Esparagus Echo

Esparagus Echo is a series of two ESP32-S3-based voice control edge devices. They are designed to work with ESPHome as an edge part of the voice control pipeline. Both devices are enclosed in a neat-looking aluminum case and expose feedback LEDs on the front panel where it is easy to spot them, leaving power and speaker connectors on the backside.

Esparagus Echo

Why Esparagus

The Esparagus Echo design shares a lot with the earlier Esparagus series of devices, using similar parts and the same pinout whenever possible. I see this as a side branch of the series, therefore.

Motivation

I'm a big fan of Alexa. I'm using it around the house, and my family is using it all the time, including 2 years old. However, I do not need to mention privacy concerns, these are quite common. My biggest pain point is the inability to integrate Alexa into the Home Assistant setup that I have at home. I'm a big fan of automation around the house and want to trigger complex flows based on the specific sensors and devices that I have. I think the freedom of the implementation is a bit like the magic of the Home Assistant. Why not have voice control, since everyone around the house is used to it already?

Esparagus Solo

Esparagus Solo has all the basic necessities, a Mic on the front panel, a couple of feedback LEDs, and a speaker at the back. Onboard is a simple and well-known MAX98357 DAC with a reasonable 5W of output audio. It uses a built-in antenna for simplicity. And that's pretty much it.

Esparagus Duo

On top of Solo capabilities, Esparagus Duo uses a dual Mic setup, extra LED, and most importantly 2-channels MAX98357 channels to deliver quality stereo-audio (and thus can be used as a media player device). To make sure it would stream audio without a hiccup it uses an external Wifi antenna (much-improved perception) and has SPI Ethernet for the most robust networking.

Features

	Esparagus Solo	Esparagus Duo
Image
MCU	ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 module	ESP32-S3-WROOM-1U-N16R8 module
MIC	Single TDK InvenSense ICS-43434 I2S MEMS Mic	Dual TDK InvenSense ICS-43434 I2S MEMS Mic
DAC	Single I2S DAC (MAX98357) with built-in D-Class amp	Dual I2S DAC (MAX98357) with built-in D-Class amp
Power	5V from USB-C (Up to 1.5A)	5V from USB-C (Up to 2.5A)
Output, 4Ω	3W	2x 3W
Output, 8Ω	5W	2x 5W
PSRAM	8MB PSRAM	8MB PSRAM
Peripheral	2x XL1615 RGB LED	3x XL1615 RGB LED
Wireless Connectivity	WiFi + BLE	WiFi + BLE
Ethernet	none	Wizznet W5500 SPI Ethernet
Size (excl. antenna)	45 x 18 x 52mm	70 x 24 x 88 mm

Boards Pinout

Peripheral - Common

	I2S CLK	I2S DOUT	I2S DIN	I2S WS	DAC CE	RGB LED
Echo Solo	14	16	21	15	17	42
Echo Duo	14	16	21	15	17	42

Peripheral - W5500 Ethernet

	SPI CLK	SPI MOSI	SPI MISO	LAN RES	LAN CS	LAN INT
Echo Duo	12	11	13	5	10	6

Software

Since both devices are designed to be primarily used within the Home Assistant setup, the software folder contains ESPHome configurations for both devices.

media-player is a simple external speaker based on the Arduino framework
voice-assistans is a work-in-progress configuration based on esp-adf pipeline and wake-word detection.

Home Assistant - media player

One simple way Esparagus Echo can be used in the Home Assistant is a media player device. Yaml config will get you started. Below are configuration steps that you need to do in the HA itself.

Step	Screenshot
Add ESPHome Addon Navigate to HA Settings > Addons > Add Addon Search for SSH and install it. Enable `Show in sidebar` switch while you there
Prepare Esparagus Echo for ESPHome onboarding Use Web Flasher to flash stock ESPHome into device
Onboard Esparagus Echo ESPHome device into HA Go to the HA ESPHome page and you should be able to find a new device. You need to onboard it with the below config (feel free to change names) This will take a moment or two
Validate device in the ESPHome
Add ESPHome Integration Navigate to HA Settings > Devices & services > Integrations. Click the big + ADD INTEGRATION button, look for ESPHome, and click to add it. It should discover and add ESPHome media devices based on the previous step
Use your media device in the HA
Use your media device in the MA Add Music Assistant HA MediaPlayers provider to discover new Media device