Low-cost Audio DAC with I2C/SPI volume control - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: davorin
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 17, 2025, 11:17:20 am
content: Good morning (o;Currently experimenting with different ESP32 boards containing an audio DAC, like the ES8388.But in the end project I don't want to rely an a DAC like the ES8388 as it is not available from my preferred distributors.Does someone know of an affordable audio DAC which has additional I2C or SPI input for controlling output volume?So far I found those: PCM1774 and TLV320DAC3100, but this one only for 1.8V power supply.....

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2025, 12:57:33 pm
content: The TLV320DAC3100 needs a 1.8V supply for its digital core but can use 3.3V for the IOs. So all you need is to add a cheap LDO to get the 1.8V and that's it. No need for level shifters. If it's available at a good price from where you want, I would just go for it.

author: davorin
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 17, 2025, 01:24:30 pm
content: You're right..those LDO are nowadays too tiny for an 58 year old guy (o;I'll keep an eye out on the TLV320DAC3100....Now I ordered some AK4432 from Mouser...also very cheap, and has internal LDO for digital circuits....and if a device is available at Mouser and/or Digikey then it is pretty save to use them for a while ;-)

author: Buriedcode
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2025, 05:13:51 am
content: Quote from: davorin on February 17, 2025, 01:24:30 pmI'm sure you can get variable LDOs in SOIC packages - but even SOT23 isn't bad once it's aligned.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2025, 05:48:05 am
content: Quote from: davorin on February 17, 2025, 01:24:30 pmThose are pretty different beasts anyway, for different use cases. The AK4432 is a pretty "high-end" DAC from AKM, something that you could easily use in pro audio gear, even if it's still relatively "cheap". OTOH, the TLV320DAC3100 has integrated speaker & headphones amplifiers and a much lower SNR. Something that you would use more for a portable device.

author: davorin
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 08:03:15 am
content: Got a test setup running with the AK4432 and an ESP32 module.Works perfectly with the Arduino AudioI2S library so far....let's see if I get spikes in output as with the ES8388 before on the ESP32-ADF board.Just discovered that they also have a low-cost 24-Bit audio ADC called AK5720, perfect for feeding I2S to a FPGA board for analysis as external components required is also low as with the AK4432 (o;

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 09:18:35 am
content: Well, interestingly the AK5720 is more expensive than the AK4432. I haven't compared the specs in details to find an explanation to that.

author: davorin
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 09:21:01 am
content: Well the AK5720 is a stereo ADC...nothing to do with this project....just ordered a few for another project (o;

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 09:42:05 am
content: Quote from: davorin on February 23, 2025, 09:21:01 amLol damn, missed thatSince you were looking for a DAC I didn't even realize it.