ESParagus Media Center is a line of three ESP32-based audio products that provide cutting-edge streaming capabilities to modernize aging stereo speaker systems. These standalone devices draw very little power when idle, boot up in seconds, and connect quickly and easily to your existing HiFi system or smart-home ecosystem.

All three ESParagus products come with firmware that runs Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay, and Logitech Media Server. They can also receive Bluetooth audio from a local source, like a smartphone, and are easy to integrate with Home Assistant for multi-room audio configurations. And, because they rely on open hardware and firmware, they can be customized to run your own software.

Three Powerful Audio Streamers

ESParagus HiFi MediaLink connects to your stereo amplifier to add modern sources to aging hardware. It includes a HiFi digital audio converter with line-level output that will not disappoint demanding listeners.

Loud ESParagus drives speakers directly using nothing more than a standard USB Type-C wall-plug adapter. Just add small, 3-watt speakers to enliven a small room or workspace.

Louder ESParagus is a full-scale streaming-audio center designed for larger speakers capable of filling a living room or office with high-quality sound. It provides two channels, each of which drives 20 watts through a highly efficient D-class amp that really packs a punch. Louder ESParagus adds an Ethernet port to the standard wireless-connectivity options of our smaller media centers and relies on a USB Type-C Power Delivery (PD) adapter for power.

All three products above run squeezelite-esp32. This integration has been tested by the author and by members of the squeezelite community, who provided invaluable feedback at every step of development while also incorporating their findings into the platform.

Features & Specifications

Comparisons

Line-Level Devices

Low-Power Devices

High-Power Devices

Support & Documentation

Our design files and other project information can be found on GitHub and Hackaday.

Manufacturing Plan

All prototypes were fabricated and assembled by JLCPCB, and we’ve encountered no manufacturing issues, so we’re happy to say we’ll be sticking with them for production. And we’ve done our homework. We have quotes in hand for full production runs with various batch sizes. As soon as our campaign hits its funding goal, we plan to order a starter batch of the final revision for testing. Then, once we confirm that everything is ship-shape, we’ll place the order.

Fulfillment & Logistics

After our production run is complete, we will package everything up and send it along to Crowd Supply’s fulfillment partner, Mouser Electronics, who will handle distribution to backers worldwide. You can learn more about Crowd Supply’s fulfillment service under Ordering, Paying, and Shipping in their guide.

Risks & Challenges

All projects of this nature face some level of risk when it comes time to order parts. We’re on solid footing with our key components, though, and we’re maintaining an up-to-date replacement list for the smaller parts in our BOM. In terms of design and manufacturing, we worked through a dozen revisions of these boards before settling on the current feature set. It took a few more revisions to polish up all the tiny details, and now we’re quite confident in our ability to deliver ESParagus.