We show that for almost every ergodic $S$-integer dynamical system the radius of convergence of the dynamical zeta function is no larger than $\exp(-\frac{1}{2}h_{\rm top})<1$. In the arithmetic case almost every zeta function is irrational.

We conjecture that for almost every ergodic $S$-integer dynamical system the radius of convergence of the zeta function is exactly $\exp(-h_{\rm top})<1$ and the zeta function is irrational.

In an important geometric case (the $S$-integer systems corresponding to isometric extensions of the full $p$-shift or, more generally, linear algebraic cellular automata on the full $p$-shift) we show that the conjecture holds with the possible exception of at most two primes $p$.

Finally, we explicitly describe the structure of $S$-integer dynamical systems as isometric extensions of (quasi-)hyperbolic dynamical systems.