> **Source:** Core Electronics is an Australian maker-electronics retailer and manufacturer based in Newcastle, NSW, run by a team of makers and educators. We design and manufacture our own product lines (PiicoDev, CE originals) and are official retailers for iconic maker and industrial brands including Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Adafruit, SparkFun and DFRobot. Orders ship Australia-wide from our Newcastle warehouse. Prices are in AUD and include GST. Pricing, stock and dispatch on this page are generated from the store's live catalog. Full machine-readable index: https://core-electronics.com.au/llms.txt

# Picade Max USB Audio

**Type:** Product page · **SKU:** PIM742 · **Brand:** [Pimoroni](https://core-electronics.com.au/brands/pimoroni-australia) · **GTIN:** 769894026045
**Page:** https://core-electronics.com.au/picade-max-usb-c-stereo-audio-amplifier.html ([markdown](https://core-electronics.com.au/picade-max-usb-c-stereo-audio-amplifier.html.md))

Connect a pair of small speakers up to a Raspberry Pi (or other computer) easily with this RP2040-powered USB-C sound card/3W stereo amplifier....

## Pricing

- **Price:** $34.20 (inc GST) — $31.09 AUD, exc GST
- **Quantity discounts:** 10+ $29.85 (exc GST) · 25+ $28.92 (exc GST)

## Availability & dispatch

- Available with a lead time — expect dispatch between Aug 24 and Aug 27.

## How to buy

- **Build a cart:** compose `https://core-electronics.com.au/cart/link?items=PIM742:1` (comma-separated SKU:qty pairs) and share the link. Opening it shows a confirmation page with live pricing and stock before anything is added to the cart.
- **Verify the cart first:** fetch `https://core-electronics.com.au/cart/link/PIM742:1.md` for live line prices (inc & exc GST, quantity discounts applied), stock and dispatch estimates, and totals. Append `/to/{AU-postcode}` (or `/to/{country-code}:{postcode}`) before `.md` for delivery options and prices to that destination. Unknown, retired, or out-of-stock SKUs are flagged. (Query form `cart/link.md?items=...` also works but some robots parsers refuse query strings here.)
- **Checkout** is completed on-site and includes a captcha at the payment step. Share the cart link; checkout takes it from there.
- **Search the catalogue:** `https://core-electronics.com.au/search/{query}.md` (URL-encode the query; pages 2-3 at `search/{query}/{page}.md`; `search.md?q=` also works)
- **Payment methods, purchase orders, policies and contact details:** https://core-electronics.com.au/llms.txt
## Description

Connect a pair of small speakers up to a Raspberry Pi (or other computer) easily with this RP2040-powered USB-C sound card/3W stereo amplifier.

We made this RP2040 board to drive the speakers on [Picade Max](https://core-electronics.com.au/picade-max-deluxe-arcade-cabinet-raspberry-pi.html), but we thought it might also be useful for other builds where you want to connect some speakers up over USB-C - especially since 3.5mm audio jacks are now starting to become somewhat of a rarity!

There are two screw terminals to connect the wires from your speakers, you'll need a 2mm or 2.5mm flat blade screwdriver for this. Once it's plugged into your computer, you may need to set this board as your default audio output device (in Raspberry Pi OS you can [right click on the speaker in the menu bar](https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-using/4)).

Need some speakers? Check out the recommendations in the extras! >

**Features**

- Powered by RP2040 
    - Dual ARM Cortex M0+ with 264kB of SRAM
    - 2MB of QSPI flash supporting XiP
- 2 x screw terminals to attach speakers
- I2S audio DAC with 3W stereo amplifier
- Connector to add encoder for volume control
- USB-C connector
- Qw/ST (Qwiic/STEMMA QT) connector
- Status LED
- BOOT and RESET buttons
- Fully-assembled (no soldering required)
- [C firmware](https://github.com/pimoroni/picade-max-audio)
- [Schematic](https://core-electronics.com.au/attachments/localcontent/Picade_Max_USB_Audio_Schematic_1147417e9f7.pdf)

**About RP2040**

Raspberry Pi's RP2040 microcontroller is a dual core ARM Cortex M0+ running at up to 133Mhz. It bundles in 264kB of SRAM, 30 multifunction GPIO pins (including a four channel 12-bit ADC), a heap of standard peripherals (I2C, SPI, UART, PWM, clocks, etc), and USB support.

One very exciting feature of RP2040 is the programmable IOs which allow you to execute custom programs that can manipulate GPIO pins and transfer data between peripherals - they can offload tasks that require high data transfer rates or precise timing that traditionally would have required a lot of heavy lifting from the CPU.

## Images

- [Product image 1](https://core-electronics.com.au/media/catalog/product/P/I/PIM742-2.jpg)