinout.xyz.

46 customer reviews

7 months ago
Rpi3B+ Works very well and very easy to set up in picoreplayer. Sound quality is ecellent. Note: I tried to fit a 3.5" LCD but found GPIO conflicts which could only be resolved by remapping the screen and rewiring. So in that respect my anticipated project failed, best to go for a DSI interface screen in that case
by Anonymous about Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out) via REVIEWS.io
10 months ago
Up and running in 15 mins (with Volumio), into my 1970s Pioneer amp and Celestions. Prog rock heaven.
by Anthony about Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out) via REVIEWS.io
a year ago
Works very well! I found that it had to be fully pressed on to the Pi to work properly, but that’s easily figured out!
by Anonymous about Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out) via REVIEWS.io
a year ago
Just pushed the shim to my RaspBerry Pi3 and installed Volumio audio streaming distribution. After setting my I2S DAC: "ON" and setting DAC Model: as "HifiBerry DAC" audio was getting out. As far as can hear the audio quality is top notch. I streamed same lossless audio files as I had ripped from CD and played the same CD in another input to my receiver and switched back and forth. I could not hear any difference. When just listening to the background noise of both CD player and DAC SHIM (no audio playing and volume set top "11", the DAC SHIM was actually at least 5 dB quieter than my Pioneer Super Audio-CD player..
by Anssi about Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out) via REVIEWS.io
a year ago
Really good value for money! Makes a brilliant replacement for an old dead Airport Express. Used a 1st gen Pi Zero W and moOde.
by Merul about Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out) via REVIEWS.io
a year ago
Slip the shim over the GPIO header and add the overlay parameter to config.txt and it works. Until now I have used the plug-in DAC board that prevents further use of the GPIO and adds to the overall height, but at a very reasonable price for the performance. This shim fits inside a standard case and allows GPIO access without loss of audio performance. The only drawback is that a hole must be drilled in the case for the Line Out socket. All this performance, flexibility and convenience at a great price.
by Roy about Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out) via REVIEWS.io
a year ago
I am using a sandwich of RPIZERO, AUDIOSHIM and Pirateaudio running on volumio OS V3.616 as a music streaming interradio device. A nice small package which can play music from all over the world Carl Blyh in Helsinki
by CARL-HENRIK about Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out) via REVIEWS.io
a year ago
The instructions on the product page are different from the ones on the github page, which are also different from the ones on the hifiberry manufacturer page. It took a lot of mesing about with the drivers before I got any signs of life (save yourself some hassle and just straight to hifeberry as those are correct and work) Then the cheap friction-fit thing simply does not work. The only way I could ever get this to work was to awkwardly press the shim in certain directions and even then it was intermittent. They tell you the GPIO pins, but only "a few grounds" so you end up having to solder everything because you don't know which gorunds are used and which not. Not great - I would have preferred to pay the extra 20p to get a proper socket. Then finally when you do get all the drivers sorted and all the pins soldered, the output is hissy and fuzzy on some power-supplies (yes, even "good" ones that do not cause warnings otherwise) so you have to go through your collection of power supplies to find a "compatible" one before you get a clean and non-noisy output. Really disappointed.
by Anonymous about Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out) via REVIEWS.io
a year ago
I got this to utilise an old Pi 2 as a soft synth with a midi controller. The device was recognised by Minidex and everything worked with just a quick edit to the config file.
by Anonymous about Audio DAC SHIM (Line-Out) via REVIEWS.io

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