Supported Boards
All four supported boards run on ESP32-S3 with 16 MB flash and PSRAM.
| Board | Voice Chat | Matter Controller | Thread BR | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EchoEar Core Board v1.2 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Espressif's reference board for voice agents. Display + mic + speaker + touch built in. |
| ESP-BOX-3 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Espressif's developer kit; LCD, mics, speaker. |
| M5Stack CoreS3 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Third-party board with similar peripherals. |
| M5Stack CoreS3 + Module Gateway H2 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | The H2 radio module adds Thread support — required for Thread-based Matter devices. |
The board ID strings the firmware expects (used in idf.py select-board and Launchpad URLs):
| Board | ID |
|---|---|
| EchoEar Core Board v1.2 | echoear_core_board_v1_2 |
| ESP-BOX-3 | esp_box_3 |
| M5Stack CoreS3 | m5stack_cores3 |
| M5Stack CoreS3 + H2 Gateway | m5stack_cores3_h2_gateway |
What each board needs
- Microphone — for capturing your voice.
- Speaker — for the agent's responses.
- Display — for the pairing QR code and visual status. Boards without a display can still work, but you'll need the QR printed on the packaging.
- Capacitive touch — used for tap-to-wake and tap-to-interrupt.
For Matter Controller use, the M5Stack H2 Gateway variant adds an IEEE 802.15.4 radio (the H2 module) — required for Thread-based Matter devices. Wi-Fi-only Matter devices work on any of the four boards.
Hardware AEC
Acoustic Echo Cancellation lets the device hear you even while it's speaking — the basis for natural barge-in. AEC is opt-in at build time (CONFIG_ENABLE_AEC=y) and only meaningful on boards that have the right audio frontend. The docs note: "Ensure the board supports AEC hardware acceleration" before turning it on.
Other boards
The firmware uses Espressif's Board Manager for hardware abstraction. Adding a new board is feasible if it's ESP32-S3-based with a similar peripheral set — you'd write a board_devs.h and (if the board isn't in the Manager already) board_devices.yaml + board_peripherals.yaml. This is past the scope of these docs; see the firmware repo's examples/common/boards/ for examples and the upstream Board Manager for the spec.
Where to buy
| Board | Vendor |
|---|---|
| EchoEar | Espressif store |
| ESP-BOX-3 | Espressif store |
| M5Stack CoreS3 | m5stack.com |
| M5Stack Module Gateway H2 | m5stack.com |
What's next
- Quick Flash — fastest path to a running device.
- Build from Source — for makers who want to modify the firmware.