🎉  Happy 13th Birthday Raspberry Pi!   🎂   1,000+ deals in store!   🥳
🎉  Happy 13th Birthday Raspberry Pi!   🎂   1,000+ deals in store!   🥳

pHAT DAC

by Pimoroni

If music be the food of love, play on. But make sure you use this super little DAC to get the best out of your Raspberry Pi audio!

This pHAT provides a super affordable high-quality DAC for your Raspberry Pi. It pumps out 24-bits at 192KHz from the Raspberry Pi's I2S interface on its 2x20 pin GPIO header.

Use pHAT DAC to build a tiny, lush-sounding streaming music device, or use it with Scroll pHAT to make a beautiful spectrum analyser!

Features

  • 24-bit audio at 192KHz
  • Line out stereo jack
  • Optional landing for dual RCA phono connector
  • PCM5102A DAC over the Raspberry Pi's I2S interface
  • pHAT DAC pinout
  • Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models
  • Female header requires soldering 

Software

pHAT DAC doesn't require a Python library like most of our other HATs and pHATs, but does require configuration to work properly. We've put together a slick one-line installer to get everything set up just right. See the tutorial here for more details.

Notes

The kit has a 3.5mm stereo jack pre-assembled but doesn't include a dual RCA phono connector. If you need one then grab it here.
N.B. Pi, micro SD card and Pibow case not included.

