What is it?
Louder Esparagus is a handy and low cost media center that is comfortable for driving large speaker systems thus upgrading your legacy audio system with cutting-edge internet streaming capabilities and enhancing your audio experience.
Our Crowd Supply campaign for backing the manufacturing of Esparagus series boards is currently underway. If you have any interest, please consider subscribing to receive updates on the campaign.
Motivation
I did few audio projects in the past, some using ESP32, some using larger Orange Pi and Raspberry Pi devices. Each has its pros and cons, and each iteration I’m trying to focus on the details that were working best for me, while actually using them.
What I like about ESP32 is how lightweight it is. It barely draws power, so you may not care to turn it off at all. It boots in seconds and is ready for use in a snap. Still it is capable and works at par with Linux SBC solutions for audio applications, while costing a fraction of their price.
I combined it with TI’s TAS5805M Hi-Fi DAC capable of driving pair of large speakers with unbelievable high efficiency. Standing side by side with much more expensive commercial audio gear you would not tell a difference.
Over last few years I see few amazing software products created to deliver audio on the ESP32, like squeezelite-esp32 or euphonium. Esparagus HiFi MediaLink is part of Esparagus family designed specifically to run these great pieces of software and bring a new life into aging audio equipment that most of us have at home, but do not use that much these days, since it is not working with Spotify and the family.
Features
MCU Core
- ESP32 Dual Core 32-bit LX6 microprocessor running at 240 MHz
- 8 MB of flash storage
- 8 MB of PSRAM
- CH340 Serial communication / Flashing chip
Audio capabilities
- Stereo I2S DAC (TAS5805M) with built in D-Class amp
- 2x 15W at 12V at 4Ω (THD+N = 1%)
- 2x 23W at 20V at 8Ω (THD+N = 1%)
- Support USB-C power delivery or external power source
- Up to 90% efficiency (>80% typical)
Peripherals
- 0.96″, 128 x 64 px OLED Screen (optional)
- External Wi-Fi Antenna
- WS2812B RGB LED (optional)
- W5500 Ethernet (optional)
Other
- RESET and GPIO0 (FLASH) buttons
- 88 x 38 x 100 mm Aluminum case
Onboard PSRAM
Audio streaming require proper buffering to work, even with ESP32 500K of RAM it is a challenging task. For that reason most of the projects will require WROVER modules that have onboard PSRAM chip.
Louder Esparagus has 8MB PSRAM chip onboard, connected via high-speed SDIO interface. Any code using PSRAM with just work out-of-the box.
Firmware samples
In the software section two firmware examples provided.
Documentation
Both software and hardware documentation can be found on project’s Github. You can follow project progress at Hackaday
Where to buy
You may support our work by ordering this product at Tindie (coming soon)
