Adafruit
Electret Microphone Amplifier - MAX4466 with Adjustable Gain
A well-designed electret microphone amplifier breakout built around the Maxim MAX4466 op-amp, specifically engineered for microphone amplification with excel...
A well-designed electret microphone amplifier breakout built around the Maxim MAX4466 op-amp, specifically engineered for microphone amplification with excellent power supply noise rejection. The board comes fully assembled and tested with a 20–20 kHz electret microphone soldered on.
A trimmer pot on the back lets you adjust gain from 25× to 125×, producing output from approximately 200 mVpp (line-level, suitable for audio equipment) up to about 1 Vpp (ideal for microcontroller ADC input). The output is rail-to-rail and DC-coupled with a bias of VCC/2.
Key Features
- MAX4466 Op-Amp – Low-noise amplifier designed specifically for electret microphones
- Adjustable Gain – 25× to 125× via onboard trimmer pot
- Wide Frequency Response – 20 Hz to 20 kHz electret microphone
- Rail-to-Rail Output – Up to 5 Vpp on loud sounds
- Low Power – Operates from 2.4–5 V DC
- Fully Assembled – Microphone pre-soldered, ready to use
Specifications
- Amplifier IC: Maxim MAX4466
- Gain Range: 25× to 125× (adjustable)
- Output at Normal Speech (~6"): ~200 mVpp (25×) to ~1 Vpp (125×)
- Operating Voltage: 2.4–5 V DC
- Output Bias: VCC/2 (DC coupled)
- Frequency Range: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
Wiring
- VCC – 2.4–5 V (use the quietest supply available, e.g. 3.3 V on Arduino)
- GND – Ground
- OUT – Audio waveform output (DC biased at VCC/2)
Ideal For
- Audio-reactive LED projects using FFT
- Voice changers and audio effects
- Sound level monitoring and sampling
- CircuitPython and Arduino audio projects
Package Contents
- 1× Electret Microphone Amplifier Breakout (MAX4466, fully assembled)
Resources
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- ADC
- An analogue-to-digital converter reads a changing voltage and turns it into a number the microcontroller can use. It matters when connecting analogue sensors such as light, sound, or variable-resistor sensors.
- breakout
- A breakout is a small circuit board that makes a tiny or hard-to-solder component easier to connect to with standard pins. It matters because this OLED module can be wired into a microcontroller project without needing to solder directly to the display’s fine contacts.
- CircuitPython
- A beginner-friendly version of Python designed to run directly on microcontroller boards. If a product supports CircuitPython, you can often program it by copying code files onto the board rather than setting up a more complex toolchain.
- LED
- A light-emitting diode is a small electronic component that lights up when current flows through it in the correct direction. In this kit, LEDs create the flashing effect, so polarity and correct soldering matter for the project to work.
- microcontroller
- A microcontroller is a small computer on a chip that runs your program and controls connected inputs and outputs. For this product, it is the part that reads buttons and sensors, drives the display and speaker, and communicates over Bluetooth.
- Op-amp
- An op-amp, or operational amplifier, is a chip used to amplify, buffer, or compare analogue signals. Resistor values around an op-amp help set gain and input behaviour, so choosing the right resistance matters for stable circuit performance.
Find this product in
Sensors & Input
Related Tutorials
Free guides on learn.littlebird.com.au
