Many pieces of consumer electronics are build down to a price, and the corners cut show up in their performance. The Gameboy Advance from Nintendo is no exception: its audio is a PWM stream that sounds awful through the included amplifier. [Cajun Panda] has a fix though, in the form of a replacement audio chain.
It takes the form of a PCB that hooks into the pads of the removed GBA audio chip, and provides a much cleaner audio path with filtering and EQ and a class D audio amplifier. In addition there’s an audio codec and an ESP32 for Bluetooth connectivity, enabled by a long press of a GBA button and configured via a web interface on the ESP. Best of all there is no case modification, this is designed to remain as stock as possible.
Everything can be found in a GitHub repository should you wish to make your own, so if you want to bring your GBA audio up to scratch you know where to go. If you want to make it even better don’t forget, you can always upgrade the screen.
The gameboy modding community never fails to impress me. One of the greatest handhelds of all time.
Lots of handheld devices have terrible audio. There’s little excuse too. When, 13 years ago, I first heard the MotoX with stereo speakers my wallet came out. The Razer2 was a step up, as were the Black Shark series (my BS5 is still top of the https://www.dxomark.com/smartphones/#sort-audio list, over 4 years after it’s release!). For gaming, sound is just as important as refresh rates.