Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers

# Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers - OMG! Ubuntu Source: [https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/06/pine64-pinevoice-riscv-smart-speaker-launch](https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/06/pine64-pinevoice-riscv-smart-speaker-launch) **Open\-hardware manufacturer Pine64 has launched a $50 smart speaker that runs open\-source software on a RISC\-V chip\.** *[PineVoice](https://pine64.org/documentation/PineVoice/)*\(previously known as PineVox\) is built around a Bouffalo Lab BL606P RISC\-V SoC with integrated Wi\-Fi, Bluetooth 5\.0 and Zigbee radio interfaces\. It’s equipped with dual microphone array and speaker with support for ‘local wake word detection’, and top\-mounted buttons allow you to mute \(with LED indicator\), start/stop and adjust volume\. The factory\-shipped firmware[is built on](https://pine64.org/documentation/PineVoice/Software/)Alibaba’s open\-source YoC platform and runs the Wyoming Satellite protocol, which turns the device into a local microphone and speaker for a self\-hosted, Linux\-based[Home Assistant](https://www.home-assistant.io/)setups\. While Pine64 say this uses the Wyoming protocol it is,[per the project](https://github.com/rhasspy/wyoming-satellite), deprecated\. The developer recommends using[Linux Voice Assistant](https://github.com/OHF-Voice/linux-voice-assistant)which uses the[ESPHome](https://esphome.io/)protocol\. With just 32 MiB of embedded pSRAM memory and 16 MiB of flash, and 128 KiB ROM storage, the specs may sound meagre – although in the current AI climate, generous – but this is an embedded device not a full\-blown PC hiding in an aroma diffuser[1](https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/06/pine64-pinevoice-riscv-smart-speaker-launch#f02a6d4f-6bce-4812-8309-8adf75d22b58)\. ### PineVoice isn’t an all\-singing smart speaker [](https://i0.wp.com/www.omgubuntu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pinevoice-pine64-speaker.webp?ssl=1)PineVoice isn’t a rival to*Echoes*,*Nests*or*HomePods* *PineVoice*is in an early\-stage development and early adopters will encounter quirks and performance issues\. Future firmware updates should resolve issues in time, but like all of Pine64’s products, you’re not buying a consumer\-grade product\. Slick industrial design isn’t Pine64’s calling card, nor is full\-featured software\. The company focuses on price: the aim is to provide cheap, open\-friendly hardware that, in the hands of developers and tinkerers, can blossom into viable, if still niche, products\. *PinePhone*,*PineNote*,*PineBook*and*PineBook Pro*,*PineTab*,*PineTime*and even its*Pinecil*soldering iron all follow the same model\. At $50, the price tag is comparable in cost to the Amazon Echo Dot \(5th Gen\) and the discontinued Google Nest Mini\. Unlike those proprietary consumer devices, which rely on cloud ecosystems, PineVoice is built for local, open\-source networks\.[https://www.cnx-software.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/PineVoice-RISC-V-Smart-Speaker.jpg](https://www.cnx-software.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/PineVoice-RISC-V-Smart-Speaker.jpg) Interested? You can buy the PineVoice for[$49\.99 on the Pine64 store](https://pine64.com/product/pinevoice-smart-speaker/)\. It comes with a USB cable, quick start guide and a 30 day warranty –*plus*weekends’ worth of fun you’ll have trying to get it to do something\. 1. Maybe it’s me, but the design has a whiff of*Ambi Pur*about it\. Wouldn’t look out of place on a shelf in someone’s bathroom\. For a smart speaker, innocuous design does make sense\.[↩︎](https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/06/pine64-pinevoice-riscv-smart-speaker-launch#f02a6d4f-6bce-4812-8309-8adf75d22b58-link)