Built an NFC music player for my daughter using:

Raspberry pi zero 2w

MFRC522 NFC reader

MAX98357A I2S mono amp

KY-040 Rotary encoder

GRS 3FR-4 Full Range 3" Speaker Driver 4 Ohm

Found an enclosure (https://makerworld.com/en/models/1839696-voxalon-25-retro-inspired-bluetooth-speaker?from=search#profileId-1965192) I liked for a different project and jammed it all in.

My problem is that the audio is very crackly. I've used pulse audio to lower the max volume which helps a little but still not happy with the sound. Not sure if the issue is it is under powered or if I should use an audio hat instead of the amp or something else entirely but would love some help!