Review on 🎵 HiLetgo VS1053 MP3 Audio Player Module: Onboard Recording, OGG Output, Line-in - Top SPI Interface Decoder Board with Built-in Microphone by Gary Stringfield

The VS1053B chip is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Unfortunately, this board has a small flaw. I'm not sure if it was just my fee or the entire fee, but I'll share my solution so others don't waste their time the way I did. If you have a situation where SCI commands work but SDI doesn't (i.e. MP3 doesn't decode and SDI tests don't work) then the problem is probably pin #34 floating on my board. According to the datasheet, this pin should be tied low through a 100 kΩ resistor. When this pin is high (or floating I think) the chip is actually loaded into MIDI mode and not decoding the audio file. To check if your symptoms are due to the same cause, follow what I did in the attached photo. Short pins 34 and 33 with a multimeter or similar. Note: It is important that you perform a full device reset (or power reset) after closing the contacts to ensure the chip is loaded into MP3 decoding mode. Once the MP3 file is playing, you can release the pins, the MP3 file will just keep playing. Hope that helps!