Louder-ESP32-Pro

Louder-ESP32-Pro naked

Great for: Home Assistant · Voice assistant · AirPlay 2 (soon) · compare all setups →

What is it?

Louder-ESP32-Pro is a feature-packed version of the Louder-ESP32-Plus, which hosts most of the optional extras as standard, adds support for color TFT screens, and, perhaps most importantly, adds an industrial-grade heat release solution for reliable heavy-duty operation.

Louder-ESP32-Pro dressed up

It comes in Raspberry Pi 5 shape with the most important component placed to follow the original heat release pattern. This allows the use of Raspberry Pi aluminum radiators, including those with soft-controlled fan connectors, that can be driven through Louder-ESP32-Pro software when operating in hot conditions.

Louder-ESP32-Pro is equipped with a high-quality TAS5825M DAC with powerful DSP features, allowing audio tuning to turn your speakers into high-quality audio streamers, big or small likewise. Onboard ESP32-S3 with 8MB PSRAM is there to ensure enough horsepower for solid streaming capabilities.

It is designed to be used with USB-PD-enabled power sources, so powering it is as easy as plugging in a standard laptop power charger. For maximum power, a 65W power source is recommended, but it would also happily accept quick-charge phone power adapters, and even standard USB-C power adapters, with limited output power

Use cases

The main use case for the Louder-ESP32-Pro is Home Assistant and Music Assistant integration via ESPHome, including voice-assist support using the onboard MEMS microphone and multi-color feedback LED. But being an open source solution, it can serve your other needs as well

Multi-Room Audio with Snapclient (experimental)
Use Louder-ESP32-Pro as a Snapclient endpoint to create perfectly synchronized multi-room audio systems. Snapclient support on the ESP32-S3 is still early, so expect issues; for stable multi-room playback today, use Home Assistant with Music Assistant.
Standalone Player with Squeezelite-ESP32 (experimental)
Run Squeezelite-ESP32 for a self-contained network audio player supporting Spotify Connect, AirPlay and Logitech Media Server (LMS) — no external computer required. Squeezelite support on the ESP32-S3 is still limited, so expect issues.
Educational Projects & Teaching Platforms
A powerful tool for technical education. Louder-ESP32-pro can be used to teach embedded systems, digital audio, networking, and open-source software.
Research, Prototyping & Experimentation
Well-suited for rapid prototyping of audio devices, proofs-of-concept, and research projects involving DSP, low-latency streaming, wireless audio, or human-machine interaction.
A Foundation for Custom Products & DIY Builds
With all firmware and tooling fully open source, Louder-ESP32-pro is a base for custom audio devices — whether you’re building a personal DIY project, a small production run, or a community-driven product.

Features

	Louder-ESP-Pro	Louder-ESP32	Louder-ESP32-Plus
MCU	ESP32-S3-WROOM-N8R8	ESP32-WROVER-N8R8 \| ESP32-S3-WROOM-N8R8	ESP32-WROVER-N8R8 \| ESP32-S3-WROOM-N8R8
DAC	Stereo I2S DAC (TAS5825M) with built-in D-Class amp	Stereo I2S DAC (TAS5805M) with built-in D-Class amp	Stereo I2S DAC (TAS5825M) with built-in D-Class amp
Output (4Ω, 1% THD+N)	2x 45W	2x 32W	2x 45W
Output (8Ω, 1% THD+N)	2x 30W	2x 23W	2x 30W
Output (Bridge, 4Ω, 1% THD+N)	1x 53W	1x 45W	1x 53W
Flash/PSRAM	8MB/8MB	8MB/8MB	8MB/8MB
Connectivity	WiFi + BLE	WiFi + BT4.2 + BLE + Ethernet	WiFi + BT4.2 + BLE + Ethernet
Ethernet	✅	optional	optional
IR reader	✅	✅	✅
Mic	✅	optional	optional
RGB LED	✅	optional	optional
Screen connector	TFT, 2.4″, 320x240px	OLED, 0.96″, 128x64px	OLED, 0.96″, 128x64px
Power requirement	Up to 20V from a USB-PD power adapter	Generic power adapter 5-26V	Generic power adapter 5-26V

⚠️Louder boards will connect to passive speakers; you can’t use headphones or an external amp
💡Need to connect an external amp? Check out HiFi-ESP32 and Amped-ESP32
💡Don’t need DSP capabilities? Check out Loud-ESP32

💡Looking for a more feature-packed version? Check out Louder Esparagus

Use with the Raspberry case

Louder-ESP32-Pro boards are mechanically compatible with aluminum cases for Raspberry Pi 5. The most important components that release heat under heavy operation would be covered by the case heat release pads. On top of that, the board allows connecting a 4-pin fan with speed control and RPM readout, so it can be engaged only when needed.

