Stan, again your info is greatly appreciated. I have powered the module with the USB port and located the 5V + & - terminals that I could solder to. Also, I have applied 5V to the BAT + & - terminal on the board and nothing smoked---yet--and it worked same as with USB power. And yes, it seems to take slightly longer to play, and also, the volume always comes on too loud, even after I lower it with button, power off, and power on. Result is volume always too loud. I was considering putting a (5W) resistor in parallel with the speaker to see if I could reduce volume that way.
By the way, I have given up on powering the audio directly with the Arduino. I am going to trigger a relay with the Arduino output to power the audio.
