“Even though its a preview product its already proving very useful not just for speach but also as a media player that doesnt have the limitation of other devices”
“After a long debate i finally purchased voice preview. I had already tried various combinations on my phone so was already familiar with the possibilities. It works best with Nabu Casa cloud and the free gemini conversation agents.”
“Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition Review: A Smart Speaker for the Post Big Tech Era
Home Assistant's Voice Preview Edition feels like a quiet rebellion, and that's a compliment. This little puck-sized device is clearly aimed at folks who want voice control without handing their home (and data) over to Amazon or Google.
First impressions are strong. The form factor is just right: compact, weighty enough to feel solid, and unobtrusive on a desk or countertop. Setup is refreshingly painless. Plug it in, add it to Home Assistant, and you're basically off to the races. If you're already living in the Home Assistant ecosystem, it'll feel familiar in the best way.
The physical controls deserve a shout-out. The buttons are well-spaced, tactile, and actually pleasant to use. No poking at mystery zones and hoping something happens. The dedicated privacy (mic mute) button is especially welcome and sends a clear message about who this device is for. Privacy-conscious users or anyone tired of always-listening smart speakers will appreciate it immediately.
Now, let's talk trade-offs. The built-in speaker is fine, but very much entry-level. It works for confirmations, short responses, and basic feedback, but don't expect rich audio or room-filling sound. This isn't something you'll want to use for music or media, and that's probably intentional. It's a voice interface first and a speaker second. You can always connect it to an Aux or Bluetooth speaker for boosted sound.
Some parts of the configuration could also be smoother. Specific setup steps and options assume you already "speak Home Assistant," so newcomers may run into a moment or two of head-scratching. That said, if you're already comfortable with Home Assistant or willing to tinker a bit, you won't hit any real roadblocks, and AI can help you iron out any issues.
Where the Voice Preview Edition really shines is in its flexibility. Thanks to Home Assistant's open architecture, it can be easily integrated with services like OpenAI or other local or cloud-based LLMs. The result is a voice assistant that can actually sound reactive, conversational, and context-aware, rather than the rigid, heavily sandboxed experience you get with Alexa or Google Assistant. You get to decide how intelligent, how chatty, and how opinionated your assistant should be. I, for one, am enjoying my hybrid Norse-Cyberpunk assistant character.
The bottom line: The Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition isn't trying to out-Alexa Alexa. Instead, it offers a compelling alternative for users who value control, transparency, and local-first smart home tech. As an entry point into voice control without Big Tech baggage, it's an excellent place to start experimenting and a promising glimpse at a more private, user-owned future for intelligent assistants.”
“Cool device. Does a lot of things well. Looks good. Only downside is you can't set a custom wake word so stuck with the stock ones. Hence 1 star off. It would be perfect if I could set my own wake word.”
“I wanted to try one of these to see how they were doing, and appreciate that this is a technology preview, treating it as such. My main issue with using it, after rebooting my HA install a few times so that everything bedded in properly, was that it didn't seem well-versed in my slightly northern English. I'd ask it to do tasks that Siri has no problems with, integrating well with HA, but nothing seemed to happen until I went into the rest of the house, where all the lights were blazing in the middle of the day. I kept trying, and failing, and haven't yet figured out how to get it to play music on my PC's 5.1 speakers (I have a 2nd input), but it seems to cope with simple stuff like weather, and could cope with temperatures from sensors in other rooms ok. I'm using it locally on a Pi400 with an SSD, as I don't have a Cloud contract for cost reasons, so I imagine the responses might be a bit better. I'll keep coming back to it from time-to-time, but for now I still have Siri to work with on a daily basis, but I look forward to seeing this progress. It was worth a punt for the fun of it, so I don't regret diving in as an inquisitive non-coder with a liking for tech.”
“I've used Home Assistant for sometime and am now trying to transition away from Google speakers. Home Assistant Voice PE has worked better than I expected, local automations are fast and cloud questions work well, once optimized this picks up your voice well and replies clearly. The button on the top and audio out are also a great feature and I'm sure to buy more of these devices shortly.”
