Yesterday, while playing, it started stuttering with big breaks in the audio. Some fault finding led me to look at the ESPHome logs, which contained entries like this:
INFO ESPHome 2026.4.3 INFO Reading configuration /config/esphome/sendspin-lounge.yaml... INFO Starting log output from 192.168.x.x using esphome API INFO Successfully resolved sendspin-lounge @ 192.168.x.x in 0.000s INFO Successfully connected to sendspin-lounge @ 192.168.0.42 in 0.651s INFO Successful handshake with sendspin-lounge @ 192.168.0.42 in 0.668s [08:32:05.264][W][sendspin.time_burst:044]: Time message 1/8 timed out [08:32:06.299][W][sendspin.time_burst:044]: Time message 2/8 timed out [08:32:07.259][W][sendspin.time_burst:044]: Time message 3/8 timed out [08:32:08.342][W][sendspin.time_burst:044]: Time message 4/8 timed out [08:32:09.328][W][sendspin.time_burst:044]: Time message 5/8 timed out [08:32:10.353][W][sendspin.time_burst:044]: Time message 6/8 timed out [08:32:10.811][W][sendspin.protocol:086][httpd]: Mismatched time message history, discarding measurement [08:32:10.811] [W][sendspin.protocol:086][httpd]: Mismatched time message history, discarding measurement [08:32:11.512] [W][sendspin.time_burst:044]: Time message 7/8 timed out [08:32:12.349] [W][sendspin.time_burst:044]: Time message 8/8 timed out [08:32:12.389] [W][sendspin.protocol:086][httpd]: Mismatched time message history, discarding measurement [08:32:12.389] [W][sendspin.protocol:086][httpd]: Mismatched time message history, discarding measurement [08:32:14.549] [W][sendspin.protocol:086][httpd]: Mismatched time message history, discarding measurement [08:32:15.223] [W][sendspin.protocol:086][httpd]: Mismatched time message history, discarding measurement [08:32:16.712] [W][sendspin.protocol:086][httpd]: Mismatched time message history, discarding measurement
That was with Music Assistant 2.8.6 and I have since downgraded to 2.8.5 (which worked well) but the problem persisted so I upgraded to 2.8.6 again.
I have also rebuilt the ESPHome device, including clean build but, again, that didn’t help.
This is on HAOS running on a desktop PC:
Core 2026.4.4
Supervisor 2026.04.0
Operating System 17.2
Frontend 20260325.8
Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this, diagnostic actions and, ideally, corrective actions please?
Thanks, @Arh - I understand that it is beta but what threw me was that it developed the problem suddenly, while playing, after working unchanged for a few weeks.
This (Sendspin) is a really exciting development and the work of @RealDeco is brilliant so please don’t interpret any of this as criticism.
The actual yaml follows - I have added a few sections but all these were after the problems started and made no difference. I also changed the LED brightness but, again, after the problem started.
I’m now on ESPHome 2026.4.3 - when this started I was on 2026.4.1 and went direct to 2026.4.3 in an attempt to address the issue.
I’m using the Toslink version.
# See https://github.com/RealDeco/SendspinZero/tree/main
## SendspinZero for Analog + Digital Coax and Toslink versions WITHOUT display. Edit the settings below.
substitutions:
name: sendspin-lounge
friendly_name: "Sendspin: Lounge"
## SETTINGS ######################################################################################################################################
# Startup sound, options are: Home_Connected or Home_Connected_Male
startup_sound_file: Home_Connected
# your home assistant weather entity, in most cases the same.
ha_weather_entity: weather.forecast_home
packages: # uncomment the one you use (analog for normal jack, digital for coax or toslink spdif)
# hw: #ANALOG
# url: https://github.com/RealDeco/SendspinZero.git
# ref: main
# refresh: 0s
# files:
# - analog_speaker_config.yaml
hw: #DIGITAL
url: https://github.com/RealDeco/SendspinZero.git
ref: main
refresh: 0s
files:
- digital_speaker_config.yaml
##################################################################################################################################################
esphome:
name: ${name}
friendly_name: ${friendly_name}
min_version: 2026.1.0
name_add_mac_suffix: false
on_boot:
priority: -100
then:
- script.execute: led_red
esp32:
variant: esp32s3
framework:
type: esp-idf
logger:
level: warn
api:
on_client_connected:
- lambda: |-
if (!id(boot_sound_played)) {
id(boot_sound_played) = true;
if (id(startup_sound_switch).state) {
id(play_sound)->execute(true, std::string("ready_sound"));
}
}
ota:
- platform: esphome
wifi:
ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
password: !secret wifi_password
ap:
password: !secret wifi_password
psram:
mode: quad
speed: 80MHz
captive_portal:
external_components:
- source:
# https://github.com/esphome/esphome/pull/14933
type: git
url: https://github.com/kahrendt/esphome
ref: 890e33f99af2c2ea15dc74c3ec4cf32d25203526
components: [const, media_source, sendspin, generic_image]
- source:
# https://github.com/esphome/esphome/pull/12429
type: git
url: https://github.com/esphome/esphome
ref: ff8ce89556748509d7ee8724e12d9d43d3c8c1e8
refresh: 0s
components: [http_request]
