Waveshare ESP32-S3 Audio Board

Product Description

The Waveshare ESP32-S3 Audio Board is a compact development board built around the ESP32-S3R8 module, designed for audio applications such as voice assistants, media players, and intercom systems. It integrates a quad-channel audio ADC (ES7210), a mono audio DAC/codec (ES8311), a Class-D speaker amplifier (NS4150B), a 7-LED WS2812B RGB ring, an RTC, and a TCA9555 I/O expander. Optional accessories include SPI/QSPI displays (1.47" to 3.5"), a DVP camera module, and an SD card.

Hardware Specs

Spec	Detail
MCU	ESP32-S3R8 (dual-core Xtensa LX7, 240 MHz)
Flash	16 MB (QIO, 80 MHz)
PSRAM	8 MB (Octal, 80 MHz)
Wi-Fi	2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth	5 (LE)
Audio ADC	ES7210 (4-channel, I2C 0x40)
Audio DAC	ES8311 (mono codec, I2C 0x18)
Speaker Amp	NS4150B (mono Class-D)
I/O Expander	TCA9555PWR (16-bit, I2C 0x20)
RTC	PCF85063 (I2C 0x51)
LEDs	7x WS2812B RGB ring (GPIO38)
Buttons	BOOT (GPIO0) + 3 keys via TCA9555
Power	USB-C 5V, 3.7V lithium battery (MX1.25), DC-DC buck 3.3V/2A

GPIO Pinout

I2C Bus

Function	GPIO
SCL	GPIO10
SDA	GPIO11

I2S Audio Bus

Function	GPIO
MCLK	GPIO12
BCLK	GPIO13
LRCLK	GPIO14
DIN (mic data in)	GPIO15
DOUT (speaker data out)	GPIO16

LED and Misc

Function	GPIO
WS2812B LED Ring	GPIO38
BOOT Button	GPIO0
Battery ADC	GPIO8
USB D-	GPIO19
USB D+	GPIO20

LCD (18-pin FPC)

Function	GPIO
CS	GPIO3
SCLK	GPIO4
Backlight	GPIO5
SDA0 / MOSI	GPIO9
SDA1 / MISO	GPIO8
SDA2 / DC	GPIO7
SDA3	GPIO6

SD Card (SDMMC 1-bit)

Function	GPIO
CLK	GPIO40
CMD	GPIO42
D0	GPIO41

TCA9555 I/O Expander Pin Assignments

Pin	EXIO	Function
0	EXIO00	LCD Reset
1	EXIO01	Touch Panel Reset
2	EXIO02	Touch Panel Interrupt
3	EXIO03	SD Card CS
4	EXIO04	Reserved
5	EXIO05	Camera Power Down (active low)
6	EXIO06	Camera Select (HIGH=Tx/Rx, LOW=USB)
7	EXIO07	Camera/USB GPIO mux control
8	EXIO08	Speaker amplifier enable (PA_CTRL)
9	EXIO09	Key1 button (active low)
10	EXIO10	Key2 button (active low)
11	EXIO11	Key3 button (active low)
12-15	EXIO12-15	Expansion header

I2C Devices

Device	Address	Function
ES8311	0x18	Audio DAC (speaker output)
ES7210	0x40	Audio ADC (microphone input)
TCA9555	0x20	16-bit I/O expander
PCF85063	0x51	Real-time clock

Basic ESPHome Configuration

This minimal configuration sets up the audio hardware (microphone, speaker, DAC/ADC), the LED ring, buttons, and a voice assistant with on-device wake word detection. Note that use_wake_word is set to false because micro_wake_word handles wake word detection directly. Wake word restart happens in on_tts_stream_end (after the speaker finishes playing TTS audio) rather than on_end, which avoids an I2S bus conflict where restarting the microphone in on_end would preempt the speaker. For a full-featured configuration with LED animations for each voice assistant state, see the project repository.

esphome:
  name: waveshare-audio
  friendly_name: Waveshare Audio

esp32:
  board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1
  variant: esp32s3
  flash_size: 16MB
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

psram:
  mode: octal
  speed: 80MHz

logger:
  level: DEBUG

api:
  encryption:
    key: !secret api_encryption_key

ota:
  - platform: esphome
    password: !secret ota_password

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password
  ap:
    ssid: "Waveshare Audio Fallback"
    password: !secret fallback_ap_password

captive_portal:

