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The Raspberry Pi 2 is here
Today the Raspberry Pi foundation has announced the new Raspberry Pi 2. The CPU is more powerful than the existing model A+/B+ and it has more RAM. The layout hasn’t changed. It is 100% compatible. All existing boards for the model A+/B+ will also work on the Raspberry Pi 2.
What does this mean for HiFiBerry users?
Q: Do I still need a HiFiBerry sound card?
A: The audio output circuit on the Raspberry Pi 2 is the same as on the existing A+/B+ units. This means: yes, for high quality audio you still need a HiFiBerry add-on card. We have written an article why your Raspberry Pi needs a HiFiBerry card last summer.
Q: Should I replace my existing Raspberry Pi model A/B/A+/B+ by the new one?
A: No, if you’re happy with it, we do not recommend to buy the new one. For most audio-related use cases, the performance of the old Raspberry Pi is good enough.
Q: Are the HiFiBerry products compatible with the new Raspberry Pi?
A: Yes, all “+” products are compatible with the new Raspberry Pi 2 B.
Q: Can I just put my existing SD card into the new Raspberry Pi 2?
A: If you have a working distribution, e.g. Volumio, RuneAudio, PiMusicBox or similar, it won’t work with the Raspberry Pi 2 right now. The distribution has to be compiled specifically for the new processor.
Q: Will application XXX perform better on the new one?
A: All applications should get a slight performance boost. However to fully utilise the new Raspberry Pi, you need applications that use more than a single core.
Q: I’m using the “old” HiFiBerry DAC for a business application. How long will it be available?
A: We have no plans to phase out the existing products in the near future. You might have noticed that even the boards for the older Raspberry Pi model A/B are still available. However, we recommend to contact us to tell us more about your use cases. We already work with a lot of business customers and can support them with more than just the hardware.
Q: The new Raspberry Pi can also run Windows. Will the HiFiBerry boards work under Windows?
A: No, they won’t. We have no immediate plans to support Windows.
February 2, 2015
