Streaming audio to ESP8266 over WiFi

Question

I am thinking of making a wireless speaker using the ESP8266 chip. I have some questions regarding this.

1. Which pin of the ESP8266 chip can be used as I2S output? I have an ESP chip of this type :
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2. Which ESP chip would be the best choice for this purpose?

3. I know about the MAX98357A which is used to convert digital I2S data to analog. But, for stereo output I need to use 2 of those. Is there any alternative to this chip which supports stereo output by default?

4. I have found many tutorials which shows how to play audio from SD card of ESP8266. But, how can I stream audio over standard WiFi connection?

Answer 1

Which pin of the ESP8266 chip can be used as I2S output?

I uses GPIOs 2, 3, and 15. You only have GPIO2 available, and that's also one half of the UART interface. Also you usually need to generate a "master" clock (usually something like 256x the bit clock) for oversampling. So you can't with that module.

Which ESP chip would be the best choice for this purpose?

ESP32, without a shadow of a doubt.

I know about the MAX98357A which is used to convert digital I2S data to analog. But, for stereo output I need to use 2 of those. Is there any alternative to this chip which supports stereo output by default?

Yes, there are plenty. The search term you want is "CODEC". Personally I use the TLV320DAC3101.

You never use two separate mono CODECs for stereo, since I2S is a (normally) stereo protocol for connecting to a stereo CODEC. Reliably splitting a stereo I2S stream into two mono ones is not easy.

I have found many tutorials which shows how to play audio from SD card of ESP8266. But, how can I stream audio over standard WiFi connection?

By implementing a suitable protocol, and that depends entirely on what your audio is and how it is generated.

• Puspam: For number 3 I am thinking of this technique : electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/295889/…
• Puspam: Can you please elaborate on the last answer? I simply want to stream MP3 audio.
• Majenko: There is no such thing as "simply" streaming MP3. Streaming involves buffering, then decoding (in a timely manner) the audio from compressed MP3 format into a PCM format. Then feeding that through other buffers to the I²S hardware. If you are streaming a live stream (radio, for example) then you have to be able to cleanly handle "xruns" (buffer under- or over-runs) where the sender isn't sending at the same speed as you're playing. So your project really comprises three parts: 1. Getting the data. 2. Decoding the data. 3. Sending the data to I²S. All three of those are difficult tasks.
• Puspam: What did you mean by usually something like 256x the bit clock) for oversampling. So you can't with that module.?
• Majenko: You don't have the required pins available. So you can't with that module. On top of that you have to usually generate a master clock. And there's no pin for that on that module. So you can't with that module. You just can't with that module.