Is This The Smallest Internet Radio?
A maker named Milen has designed an exceptionally small internet radio using an ESP32-C3 microcontroller and a custom PCB. The device features a PCM5102A I2S DAC and amplifier, making it compact enough that its connectors appear disproportionately large. While its practicality for listening is uncertain, the project highlights the potential for further miniaturization by utilizing the microcontroller's built-in DAC.
- ▪The internet radio is built around an ESP32-C3 microcontroller on a small development board.
- ▪A custom PCB containing a PCM5102A I2S DAC and an amplifier is clipped to the main board.
- ▪The device is so small that its two connectors are significant in size relative to the rest of the hardware.
- ▪The article suggests that removing external connectors and using the ESP's built-in DAC could make the device even smaller.
- ▪The project was shared on Instructables and is noted for its cassette-shaped appeal.
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| Original publisher | Hackaday |
| Canonical URL | https://hackaday.com/2026/10/02/is-this-the-smallest-internet-radio/ |
| Publication time | Sat, 03 Oct 2026 05:00:39 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-10-03T05:02:40.838Z |
| Last seen | 2026-10-03T05:02:40.838Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | 2cPVI9a-ie8x · 1 stories |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Is This The Smallest Internet Radio? No comments by: Jenny List October 2, 2026 Title: Copy Short Link: Copy Internet radios have been a thing in some form for the last quarter century, and the advent of cheap networked microcontrollers has made them easier than ever to build. But just how small can one be made? [Milen] has made one that’s about as small as we’ve seen, and put it up on Instructables. The hardware recipe is straightforward enough; take a microcontroller, connect it to the internet, and have your internet radio software squirt its output to a DAC. In this case the microcontroller is an ESP32-C£ on a very small dev board, and clipped to that is a custom PCB with a PCM5102A I2S DAC and an amplifier.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Hackaday.
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