Who would have thought that cheap microcontrollers would become such a booming business? The ESP32 is the culmination of years of enthusiasts making awesome stuff with single-board computers and microcontrollers like those from the Arduino family, and now you can buy a fistful of powerful ESP32s for very little money.

There are plenty of beginner-friendly ESP32 projects to get you into the game, but for me one of the most interesting uses for these little devices is in tandem with old and obsolete technology. Thanks to some nifty projects shared with the community as a whole, you can use an ESP32 to resurrect some of your old gadgets.

To be clear, you can buy Bluetooth receivers off the shelf that let you turn old audio gear into something that can receive Bluetooth audio. However, a $5 ESP32 and the bits and pieces you need for this project should still be cheaper than any of these worth buying.

The image above is from a demo video by Grégory Paul based on his ESP32 Bluetooth Audio Receiver project. Mr. Paul has been iterating on this project for a few years, and has used an Adafruit breakout to add an external antenna for additional range and reliability too.

It's a neat project, because you get something you might actually use at the end of it all, and you'll have learned a few things along the way. Much better than buying a $50 Bluetooth receiver, don't you think?

I still have original PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 controllers that don't have drift or buttons that don't work, despite me thrashing them pretty hard.

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