MAX98357A I2S 3W Class D Amplifier Breakout
MAX98357A I2S 3W Class D Amplifier Breakout has a 5-10 day lead time before dispatch. Order will only be sent once all items are available for delivery.
MAX98357A I2S 3W Class D Amplifier Breakout
Add real, driven sound to your microcontroller project without a separate DAC and amp stage. The MAX98357A takes a standard I2S digital audio signal and decodes it directly into an amplified analog output, strong enough to drive a speaker on its own. It combines the job of two breakout boards (I2S DAC + amplifier) into one small, plug-and-play module.
I2S (not to be confused with I2C) is the digital audio protocol used by many processors and microcontrollers to move sound data around a board. The MAX98357A listens on the standard I2S lines (data, bit clock, and left/right clock) and needs no separate master clock, so it drops straight into Raspberry Pi, ESP32, Arduino, and other I2S-capable boards with minimal setup.
Despite its size, this mono amplifier is genuinely powerful, delivering up to 3.2W into a 4Ω speaker. It's built around a true Class D amplifier core, running from 2.5V to 5.5V, which makes it highly efficient and well suited to portable or battery-powered builds. Built-in thermal and over-current protection keep it safe under load.
The output is bridge-tied, meaning both output pins connect directly to the speaker with neither one referenced to ground, so this board should drive a speaker directly rather than feed into another amplifier stage. A dedicated Gain pin lets you select 3dB, 6dB, 9dB, 12dB, or 15dB of gain via pull-up/pull-down resistors, and the Shutdown/Mode pin doubles as a channel selector, letting you output a mixed (L+R)/2 signal or isolate just the left or right channel.
Features
- Output power: 3.2W at 4Ω (10% THD), 1.8W at 8Ω (10% THD), 5V supply
- I2S sample rates from 8kHz to 96kHz
- No master clock (MCLK) required
- Five pin-selectable gain settings: 3dB / 6dB / 9dB / 12dB / 15dB
- Plug-and-play auto-configuration across 35 clock schemes and 128 audio formats
- Click-and-pop suppression
- Thermal shutdown and over-current protection
- High jitter tolerance and strong EMI suppression, drive long speaker leads with no external filtering
- Compatible with Raspberry Pi, ESP32, Arduino, and other I2S-equipped boards
- Soldered on pin headers and terminals
Pinout
| Pin | Function |
|---|---|
| VCC | Power supply, 2.5V–5.5V DC |
| GND | Ground |
| SD | Shutdown / channel select. Pull low to disable the amp. |
| GAIN | Gain and channel select. Fixed at 12dB in TDM mode. |
| DIN | Digital audio input (I2S data) |
| BCLK | Bit clock input |
| LRC | Left/right clock (I2S/LJ modes) or sync clock (TDM mode) |
Specifications
- Output power: 3.2W @ 4Ω, 10% THD / 1.8W @ 8Ω, 10% THD (5V supply)
- PSRR: 77dB typ. @ 1kHz
- I2S sample rates: 8kHz–96kHz
- Dimensions: 19.4mm x 17.8mm x 3.0mm (0.8" x 0.7" x 0.1")
- Weight: 1.2g
Comes as an assembled and tested breakout with a pre-soldered terminal block and an optional header strip included loose (soldering required if you want the header fitted).
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