Using Squeezelite with Esparagus boards

This is a copy of a post prepared for the Esparagus Audio Brick Crowd Supply campaign.

Introduction

I think it is safe to say Squeezelite-ESP32 is the second most popular option when it comes to connecting ESP32 and audio. But not so long ago, LMS (Logitech Media Server) ruled the hacker’s audio world for years, offering a powerful plugin and extensions system, big-little architecture, multi-unit audio sync, and quite a few extra goodies at a time when alternative, open-source options were sparse.

The situation looks much better these days, with new protocols popping up (Hello Sendspin!), though the LMS community is still strong, and many people rebuild their existing systems, adding more ESP32 nodes to their current LMS setup. Better still, LMS integrates quite well with Home Assistant, so you can use it as a renderer for Music Assistant, for example, but you don’t have to give up your existing listening habits while testing new tech, which is the best part, in my opinion. For this update, however, we’ll be focusing on Squeezelite-ESP32.

Installing

Squeezelite has been around for a while now, so installation is easy, as you’d expect. Download the web-installer, where support for Audio Bricks has already been added. Note that the team only promises stable work on the classic ESP32, while S3 support is still experimental.

After a couple of minutes, you’ll see a WiFi Hotspot network where you can configure WiFi and exit Recovery mode. That’s it, all the hardware settings are already baked into the installer, so there’s no need to worry about DAC or Ethernet config.

Using with LMS

Squeezelite-ESP32 offers a few possibilities, starting from its home territory – LMS server integration. On the LMS side, you’ll need to install the Squeezelite-ESP32 plugin and then nodes will pop up thanks to the auto-discovery protocol. Now you’re free to listen to internet radio, a local media library, etc, with the ability for multiple people to control playback using a mobile app (Android only) or web-UI.

Interestingly, you can use the speakers with Music Assistant; the players will be auto-discovered and multi-room capable. The only drawback compared to ESPHome integration (quite a big one, if you ask me) is the lack of DSP capability controls (at least at the moment), although LMS supports software DSP, so as long as you stay in LMS, you should be covered as well.

Using as a Bluetooth Speaker

Squeezelite-ESP32 famously supports Bluetooth speaker mode, something that is not yet possible in the Home Assistant. All you need to do is look it up on your phone or tablet, and don’t walk too far away!

Using with Spotify

Another gem hidden inside Squeezelite is a cspot component running alongside Slimproto. Assuming you have a Spotify Premium subscription, you can look it up in your app (same as with Alexa devices, for example), and start playback on the Audio Brick.

Using with AirPlay

The last feature worth mentioning is the AirPlay renderer built into Squeezelite. It is fairly easy to use on Mac devices, and auto-discovery works here really well, too. The implementation itself works quite well, the only drawback being quite a noticeable delay caused by buffering. You wouldn’t want to use it for video calls, I can assure you, but for background music, it’s not an issue at all.

This is an AirPlay v1 protocol implementation, so it does not allow multi-device sync, but there is an AirPlay v2 implementation as well, which I’ll describe in next week’s post. Stay tuned!