Nabu Casa
Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition
- Works with HA
- Local control
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
Prices verified September 2026
See more hubs & dongles picks on our Amazon storefront →Our verdict
This is Nabu Casa's own voice assistant hardware — and the 'Preview Edition' name is honest: expect occasional rough edges as wake-word accuracy and language support keep evolving. The pitch is real though. Unlike Alexa or Google Home, nothing is stored or profiled; voice runs fully local on capable Home Assistant hardware (Intel N100 or better) or via Home Assistant Cloud, which trades a touch of latency for far better accuracy on lower-powered setups. Best suited to households already committed to Home Assistant who want a genuinely private mic in the room — not a first assistant for casual smart-speaker buyers.
What can Home Assistant control on the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition?
| Control | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Assist | Voice pipeline | Local (or cloud-assisted) voice commands |
| Mute | Switch | Physically cuts power to the microphones |
| Wake word | Selector | Choose the trigger phrase |
| Media player | Media player | Plays responses and announcements through the built-in speaker |
Voice pickup runs through a dedicated XMOS XU316 DSP doing echo cancellation and noise removal before audio ever reaches the ESP32-S3 — so if Assist mishears you, the audio front-end is the first thing to check, not the wake-word model. The hardware mute switch is a real HA entity (not just a firmware toggle), so you can build an automation that silences the device's own TTS announcements or site-wide notifications whenever someone physically mutes it.
Specs
| soc | ESP32-S3 with 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM |
|---|---|
| audio | Dual microphones with XMOS XU316 audio processing; internal speaker for voice feedback plus 3.5mm line out (TI DAC, 48kHz) |
| power | USB-C, 5V/2A minimum (5V/3A recommended); power supply not included |
| firmware | ESPHome, fully open source |
| dimensions | 84 x 84 x 21 mm, 96g |
| connectivity | 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 |
How does the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition compare?
| Product | From | Protocol | Local control | Integration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition (this product) | £55.8 | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Yes | Works with HA |
| Aeotec Z-Stick 7 | £46.43 | Z-Wave | Yes | Native |
| Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi + Ethernet, 128GB) | £249 | Thread, Matter, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Yes | Native |
| Aqara Hub M3 | £109.99 | Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Yes | Native |
Frequently asked questions
- Does the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition work with Home Assistant locally?
- Yes. The Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition is controlled locally in Home Assistant through a certified "Works with Home Assistant" integration, so it keeps working if your internet connection or the Nabu Casa cloud goes down. Control and state updates stay on your own network.
- Which protocol does the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition use, and do I need a hub?
- The Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. To pair it with Home Assistant you need no hub — it joins your Wi-Fi network directly; or a Bluetooth adapter on your Home Assistant host or an ESPHome Bluetooth proxy. Nabu Casa's own hub is not required when you integrate through a certified "Works with Home Assistant" integration.
- How much does the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition cost in the UK?
- The lowest price we have listed for the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition is £55.80 at The Pi Hut. Prices were last checked in September 2026 and change often, so confirm on the retailer's page before buying.