Nabu Casa launches $69 Home Assistant Connect Aux-2 to link dumb devices to smart homes

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Summary

Nabu Casa, the commercial side of the Open Home Foundation behind Home Assistant, launched the Connect Aux-2, a $69 box about the size of a deck of cards.
The box adds devices such as music gear to a smart home and acts as a universal controller for Bluetooth devices and dumb appliances.
It has 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet with power over Ethernet, USB ports, an audio jack, a Grove port, and RS-232 serial ports.
It is based on ESPHome and uses existing Home Assistant and ESPHome integrations; Music Assistant and SendSpin power its audio-out feature.
A reviewer found it surprisingly easy to set up, using it to restore garage-fridge temperature monitoring and to stream music to unused in-wall speakers.
Cheaper DIY alternatives exist, such as the $35 Apollo Automations Cast-1, which supports the same music-casting and Bluetooth proxy features.

Reviewer Nathan Edwards found the Connect Aux-2 unsurprisingly useful and surprisingly easy to set up.
Edwards said Home Assistant's effort to become more user-friendly is working.
Edwards called serial control of devices like TVs, AV receivers, and solar inverters the box's most intriguing feature.
Edwards noted cheaper DIY options, judging that the box duplicating them is not a knock because that is the whole point.
David Pierce called the Connect Aux-2 a very simple box that is much easier than building one yourself.
Edwards forecast that having tried ESPHome, he might now build his own smart home devices.

A gadget to make your dumb house smartertheverge.com· 8h
In Installer No. 152, David Pierce highlights Home Assistant's Connect Aux-2, a simple box that helps add devices like music gear to a smart home and controls Bluetooth devices and dumb appliances, which he says is much easier than building one yourself. He also recommends a Space Race history he calls great, a fun Wikipedia podcast, and new apps for writers and podcast listeners, and says he has been reading about school apps and trying third-party iPhone keyboards.
Hands on with Home Assistant’s new ‘smart home multi-tool’theverge.com· 2d
The Verge's Nathan Edwards reviews the $69 Home Assistant Connect Aux-2, a Nabu Casa box that bridges Bluetooth, audio, and serial devices into Home Assistant setups, and finds it unsurprisingly useful and surprisingly easy to set up. He used it to revive his garage-fridge temperature monitoring and to stream music to his long-unused in-wall speakers, though he notes cheaper DIY alternatives exist.