QUICK START GUIDE

MERUSTM audio amplifier piHAT ZW with moOde audio player

Infineon Technologies
Product overview and features

Overview
The MERUSTM audio amplifier is a hardware at the top (HAT) power amplifier board which brings the Infineon
proprietary multilevel technology to Raspberry Pi users and makers. It is intended for loudspeaker building and
wireless music streaming with minimum size and consumption along with state-of-the-art power efficiency and
HD audio quality. It is equipped with the MERUSTM MA12070P class D audio amplifier. Key features include:

› Compatible with Raspberry Pi Zero and Raspberry Pi Zero Wireless

› Compatibility with major streaming applications for Raspberry Pi (Raspberry Pi OS, moOde Audio,
Volumio)
› No need for external or extra power supplies in addition to the 5 V USB supply
› Full hardware control, customization, and error monitoring through Linux Alsamixer

General features and audio performance

Number of audio channels 2xBTL, 1xPBTL.
Audio input format Digital (I2S)
Minimum power supply requirement (miro USB supply) 5 [email protected] DC
Minimum power supply requirement (power bank) 5 [email protected] DC 3000 mAH

Output Power/ch (instantaneous peak – measured with music) 20 W@4 ohm

THD+N < 0.014% 1 W 1 KHz RL=4 ohm
Overall system efficiency 66% 1 W/ch 4 ohm
Figure 1. Overview of the MERUS™ Audio amplifier HAT ZW

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Product overview and features

System diagram MERUSTM audio amplifier piHAT board

USB 5 V power supply

for both MERUSTM amp Speaker output
HAT and Raspberry Pi terminals

+- -+

Boost converter
5 V to 20 V

MERUSTM MA12070P

Figure 2. MERUSTM audio amplifier piHAT ZW system diagram Figure 3. Top board view of MERUSTM audio amplifier piHAT ZW

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Hardware setup

› Attach the MERUSTM HAT to the

Attach
Raspberry Pi using 2.5M screws and
boards 2.5M 4mm length spacers.

Figure 4. Assembly procedure of the Raspberry Pi + piHAT

Secure › Secure both boards assembly with 2.5M

assembly spacers or nuts.

Figure 5. Completed assembly of the Raspberry Pi +

piHAT.

Hold › Do not connect the power supply. Continue with the software setup.

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Software setup
1 – moOde audio player image
› Download the moOde audio image file from the
official site.

2 – Balena etcher
› Download balena etcher (or any other
SD card image burner) from this link
and open it.
Figure 6. Using balena etcher to burn the SD card

3 – Burn the image to the SD card

› Insert your SD card in the windows, linux
or macOS host machine and flash the
downloaded moOde audio image file into
the card.

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Software setup
4 – Insert SD card in the Pi
› After the flash process insert the SD
card in the Raspberry Pi and turn it on.
Wait about 2 minutes.

Figure 7. Assembly procedure of the Raspberry Pi + HAT

5 – Connect to moode.local/
› Connect your host machine or mobile
phone to the “Moode” network and then
type http://moode.local/ into your web
browser to access the configuration GUI. Figure 8. Connecting to moode.local

The password is “moodeaudio”.

6 – Configuration menu
› Press on the “m” local menu at the top right
corner menu, and then go to “configure”.

Figure 9. Press on the “m” logo and then go to “configuration”

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Software setup
7 – Go to “audio” configuration
› On the configuration menu press the
“audio” configuration button.

Figure 10. Moode configuration menu

8 – Configure I2S audio device

› Under the “I2S audio device” select
“MERUS Amp HAT ZW” and then press
“set”. Do not reboot yet.

Figure 11. Moode initial configuration: Output device

9 – Configure Bluetooth and airplay

› Scroll down and under “Renderers” turn the
Bluetooth and pairing agent options “on”
and press “set” in both. Then turn-on the v
“Airplay” option and also press “set”. Finally,
press “EDIT” under Airplay and configure it
for 44.1 KHz and 32-bit playback. Don’t
forget to press save!

Figure 12: Moode initial configuration: Bluetooth and airplay

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Software setup

10 – Configure Spotify
› Turn the “Spotify” option on and press “set”. Next,
go to “EDIT Spotify config” and configure it with
320 K of bitrate and 20 percent of initial volume
(to be safe). Finally, press “save”.
Figure 13. Moode Spotify configuration menu.

11 – Configure the pi Network

› Go to the “Configure” menu again (step 6) Important: Use an open network to
properly communicate with the
and select “Network” in order to set your Raspberry Pi. An enterprise or office
network configuration. Press the “SCAN” network will not work due to security
button next to “SSID” and then select the restrictions. A temporal and fast solution
network you want to connect the board to. may consists in using the hotspot
Then, press “SAVE”. network of your cellphone in case there is
no other available open networks.
Figure 14. Moode network configuration

12 – Reboot
› Go to the configuration menu again and press
“Power”. Next, press “RESTART” in order to
reboot the Raspberry Pi. It can take up to two
minutes to restart.

Figure 15. Moode power menu

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Software setup

13 – Connect trough SSH

› Download putty and login trough ssh into the
Raspberry Pi. In host name type
“moode.local”. Click “open” and then press
“yes”. Then login with “pi” as user and
“moodeaudio” as password.

Figure 16. Connecting trough SSH in putty

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Software setup
14 – Alsamixer and limiter settings
› Type alsamixer on the command line and acces the MA12070P
control mixer to set the protection limiter level of the device. Usually
a -15 dB setting will be a good starting point for 4 ohm nominal
impedance speakers. It is strongly recommended to go through the
user’s guide section, where this topic is covered, to correctly
configure the limiter threshold level. Press escape to exit the mixer.
Figure 17. MERUSTM piHAT Alsamixer

15 – Turn-off and reboot

› Turn-off the Raspberry Pi by disconnecting the
power supply. Connect the loudspeakers to the
terminal blocks and turn-on the Raspberry Pi
again. Figure 19. MERUSTM piHAT terminal blocks for loudspeaker
connection

16 – Playing via Airplay or Bluetooth

› Open any Airplay compatible device/app such as
Spotify and select your device from the list to play
music from the piHAT. Or select “Moode
Bluetooth” to play via Bluetooth from the piHAT
Figure 20. Selecting Moode as Airplay or Bluetooth device
device on Spotify.

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