DAC or AMP card to be used with a RPI?

dear all,

i’m just new here, also new in the world of audio & RPI.
I want to build a decent audio system based on RPI & Volumio. As speakers I will use some PC speakers.

Now, the big question I have, where I do not have yet a proper understanding: should I buy a DAC board or an AMP board?
E.g:
Pi-DigiAMP+ or Pi-DAC PRO from http://iqaudio.co.uk
vs
HIFIBERRY DAC+ or HIFIBERRY AMP+ from https://www.hifiberry.com/

to make the things worse for me, I’ve seen also a DIGI board…

Very kindly ask you to enlighten me: when do I need a DAC board and when do I need a AMP board.

A thousand thanks!

Ovidiu

Hi dovidio,

If your PC speakers have a built in Amp ( if there is volume knob on them) you don‘t need a amp-dac.

But i would recommend better speakers as Volumio is a real good hifi system…

Best Regards
Josef

The RPi will output sound in various forms, but the best price performance is gotten by adding a DAC to the RPi and feeding the output to an amp, then to speakers. As @Josh2000 pointed out, if you have active speakers, just go direct from DAC to speaker. There are various combinations but any amp that fits on a HAT format will not have very much power. Really depends on room size and a multitude of other things, to be honest. RPi + DAC to an off-board amp can compete with serious hifi brands, you just have to listen honestly…

Chris M