element14 releases $33 sound card for Raspberry Pi

LEEDS, UK: The maker of the popular Raspberry Pi announced a little soundcard, perfect for pairing with the ‘Berry Pi. The $33 card from element14 sits on the Pi's P5 pins and features all the inputs and outputs traditionally found on a sound card. Best of all, it's tiny and matches the form factor of the microcomputer.

The Raspberry Pi has audio output, but it's rather lackluster. Users have long turned to external USB soundcards to compensate, a superior alternative for most uses.

This new card sits atop the Pi and sports a Wolfson audio processor that supports high-res audio up to 24-bit / 192KHz. The card outputs audio through a 3.5mm line out or a digital S/PDIF jack. The card also hosts analog and digital audio inputs along with 2W class-D speaker outputs, allowing owners to hook speakers to it directly.

The Pi has long lacked these capabilities, but of course not every project requires such sophisticated audio hardware. But now it's easier than ever to build a wireless audio player.