!!! ALBUM ART DISABLED UNTIL 2026.2.0 !!

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Minimalistic Sendspin Media Player for ESPHome / Home Assistant

A tiny Sendspin media player with cover art display and a weather clock, built around the ESP32-S3 Zero.

This project turns a small, inexpensive ESP32 board into a compact audio receiver for your amplifier, with a screen for album art, Song, Artist, and a weather clock when not playing.

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About the Project

This started as a fun experiment: I wanted to see if the little ESP32-S3 Zero would work with Sendspin. Since it has 2 MB of PSRAM, I figured it might be possible—and it turns out, it is.

Once that worked, it hit me: instead of building yet another “Sendspin speaker”, why not make a tiny receiver for my amplifier?

So I:

• Replaced the MAX98357 with a PCM5102A DAC
• Designed a custom case
• Added a display for cover art and a weather clock

…and this is the result 🙂

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Photos

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Cost

All parts were sourced from AliExpress and added up to just over $10 the last time I checked.

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Parts List

• 1 × ESP32-S3 Zero https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009890203011.html

• 1 × PCM5102A DAC https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008130629022.html

• 1 × 1.54" LCD screen https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008703777053.html

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Diagram & Pins Used

If you plan to put it in the box, do not solder pins to the DAC, zero and display, solder cords directly to boards or they won't fit.

I reused the display from breadboard that had pins soldered on so had to bend 2 legs to make space for the jack.

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Pin Mapping

ESP32-S3 → PCM5102A

ESP32-S3 GPIO	PCM5102A Pin
GPIO4	LRCK
GPIO5	BCK
GPIO6	DIN

ESP32-S3 → Display

ESP32-S3 GPIO	Display Pin
GPIO7	SCL
GPIO8	SDA
GPIO9	RST
GPIO10	DC
GPIO11	BL

Power (Both Modules, make two split cables)

• GND
• 3.3V

And remember to solder the pads as on the on the back of the PCM5102A like in this image. and on the front, solder the bridge by SCK (some comes soldered, others unsoldered):

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