An update: I have confirmed that this problem is specific to the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W.
Through extensive, stubbornly persistent troubleshooting, I developed the following Raspberry PI configuration script:
...and, after a reboot and ssh reconnect, I run this command:
I tried this on a Raspberry Pi 5 and a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. Both are connected to the same type of amplifier (Adafruit MAX98357A) and the same kind of speaker (I bought a six-pack of cheap 4 ohm / 3 watt speakers from Amazon, and connected one of each to each amplifier). Both are wired up in exactly the same way, using the same kind of MicroSD card, and flashed with the exact same options.
Literally, the only differences are:
(1) One is a Raspberry PI 5; the other is a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.
(2) Each is flashed with Raspberry Pi Imager and a selection of the corresponding kind of Raspberry Pi.
In this side-by-side test, the Raspberry Pi 5 sounds perfectly fine, and the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is intensely overblown and overloud.
I recorded some side-by-side video, with a description of the context, and upload it to YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/X2Y9o9MPxmE
As one further step, I tried swapping the memory cards, so that the Imager configuration for the Raspberry Pi 5 was used with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and vice versa. My finding is that the Raspberry Pi 5 still sounds fine, and the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W still sounds terrible.
So I'm not crazy. There is something very wrong with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W I2S interface that makes it absolutely unusable with the MAX98357A amplifier in its current state.
Through extensive, stubbornly persistent troubleshooting, I developed the following Raspberry PI configuration script:
Code:
sudo sed -i 's/^# *en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/' /etc/locale.gensudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8sudo update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8 LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8sudo adduser pi rootsudo usermod pi -aG adm,dialout,cdrom,sudo,audio,video,plugdev,games,users,input,netdev,spi,i2c,gpiosudo bash -c 'echo "pi ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" >> /etc/sudoers'sudo iwconfig wlan0 power offsudo bash -c 'cat <<EOF > /etc/systemd/system/wlan0pwr.service[Unit]Description=Disable wlan0 powersaveAfter=network-online.targetWants=network-online.target[Service]Type=oneshotExecStart=/sbin/iw wlan0 set power_save off[Install]WantedBy=multi-user.targetEOF'sudo systemctl enable wlan0pwrsudo systemctl disable bluetoothsudo apt-get install -y python3-pipsudo python -m pip install adafruit-python-shell --break-system-packageswget https://github.com/adafruit/Raspberry-Pi-Installer-Scripts/raw/main/i2samp.pysudo python i2samp.py < <(echo "y"; echo "n"; echo "y";)Code:
aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wavLiterally, the only differences are:
(1) One is a Raspberry PI 5; the other is a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.
(2) Each is flashed with Raspberry Pi Imager and a selection of the corresponding kind of Raspberry Pi.
In this side-by-side test, the Raspberry Pi 5 sounds perfectly fine, and the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is intensely overblown and overloud.
I recorded some side-by-side video, with a description of the context, and upload it to YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/X2Y9o9MPxmE
As one further step, I tried swapping the memory cards, so that the Imager configuration for the Raspberry Pi 5 was used with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and vice versa. My finding is that the Raspberry Pi 5 still sounds fine, and the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W still sounds terrible.
So I'm not crazy. There is something very wrong with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W I2S interface that makes it absolutely unusable with the MAX98357A amplifier in its current state.
Statistics: Posted by sfsdfd — Sat Oct 18, 2025 4:27 am