> **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

# Pimoroni Pirate Audio Headphone Amp for Raspberry Pi

**Type:** Product page · **SKU:** PIM482 · **Brand:** [Pimoroni](https://core-electronics.com.au/brands/pimoroni-australia) · **GTIN:** 606034880689
**Page:** https://core-electronics.com.au/pimoroni-pirate-audio-headphone-amp-for-raspberry-pi.html ([markdown](https://core-electronics.com.au/pimoroni-pirate-audio-headphone-amp-for-raspberry-pi.html.md))

The ultimate hackable headphone amp for your desk! Pirate Audio Headphone Amp for Raspberry Pi has an I2S DAC, headphone amplifier, high-res display, and playback control buttons.

## Pricing

- **Price:** $44.60 (inc GST) — $40.55 AUD, exc GST
- **Quantity discounts:** 10+ $38.93 (exc GST) · 25+ $37.71 (exc GST)

## Availability & dispatch

- In stock, ships same business day if ordered before 2PM (Australia/Sydney).
- We can dispatch 1 today, and up to 50 more in 7–12 days.

## How to buy

- **Build a cart:** compose `https://core-electronics.com.au/cart/link?items=PIM482:1` (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.
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- **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

The ultimate hackable headphone amp for your desk! Pirate Audio Headphone Amp for Raspberry Pi has an I2S DAC, headphone amplifier, high-res display, and playback control buttons.

Build your own home-brew iPod Nano with Pirate Audio Headphone Amp! It's an all-in-one solution, with gorgeous album art display, track info, and playback controls, for playing your local audio files (MP3, FLAC, etc) or streaming music from Spotify. The DAC and headphone amp gives you crisp digital amplified audio through your wired headphones.

Pirate Audio is a range of all-in-one audio boards for Raspberry Pi, with high-quality digital audio, beautifully-crisp IPS displays for album art, tactile buttons for playback control, and Pimoroni's custom Pirate Audio software and installer to make setting it all up a breeze.

### Features

- Amplified digital audio (24-bit / 192KHz) over I2S
- PAM8908 headphone amplifier chip ([datasheet](https://core-electronics.com.au/attachments/localcontent/PAM8908_35657852736.pdf))
- Low-gain / high-gain switch (high-gain boosts by 12dB)
- PCM5100A DAC chip ([datasheet](https://core-electronics.com.au/attachments/localcontent/pcm5100a_153193f2bff.pdf))
- 3.5mm stereo jack
- 1.3" IPS colour LCD (240x240px) (ST7789 driver)
- Four tactile buttons
- Mini HAT-format board
- Fully-assembled
- Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models
- [Pirate Audio software](https://github.com/pimoroni/pirate-audio)
- Dimensions: 65x30.5x9.5mm

### Software

Pimoroni's [Pirate Audio software and installer](https://github.com/pimoroni/pirate-audio) installs the Python library for the LCD, configures the I2S audio and SPI, and then installs Mopidy and Pimoroni's custom Pirate Audio plugins to display album art and track info, and to use the buttons for playback control.

Here's how to get started:

1. Set an SD card up with the latest version of Raspbian.
2. Connect to Wi-Fi or a wired network.
3. Open a terminal and type the following:

- *git clone https://github.com/pimoroni/pirate-audio*
- *cd pirate-audio/mopidy*
- *sudo ./install.sh*

11. Reboot your Pi
12. You can find more detailed instructions here: <https://github.com/pimoroni/pirate-audio/tree/master/mopidy>
### Notes

**Note that Pimoroni's installer, linked above, does all of the below for you, but if you're an intrepid hacker then you might need to know this stuff!**

- The low-gain mode is recommended for most use-cases.
- The DAC can be configured by adding *dtoverlay=hifiberry-dac* to the */boot/config.txt* file.
- There is a DAC enable pin—BCM 25— that must be driven high to enable the DAC. You can do this by adding *gpio=25=op,dh* to the */boot/config.txt* file.
- The buttons are active low, and connected to pins BCM 5, 6, 16, and 20
- The display uses SPI, and you'll need to enable SPI through the Raspberry Pi configuration menu.
- If you want to use these boards with a Pibow Coupé case (either for the Zero / Zero W or Pi 4), then you'll need to use a booster header to raise it up a little.

## Images

- [Product image 1](https://core-electronics.com.au/media/catalog/product/p/i/pirate_audio_stereo_headphone_amp_1_of_3_large-1.jpg)