60 customer reviews

5 years ago
I plugged it in and it worked - very good sound quality through a good system.
by John about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
5 years ago
Great, installed in minutes and plays well through an old pair of computer speakers
by Michael about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Received my pHAT DAC in very good time. Soldiered the header on and off I went. Using my pi 3 as a Bluetooth audio player through an old amp and speakers and the Dac made the sound quality quite a lot better then the standard phono output on the pi 3
by Daniel about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Just what I needed for my zero. Excellent support (informative website, ordering process, securely wrapped). Arrived when promised.
by Stephen about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Ich hab vergessen die cinch Stecker zu kaufen schade das dort nirgends eine Erinnerung gibt
by Philipp about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
I've got a couple of these and I think they sound great for the price. Soldering the connector was easy and I also bought the photo sockets, which were easy to solder in too. I had to set one pHAT DAC up but the installer was easy to use. The other one is used with Volumio as a media player so Volumio handled the set up even easier!
by Gareth about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Excellent quality of the sound and no issues making it work.
by Simeon about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
It's very easy to set up if one can solder. At first, sound output seemed to be cheep, but the reason was bad sound sources. I installed pHAT DAC with Volumio2 and tested with internet radio, that's why sound didn't seem to good. And a little ageing proceeding resulted beter sound. After all, I prepared my digital music sources and used them, I could satisfy enough. Using Spotify on Volumio2 is satisfactory too, though not to be supported offline playback is a little sad. There are more other fantastic devices in the world, pHAT DAC has a very good balance in spite of its price.
by Anonymous about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
This little DAC alongside a Pi Zero W, PiCorePlayer and a subscription to Spotify Premium is breathing new life in to my old but decent HiFi. Sound quality is excellent. In truth its exceeded my expectations, and is proving well worth the small outlay to put this together. Cheap as chips (almost), Love it's diminutive dimensions and the possibility of scattering more of these around the house. Simply brilliant.
by Anonymous about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
This is the third one I've bought. They are excellent and good value for money.
by Mr John about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Great little device that's easy to setup. You will need to know how to solder though.
by Derek about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Très bon son Plug and play avec volumio
by Gaël about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Really chuffed with this. Combined with a £30 Rotel RA-921 from auction, a £3 Aiwa PX-E850 from the local tip and a £28 RPi 3, I’ve got myself a great hifi for
by Guy about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
worked straight away bit baffled why it plays a radio station on start up, some VLS setting?
by Nic about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Nice bit of kit this - works perfectly with Rune - my music player of choice. Quick bit of soldering, add to Pi-ZeroW, add two nylon pins & bolts to stop the movement and all is good. Second one I've had and now providing tunes for my kitchen into Sony hifi AUX input. Brilliant!
by Leigh about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Header soldered, phono out soldered and installation on the rpi zero was straightforward. Great sound for next to nothing.
by Tarjei about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
It wotk fine i tested with rune noode volmio it has good sund q
by Nimród about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Literally plug n play. Plug it in, start up the Raspberry Pi and follow the instructions on the Pimoroni website. I had it working in minutes. And now my cosplay Voidwalker can talk
by Anonymous about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
Excellent value, easy to install. Quality amazingly good. Recommended.
by Mr John about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
6 years ago
I bought this DAC to replace my USB Dragonfly black which has served me for over a year as my optimised audio source of FLAC files on NAS plus Web radio (paradise @ 320) fitted to a Pi 2 B running Volumio. i have heard about I2S interface being superior to USB from many sources and was keen to see what an inexpensive South Yorkshire DAC could do. I was impressed with the increased clarity and detail, lyrics are clearer and bass has tightened up. I am a HIFI tinkerer and spotted a chance to solder my audio leads direct onto the DAC board therefore doing away with a pair of phono plugs and sockets. This Dac feeds into a NAD C352 and then splits to feed 2 stereo power amps (NAD C 352 and C 320BEE) the 80W feeds bass/mid and 50W feeds tweeters. a simple compromise between Bi wiring and Bi amping. I have since tried the Pi 2 / Phat DAC througha denon RCD M40 wharfedale diamonds and it again sounded excellent, much clearer than the Optical output of the Roku soundbrige. So much for so little cash - Great product - Thank you.
by Paul about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
Did exactly what it said on the tin! nice clear sound, easy to set up. Perfect for a PI zero music player. Much neater than a USB DAC and does not tie up that one and only USB port on the zero.
by Robin about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
Ordered a 2nd unit because I managed to damage mine by shorting some of the pins out on the edge connector when it was powered up. Now the right channel is almost inaudible :-( Its a fantastic thing though, just treat it with more care than I did.
by David about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
Useful help from the customer service, suggested using HiFi berry settings. Managed to get this working for Kodi in OSMC using these instructions. https://www.hifiberry.com/build/guides/enabling-hifiberries-in-osmc/ It is hard to tell if the sound is an improvement over the standard set up with HDMI, I may just have bad hearing, although I am sure I can hear more fine details in the sound. Very happy with service.
by Philip about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
Fit perfectly with the raspberry pi zero W. It's the perfect tool for an audio streaming Pi! Just install Shairport-Sync + Adafruit SD read only script, plug it to your Hi-Fi and forget it: AirPlay Audio easy as with an Apple TV: Essential and incredibly functional. Just to say, it also has remove volume control!
by Raggio about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
A few minutes of soldering headers and downloading software and *boom* my sweet old JVC PC-200 is rocking like it never did! The setup script didn't install shairport-sync (?) but after I added that, it popped up as an Airplay device and it works like a charm. FWIW I have this on a Pi Zero W.
by Jeff about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
I recently purchased this DAC and am fully satisfied. This material offers a good value for money and I was able to realize a project with a RPI zero W. I use Volumio and it is controlled with a smartphone. The product was well packaged and the shipping costs reasonable for France.
by Nicolas about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
I bought this DAC along with a Pi Zero W about three months ago, in the hope that i could generate tinnitus masking sounds in my bedroom while trying to fall asleep. It seemed like a plausible and affordable solution, and in case it failed, i could make a retro game device out of it. Turned out the sound quality was so good that i had to go invest in a soundbar for it. Especially realtime sound generators can make use of the DAC's capabilities, but even compressed sound files sound a lot better through this than your average laptop sound card. Pink noise, binaural beats, metronome / heartbeat, rainfall audio files, and my favourite collection of ambient music - the DAC passed all the tests. The only gripe i have is the lack of a mixer device. It cuts off half a star, but at this price, combined with the fact that i do not need to wear my tinnitus masking devices when i am at home, it's only fair to round the rating up instead of down. To close this off, i want to thank the people who posted asound.conf snippets - you folks most likely saved me a day or two, much appreciated! PS: The above is based on the RCA output option - i haven't tried the quality of the mini jack.
by Bo about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
Used this pHAT with my son at a 24-hour maker event to build a Raspberry Pi Zero W powered theremin. Next step is to build an app interface to choose between different synth sounds and backing drums. Getting the pHAT DAC working was probably the easiest part of the project! And the sound quality was great for our purposes.
by Steve about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
I've paired this DAC with my pi zero w to stream music in our bedroom. For such a small device, this DAC packs a punch. The sound is clear, vibrant, and in some respects sounds even better than my dedicated stereo downstairs. I'm currently using Volumio as my streaming software and with a little tinkering, I was able to get everything up and running in about 20 minutes (including my soldering time). In order to get this to work I had to install Volumio on a SD card, place it in a raspberry pi 3 and enable my wifi settings. I then placed the SD card in my Pi zero, booted it up and then under the Volumio settings, I enabled the i2c device and selected the Phat Dac. I then plugged the whole contracption into the auxillary port to our radio (I'm sure you could do the same with just a powered speaker) and got instant solid music. Everything has continued to work flawlessly since. I've very impressed by this little DAC and would highly recommend it.
by John about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
I bought this to go in a portable "mp3" player. I used the hammer headers to mount it to a Raspberry Pi Zero, a little solder and using the recommended script I was away. It could only be improved if it was solder-less, but this isn't an issue for most.
by BillK about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
Had been reading about DACs but they seemed to cost a lot of dosh and then came along pHAT DAC at ВЈ12 so I thought I would give it a go and WOWEEE was I amazed!!! Using a cable splitter I attached the pHAT DAC to my 2.1 speaker system (A Single Audio Pro Addon T10 and a pair of Audio Engine A2's) and then followed the very simple set up on the tutorial and once I had paired my iPhone to it I cued up some music and waited for the inevitable silence. But No! I got music and it was music like I have never heard before. Have to mention also that I used Hammer Headers too and this made it even simpler and also quicker to set up.
by Dominic about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io
8 years ago
Very nice little DAC for the RPi. I use the DAC with OSMC on RPi 3 and RPi zero W. It took some trouble sorting out but when you configure it the right way it works like a charm .So for newcomers my configuration of pHAT DAC on OSMC for RPi 3 (OSMC installed by NOOBS with cable internet connection) and RPi_Zero_W (OSMC installed via https://osmc.tv/download/, last versions support WiFi). To acces the command line in OSMC: Menu POWER > Exit, immediate press escape when blue screen pops up again. Default userid/pwd: osmc /osmc To configure WiFI in OSMC: menu My OSMC > Network In /boot/config.txt add the lines: dtoverlay=hifiberry-dac dtparam=audio=off In /etc/modules add the line: snd_soc_hifiberry_dac In /etc/asound.conf add the lines: pcm.!default { type hw card 0 } ctl.!default { type hw card 0 } Reboot In menu configuration menu System > Sound: change Audio Output Device to ALSA:Default (snd_rpi_hifiberry_dac Analog) Succes! Ben
by Ben about pHAT DAC via REVIEWS.io