# I tried adding this - it made no difference.
#network:
# enable_high_performance: false
# I added the next two after the problems started
text_sensor:
- platform: wifi_info
ip_address:
name: "${friendly_name} IP Address"
icon: mdi:ip-network
sensor:
- platform: wifi_signal
name: "${friendly_name} WiFi Signal"
update_interval: 60s
sendspin:
id: sendspin_hub
task_stack_in_psram: false
http_request:
buffer_size_rx: 2048 # Reduces CPU load when streaming audio
audio_file:
- id: ready_sound
file: https://github.com/RealDeco/xiaozhi-esphome/raw/main/sounds/${startup_sound_file}.flac
media_source:
- platform: audio_file
id: audio_file_announcement_source
- platform: http_request
id: http_announcement_source
buffer_size: 250000
- platform: http_request
id: http_media_source
buffer_size: 500000
- platform: sendspin
id: sendspin_media_source
media_player:
- platform: sendspin
id: sendspin_group_media_player
name: Sendspin Group Media Player
- platform: speaker_source
id: external_media_player
name: Media Player
announcement_pipeline:
format: FLAC
num_channels: 1
sample_rate: ${media_sample_rate}
speaker: announcement_resampling_speaker
sources:
- audio_file_announcement_source
- http_announcement_source
media_pipeline:
format: FLAC
num_channels: 2
sample_rate: ${media_sample_rate}
speaker: media_resampling_speaker
sources:
- http_media_source
- sendspin_media_source
volume_increment: 0.05
volume_min: 0.4
volume_max: 0.9
on_state:
then:
- lambda: |-
using media_player::MediaPlayerState;
auto state = id(external_media_player).state;
if (
state == MediaPlayerState::MEDIA_PLAYER_STATE_PLAYING ||
state == MediaPlayerState::MEDIA_PLAYER_STATE_ANNOUNCING
) {
id(led_green).execute();
} else {
id(led_red).execute();
}
script:
- id: play_sound
parameters:
priority: bool
sound_file: string
then:
- if:
condition:
lambda: return priority;
then:
- media_player.stop:
id: external_media_player
announcement: true
- lambda: |-
if ((id(external_media_player).state != media_player::MediaPlayerState::MEDIA_PLAYER_STATE_ANNOUNCING) || priority) {
id(external_media_player)
->make_call()
.set_media_url("audio-file://" + sound_file)
.set_announcement(true)
.perform();
}
- id: led_red
then:
- light.turn_on:
id: led
red: 100%
green: 0%
blue: 0%
brightness: 40%
- id: led_green
then:
- light.turn_on:
id: led
red: 0%
green: 100%
blue: 0%
brightness: 40%
switch:
- platform: template
id: startup_sound_switch
name: Startup sound
icon: "mdi:card-text-outline"
entity_category: config
optimistic: true
restore_mode: RESTORE_DEFAULT_ON
# Added this to restart the ESPHome device remotely
- platform: restart
name: "${friendly_name} Restart"
globals:
- id: boot_sound_played
type: bool
restore_value: no
initial_value: "false"
- id: boot_announce_active
type: bool
restore_value: no
initial_value: "false"
light:
- platform: esp32_rmt_led_strip
id: led
name: LED light
disabled_by_default: false
entity_category: config
pin: GPIO21
default_transition_length: 0s
chipset: WS2812
num_leds: 1
rgb_order: grb
effects:
- pulse:
name: "Slow Pulse"
transition_length: 250ms
update_interval: 250ms
min_brightness: 50%
max_brightness: 100%
- pulse:
name: "Fast Pulse"
transition_length: 100ms
update_interval: 100ms
min_brightness: 50%
max_brightness: 100%
I couldn’t find anything wrong with my network and the WAP is now within 1 metre and the ESP32 reports a decent signal strength (-45dbm) but I was still getting random issues and the logs were showing random failures.
I became convinced that the cheap ESP32-S3 Zero board I used was faulty but decided to try something I use on ESP32-C3 Zero boards. I reduced the network power using the output_power argument:
Good thinking, the C3 uses the same antenna as the zero, as far as I know and it seems to fix the c3’s
I use that power setting on one of my home made voice boxes using an s3 n16r8 as its the only way to get it to connect, no idea why the others built the same are fine.
I know it’s still in the beta phase, but is it already possible to use sendspin on an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 (N8R2) with ESPHome version 2026.5.0-dev20260503? My ultimate goal is to connect active speakers via S/PDIF to the ESP and play my music library (MP3 and FLAC files) through Music Assistant.
Here ist my yaml which doesnt work, but maybe someone can give me a hint:
Thanks for the feedback. I switched to the esp-idf framework and the errors have disappeared - great tip. I also corrected the psram mode to quad.
So far, the configuration is starting without any errors in the log. I didn’t need the external components after all it seems the Sendspin source code has already been merged into the dev branch. I am using Esphome builder (dev) plugin.
I can see the player in Music Assistant now.
Next, I’ll check if there is a spdif signal on GPIO2, and then I connect my active speakers using the appropriate terminating resistor.
Thanks a lot for the support!
Jarny