# --- I2C bus (shared by ES8311, ES7210, TCA9555, PCF85063) ---
i2c:
  scl: GPIO10
  sda: GPIO11

# --- RTC ---
time:
  - platform: pcf85063
    id: pcf85063_time

# --- I2S audio bus ---
i2s_audio:
  - id: i2s_audio_bus
    i2s_mclk_pin: GPIO12
    i2s_bclk_pin: GPIO13
    i2s_lrclk_pin: GPIO14

# --- Audio ADC (ES7210 quad-channel mic input) ---
audio_adc:
  - platform: es7210
    id: es7210_adc

# --- Microphone ---
microphone:
  - platform: i2s_audio
    id: mic
    i2s_audio_id: i2s_audio_bus
    i2s_din_pin: GPIO15
    adc_type: external

# --- Audio DAC (ES8311 speaker output) ---
audio_dac:
  - platform: es8311
    id: es8311_dac

# --- Speaker ---
speaker:
  - platform: i2s_audio
    id: spkr
    i2s_audio_id: i2s_audio_bus
    i2s_dout_pin: GPIO16
    dac_type: external
    audio_dac: es8311_dac

# --- TCA9555 I/O expander ---
tca9555:
  - id: exio
    address: 0x20

# --- Speaker amplifier enable (TCA9555 pin 8) ---
switch:
  - platform: gpio
    id: pa_enable
    name: "Speaker Amplifier"
    pin:
      tca9555: exio
      number: 8
      mode: OUTPUT
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_ON

# --- Media player ---
media_player:
  - platform: speaker
    id: audio_player
    name: "Audio Player"
    announcement_pipeline:
      speaker: spkr
    on_announcement:
      - micro_wake_word.stop:
      - delay: 500ms
      - wait_until:
          not:
            media_player.is_announcing:
      - delay: 500ms
      - lambda: id(va).set_use_wake_word(false);
      - micro_wake_word.start:

# --- Buttons via TCA9555 ---
binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    name: "Key1"
    pin:
      tca9555: exio
      number: 9
      mode: INPUT
      inverted: true

  - platform: gpio
    name: "Key2"
    pin:
      tca9555: exio
      number: 10
      mode: INPUT
      inverted: true

  - platform: gpio
    name: "Key3"
    pin:
      tca9555: exio
      number: 11
      mode: INPUT
      inverted: true

# --- WS2812B LED ring ---
light:
  - platform: esp32_rmt_led_strip
    id: rgb_ring
    name: "RGB Ring"
    pin: GPIO38
    num_leds: 7
    chipset: ws2812
    rgb_order: RGB

# --- Fallback script: restarts wake word after silent commands ---
# When a voice command produces no TTS response, on_tts_stream_end never
# fires, so the wake word engine stays stopped. This script is called from
# on_end as a safety net: it waits 5 s (giving on_tts_stream_end time to
# act first), then restarts wake word only if it is not already running.
script:
  - id: restart_mww_fallback
    mode: restart
    then:
      - delay: 5s
      - if:
          condition:
            not:
              micro_wake_word.is_running:
          then:
            - wait_until:
                not:
                  speaker.is_playing:
            - delay: 500ms
            - lambda: id(va).set_use_wake_word(false);
            - micro_wake_word.start:

# --- Wake word + voice assistant ---
micro_wake_word:
  id: mww
  microphone: mic
  vad:
    model: github://esphome/micro-wake-word-models/models/v2/vad.json
  models:
    - okay_nabu
  on_wake_word_detected:
    - voice_assistant.start:
        wake_word: !lambda return wake_word;

voice_assistant:
  id: va
  microphone: mic
  speaker: spkr
  micro_wake_word: mww
  use_wake_word: false
  noise_suppression_level: 2
  volume_multiplier: 2.0

  on_client_connected:
    - delay: 2s
    - lambda: id(va).set_use_wake_word(false);
    - micro_wake_word.start:

  on_tts_stream_end:
    - wait_until:
        not:
          speaker.is_playing:
    - delay: 500ms
    - lambda: id(va).set_use_wake_word(false);
    - micro_wake_word.start:

  on_end:
    - light.turn_off: rgb_ring
    - script.execute: restart_mww_fallback

  on_error:
    - wait_until:
        not:
          speaker.is_playing:
    - lambda: id(va).set_use_wake_word(false);
    - micro_wake_word.start:

Links

• Waveshare Product Page
• Waveshare Wiki
• ESPHome Configuration Project