The Why — Cloud Audio Is a Smart Home Failure Point

At first glance, Spotify or YouTube Music seem like obvious choices.

I tried both.

❌ Spotify — The Subscription Tax

• 12€/month
• No ownership of media
• Locked into external licensing decisions
• Requires internet connectivity
• Yet another recurring cost

For a core house function, that’s architectural debt.

If my lighting doesn’t depend on a subscription, why should my music?

❌ YouTube Music — The Cookie Nightmare

On paper, YouTube Music looks hackable.

In reality:

• Constant cookie authentication issues
• API instability
• Sudden breakage after backend changes
• Random re-logins required

It worked… until it didn’t.

And in a smart home, “sometimes works” is the same as “broken.”

The Core Problem

Cloud music introduces:

• External authentication layers
• API fragility
• Internet dependency
• Recurring cost
• Latency

That’s five failure points for something that should be as reliable as flipping a light switch.

Time for an Architectural Pivot.

The Pivot — Local-First Audio

Instead of renting access to music…

I own it.

High-quality audio files are stored directly on the laptop SSD where Home Assistant runs.

No cloud. No auth. No API. No subscription.

Just files.

The moment I moved music storage local, the entire architecture simplified.

Core Component — Music Assistant

If Home Assistant is the operating system of the house…

Music Assistant is the operating system of music inside HA.

It provides:

• Media indexing
• Library management
• Multi-room playback
• Player grouping
• Fast, local streaming

Installation Overview

Inside Home Assistant:

1. Install Music Assistant from HACS or the official add-on repository.
2. Define a local media directory:

   media_dirs:
     music: /media/music

3. Point it to the SSD folder where audio files are stored.
4. Let it scan and index your library.
5. Expose your media players.

Done.

No OAuth dance. No refresh tokens. No cloud handshake.

Hardware Stack — Solving the Speaker Problem

Google Home Minis are everywhere in my house.

Cheap. Stable. Well-supported.

But their speakers are terrible.

So I introduced a Hardware Passthrough Layer.

Each Google Home Mini is paired via Bluetooth to a high-quality external speaker.

• Google Mini = network endpoint
• Bluetooth Speaker = real audio output
• Mini default output = paired speaker

This solves the “tiny smart speaker” limitation without replacing hardware.

Logical Grouping — Whole House Mode

In the Google Home app:

• I created a “Whole House” group
• Added all Google Minis
• Exposed the group to Home Assistant

Now Home Assistant sees:

media_player.whole_house

One entity. Every room.

Architecture Overview

Here’s the actual data flow:

What This Means

• Audio never leaves the house.
• Streaming happens over local Wi-Fi.
• Google devices act as distribution nodes.
• Bluetooth handles the final audio output stage.

It’s simple. That’s the point.

The Result — Zero Bottlenecks

After the pivot:

⚡ Instant Response

Press play → music starts immediately.

No API call. No authentication delay. No buffering.

💸 Zero Subscription Fees

• No 12€/month Spotify tax
• No platform lock-in
• No licensing anxiety

Music becomes infrastructure — not a service.

🔒 100% Uptime (Even Offline)

If the internet goes down:

• Lights still work.
• Automations still work.
• Music still works.

Because it’s local.

That’s the Bare Metal philosophy.

Key Architectural Lessons

• Eliminate recurring cost where possible.
• Remove cloud dependencies for core house functions.
• Use Hardware Passthrough instead of replacing entire stacks.
• Own your media.
• Treat music as infrastructure, not entertainment.

Final Thought

Cloud services are convenient.

Until they aren’t.

If your house depends on someone else’s server to play a song in your kitchen, you don’t own your system.

You’re renting it.

This multi-room setup isn’t flashy.

It’s not trendy.

But it’s fast. It’s reliable. And it works every single time.

In Bare Metal Home, that’s the only metric that matters.