HiFi

12 Articles

ESPer-CDP Plays CDs And Streams In Style

May 31, 2025 by 12 Comments

What do you get when you combine an ESP32, a 16-bit DAC, an antique VFD, and an IDE CD-ROM drive? Not much, unless you put in the work, which [Akasaka Ryuunosuke] did to create ESPer-CDP, a modern addition for your hi-fi rack.

It plays CDs (of course), but also can also scrobb the disks to Last.fm, automatically fetch track names and lyrics for CDs, and of course stream internet radio. It even acts as a Bluetooth speaker, because when you have an ESP32 and a DAC, why not? Of course we cannot help but award extra style points for the use of a VFD, a salvaged Futaba GP1232A02.  There’s just something about VFDs and stereo equipment that makes them go together like milk and cookies.

close up of front of machine showing VFD.
Between the panel and the VFD, this could almost pass as vintage Sony.

In terms of CD access, it looks like the IDE interface is being used to issue ATAPI commands to the CD-ROM drive to get audio out via S/PDIF.  (Do you remember when you had to hook your CD drive to your sound card to play music CDs?) This goes through a now-discontinued WM8805 receiver — a sign this project has been in the works for a while — that translates S/PDIF into an I2S stream the ESP32 can easily work with.

Work with it it does, with the aforementioned scrobbing, along with track ID and time-sinked lyrics via CDDB or  MusicBrainz. The ESP32 should have the computing power to pull data through the IDE bus and decode it, but we have to admit that this hack gets the job done — albeit at the expense of losing the ability to read data CDs, like MP3 or MIDI. [Akasaka Ryuunosuk] has plans to include such functionality into v2, along with the ability to use a more modern SATA CD-ROM drive. We look forward to seeing it, especially if it keeps the VFD and classic styling. It just needs to be paired with a classic amplifier, and maybe a DIY turntable to top off the stack.

Thanks to [Akasaka Ryuunosuke] for the tip. If you also crave our eternal gratitude (which is worth its weight in gold, don’t forget), drop us a tip of your own. We’d love to hear from you.

Vintage Audio Amp Gets LED Lighting Upgrade

December 22, 2024 by 22 Comments

Vintage hi-fi gear can be very attractive, particularly compared to modern stuff. However, when this stuff starts getting into its third or fourth decade after production, things start to wear out. Chief among them—the little incandescent bulbs that light up the dials with such a beautiful glow. [Piffpaffpoltrie] was suffering just this problem on an old Technics amp, and decided to go for a more modern upgrade.

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Building A Subwoofer Box Out Of Decking Material

September 12, 2024 by 8 Comments

When you go to build a subwoofer box, wood is the most common choice. When it came to his project, though, [Startup Chuck] decided to go a different route entirely. Rather than the usual plywood or MDF, he decided to try Trex decking instead. Why? He had some lying around, and he suspected it might just sound good.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, Trex decking is a composite material made of recycled materials like reclaimed wood and plastic film. The best part, though? Trex decking is twice as dense as MDF. That makes it good for speaker box use because it flexes less and thus absorbs less energy from the subwoofer. [Chuck] walks us through cutting out the parts for the box and the subsequent assembly. Ultimately, it’s not dissimilar from building a speaker box out of wood; the material is simply not that different—just denser.

[Chuck] also puts his new sub through some quick little tests, demonstrating that minimal vibration is passed through to the enclosure itself. He reports that the final build has a “nice, deep sound.” Meanwhile, if you don’t like working with your hands, you could always 3D-print your speaker enclosures instead.

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How To Spend A Million Dollars On The Ultimate Stereo

January 18, 2024 by 74 Comments

We’ve all seen the excesses that the Golden Ears set revel in; the five-figure power conditioning boxes, the gold-plated HDMI cables. As covered by the Washington Post, however, [Ken Fritz] may have gone farther than most. Before he passed away, he estimated that he spent a million dollars on the greatest possible hi-fi setup he could imagine.

There’s plenty of hardcore gear in the rig. Massive cabinets loaded with carefully-tuned speaker drivers. A $50,000 record player built into a 1,500-pound weighted base for the utmost in stability and vibration resistance. Expensive cartridges, top-tier reel-to-reel decks, and amplifiers worth more than most used cars.

