I really wish someone would come out with a $25 "box" that sits on top of my bookshelf speaker that allows me to Airplay to it and power said speaker with a ~50w class-D amp. Then if I have multiple ones, it would allow them to pair and setup stereo or surround sound. I might even pay $50 for it. Kinda like a Sonos Amp but not at that price point.
Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
21–30 of 69 posts
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#22I’ll wait for the reviews. I bought the Home Assistant Voice Preview device and it was underwhelming. Bad speaker, bad mic, bad pickup. I really wanted to like it but my Echo blew it out of the water. I’m deep into the HA system so I cannot wait for Echo-quality that I can attach to my HA.
Have you looked into third party firmware for your Echo? I just bought some used Echo Shows that others have figured out how to install LineageOS on.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#23I’ll wait for the reviews. I bought the Home Assistant Voice Preview device and it was underwhelming. Bad speaker, bad mic, bad pickup. I really wanted to like it but my Echo blew it out of the water. I’m deep into the HA system so I cannot wait for Echo-quality that I can attach to my HA.
Have you looked into third party firmware for your Echo? I just bought some used Echo Shows that others have figured out how to install LineageOS on.
I have, but like you mention, it’s only something that can be done on older shows that can be re-flashed. It’s something I’m considering but haven’t pulled the trigger on yet.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#24I really wish someone would come out with a $25 "box" that sits on top of my bookshelf speaker that allows me to Airplay to it and power said speaker with a ~50w class-D amp. Then if I have multiple ones, it would allow them to pair and setup stereo or surround sound. I might even pay $50 for it. Kinda like a Sonos Amp but not at that price point.
Whats the justification for Sonos Amp being 31 times the price you're willing to spend? Niche problem or is the tech inside it worth that?
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#25I’ll wait for the reviews. I bought the Home Assistant Voice Preview device and it was underwhelming. Bad speaker, bad mic, bad pickup. I really wanted to like it but my Echo blew it out of the water. I’m deep into the HA system so I cannot wait for Echo-quality that I can attach to my HA.
same i cant see how the voice preview is even usable
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#26I'm half surprised they are still around as they seem to never restock most of their products, and half pleased they are still around and releasing products.
> as they seem to never restock most of their products There is a product development strategy (I'm not sure if there's a formal name for it) where you're given a lead on a finite-but-large supply of parts you can acquire for absurdly cheap; so you buy the batch; develop and price a product around the part; market your product until you run out of the part; and then, rather than switching over to paying retail for th…
Apple can manage this, but Pine relies on open-source software that moves pretty slowly.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#27Would love for Pine64 to thrive. I don't own any of their products, but I am glad they exist.
Same. Well, I did buy the PinePhone Braveheart edition a few years ago, but never did much with it. I keep an eye on the PinePhone Pro and PineNote in particular, these could be fantastic but it seems the software ecosystem is quite slow to develop.
What I like about Pine64 is that they go for low price points. Most of their products seems to be priced in line with low- or mid-end proprietary alternatives. Yes you can still complain about the hardware you get for what you pay but IMO for this kind of stuff, it's better to have an accessible price point and limited hardware than to charge a premium price for mid-range hardware that is still limited by experimental software support.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#28I really wish someone would come out with a $25 "box" that sits on top of my bookshelf speaker that allows me to Airplay to it and power said speaker with a ~50w class-D amp. Then if I have multiple ones, it would allow them to pair and setup stereo or surround sound. I might even pay $50 for it. Kinda like a Sonos Amp but not at that price point.
I went with iPod Hi-Fi + AirPort Express connected via mini toslink to mini toslink cable.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#29I really wish someone would come out with a $25 "box" that sits on top of my bookshelf speaker that allows me to Airplay to it and power said speaker with a ~50w class-D amp. Then if I have multiple ones, it would allow them to pair and setup stereo or surround sound. I might even pay $50 for it. Kinda like a Sonos Amp but not at that price point.
Squeezelite-ESP32 is a solution that is sort of aligned with this scenario. No airplay and you would need an amp module to get to 50w.
Re: Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers
#30I really wish someone would come out with a $25 "box" that sits on top of my bookshelf speaker that allows me to Airplay to it and power said speaker with a ~50w class-D amp. Then if I have multiple ones, it would allow them to pair and setup stereo or surround sound. I might even pay $50 for it. Kinda like a Sonos Amp but not at that price point.
I'm thinking about getting an Audiocast M5[0]. It seems to do exactly that. The price seems to be around US$ 30.
[0] - https://audiocast.io/