I have a patch in pd playing an audio files. the audio itself is not distorted and I'm output it at unity gain (multiple it by 1 before connect it to the DAC

the output sound using the pi 4 audio jack out is completely distorted. I needed to multiple the audio file be 0.05 instead of by 1 in order to have ok sound (that is not distorted)
Clearly something is wrong. What shall I do in order to fix that? Maybe it is something in the pi audio out configurations?

Thanks

Pi's audio is no good, at least IIRC. You should probably get a DAC for the Pi, there are pleny around, not so expensive.

What do you think about usb audio adapter?
is something like this will work fine? is it better from the built in audio output ?

any other small usb audio adapter recommended? (plug and play)

what is the best choice for this list?

1. link1
2. link2
3. link3
   thanks

Never tried any of those, but they should work better than Pi's on-board audio. There are quite a few Pi hats that fit on Pi's 40-pin header, which should probably have better quality than the ones you posted. But if you're fine with any of those, then go with that.

Those ones all have the same chip in them so should behave pretty similarly. One annoying thing is that the input is only mono. I use the Beringer UCA202 to get stereo input for only a bit more cash.

I bought the ugreen one.
How can I make sure my pd will always choose this interface for audio out and will also choose buffer size of 512 samples (for audio playback) and 44k sampling rate ?

o I connected the UGREEN to my Pi and selected it (USB Audio Device (Hardware)) as an output on my pd.
Same problem as before. the audio distorted at unity gain (I'm multiple the audio playback by 1 and then send it to the dac~
In order to have clean sound I need to multiple the playback audio by 0.1 - 0.05. I don't understand why is happening?

Could it be something with my pi audio setting?

Thanks

edit: I connected my Motu ultra lite mk4 and the output is not distorted even when multiple by 1 (as it should be)
So I can assume the USB Audio Interface I bought is just not good enough?

What you can recommend me for small audio interface with stereo output? that for sure is not distorted the audio...

Since your Motu plays fine, it's definitely the USB device. Why don't you try something like the pHAT DAC https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/phat-dac or something else that is built for the Pi?

because my pi gpio pins are not accessible I have added a pi case that prevent from connecting anything to those pins. This is why I would like to use a usb audio interface.

Any recommendation for USB Audio Interface (small in size) that will do the job?
What about that one or this one

Never used them, don't know. Why not change the case so you can get access to the GPIO pins?

@alexandros

I need that case to keep Pi cool and secure..
I can assume those usb audio interface I shared should be good as the pi audio interface? or at least better then the chip usb UGREEN I got before