Hi-
I’d like to use a Hyperpixel 4.0 touch screen with my RPi Zero W.
How could I get audio from the RPi Zero?
I found this post: Hyperpixel 4.0 sound? …which is about audio with a RPi with a 3.5mm audio jack (which ofc the RPi Zero doesn’t have).
Normally on the Pi I’d use a hat that uses I2S, but that doesn’t seem to be an option with the Hyperpixel, which connects via GPIO pins. On the Hyperpixel 4’s Getting Started page, it suggests using I2C but I’m not clear whether that is an option worth pursuing for audio output.
If you have advice about how to get audio from a RPi Zero that has a HyperPixel 4.0 as its display, please let me know.
Thank you,
Matt
Hi Matt,
I am afraid that you are out of luck. The Hyperpixel not only connects via the GPIOs, it also uses all of them except I2C.
From the Pi-Zero perspective, you can have audio-out using I2S or PWM, but without any pins there is not much what you can do, except use HDMI and bluetooth.
If you want to use bluetooth, you can go to GitHub - bablokb/pi-btaudio: Bluetooth Audio for headless Raspbian systems. Bluetooth-audio has always been a mixed bag. If it works, it works great and there are so many small bt-speaker available which fit perfect in size to the zero. But sometimes it just does not work and it also seems to depend on the specific version of PiOS you are using (see the repo for details).
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Hi @bablokb thank you.
So is there no way to use I2C to send audio to a speaker? That may be a silly question - I’ve done several searches for this and have found no results that lead to this.
Yeah I’ve had frustrations with a Pi Zero and Bluetooth before, would prefer a wired connection.
So I could use HDMI to handle only audio, and continue to use the HyperPixel as a touch screen? If so, are you aware of a compact adaptor that would go from mini-HDMI to a speaker?
Ideally I’m trying to build the smallest possible connection to a speaker. I’ve found some bulky ones such as the one pictured in this Stack Overflow issue but nothing that’s compact.
If you have any ideas or suggestions please let me know. In any case thanks for your help.
I don’t think your going to find anything that produces sound using i2c. I’ve been proved wrong before, but more often than not i2s is used. Plus, the i2c supplied by the Hyperpixel is a software i2c. It’s a workaround due to the Hyperpixel using the dedicated i2c pins for other functions.
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You can just use a mini-HDMI to normal-HDMI cable - if your speaker has HDMI in. If not, then you need some sort of converter. Which adds bulk.
But your link to the Stack Overflow issue reminded me of another solution: use USB-audio! I also did this before. There are two options: an USB-soundcard (there are very small ones available) or use a speaker with an integrated USB-soundcard. In the latter case you only need an USB-(OTG)-cable from your Zero to the speakers.
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