Turn Your Raspberry Pi into a Serious Media Center with This $25 Amp

Building a media center is one of the more common projects hobbyists take on with a Raspberry Pi. One of the things these makers will learn very quickly is that the little 2W audio amplifier breakout board they have sitting in their parts bin isn’t going to drive their big, fancy speakers. If you want more than scratchy-sounding whispers, you’re going to need a much more powerful solution.

If you are on the lookout for some hardware matching that description, the new Louder Raspberry Hat Plus made by Sonocotta is worth a look. It is a cost-effective, high-performance add-on for the Raspberry Pi that provides Hi-Fi audio quality.

The board is designed around the Texas Instruments TAS5825M, a stereo I2S DAC with an integrated Class-D amplifier and a very capable DSP. Compared to the earlier TAS5805M-based design, the Plus model delivers more output power, improved efficiency, and better thermal performance — meaning it can push speakers harder and for longer without overheating.

The Louder Raspberry Hat Plus comes in two variants. The 1X version offers up to 2×32W at 8Ω or 2×45W at 4Ω at 20V, with support for 53W mono output in PBTL (bridge) mode. The 2X version adds a second DAC to enable a 2.1 configuration, delivering 2×32W for stereo channels plus a dedicated 53W subwoofer output. That makes it suitable not just for bookshelf builds, but also for more serious living room audio setups.

Power is supplied via a 7V–26V external DC input (up to 28V max), and an onboard buck converter provides 5V at up to 3A to the host board. This means a single power supply can run both the amplifier and a Raspberry Pi.

The board features a 15-band parametric EQ per channel, 128-tap FIR filtering, 3-band dynamic range compression, automatic gain limiting, selectable LF/HF crossovers, modulation scheme control, and switching frequencies up to 768kHz. Hardware fault monitoring covers overcurrent, DC faults, supply voltage issues, and four levels of thermal warnings — all accessible through ALSA controls once the custom driver is installed.

Although the TAS5825M is not supported out of the box in standard Raspberry Pi OS, Sonocotta provides a repository with drivers and setup instructions. The process reportedly takes about five minutes and a single reboot. Once configured, the board works with platforms like Volumio, Moode Audio, and Logitech Media Server.

Starting at $25 for the 1X model and $30 for the 2X model, the Louder Raspberry Hat Plus offers an affordable path to serious, speaker-driving power for DIY audio, smart home, and multi-room streaming projects.