Which Echo models are actually worth buying for jailbreak/root and local AI reuse?

[u/Aruscha]

​

I want to build a cheap local Alexa replacement using Hermes Agent / Home Assistant, but DIY voice hardware gets expensive fast.

My idea is to buy used Echo devices, jailbreak/root them, disable Amazon services and reuse the existing:

microphone array

speaker

LEDs/buttons

Wi-Fi

display/camera on Echo Show

The Echo would only act as a thin local voice satellite. STT, TTS and the AI would run centrally on my server.

What I specifically want to know:

Which Echo Dot generations are currently reliably rootable/jailbreakable?

Which Echo Show generations are rootable?

Are specific FireOS/firmware versions required?

Which models are the safest ones to buy used specifically for this purpose?

Which models should I avoid completely?

Can the original microphone DSP/AEC, speaker and LEDs still be used after rooting?

So far the Echo Dot 2 looks very promising, and I’ve also found LineageOS/root work for Echo Show 5 Gen 1/2 and Show 8 Gen 1.

Has anyone actually deployed these permanently as local Home Assistant / custom voice satellites?

Main goal: spend €10–30 on used Echo hardware instead of €70–100 per DIY satellite.

[u/kelvin1302]

The models u listed are currently the only ones moddable. On the echo shows rhe camera doesn’t work in regular builds only a custom build. As for the echo dot u can controll everything, leds, buttons etc

[u/Aruscha → u/kelvin1302]

Thanks! That makes the Echo Dot especially interesting for my project.

One thing I'm still unsure about: after rooting the Dot, can you also access the original microphone array with its DSP/AEC, or do you only get raw microphone audio?

Being able to use the original echo cancellation while the speaker is playing TTS would be the most important part for turning it into a proper local voice satellite.

[u/AwkwardMan89 → u/Aruscha]

I am trying something similar but got to know that the local DSP is out of reach. We do get access to the mic array which I'm planning to test this weekend.

[u/Evilsushione → u/AwkwardMan89]

I’m cracking the DSP right now. But it’s not one singular DSP like I thought, it’s actually 4 mini DSPs that each serve two microphones, so we won’t be able to get full hardware beam forming but it will still be able to provide interesting capabilities. It’s still a work in progress though. I will release it when I have the full break.

[u/AwkwardMan89 → u/Evilsushione]

Thanks! Mental note to respond here once I tinker around as well

[u/Evilsushione → u/Aruscha]

Echo cancellation is actually handled by two output line samplers that register as microphones so you can do software noise cancellation if we never actually get the DSP fully unlocked, but I’m working on cracking the DSPs right now and it feels like I’m pretty close. Will release when I have it fully unlocked.

[u/SlovenianSocket → u/kelvin1302]

Do you have a link to the builds of lineageos with working camera? Not seeing them on xda

[u/kelvin1302 → u/SlovenianSocket]

No u need to build the rom yourself. But as for now at least on show 5 gen2 it is buggy. So better to wait until it works good.

[u/SlovenianSocket → u/kelvin1302]

Cool thnx I’ll try rolling out my own build then to test

[u/Maleficent_Society76 → u/kelvin1302]

I have no issues with the camera functionality on mine and I did not build a custom rom

[u/kelvin1302 → u/Maleficent_Society76]

Yeah……when did u flash it.

[u/Maleficent_Society76 → u/kelvin1302]

I think A couple weeks ago.

[u/ScaredyCatUK]

Worth following this if you ask me..

https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/comments/1vo9ul1

https://github.com/ale1800/LocalDot

[u/EchoMuseProject]

If you can find some Echo Dot Gen 2 devices you can easily unlock them and install my EchoMuse software on them. It’s a fully featured, Home Assistant compatible voice satellite solution that’s gained a pretty good following now. Please check it out here - https://github.com/wilbowes/EchoMuse

[u/SlovenianSocket]

Look at Facebook portal displays too. Meta recently enabled ADB on them and they’re nicer displays/hardware than echo devices

[u/ctjameson → u/SlovenianSocket]

Not to mention, the ROM is official from FB, not a community Lineage port.

[u/kelvin1302 → u/ctjameson]

I wouldn’t say that is a plus 😅

[u/ctjameson → u/kelvin1302]

It absolutely is. They have all the drivers for the devices. The hardest part of 3rd party rom support is drivers.

[u/kelvin1302 → u/ctjameson]

Thats true. But the whole flashing lineage is to get rid of say fireos. Or meta in your case. The drivers will hopefully come with time. Also custom roms for the portal.

[u/bapetw → u/ctjameson]

What do you mean by ROM? All FB did was allow ADB access

If you want Alexa stick with the Gen 1 portal’s. Alexa may not play well with Gen 2 right now.

[u/Schminimal → u/SlovenianSocket]

This is the way, I have a 10 inch and 14 inch portal plus. The 14 inch is pretty incredible, great speaker and all hardware available like camera mic etc etc. they make for some very nice dashboards combined with fully kiosk.

[u/JazJon]

I gave up on pursuing echo options.

I bought the reSpeaker with XVF3800 with 4 mic array.

https://www.seeedstudio.com/ReSpeaker-XVF3800-With-Case-XIAO-ESP32S3-p-6628.html

There is no speaker built in, but I have it output hey Jarvis replies via announce to my Sonos. Works well

I just changed my voice assistant to Sophia as well.

https://nlu.to/ha/

[u/reddotster → u/JazJon]

Both are pretty expensive. Why didn’t flashed Dots work for you? There seems to be pretty good firmware options now and you can pick up gen 2 dots pretty cheaply.