As the piece explores, [Fritz] knew that none of that was enough. Sound is all about the space as much as it is the equipment. Thus, the family home itself was transformed to become the ultimate listening environment in turn. The listening room got everything from concrete floors and its own HVAC and electrical systems. Much of the equipment was custom built to avoid wasting money on overpriced name-brand gear. The story of the kit was also the subject of a documentary shared online, by the name of One Man’s Dream.

The piece examines what goes into a top-tier setup like this, while also exploring the human cost that [Fritz’s] passion had on him and his family. The ending is sad and brutal in a way you wouldn’t think a story about hi-fi gear ever could be.  It’s an education in more ways then one, and teaches us that it’s worth keeping an eye on the rest of our lives while pursuing what we enjoy the most. Video after the break.

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It’s Difficult To Read An Audiophile Guide As An Analogue Engineer

March 28, 2023 by 138 Comments

Sitting on a train leaving the Hackaday Berlin conference, and Hacker News pops up Julian Shapiro with a guide to HiFi. What Hackaday scribe wouldn’t give it a click, to while away the endless kilometres of North European Plain!

It’s very easy as an analogue electronic engineer, to become frustrated while reading audiophile tracts, after all they have a tendency to blur superficial engineering talk with pseudoscience. There’s a rich vein of parody to be found in them, but nevertheless it’s interesting to read them because just sometimes the writer gets it and doesn’t descend into the world of make-believe. Continue reading “It’s Difficult To Read An Audiophile Guide As An Analogue Engineer” →

Is 3D Printing Up To A Turntable?

July 23, 2022 by 20 Comments

Thanks to a feature by Prusament because it uses their filament, we’ve been interested to read about the SongBird turntable from the British outfit Frame Theory (Note: at time of writing, they have an expired certificate). It’s a commercial product with an interesting twist for the Hi-Fi business: buy the completed turntable or buy a kit of parts and print the rest yourself.

We’re always interested to see new things here at Hackaday but we’re not in the business of promoting commercial products without a tech angle. This turntable has us interested then not because it happens to be 3D printed but because it’s instantly raised our curiosity over how suitable 3D printing is as a medium for a high quality audio component. Without descending into audiophile silliness we cannot overstate the effect that rigidity and mass of turntable components has on its audio quality. Take a look at this one we featured in the past for an extreme example.

So looking more closely at the design, we find that the chassis is aluminium, which makes sense given its visibly thin construction. Close examination of the photos on their site also reveals the tonearm to be made of carbon fibre tube, so it’s clear that they’ve put some effort into making a better turntable rather than a novelty one. This does raise the question though: manufacturing practicalities aside could you 3D print the whole thing? We think that a 3D printed chassis could replace the aluminium one at the cost of much more bulk and loss of the svelte looks, but what about the tonearm? Would one of the carbon-fibre-infused filaments deliver enough stiffness? It would be particularly interesting we think, were someone to try.

Carver M-400 Amplifier Repair Keeps The 1980’s Alive

July 10, 2022 by 21 Comments

Carver is a famous name in audio equipment although they have been known to use odd names for things. For example, the 1980’s vintage M-400 magnetic field power amplifier that [JohnAudioTech] is repairing (see the two videos below). That sounds like something off a bad Star Trek remake, but, apparently, we weren’t alone in thinking that, judging by this 1982 review of the unit from a UK magazine.

Still, it is an interesting high-power amplifier and we love seeing gear of this age torn apart. The beast is rated at 201 watts — you have to wonder if the extra watt is another marketing ploy.

There were actually two units and they looked pretty good for four-decade-old boxes. One sounded pretty good outside of some noticeable buzzing. The other had something shorted inside. If you enjoy watching repair videos, you’ll appreciate this two-parter.

We have to admit — and it may be a personal bias — there is something more pleasing about seeing a PCB populated with a bunch of interesting-looking through-hole components. Modern boards with a sea of surface mount parts tend to look a little bland, aesthetically speaking. Of course, when it comes time to make our own boards, we are happy to use SMD and forego all that hole drilling!

We like watching computer repair videos, in particular. Or sometimes, something really exotic.

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