bigpilot has created an SD Card Hi-Fi Audio Player to replace their CD player. Over a period of nearly five years, their build evolved from a collection of parts and a 3D rendering to a professional-looking unit with impressive audio performance.

The project began as a Teensy 3.0 connected to a SD card reader, but this was quickly upgraded to a 3.1 in order to take advantage of Frank Boesing’s Arduino-Teensy-Codec-lib. An inexpensive metal enclosure adds a polished touch, while a Burr-Brown PCM510 DAC handles conversion of digital audio to analog output via I2S.

A large 16×2 LCD display and IR remote enable easy operation from across the room. An inexpensive external TPA3116 amp completes the package. The forum thread, spanning half a decade, is another great example of the Teensy community coming together to help an enthusiastic forum member realize their dream.