Try EAC - it's the best for ripping bad CDs. Clean them first, of course.

I've not tried it but jewellers rouge has been suggested as a polish for fine scratches. Work outwards from the centre of the disc is the recommendation although I think Chris' last comment is the way to go.

The battery pack arrived, has been fully charged, and plugged into the main (ethernet / DaCapo) system, and a couple of tracks listened to (2 of the Mary Blacks).  First impression was initially additional detail, and then, a suggestion of digital "hard".  I mention those only to note how easy it is to "notice" things, which I may well find when I go back and put some proper hours in were not there at all.

However, if and when I ever do find the time, all the bits needed for playing are now in place (except perhaps a Caiman Dac to try).  Or a Benchmark Dac...  Or an AHB2...

Bloody tax returns!

Raspberry Pi - Berry Dac - NOT a review

I have been waiting for others to comment on the Pi card Dacs, to give me a reference against which to compare other Dacs, and it occurs to me that if everyone just waits for someone else to comment, it will be an empty page.

This is therefore a quick impression - not a review.
Bear in mind this blog started because I visited James (Sovereign) and he came here, and neither of us have a compatible bit of equipment between us.  So I wanted to try file based audio and plugged my laptop into DaCapo and bought the cheapest (Maplin) usb to dacapo adaptor I could find.

The target has therefore so far been to equal a CD from a transport and the method, to compare a CD on one dacapo input with a file stream on another - with the files synchronised, and a switch between the inputs.  This has been a coarse filter - but achieved its purpose.

So - with the Pi on ethernet, the Dave Migden FLAC and CD, and the coax connection for both, we achieved "identical" - well - we couldn't tell them apart after half an hour, and it had taken no more than a couple of minutes on all previous comparisons.

So - we tried CD into DaCapo (our constant reference) against Dave Migden FLAC via ethernet to Pi with Berry DAC on coax.  And we were back to a big and obvious difference.  This time I was quicker than Sue (but I was sighted, she was doing it blind - and I kept my peace), but it took Sue no more than a minute.  The differences were not huge, and I felt the Berry was a good performer, the equal or better of the £300 to £1000 Dacs I have recently listened to at a dealer - but that is just an impression.  Certainly it was good enough to take seriously.

So - what differences?  For me, just a bit cardboard.  Not quite as real and "live".  It wasn't a tonal thing, or colouration.  It wasn't bright or dark.  It wasn't harsh or "forward" or "hard".  Just a bit less real.

For Sue, "its the snare" .  On "that one" (CD) it sounds like a real snare. On "the other one" (Berry Dac) it is a noise I remember was a snare, but its just a noise.

I think Sue's description is probably best - if you except that is a caricature of the issue.  The Berry is not bad at all.  In fact - on a superficial appraisal it may be one of the best non-DaCapo dacs I've heard.  But it got ballotted out pretty quickly on the A:B tests we had been doing as prelimanary evaluations.  It isn't going to be replacing DaCapo for red book .

Richard, how does the HiFiBerry DAC+ output compare with the Digi+ output into the DaCapo?

Reserve judgement for now then.
How can you say that the SMPS is doing the job to no detriment when you don't have an alternative?

I've travelled the SMPS/linear PSU route, and the PSU can have all too apparent effects on a device, even if it's only being used as a transport.
The cheap and nasty SMPS units (and the one you're using is cheap and nasty) have no place in audio, and their use can be detrimental to sound quality.

That's not to say that all SMPS are bad, as there are some splendid examples around - just look at the SMPS you find in the Chord amplifiers. They do not inject RF over the signal paths in the amplifier and backwards to the mains because they're properly built and filtered, but the vast majority of SMPS are the tiny wall wart affairs, and they are built down to a price and churned out by the million.

I think you're in for a pleasant surprise when you power your HiFiBerry transport by battery.
I truth I know you're in for a pleasant surprise

Well, its been a bit of a saga.  The replacement Pi arrived early and I couldn't resist "just getting it up and running quickly" even though I had no time.  What did that sign say that we used to put above the photocopier at work?  "Never let anything mechanical know you are in a hurry".  I hate ****** computers.

First it needed to be given a different player name, but refused to just plug in and play even though the card presumably had the right network settings.  I realised I had to tell it to output through the dac, but set it to the berry dac.  Eventually realised it needed to be the berry+.  Not a dicky bird on the wrong setting.  The real mystery was the network - and a refusal to boot from wifi.  I realised in the end that it wasn't enough to put the settings in for wifi from the ethernet, and then take it to the wifi range, because it hadnt been allocated an ip address.  A frustrating spell.  But then, although using the same dongles it refuses to see the 5 network.  So eventually I gave in and configured it on the 2 network, expecting track skipping and pauses.

Nope - runs sweet as a nut on the 2.4Ghz network

So why didn't the old one?
And why could the old one see and log on to the 5GHz network, but this one can't?

As previously mentioned - I hate ****** computers.

MUST do some work now (had another major distraction yesterday fixing a worn security light PIR - which, to shorten the story, just went wrong every way it could).  However, I said to Sue - see if you can hear a difference, and plugged in the battery.  Expecting no difference - it is playing at low volume through the kitchen system, with the curtains over the speakers.

Night and day - wow , how that battery transforms the DAC.  Gonna be real interesting when we get the time, running it up against DaCapo.  Where am I going to find a DC supply for DaCapo these days???

Work!!