DIY: Upgrade USB Speaker to Hub & Sound Card

If you have a USB speaker but encounter some noise issues when it's connected to the computer's audio port using USB power, even experiencing noise while scrolling webpages with the mouse, it might be due to a grounding issue. You can consider making some modifications.

1、 Transforming into a Bluetooth and USB Sound Card Speaker:

Before the modification, there are two connectors: a 3.5mm audio input jack and a USB power supply connector. Now, you can transform it into a Bluetooth and USB sound card speaker with just a USB input. You'll need a Bluetooth audio module that can connect via Bluetooth and also function as a USB sound card. When you only use the USB port for power, it operates as a Bluetooth audio module, and when connected to a computer via USB, it functions as a USB sound card. This modification can be done using the mentioned module.

The effect after the modification is as follows:

2、 DIY Four-Port USB Extender:

Having a USB HUB on your desktop is very convenient. The next step is to modify the speaker into a 4-port USB HUB: three ports for external devices and one for the USB speaker.

There will be a USB port on each side of the speaker for inserting USB drives and USB serial devices. One USB port on the back can be used for a keyboard or mouse receiver or a Bluetooth adapter, for devices that don't need frequent unplugging. One internal port will be directly used for the USB speaker. The USB extender chip used is the USB 2.0 extension chip SL2.1A.

The internal setup after fabrication is as shown:

Finally, here is an image of the actual modification:

Additional information: 

The HUB uses an SOP-to-DIP adapter board, and the 12MHz crystal oscillator and three capacitors are soldered directly onto this adapter board. The perforated board is used only as a base, for easy soldering of the +5V power and ground wires. The SL2.1A chip for the USB HUB circuit is quite straightforward. It's important to note that the quality of the USB cable between the computer and SL 2.1A should be of higher standards. The input port for this speaker's USB HUB is a USB 2.0 Type-C port. If you have a Type-C cable that works fine with your phone but not with this HUB, simply switching to a different Type-C cable should resolve the issue.