HiLetgo 5pcs LM386 Mono Audio Amplifier Module 200 Times AMP Solo 5V-12V 10K Adjustable

Horribly manufactured circuit. The signal and power grounds mix at the input stage before anything else, which at the very least contribute to the main problem with this board design... completely unusable levels of distortion and, in most cases, no output other than a high pitched squeel (regardless of where I set the onboard potentiometer). So far, I was able to get SOME sound by adding a 100K ohm resistor before the signal input. They also do not appear to have followed any of the example best practice layouts from the LM386 datasheet, though I can not say that with 100% certainty due to the other issue... They provide NO USEFUL INFORMATION on the layout, such as a circuit diagram which could be used to determine if/where modifications could improve the performance to a usable level. So in other words, PLEASE PROVIDE A CIRCUIT DIAGRAM and I will adjust my rating accordingly.

The board comes with incorrect component values for R2 and C4. These two components form a snubber network from the amp chip output to ground and are required to inhibit high frequency oscillations. The board comes with 10 pF for C4 and 220 ohms for R2. A quick look at the LM386 datasheet informs that C4 should be 50 nF and R2 should be 10 ohms. After replacement of these two parts with the right values the oscillations are gone and the board works fine.

If you are familiar with the lm386, that’s what you are getting . The lm386 uses a single rail voltage rather than a dual rail of +v and -v. They have about a 200 times amplification and are basically the only single rail amplifier out there. The lm386 IC chips are cheap but then you have to build a bunch of parts around it. This is a nice little package and you get 5 for a fair price. The wattage is about 125 milliwatts into an 8 ohm load. Decent for small speakers .

Absolutely terrible. I went against my gut to believe the previous reviews and I was dead wrong. These barely worked. I'm better off going to buy a $10 bluetooth speaker at dollar store to take it's board out.

Tried driving with both 5V and 12VDC. Tried multiple low level sources, i.e. phone headphone jack. Extremely high distortion, regardless of gain adjustment. Tried two of the 5 amps wondering if perhaps I got a bad apple. Nope, both were terrible. Can't recommend these at all. Don't waste your time or the few dollars it take to buy.