Hey everyone,
I’d like to share a new open hardware project I’ve been developing — the Esparagus Audio Brick. It’s a compact, ESP32-based stereo amplifier and DAC built specifically with Home Assistant integration in mind.
The Audio Brick combines an ESP32 with PSRAM, TAS5825M Class-D DAC/amp, and W5500 Ethernet interface. It’s designed for DIN-rail mounting, so you can easily install multiple units for multi-room or zone-based setups. Each device provides two high-quality channels (up to 25W each) and can be paired with others for whole-home synchronized playback.
What makes it interesting for Home Assistant users:
- Native ESPHome integration — appears as a Media Player entity, with full control from the HA dashboard.
- Music Assistant support — works as a seamless network audio endpoint, discoverable and controllable within HA.
- Experimental Snapcast support — for near-perfect multi-room audio sync.
- LMS / Squeezelite-ESP32 support — for Spotify Connect, AirPlay, and local media playback.
- Custom DSP (via TAS5825M) — 15-band EQ, gain tuning, and automatic fault protection, fully software-configurable.
It’s open-source, both hardware and firmware, and meant to be installed and forgotten — just part of your home automation ecosystem, getting OTA updates like any other HA-connected device.
I’ve been testing it with several Home Assistant setups, including Music Assistant and Snapcast-based multi-room configurations, and it’s been performing well. Firmware work is based on the existing Esparagus TAS5805M driver, so updates and feature parity are already underway.
You can find more details here:
- Crowd Supply pre-launch page: Esparagus Audio Brick | Crowd Supply
- GitHub repo: GitHub - sonocotta/esparagus-media-center: ESP32 based streaming upgrade for your audio gear
I’d love to hear feedback or ideas for deeper Home Assistant integration (automations, UI controls, etc.), or to connect with anyone running similar setups.
– Andriy