Founded by Gordon and Sharon Garrity together with Andrew Rankin in 2015, IQaudio was one of the first companies to recognize the potential of Raspberry Pi as a platform for hi-fi audio. IQaudio products are widely used by hobbyists and businesses (in-store audio streaming being a particularly popular use case). So when the opportunity arose to acquire IQaudio’s brand and product line late last year, Raspberry Pi jumped at it.
The IQaudio HATs compete with other Pi audio add-ons including Pi 2 Design’s 503HTA Hybrid Tube Amp HAT, Newark’s Wolfson Audio Card for the Raspberry Pi, and Orchard Audio’s PecanPi, to name a few. There are also more advanced audio streaming systems based on the Raspberry Pi including MakeProAudio’s modular MPA Platform.
All IQaudio sound cards are designed to work with the current Raspberry Pi and those that have a 40-way male GPIO pin header. This includes Raspberry Pi 4B, 3B+, 3A+, 3, Zero etc. Some of the products are full-size HAT boards for the full-size Raspberry Pi, and others are more suited to the Raspberry PI Zero form factor. Each IQaudio has a specific purpose and was designed to integrate with existing audio systems and all support 24-bit depth and 192kHz high resolution audio.
The four IQaudio HATs available via Pi resellers now include the IQaudio DAC+ ($20 USD), which like many audio add-on cards for the Pi is built on the Texas Instruments "Burr Brown" PCM5122 DAC chip. The chip provides stereo DAC conversion with a 32-bit/384kHz capable PCM interface plus Linux drivers. Previously sold as the Pi-DAC+, the 24-bit/192kHz HAT integrates a headphone socket with dedicated headphone amplifier. The HAT also provides a 40-pin header and a Phono/RCA output. This is the lowest-cost audio output HAT.
Next up is the IQaudio DAC Pro ($25), a variant of the DAC+ that offers a superior PCM5242 DAC chip for better signal to noise ratio. It also adds an XLR Balanced/Differential output in parallel to a Phono/RCA line level output.
The IQaudio DigiAMP+ ($30) features a TI TAS5756M digital-input amplifier and DAC for connecting to passive stereo speakers via speaker terminal plugs, driven at up to 2x 35W with variable output. The DigiAMP+ requires an external 12-24VDC power supply and can power both the HAT and the Pi in parallel, delivering 5.1V @ 2.5A to the Pi.
Finally, the Codec Zero ($20) is the smaller, RPi Zero-sized board that delivers bi-directional digital I2S signals between the Pi and the built-in Dialog Semiconductor DA7212. The board supports input and output devices from an onboard MEMS mic, mono Electret mic, and mono speaker (1.2W/8Ω).
All the IQaudio HATs are available now and more information about configuration and compatible software is available in the current IQaudio product brief PDF available here.
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