Wolfson's Raspberry Pi add-on is a sound addition

Raspberry Pi
Hear ye, hear ye: Raspberry Pi gets audio add-on

Element 14 has released a new audio card add-on for its cheap as chips Raspberry Pi computer, enabling new functionality with stereo digital capture and playback.

The Wolfson Audio Card addresses the problem of not being able to connect microphones or loudspeakers to the Raspberry Pi, which has a very limited range of audio options.

The card features a 3.5mm jack for a headset or boom mic combination for gaming or VoIP, a 3.5mm jack for microphone input, on-board MEMS microphone, a 3.5mm jack stereo line input connection for music players like iPods, a 3.5 mm jack for external stereo amplifiers, and a phono jack for electrical digital input.

The add-on also comes in the small form factor necessary to work efficiently with Raspberry Pi.

Audio quality

The card is based on Wolfson's WM5102 audio hub codes, which is designed for low-power audio for smartphones, tablets and other portable devices. It combines wideband telephony voice processing with a high-performance audio hub codec.

There are two stereo headphone drivers for hi-fi quality line or headphone output, and stereo 2W Class-D speaker outputs for external speaker amplifiers. It also includes a signal generator for controlling haptic vibrations.

The card comes in at £24.01 (US$33/AUS$37), and is available exclusively through Element14's online store. Every penny counts.

Via Engadget