It's a cell phone style speaker.... what did you expect? There is a thread on here on how to bypass the EZB4 speaker so you can amplify through an external amplifier.... Sorry I don't have the link at hand right now... There are contacts on the board to bypass the built in amp so you will have clean sound when you use your external amplifier...

@Richard R

First thanks for the reply

As far as expectations is concerned:

I didn't expect it to sound like my receiver and tower speakers but to be honest I did expect it to be on par or close to my cell phone speaker and frankly it's not even close, not due to volume but the static/white noise.

I am aware of the bypass and have seen the posts on it and it seems the way to go.

The goal of my post was:

1. To make sure something was not defective and that the output white noise was expected.
2. Assuming the white noise is expected then to see if anyone could assist in identifying an amplifier board with the criteria mentioned in my post since using a full receiver or large amp is not an option for me due to robot chassis size constraints.

Thanks

This little Stereo 2.8W Class D Audio Amplifier from Adafruit would probably work good for many robots

We tested with dozens of speakers and sound chamber designs. The speaker we chose is the most expensive and highest quality. The white noise, I'm unsure what you're referring too. However the quality of audio is determined by your input. If you are using the developers kit with the power base, I can recommend cutting a hole in the base where the speaker aligns from the ezb. The base will provide a chamber to amplify the audio.

The robots have holes in their bodies as a chamber for amplified audio, the power base does not.

Hi @Darathian,

It is normal to hear some white noise coming from the speaker while there is no audio being played as the onboard audio amplifier is always on and will pickup some electrical noise.

The white noise should go away when playing audio, but do keep in mind that you will hear less bass than you are used to as the audio is coming out of a cell phone speaker which is tuned for higher frequencies.

You could always upload a YouTube video of what you are hearing and we can compare.

Otherwise, we will look into this further and see if there is something we can improve on from our end.

I appreciate everyone's help.

I am using the EZB with the developers kit base.

I really don't expect bass from a small speaker.

Here is a video:

The sound file was played back using the EZB soundboard control for playback. It was taken at 60 on the slidebar.

It is on dropbox at Noise File

The hissing/white noise is audible in the video.

When using the SayEZB script command the white noise/hissing makes it so you cannot understand whats being said.

Thanks

I removed the EZB from the base and recorded the following at pretty high volume. It sounds way better but you still hear the hissing noise.

noise

I am not saying it's a bad speaker, in fact I am surprised how good it is actually... However, you can't expect surround sound Dolby stereo from it either.... If you need better sound do what Dave Schulpius did by bypassing the on board pre amp and running the clean output through an external amp....

Just a note, although the plastic shell acts like an awesome amplifier it can cause vibration where plastic parts vibrate against each other.... I fixed one of my EZB4 by adding a little bit of felt between the sides on the shell and the actual controller insert...