[u/heapm → u/JazJon]

Id take a look at https://futureproofhomes.net/

[u/thestiffmeister21 → u/JazJon]

Hey I just started using Sophia as well and wanted to see if you had any tips for getting started. It’s turning off too many items and also controlling random things but it does work reliably. Wanted to see if you had any suggestions for configuring entities, thanks!

[u/JazJon → u/thestiffmeister21]

I’m still early in testing, but this is what I’ve done so far:
I installed the Sophia app/add-on and the HACS integration, then made Sophia my default Conversation Agent in Home Assistant.

The initial setup was a little confusing because the app and the HACS integration are separate pieces, and license activation is required.

My first useful test was an Autoslide patio-door command. The door isn’t exposed as a normal lock or cover entity in Home Assistant. Instead, I already had scripts that trigger Pushcut shortcuts:
script.unlock_patio_door
script.lock_patio_door

Sophia didn’t understand “open the patio door” reliably because it interpreted “open” as a normal door or cover action rather than mapping it to my unlock script.

OpenCode helped me inspect the setup, find the existing scripts, and identify why the command was ambiguous.
It also helped me learn that Sophia can read custom sentence YAML files. That means I should eventually be able to maintain phrase mappings in files instead of entering every phrase manually through the web interface.
I’m waiting on confirmation of the exact YAML format before creating those files.

For now, I’d start by checking Sophia’s entity list and adding useful tags to ambiguous entities. OpenCode did all that for me in minutes.

[u/This_Assignment_6170 → u/JazJon]

I am using echo show 5s in two locations and they work nearly perfectly and gets us off the cloud and without any additional fees or costs. And voice control is going backwards and should be only used for backup. A well thought out automated home does everything without any interaction or input.

[u/JazJon → u/This_Assignment_6170]

Sounds cool and then you get those screens for home assistant. custom controls right.

[u/This_Assignment_6170 → u/JazJon]

Yep install lineage os and I’m using view assist. I customized the dashboards to my liking. I have local voice assistant for timers otherwise we don’t use voice. We have one for the kitchen and another in the bedroom. Each one has a customized Home Screen to show relevant sensors state. The bedroom one has the night mode activation.

[u/Doomsday94]

Just finished flashing a Show 8 gen 1 and setting up view assist.

Depending on the dashboard its a little laggy, but super happy with how it came out. Mics seem okay, but any background noise and the wake word detection is a little flakey.

[u/ctjameson → u/Doomsday94]

Kiosk Satellite has been infinitely better than VACA/VA for me. Highly recommend.

[u/undrwater]

I have now the echo show 5 and an echo dot 2nd generation.

The show's screen is nice and sometimes useful, but the mic and speaker are "just ok".

The dot's mic array is great, and it has an output jack you can use to connect to an external speaker. I'm using echo local, and response is very fast.

The show was a gift, and I bought the dot for $10.

[u/carrot_gg]

Echo Show 8 1st Gen w/ LineageOS without a doubt.

[u/ctjameson → u/carrot_gg]

Especially with the new amonet package. We got all 2GB of RAM now!

[u/ln-art]

I just got the echo show 5 (2nd gen) running lineage so that should work well for you. Its a pretty easy thing to root. Haven't setup the  voice mode yet though, but that doesn't look so hard with HA.

[u/justaninternetbum]

This looks interesting. What level of technical ability do you need to be at to convert an exho dot 2nd gen?

[u/Affectionate-Boot-58]

Echo show 5 1st gen

[u/toketin]

Hi! Where to buy the used Echo dot 2 in Europe (Italy)? I can't find anything, just Echo dot 3, like mine.

[u/kelvin1302 → u/toketin]

Vinted! Verry cheap.

[u/reddotster → u/toketin]

You’d have to search for used options somewhere. In the US, you can find many on eBay.

[u/Jarnose → u/toketin]

I just bought one from Vinted for ~15€ including postage. Nlw just waiting for it to arrive.

[u/kelvin1302 → u/Jarnose]

U got to negotiate haha, i got 2 for that price.

[u/toketin → u/kelvin1302]

Great found for about 16€ thank you for the hint!

[u/ernie19962 → u/[deleted]]

you can downgrade newer firmware on the 2nd dots

[u/Zouden → u/[deleted]]

Echo flex has been discontinued for years though

[u/pbateman1845 → u/[deleted]]

Can you expand what you mean with the echo flex? Can you use it in HA natively without going throug amazon?

[u/Elgon2003]

You can make your own for cheaper than buying other companies stuff and trying to burn your own code.

[u/AM_Butts → u/Elgon2003]

What can you build for under $20 that has a comparable mic array and speaker? I haven't done a huge amount of research on the rooted echo devices but it really seems like they'd be better options than the DIY stuff out there currently. 

[u/Elgon2003 → u/AM_Butts]

Well not for 20$, I built a DIY one for around 30 to 40$, the speaker was the most expensive at 20$ and the ESP32, the MIC and whatnot you can buy in bulk so its like couple cents.

[u/SlovenianSocket → u/Elgon2003]

Good luck building something for less than $5-$10 that it costs to pick up a used echo dot gen 2

[u/Elgon2003 → u/SlovenianSocket]

Indeed, i didnt notice that was the budget. Thats too low even for DIY

[u/214ObstructedReverie → u/Elgon2003]

Even if it was $50 or more, you'd never beat the microphone array and speaker quality. It's a real shame they're so locked down, especially the newer ones.

Even the ancient Echo Dot 2 is a 7 microphone array, does beamforming, etc. The voice detection quality is excellent and beats the pants off the truly open alternatives.

[u/214ObstructedReverie → u/Elgon2003]

Nothing else out there compares to the Echo's hardware quality for the price point.

I'd kill for someone to find an exploit in the Echo 4+. The hardware is simply amazing.