MEGA AMP : 60W stereo hat for Raspberry PI

Revive Your Speakers! MEGA AMP, the High-Power, Affordable Solution for Transforming Your Passive Speakers into a Hi-Fi Experience!

Pre-orders have been shipped out, and we have a few left. After the pre-order testing phase, it will be available on Amazon.

More info at : https://raspiaudio.com/produit/mega_amp

Powering Options There are 3 ways to power your Mega Amp:
-Use a USB C Power Delivery (PD) supply: This is the preferred option, as it is becoming the universal way to power electronic devices. It will negotiate the right voltage with the power supply, with the MEGA AMP defaulting to request for 15v from the USB charger. USB PD devices are becoming quite cheap. Look for a 100w supply if you can, though 65w are also fine. This option will provide ample power to your Mega Amp and Raspberry Pi, meaning only one powering cable is needed for both!

-If you only have a regular USB 5v power supply: No problem, you can still use the usual powering port of your Raspberry Pi. However, the power of your speaker will be limited and not reach its full potential.

-Use bare wire to provide DC supply: We recommend using a 12v supply with a minimum of 4A. Please check polarity + is on the outside. You can use a power supply up to 20v, but this will create more heat. 15v offers a good balance between power and heat. In this configuration, it will also power the Raspberry Pi.

Connecting Speakers
Any passive speakers of 4 or 8ohm will work. To ensure you don’t damage them when using at full volume, it is better to use something rated at 50w or above. Check the polarity of your speakers; if you mix them up, you’ll hear a muffled sound, but this will not cause any damage.


Use a small screwdriver to loosen the screw, then insert the cable and tighten the screw again.

Please note, it is possible to add headphones here:

Installation Process on PI OS:

Edit the /boot/config.txt file, which you can directly find by inserting your SD card into a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. Alternatively, if you’re running Raspberry Pi OS, type:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

In the file, search for “dtparam=audio=on” and add a “#” before it to disable it. It should look like this:

#dtparam=audio=on

This step is used to disable the built-in audio of the Raspberry Pi, which isn’t of the best quality.

Then, add the line:

dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplus

As of now, we are using hifiberry drivers as they also use the TAS5756M and are widely supported on many platforms such as Volumio.

After rebooting, on the PI OS desktop, you’ll see the speaker icon in the top right corner. Right-click on it to select your new audio card.

Fan There is a fan continuously running to cool the device down. It is very quiet.

VOLUMIO

Just install VOLUMIO using the official Raspberry Pi Imager
then select :

for volume option I am using :

Resampling (optional, it might be too much for a RPI Zero, I’m not convinced that it actually improves quality)

Thanks to all backers!
Here are some news about your pre-order:

We have a working prototype and the factory is having trouble completing the test of the first units. So I have asked to the factory to send me some units and I will do the test in Paris then send it to you. Long story short you should have your unit at the end of next week (May 12th 2023).

Thanks again for your support.

Hi, I’m curious about the compatibility with software such as volumio and if it is possible to control the volume of the output.

Thank you and nice work!

Yes that will be compatible with Volumio

Did you plan to ship to Canada?

I usually only stock in Europe and USA, as I don’t have the volume to justify having a separate stock in Canada.

update
Anyway I will receive a few board this week, test them manually and repair if needed then pack it and send to backers, then I need to understand why the factory automated test is not working.

News: I have received the boards and there are a couple components placement mistakes I need to rework, factory left a shortcut on every USB port (due to a large amount of soldering paste), then when they plugged it it burned the ICs, so I have ordered new ICs to replace them for the backers.

So sorry but you shipment will be delayed one more week I think. :sweat_smile:

Good news! all pre-orders have been shipped out, check your email for tracking numbers.
See beginning of that thread for installation.

1 Like

Hi!
I’m running moode on a raspberry pi 0 w and I’m getting this mpd error:

Failed to open "ALSA Default" (alsa); Failed to open ALSA device "_audioout": No such file or directory

I can’t seem to get any audio out and also it seems to hang on the spotify connection.
Did anyone manage to get this working on moode?

Your Mega Amp is compatible software wise with the HifiBerry Amp2, so you should be able to use this guide here and select Amp2, if not present chose Hifiberry DAC+ STANDARD or PRO

https://www.hifiberry.com/docs/software/moodeaudio-installation-guide/

Pls let me know if it works

it’s a bit outdated, I’ve tried different combinations of options but only DAC+ PRO didn’t spit out the same error as posted above and spotify managed to play but no sound came out.

What’s the prefered dac option and should I choose the Named I2S device or the dt overlay one?

I’ve spent the last hour trying to make it work with Moode without success.
First tried the 64 bit versions but it did not show any streaming radios to play and it was freezing, then tried the 32 bits version first with a very simple generic DAC (MIC+) then with the MEGA AMP with no luck.

The fact that it is not even working with the generic DAC make me think that something else is wrong.

searching

I encourage you to try VOLUMIO selecting Hifi Berry Amp2 or a simple PI OS first so you could be confident that the hardware is fine (check the first post of this page).

I’ve received the amp last week and am looking forward to start playing with it once I have some time soon.

However, I wanted to give a little feedback already. I notice the connectors for the speakers are very tiny (the same as for the muse proto). Can they please be made bigger for future projects/verions? For the Proto my speaker cables were clearly overdimensioned (but it’s all I have), but I think for a stronger amp like this one bigger cables are justified, especially if they have to cross quite some distance like mine. Right now my cables don’t fit and I have to compromise and/or solder them on the board directly.

Thanks for your feedback. You are right I will change it on the next batch.
Let me know if you need help to set it up, and more feedback is welcome.

Got volumio working and the amp sounds great! Not too happy with the closed source nature of volumio though (and it’s overkill for me anyway), so I’m going to have a go at alternatives as well.

I agree I’m not a big fan of volumio too because of the freenuim policy.
But we can probably make it to work with Moode if you want, the thing that disturb me is that I was not even able to make Moode work with another simpler DAC.
Have you ?

Runeaudio could also be an option

So it turns out it was a problem with this power supply, that doesn’t seem to output the required power for some reason

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09N6K9RHT?ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_765GAE78EJQ766KK8YZC

I was able to get it working with moode with the settings I posted above, just spotify connect though, still cant play to home assistant using mpd its stuck on idle

Using the USB C port one the Mega Amp will request 15v to the USB C PD if the supply can’t do it for some reason it will fall back to 12v or 9v.
I’ve found out during the test that supplying 20v doesn’t give an hearable increase in volume but heats much more.

I have also set the hardware gain to a very safe value but there are solder point to remove on the back of the board if you want to increase gain, but it will result in a bit more heat.

You could also provide a classic USB 5V thru the Raspberry pi usual power port and you Mega amp will work fine but at a reduced volume, but still impressive for low power. Providing classic 5v thru the USB C port of the Mega amp will not give you any sound, but it will power your RPI.

I am using this 100W power supply

with this 100W cable

Thank you, I’ll try some power inputs to see what’s best for me.

Btw do you know how to connect to home assistant? I’m using mpd and it gets reconized but can’t play anything.

Could you share your settings for HA? is it in the HA system or thru a yalm ?