On my PCB (connected to a Raspberry Pi, an Arduino, a C.H.I.P. or anything), I want to provide audio output for:
- a small speaker
- or, when a 3.5 mm minijack is inserted, to stereo headphones (that would disconnect the speaker)
Instead of using
board ==(I2S)==> DAC => amp => speaker or headphones
I was thinking about :
board ==(I2S)==> amplifier such as MAX98357A => speaker or headphones
Problem : this MAX98357A seems to be mono only. The datasheet suggests using two of them to make a stereo output, but I find it not very elegant solution.
Are there "all-in-one" (DAC+amp) solutions to provide stereo output? (I'm not looking for shopping advice, I just want to know if, as a general question, this exists or not).
Would using two such mono chips be considered as a normal practice?
The datasheet carries this example:
Moreover, this MAX chip looks hard to solder manually (SMD). Do you think this kind of SMD soldering is achievable manually?
Read [...]. At least the title of figure 19.
: it seems that you haven't totally read my question:The datasheet suggests using two of them to make a stereo output, but I find it not very elegant solution.
. Of course I read figure 19, that's why I'm asking this question here, because I don't find it very elegant to make a stereo output with 2 chips (won't the microcontroller see 2 totally different devices, etc.?). Please don't misunderstand me, and don't blame me about that: I did read the datasheet, and I mentioned their suggestion (fig 19) to use 2 chips, etc. \$\endgroup\$