ReSpeaker Lite Voice Assistant Kit combines XMOS XU-316 and ESP32-S3 for advanced voice processing, Home Assistant integration

Seeed Studio’s ReSpeaker Lite Series includes the ReSpeaker Lite 2-Mic Array and Voice Assistant Kit, featuring the XMOS XU-316 AI sound chip for advanced voice processing and integration with Home Assistant via ESPHome. It’s perfect for smart home control with far-field voice capture and noise cancellation.

The kit combines the ReSpeaker Lite dual-microphone array with the XIAO ESP32S3 module for voice recognition, noise reduction, and processing. It supports WiFi, BLE 5.0, and has a 2.4GHz rod antenna. It also offers I2S and USB connectivity for use with microcontrollers and SBCs, making it ideal for smart voice assistants and home automation.

We’ve previously covered the NXP i.MX RT106F & RT106A/L, where NXP i.MX RT106A  can run voice assistant software with features like acoustic echo cancellation, ambient noise reduction, beamforming, barge-in, and playback processing. We’ve also written about other ReSpeaker boards, such as the ReSpeaker 4-Mic Array board, ReSpeaker Core board, and ReSpeaker Core v2. Feel free to check if you are interested in this product.

ReSpeaker Lite and Voice Assistant Kit

Seeed Studio’s ReSpeaker Lite specification

  • Wireless Module – XIAO ESP32S3
    • MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz, 512KB RAM, 8MB PSRAM
    • Storage – 8MB SPI flash
    • Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5,  Bluetooth mesh
    • Antenna – External 2.4GHz rod antenna
  • Audio
    • Controller – XMOS XU-316 AI sound and audio chip
      • Sampling Rate – 16KHz maximum
      • Automatic Speech Recognition Algorithms – Interference Cancellation, Acoustic Echo Cancellation, Noise Suppression, Voice-to-Noise Ratio (VNR), and Automatic Gain Control (AGC)
    • Microphone – 2x Digital PDM MEMS microphones
      • Sensitivity – -26 dBFS
      • Acoustic Overload Point – 120 dBL
      • SNR – 64 dBA
      • Far-Field Voice Capture – Up to 3m with Advanced noise-cancellation
    • Speaker – Mono Enclosed Speaker
      • Input Power – 5W
      • Impedance – 4ohm±15%
      • Output S.P.L – 88±3dB
      • Distortion – 10% Max
      • Frequency Range – FO—-20kHz
      • Resonant Frequency – Fb: 125Hz ±20% and Fo: 500Hz ±20%
    • Audio Output – Speaker Connector and 3.5mm Headphone Jack
  • USB – USB Type-C Port for power and data transmission.
  • Interfaces – I2S and USB
  • Misc
    • Programmable WS2812 RGB LED provides visual feedback
    • Power LED and Mute LED
    • Buttons for User and Mute
  • Power Supply – 5V via Type-C USB port or external 5V
  • Dimensions – 95 x 92 x 42mm (Full kit)

ReSpeaker Lite board Front

ReSpeaker Lite board back
ReSpeaker Lite board

ReSpeaker Lite Voice Assistant Kit integrates with Home Assistant via ESPHome firmware, supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and is compatible with Arduino, PlatformIO, MicroPython, and CircuitPython. The kit supports custom firmware updates via DFU-Util and offers I2S and USB connections for use with MCUs, SBCs, and PCs like Raspberry Pi. You’ll find a getting-started guide and can explore various testing and applications such as I2S Test, Streams Generator, CSV Converter, MP3 Player, Keyword Spotting, and MQTT Audio Streaming on the wiki. The guides also include instructions for building a Voice Assistant for Home Assistant using custom wake words.

MQTT data
ESPHome Node-RED MQTT audio streaming and Home Assistant integration

The ReSpeaker Voice Assistant Kit with 5W speaker and black acrylic enclosure is now available for $33.91 on the Seeed Studio store, and you’ll find the ReSpeaker Lite board only for $24.90 and the ReSpeaker Voice Assistant Kit for $29.91 on the same page.

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8 Comments
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Hedda
Hedda
3 months ago

Would it be possible to add an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) to it to get analogue audio input port from a source like a turntable (vinyl record player) to create a music streamer?

That would make an less expensive solution to a HiFiBerry ADC and Raspberry Pi based combination needed to run an Icecast and Darkice server for streaming like this https://github.com/quebulm/Raspberry-Pi-Vinyl-Streamer

Hedda
Hedda
3 months ago

WOOT! Stumbled on this new “voice-kit” GitHub repository where ESPHome developers are developing new or improved components for I2S audio (XMOS) support and media playback support for FLAC, etc. for the upcoming voice-kit hardware platform from Nabu Casa: https://github.com/esphome/voice-kit/ They already added features and functions or improvements/enhancements to ESPHome, such as: New: Nabu Media Player – new “nabu” media player from Nabu Casa running natively on ESP32 Music Assistant streams work (both mp3 and flac), but since it requires resampling, the audio quality isn’t great New: Added support for FLAC filesNew: Added a proper WAV decoder (that parses WAV headers with… Read more »

evadim
evadim
3 months ago

Wow, looks great!

ginandbacon
ginandbacon
1 month ago

I have one of the respeaker lite kits. It’s still early but at them moment the firmware from Seeed seems to do nothing, the person heading the above project already said on the HA forums this won’t work because it can’t do full-duplex mode. Nabu/HA and Nvidia already ported all the voice stuff to GPU based. The only issue is it’s only for the Nvidia Jetson lineup so not a cheap entry fee. They have a docker package available now. They had so many issues trying to do it on 2 machines they finally just wrote HA Core fir the… Read more »

Hedda
Hedda
3 months ago

What is the exaxt SKU of the XMOS chip that these ReSpeaker Lite models are using?

https://www.xmos.com/processor-catalogue/

Hedda
Hedda
3 months ago

Looks like they are probably using XU316-1024-QF60A-C24 or XU316-1024-QF60A-C32 maybe? I believe the XU316-1024-QF60A-C24 is also used on XMOS’s “XK-VOICE-L71 Voice Reference Design Evaluation Kit”  https://www.xmos.com/xk-voice-l71

ginandbacon
ginandbacon
1 month ago

I have once if these. Honestly it’s not that impressive at the moment and Seeed tends to release examples and move on to the next thing. There HA example is using Openwakeword for example although I updated it to support microwakeword.and.ooated the yaml.on the HA forums this morning ironically.. This thing is essentially a 2 mic respeaker with added bells and whistles mostly aimed towards developing. Like pins to the XMOS chip on program. Anything added will be done by the community and mine shipped without the LED working, others have had issues. It is super beta at the moment… Read more »

ginandbacon
ginandbacon
1 month ago

This is what’s on the XMOS chip
XMOS
V16A0
CT2351P2
TFTT47.00

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products