PHAT DAC - Is it just me?

So I’ve got a Raspberry Pi Zero W - and I’ve got a PHAT DAC - which came with a male to female header block as shown in the picture…but is it just me? Do none of the tutorials or even reviews mention that that’s not all you’ll need? You’ll also need additional headers to actually connect to the Pi Zero? I’m a bit confused.

Yes, you will need a male GPIO header on the PI Zero. I guess they don’t mention that because any other Pi model comes with a male header already soldered on. And now you can get a Zero with a presoldered header.
It’s pretty well a given that the basic Pi zero will need a header soldered on to plug it into a Hat or pHat.

Thanks. At least I’m not going mad. It’s sort of a given, but only if you’ve done it before and KNOW that the hat or pHat you’re buying won’t come with everything needed. NOW it’s a given for me! :-)
Thanks again

It’s only the Pi Zero that doesn’t have a header already soldered on, thats a gotcha for first timers. ;)
Its done that way to cut costs and make it as inexpensive as possible. It’s a single sided board and everything else other than the header is surface mount. All the surface mount components can be soldered on in one go by a machine. The header being a through hole component would require a second step to solder it on. Thus they leave it up to the buyer to do that.
I’m fine with that myself. It opens up options to use a 90 degree header, or a female header etc. And soldering is something I’ve been doing for many years, no big deal for me.
Eventually they also added the option of buying one with the header soldered on, at extra expanse. ;)
For those that don’t want to have to do the soldering themselves.

1 Like

Thanks :) It’s no problem to do the soldering - just I’m a bit delayed now while I wait for the meal header to arrive because I stupidly thought the pack would have everything needed. :)

no ,not stupidly , I did the very same thing [and many time ,and still do the odd time ]when i first got into the Pi, I got my Phat Dac in a kit so it was clear that i had to solderer it myself

There are often other odds and ends you might need too.
Standoffs for instance, to hold you Hat of pHat firmly in place.
And maybe case for your Pi. The PIBOW cases will let you mount a pHat or Hat on top of them and plug into the Pi underneath.
A power supply for the Pi, the list goes on. I still get caught out every now and then thinking I have all the parts I need and then do a doah when I go to put it all together.

I did it a few time for sure ,and had to place an order for missing parts,and actually paid more for shipping than the parts i didn’t get on the original order .,lol getting old sucks