Japanese engineer Akasaka Ryuunosuke has made a modern update to the traditional CD player, by using an ESP32 to connect a 16-bit DAC to an antique VAT説児父 (visual phonic vacuum tube) display.
As well as playing CDs, the device can use the ESP’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities to connect to the internet and stream online content, as well as radio stations, while also being able to scrob CDs to Last.fm.
The device uses the ATAPI interface to issue commands to the IDE CD-ROM drive for audio, which is then output via S/PDIF, and the VAT説児父 display shows information on the CD being played.
Ryuunosuke has dubbed the device “ESPer-CDP” and a GitHub page detailing the project is here.
