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ApplePi DAC -- Highest Performance Raspberry Pi DAC

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orchardaudio

orchardaudio

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Joined 2017
orchardaudio.com
#1
ORCHARD AUDIO ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF ApplePi DAC,
HIGHEST PERFORMANCE RASPBERRY PI DAC AVAILABLE​

Orchard Audio, LLC (Orchard Audio - Home) is proud to announce the launch of the second product in the company's emerging line of high performance audio equipment: ApplePi DAC. This newly-designed DAC is the most advanced and highest performance sound card hat available for the Raspberry Pi.

Many months of development and testing have ensured the ApplePi DAC's unparalleled performance among its competitors. Using only the highest quality and performance components available along with the latest packaging technologies, the ApplePi DAC was designed from the ground up to offer commanding performance. Performance has been verified on a state of the art audio analyzer from Audio Precision, a recognized leader in audio testing and standards. The product has been entirely designed and manufactured in the United States.

The driving goal behind ApplePi DAC's creation was to provide exceptional audio quality at a price point that is currently not available in the market, making high performance audio equipment attainable to a wider range of consumers. For less than $250 USD for both the ApplePi DAC and the Raspberry Pi, users can achieve performance currently only available starting at $750 USD. In addition, ApplePi DAC eliminates the need for pre-amplifiers, saving additional money.

With future projects already in the pipeline, Orchard Audio is poised to shake up the audio marketplace and welcome new and returning audiophiles into the market. According to Orchard Audio President Leo Ayzenshtat, "Anyone can notice the difference in quality, but not everyone will appreciate it. We design our products for those who appreciate excellence in their listening experience."

Currently the ApplePi DAC is only available through Kickstarter here: ApplePi DAC - Highest Performance Raspberry Pi DAC by Leonid (Leo) Ayzenshtat —Kickstarter

About Orchard Audio, LLC
Orchard Audio is the result of decades of engineering expertise and consulting work for some of the world's most advanced companies, including NASA, Lockheed Martin, L3 Technologies and Siemens. The company was launched in 2017 to independently release its own line of advanced audio products.
Orchard Audio (@OrchardAudio) | Twitter
Orchard Audio - Home | Facebook
Leonid Ayzenshtat (@orchardaudio) • Instagram photos and videos
www.linkedin.com/company/orchard-audio-llc
 

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#2
Check out the reviews:

The Audio Beatnik:
"Ok, specs are great and all, but how did it really sound? Frankly, very good, surprisingly good." and "The mid-range and truthiness of the music rivaled that of the other DACs I have on hand that cost significantly more."
Read the full review at this link: http://theaudiobeatnik.com/applepi-dac-review-theres-art-in-this-dac-and-it-shows/

Volumio's Founder -- Michelangelo:

"Sound-stage and spatial resolution are just excellent." and "This DAC is producing the most detailed sound to ever come out of my Raspberry PI, all the subtle nuances of my test tracks were there and clearly distinguished from everything else."
Read the full review at this link: Orchard Audio ApplePI DAC review : DACs - Volumio
 
#10
orchardaudio said:
Well the THD+N is >10 times better - theirs is 0.006% vs 0.0005%
Also their freq response is 20Hz to 20kHz vs DC to 22kHz
They do not list SNR on the website, my guess much worse than 128dB.
Click to expand...

Great, thank you.

DAM1021 has filters, multiple inputs (I2S PCM/DSD, SPDIF) and outputs (also headphones). In my view it's more flexible and cheaper but I might be missing the point.

I love to see more DACs coming though, more options for users.
 
#11
zgtc said:
Great, thank you.

DAM1021 has filters, multiple inputs (I2S PCM/DSD, SPDIF) and outputs (also headphones). In my view it's more flexible and cheaper but I might be missing the point.

I love to see more DACs coming though, more options for users.
Click to expand...

That DAC is 270 euro, which is almost double the price, for less performance, yes it has more flexibility, but it is much more complicated to use, unlike the ApplePi DAC which just needs to be plugged into a Raspberry Pi.
 
#13
TimCurtis said:
Hi,

Looks like a nice DAC. I read that the driver requirement is either rpi-dac or the eeprom loaded driver.

Is the eeprom loaded driver essentially same as rpi-dac driver or does it offer some chip or dac settings for example hardware volume, filters, etc?

-Tim
Click to expand...

It has the same functionality at the Rpi DAC one, the are no additional options.

You can see the overlay here:
Need to add Overlay for ApplePi DAC to raspberry pi * Issue #2302 * raspberrypi/linux * GitHub
 
#16
orchardaudio said:
I am pleased to announce support of the ApplePi DAC by piCorePlayer starting version 3.5.0.
Click to expand...

The board developer has done his homework and already made the overlay available as it has been accepted and added to the official raspberrypi git. Therefore, we have the overlay in place in piCorePlayer 3.5.0 so it can be manually added.

However, we haven't tested this DAC and we miss info to support it properly. In order to offer best support for any new board each of the team members usually have a board in hand as we have found that this works best for us to help support all the new DACs that arrive.
So for the moment it is not in the dropdown list in pCP and therefore it is not as easy to choose as most other boards.
 
#17
sbp said:
The board developer has done his homework and already made the overlay available as it has been accepted and added to the official raspberrypi git. Therefore, we have the overlay in place in piCorePlayer 3.5.0 so it can be manually added.

However, we haven't tested this DAC and we miss info to support it properly. In order to offer best support for any new board each of the team members usually have a board in hand as we have found that this works best for us to help support all the new DACs that arrive.
So for the moment it is not in the dropdown list in pCP and therefore it is not as easy to choose as most other boards.
Click to expand...

What info do you need? I don't have a DAC that I can provide to you right now for testing, but I can test what you need on my system.

Let me know, what you need from me to get it in the drop down list.

Thanks;
Leo
 
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