GPIO usage of HiFiBerry boards

 

GPIO usage of HiFiBerry boards

We know that many people like to add additional hardware components (LCDs, buttons, etc.) to their Raspberry Pi. We provide this documentation to help you with this. However:

  • We do not guarantee interoperability with any other add-on card. Even if another card is not using the same GPIOs, there are many other things that might prevent interoperability. The Raspberry Pi GPIOs are not designed as a bus system (even the I2C bus can’t be simply used by multiple cards as there might or might not be the right pull-up resistors on every I2C slave).
  • Soldering on the HiFiBerry board voids warranty. There is no replacement for boards that have been modified.
  • There is no support from us. You can ask questions in our community area. There are already interesting projects and other users might help you.
  • Do not use more than a few mA from the 3.3V line. If your circuit requires 3.3V, use the 5V power rail of the Raspberry Pi with an additional voltage regulator.
  • Pin 27 and 28 are always reserved for an ID EEPROM on the Raspberry Pi. Independently which card you use, these pins are always reserved and should never be used to connect external components.

HiFiBerry DAC+ Light, Zero

GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. You can’t use them for any other purpose.

HiFiBerry MiniAmp

GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. GPIO16 can be used to mute the power stage. GPIO26 shuts down the power stage. You can’t use these GPIOs for any other purpose.

HiFiBerry DAC+, DAC+ ADC, Digi+ and Amp+, DAC2 Pro

GPIO2-3 (pins 3 and 5) are used by our products for configuration. If you are experienced with I2C, you might add other slave devices. If you a a novice, we don’t recommend this at all.
GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. You can’t use them for any other purpose.

On the HiFiBerry Digi+, GPIO16 is also reserved.

HiFiBerry Digi+

GPIO2-3 (pins 3 and 5) are used by our products for configuration. If you are experienced with I2C, you might add other slave devices. If you a a novice, we don’t recommend this at all.
GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. You can’t use them for any other purpose.

GPIO16 is also reserved.

HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro, Digi2 Pro

GPIO2-3 (pins 3 and 5) are used by our products for configuration. If you are experienced with I2C, you might add other slave devices. If you a a novice, we don’t recommend this at all.
GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. You can’t use them for any other purpose.

GPIOs 5 and 6 are used for the clock circuit and cannot be used for anything else.

HiFiBerry DAC2 HD

GPIO2-3 (pins 3 and 5) are used by our products for configuration of the DAC and the clock circuit. GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. GPIO16 is used internally to reset the DAC. You can’t use these GPIOs for any other purpose.

HiFiBerry Amp2

GPIO2-3 (pins 3 and 5) are used by our products for configuration. If you are experienced with I2C, you might add other slave devices. If you a a novice, we don’t recommend this at all.
GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. You can’t use these for any other purpose.
GPIO4 is used to control the MUTE function of the power stage. Pulling it to low will mute the output.

HiFiBerry Amp3

GPIO2-3 (pins 3 and 5) are used by our products for configuration. If you are experienced with I2C, you might add other slave devices. If you a a novice, we don’t recommend this at all.
GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. You can’t use these for any other purpose.
GPIO 14-15 are used for firmware updates of the microcontroller.
GPIO4 is used to control the MUTE function of the power stage.
GPIO17 & GPIO23 are used for internal functions of the amplifier chip

HiFiBerry Amp100

GPIO2-3 (pins 3 and 5) are used by our products for configuration. If you are experienced with I2C, you might add other slave devices. If you a a novice, we don’t recommend this at all.
GPIOs 18-21 (pins 12, 35, 38 and 40) are used for the sound interface. You can’t use these for any other purpose.
GPIO4 is used to control the MUTE function of the power stage. Pulling it to high will mute the output.
GPIO17 is used to reset the power stage (active low).

DSP Products: Beocreate 4 channel amplifier and DAC+ DSP

GPIOs 2,3 are used for configuration. GPIOs 7-11 are used for SPI communication with the DSP, GPIOs 18-21 are used for sound data transmission. GPIOs 27,17,22 are used to control MUTE, RESET and SELFBOOT.

GPIO vs. Pin numbers

Note that the GPIO numbers are not the numbers of the physical pins. To see which GPIO is mapped onto which pin, have a look here: http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2012/06/simple-guide-to-the-rpi-gpio-header-and-pins/

Connecting a board with cables

Some users don’t want to plug the board directly onto the Pi, but connect it via cables. First of all let’s say that this isn’t a supported configuration and we won’t guarantee that this will work at all. You would have to connect ALL power supply pins and all pins listed above. We strongly recommend to connect all pins with a 40-pin flat-ribbon cable. But even then you can’t be sure it will work. The shorter the cable you’re using the better your chances. Don’t even try long 30-50cm cables here!
Also note that soldering onto the HiFiBerry board will void warranty.

Last updated: January 30, 2023