Little Bird
pHAT BEAT
The pHAT BEAT is a stereo audio add-on for the Raspberry Pi featuring dual I2S DAC/amplifiers, 16 RGB LEDs, and six tactile buttons. It delivers high-quality...
The pHAT BEAT is a stereo audio add-on for the Raspberry Pi featuring dual I2S DAC/amplifiers, 16 RGB LEDs, and six tactile buttons. It delivers high-quality, amplified digital audio through two channels at up to 3W per speaker.
The dual rows of eight APA102 RGB LEDs work beautifully as a VU meter, and the six edge-mounted buttons provide convenient playback controls. A DIP switch on the underside lets you toggle between blended mono and stereo output modes.
Key Features
- Stereo I2S Audio – Dual MAX98357A DAC/amplifiers delivering 3W per channel
- Push-Fit Speaker Terminals – Easy clip-in connections for your speakers, no soldering required
- 16 RGB LEDs – APA102 pixels in two rows of eight, ideal as a VU meter or custom display
- 6 Tactile Buttons – Edge-mounted controls for play/pause, rewind, fast-forward, volume, and power
- Mono/Stereo Switch – DIP switch to select blended mono or stereo playback
- One-Line Installer – Software installer configures ALSA audio routing and includes a VU meter plugin
Specifications
- Dimensions – 65 × 30 × 7.5 mm
- Audio DAC – 2× MAX98357A I2S amplifiers
- Output Power – 3W per channel
- LEDs – 16× APA102 RGB pixels
- Buttons – 6× edge-mounted push buttons (GPIO-linked)
Compatibility
- Raspberry Pi 3B+, 3, 2, B+, A+, Zero, and Zero W
- Female header requires soldering
Ideal For
- Desktop internet radios and music streamers
- Airplay or Spotify streaming stations
- VU meter and audio visualisation projects
- Pairing with Speaker pHAT, Picade HAT, Drum HAT, or Piano HAT
Resources
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- DAC
- A digital-to-analogue converter turns numbers from the microcontroller into a real analogue voltage. It matters if you want to generate simple waveforms, audio-style signals, or variable control voltages rather than just on/off outputs.
- DIP switch
- A DIP switch is a small set of physical on/off switches used to configure hardware settings without software. It matters because changing features such as auto power-on or charging limits may require moving these tiny switches correctly.
- GPIO
- General-purpose input/output pins are microcontroller pins you can set in software to read signals, switch devices on and off, or connect to peripherals. The number of GPIO pins matters because it limits how many buttons, LEDs, sensors, and other parts you can wire directly to the board.
- I2S
- I2S is a digital audio interface used to send sound data between chips, such as from a microcontroller to an audio amplifier or DAC. It matters if your project needs cleaner digital audio output than a basic buzzer or PWM signal can provide.
- pHAT
- A smaller add-on board format for Raspberry Pi, similar in idea to a HAT but usually not full-sized. It matters because pHAT compatibility can affect how neatly a board stacks or fits into a Raspberry Pi project.
- RGB
- Short for red, green and blue, usually referring to an LED that can mix those three colours. It matters because controlling an RGB LED teaches how separate outputs combine to create different colours.
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Audio & Video
Brands
Related Tutorials
Free guides on learn.littlebird.com.au
