What is it

Louder-ESP32-mini is a compact version of the Louder-ESP32, which would replace the standard speaker terminal on your old speakers, turning them into a hi-fi audio solution for your smart home.

It comes in two sizes that are most common among off-the-shelf speakers: 42x42mm (small speakers typically) and 52x52mm (for larger models).

Louder-ESP32-mini is equipped with a high-quality TAS5805M DAC with powerful DSP features, allowing audio tuning to turn small speakers into high-quality audio streamers. Onboard ESP32-S3 with 8MB PSRAM is there to ensure enough horsepower for solid streaming capabilities.

It is designed to be as affordable as it can be, so more speakers can avoid landfills and be an integral part of smart homes instead. It uses minimal (if any) extra peripherals, and it requires no soldering to operate. The part choice was carefully done to make it production-friendly and affordable for everyone

• TAS5805M DAC with integrated DSP
• Digital volume control (avoids loss of resolution compared to software volume)
• Gain digital control
• Parametric EQ (15xBQ), 128-tap FIR, 3-band DRC, AGL

Use cases

The main use case for the Louder-ESP32-mini is Home Assistant and Music Assistant integration via ESPHome, although it is there to fit your own needs and implement your ideas.

• Multi-Room Audio with Snapclient
  Use Louder-ESP32 as a Snapclient endpoint to create perfectly synchronized multi-room audio systems. Ideal for distributed music playback without proprietary lock-in.
• Standalone Player with Squeezelite-ESP32
  Run Squeezelite-ESP32 for a self-contained network audio player supporting Spotify Connect, AirPlay, and Logitech Media Server (LMS) — no external computer required.
• Educational Projects & Teaching Platforms
  A powerful tool for schools, universities, and technical education. Louder-ESP32 can be used to teach embedded systems, digital audio, networking, and open-source software — ranging from simple audio playback labs to advanced DSP, streaming, and real-time systems projects.
• 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 is an ideal base for custom audio devices — whether you’re building a personal DIY project, a small production run, or a community-driven product.

Features

⚠️ 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 / HiFi-ESP32-Plus and Amped-ESP32 / Amped-ESP32-Plus

💡 Don't need DSP capabilities? Check out Loud-ESP32 / Loud-ESP32-Plus

💡 Looking for a more feature-packed version? Check out Louder Esparagus and Esapragus Audio Brick

Onboard PSRAM

Audio streaming requires proper buffering to work, even with the ESP32's 500K of RAM; it is a challenging task. For that reason, all Louder-ESP32 board versions have an 8 MB PSRAM chip onboard, connected via a high-speed interface.

Board Pinout

Louder-ESP32

Software Options

• Home Assistant smart home audio and notifications. Start from the web-installer, as soon as you configure WiFi, the boards will be discovered by the ESPHome add-in automatically. Dedicated configs can be found in the documentation for simple and stable media-player, experimental sendspin protocol, and experimental snapclient component
• Squeezelite-ESP32 Spotify Connect, AirPlay, Bluetooth or Logitech Media Server. Flash directly from your browser using the web-installer. Configure WiFi using Hotspot (default password: squeezelite). Don't forget to exit Recovery mode when done.
• Snapclient multi-room audio streaming with snapserver. Flash directly from your browser using the web-installer, as soon as you configure the WiFi board will discover the snapserver automatically
• Snapclient (edge) - developer version. Developer's version of the snapclient, less stable and more feature-rich for those who cannot wait for new features to be released. Installed via web-installer, similar to standard snapclient
• Apple AirPlay 2 with multi-room sync. Use Platformio IDE to build and flash the AirPlay2 firmware. Pre-configured configurations and web-installer is a work in progress, but you can get it working by providing board configurations and building firmware yourself.
• Your own software. Use Arduino IDE or Platformio IDE and the provided software samples

Using with Home Assistant

Both Louder-ESP32-mini versions were created specifically to be used with Home Assistant via ESPHome integration. For both boards, rich configs were pre-created with hardware configuration for common use cases. These 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

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

Flashing ESP32-S3

ESP32-S3 boards have two ways of firmware update: (1) similarly to classic ESP32, they can be flashed over built-in UART, or (2) uniquely for S3, over built-in USB host controller. Since it is firmware-controlled, it may be disabled if not used (or, more commonly, not available with factory default empty firmware). When come unflashed ESP32-S3 device comes into a boot loop, with a USB-CDC device appearing and disappearing every second, and requires a special flashing initialisation sequence to get flashed:

• Press the IO0 (FLASH) button and keep it pressed
• Press and release the RESET button. Release the FLASH button.
• ESP32-S3 will enter download mode, and the USB-CDC device will appear and stay available
• Run flashing routine as usual, either through web-serial or esp_tool
• This time, it is not possible to reboot the device over USB, so press RESET once more
• Device will boot normally into firmware, and if USB-CDC is enabled in the firmware, you will be able to flash it normally, download mode and reset sequence will work over USB.
• If you manage to flash firmware without USB-CDC support, you need to go through the above sequence once more

Hardware

Please visit the hardware section for board schematics and PCB designs. Note that PCBs are shared as multi-layer PDFs.

