Cheers Wad for that summary, nice one.
Yes I fancy a go at the Audiophonics dac, Ronnie recommends it too.
I guess I was put off a little by a few reports with blokes saying they couldn't get it to work. I see you've managed it....any problems?
I like you also have an MDAC. Side by side the IQ beats it but the MDAC comes back in to the reckoning when hooked to the RPI.
I have not tried a digi board yet, or coax. Maybe a couple of things to try now.
Many thanks.
R.E the audiophonics I had no trouble at all with piCorePlayer...(if I recall correctly one just has to use the HiFiBerry DAC driver)
My MDAC has been upgraded to L2 'Toy' level by JW, with a LDA Linear PSU and my normal source for it is...
SBTouch(EDO)/BOBW PSU>Kimber 0.5m USB cable>iFi Purifier 2>iFi USB Power>iFi Gemini USB cable
...that whole link has evolved over time, and each step has provided an improvement in SQ...but at a cost!!!
I tried the pi2/piCorePlayer/HiFiBerry with a standard pi PSU up against the USB source, and A/B'd the COAX and USB sources...the USB was noticeably better.
Yesterday the iFi pi PSU arrived, with that in situ I can't tell the difference between the 2 sources...I've given it quite a bit of A/Bing on various different recordings, and it's superb on both...
The MDAC most certainly benefits from galvanic isolation, regardless of communication method...
At about £150 all in the pi/iFi PSU/HifiBerry Digi+ Pro represents fantastic value as an HQ digital source for the MDAC
Edit; One word of warning, I like to synchronise my living room (main system as above), and kitchen system (pi2/picoreplayer/audiphonics), the Digi+ pro suffers from occasional pops when synchronised, whereas the SBTouch/USB source works perfectly.
Cheers,
Will