I am using a Samsung R1 (refurbished) that I found on online for about $50 primarily to do those type of notifications. I use the “Speaker Notify with Sound” app and it’s been working for me since November, with a couple of caveats.
-
Speaker was originally spamming my notification log but that appears to have been a problem with the Samsung Multiroom audio app…it appears to have been fixed via an update to the app.
-
Abrupt volume drop, which appears to happen if you specify a volume adjustment in the app…it appears that the app adjust the volume back before the message is complete…the “temporary” fix is to not change the volume in the message…see link below.
- There is no way to build message buffering using the standard app. So, two or more messages back to back will “step on each other”…for instance, I wanted to have my good morning routine be Notify with Sound - “system is disarmed”, immediately followed by the Morning Weather app and it wouldn’t work…if you need to do that CORE is a good solution.
In short, Notify with Sound seems stable now, and works for what I need, understanding the above quirks