BTL and PBTL mode (TAS5805M DAC)

TAS5805M DAC Allows 2 modes of operation - BTL (stereo) and PBTL (parallel, or mono). In Mono amp will use a completely different modulation scheme and basically will fully synchronize output drivers. Since Louder-ESP32-mini has only a single output, it is mandatory to use PBTL mode, which is done by setting a few registers in the DAC. The default configuration is BTL, so you need to change it to PBTL for proper operation. This is done in the configuration, and the configuration is stored in the dac_controlset variable in case of squeezelite-esp32: dac_controlset: {"init":[{"reg":3,"val":2},{"reg":3,"val":3},{"reg":2,"val":4}],"poweron":[{"reg":3,"val":3}],"poweroff":[{"reg":3,"val":0}]}

Important point, this will send only one channel to the output, that’s just how the DAC works. True mono as (L+R)/2 is possible via more in-depth configuration that is possible with ESPHome and snapclient, but not with squeezelite-esp32. If you want to use squeezelite-esp32, you need to make sure your source is mono, or you will get only one channel of audio.

TAS5805M DSP capabilities

The TAS5805M DAC has a very powerful DSP, that allows doing lots of data processing on the silicon, that otherwise would take a considerable part of your CPU time. As of the moment of writing it is mostly an undiscovered part of the DAC, since unfortunately, TI is not making it very easy for developers. (A minute of complaint) To be more specific, you need to be (A) a proven hardware manufacturer to get access to the configuration software, namely PurePath. (B) you need to apply for a personal license and go through an approval process, and after a few weeks of waiting you get access to one DAC configuration you asked for. (C) You find out that it will work with TI's own evaluation board that will set you back $250 if you'd be able to find one. Otherwise, all you have is a list of I2C commands that you need to transfer to the device on your own cost. No wonder no one knows how to use it.

But moanings aside, what do you get after:

• Flexible input mixer with gain corrections
• 15 EQ with numerous filter configurations
• 3-band Dynamic Range Compression with flexible curve configuration
• 128-tap FIR filter
• Automatic Gain Limiter with flexible configuration
• Soft clipper
• and a few other things

At this moment I'm adding most useful features one by one, focusing on EQ and Bi-amp filtering capabilities. All of the above are available right now for experimentation. I'm keen to hear your feedback while I'm moving forward with porting this to other software options

• [X] - Bare I2S TAS5805M library
• [X] - espragus-snapclient software with self-hosted UI
• [X] - ESPHome component with on-the-fly configuration changes
• [ ] - squeezelite-esp32

Use with speakers

Louder-ESP32-mini boards are mechanically compatible with many speaker models, so that you can upgrade them to be a smart speaker with nothing but a screwdriver. You can use a standard phone charger to power the device, with quick-charge adapters supported on the larger model for higher power output

Louder-ESP32 Mini shell

Since the Louder-ESP32 Mini is designed to fit a standard speaker terminal, a vertical USB-C port was added instead of the more traditional horizontal type. It is highly recommended to protect it from the sideways force, which would be common when the cable is inserted. The simplest solution is to use a 3D-printed shell that will protect the board and the USB-C port from mechanical stress.

You can pull it from the folder or pull directly from the Tinkercad and modify if needed. The shell is designed to be printed without support, and it is perfectly okay to print it with PLA plastic or similar material.

Restocking & Availability

New restock batches are regularly ordered from the factory, and I plan to keep all versions available at least until the next board revision is released. For current availability, you can also check the official reseller Elecrow.

USA shipping Update

Due to the new tariffs introduced by the Trump administration, standard shipments are temporarily on hold. However, shipping to the US has now resumed via UPS, though rates are currently quite high. I’ll fully resume regular shipping as soon as the restrictions are lifted. In the meantime, you may consider ordering through Elecrow.

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.

Custom Design & Consultation

If you’re interested in a custom design based on or inspired by my boards, I also offer contract design work and consultation when needed.

Most orders are shipped the next business day morning. All shipments are tracked. Delivery time in the EU is 3-7 days, outside 2-3 weeks, depending on the distance. After 30 days, the package is considered lost - reach out for a refund or replacement.