Firmware

Home Assistant
Start from the web-installer, as soon as you configure WiFi, the boards will be discovered by the ESPHome add-on automatically. Dedicated configs can be found in the documentation for simple and stable media-player, an experimental sendspin protocol, and an experimental snapclient component
AirPlay 1 & 2 with Sendspin. Native, actively developed AirPlay 1 & 2 firmware (rbouteiller/airplay-esp32) with PTP multi-room sync and an experimental Sendspin renderer. Bluetooth A2DP needs the original ESP32, so it isn’t available on this ESP32-S3 board. Flash straight from your browser with the web-installer — no toolchain needed. See AirPlay 1 & 2 below for details.
Squeezelite-ESP32*
Flash directly from your browser using the web-installer (work in progress), configure WiFi using Hotspot (default password: squeezelite). Don’t forget to exit Recovery mode when configured.
Snapclient*
Flash directly from your browser using the web-installer (work in progress), as soon as you configure the WiFi board, it will discover the snapserver automatically. The less stable and more feature-rich version for those who cannot wait for new features to be released, can be installed via the edge version web-installer
Your own software
Use Arduino IDE or Platformio IDE and the provided software samples

* Squeezelite and snapclient have limited support of the ESP32-S3 at the moment. Issues are expected.

AirPlay 1 & 2

Squeezelite’s built-in AirPlay is a first-generation implementation. rbouteiller/airplay-esp32 is a standalone, open-source AirPlay 1 & 2 receiver for the ESP32 family — actively developed, with great work done by the community despite the lack of help from Apple.

It runs on both the ‘classic’ ESP32 and ESP32-S3 revisions and installs straight from a browser — no toolchain required. Support is rolling out board by board, and the AirPlay 2 guide keeps the current list. Current features:

AirPlay 1 & 2 — appears natively in Control Center and any AirPlay app, with PTP-based multi-room sync
Sendspin (experimental) — an open multi-room protocol renderer sharing the same output path, DSP, and volume control as AirPlay
Bluetooth A2DP on the classic ESP32 revision — phones and laptops can stream directly whenever AirPlay is idle (the ESP32-S3 has no Bluetooth Classic radio)
On-device display — the optional OLED add-on, or the Louder-ESP32-Pro’s color TFT, shows track metadata and progress for AirPlay, Bluetooth, and Sendspin alike
USB audio (UAC) — the ESP32-S3 revision can be built as a USB sound card for a connected computer, sharing the same DAC path
Full DSP control on Louder-ESP32/Louder-ESP32-Plus — the TAS5805M/TAS5825M’s on-chip EQ is fully exposed: 15 cascaded biquad sections per channel, each an arbitrary peaking filter, shelf, high/low pass, band pass, notch, phase shift, or raw coefficients, plus a crossover builder (and, on the TAS5825M, full PurePath Console 3 tuning replay)

→ AirPlay 2 speaker guide: which board to pick, step-by-step setup and sound tuning.

TAS58xx DSP: full parametric EQ and crossover control

AirPlay 2 support above isn’t just playback — it exposes the TAS5805M’s on-chip DSP in full from the board’s web UI:

15 biquad (BQ) filters per channel, usable as a full 15-band parametric equalizer
Bi-amp filter configuration for 2-way speaker systems — split the signal between tweeter and woofer with independent filter chains per amplifier
Low-pass filtering for subwoofer tuning and bass enhancement
Generic filters for speaker and room equalization — peaking filters, shelf filters, and EQ sections with a configurable Q-factor, applied per channel individually or to both at once

Work in progress: REW (Room EQ Wizard) integration, to drive automatic room-correction algorithms directly from a measured response.

Using with Home Assistant

Every board is designed to work with Home Assistant through ESPHome. Ready-made configurations, installable from the browser, cover the common setups. Depending on the board, they include:

media_player component for simple and robust media playback and TTS announcements (with ducking effect)
Sendspin media player – new experimental protocol for multi-room sync with media controls and more
An experimental snapclient component that allows near-perfect multi-room sync and seamless integration with Music Assistant
Another snapclient fork with an implemented 15-band software equalizer and a rich set of EQ presets
Voice assist config for S3-based boards with a microphone, allowing local voice-controlled assist and automation

Configurations are being actively maintained and upgraded, and new experimental components are added for you to test and enjoy.

→ Home Assistant audio guide: which board to pick, Music Assistant setup, sound tuning and power.

Documentation

Both software and hardware are fully open-sourced and can be found on the project’s GitHub. You can follow the project updates at Hackaday

Where to buy

You may support our work by ordering this product at Tindie and Elecrow

Louder-ESP32-Pro coming soon on Tindie, Lectronz, and Elecrow ($45 MSRP, $38 at volume)

Sponsorship & Community Support

If you’re working on an open-source project, an educational initiative, or any pro-bono/volunteer effort, feel free to reach out for sponsorship details. I’ll do my best to provide discounts or even free boards.