As the title suggests, I’m looking for suggestions for a cheap “off the shelf” wireless media player/speaker that will plug and play with HA (preferably 240V mains powered).
I don’t want to use Bluetooth, and I’d also like to avoid “Smart” devices as well if possible (I only need playback, not listening or cloud connectivity).
Am UK based, but happy to import from elsewhere if needed.
Thanks in advance.
When you say ‘media player’, is that audio and video?
When you say ‘cheap’, is that lofi or hifi audio?
Do you expect video to adequately stream over wifi, which is a function of your access point?
Do you have a separate audio system or, better still, active speakers with active crossovers?
There are many questions, so please give a complete description of your situation? FYI, I use a TrueNAS server with Logitech Media Server installed in a jail and all controlled by a real (Android 
) phone. HA has an integration for LMS, Plex and others.
This is for an audio player only (lofi is fine)
Background is I currently have some Sonos and IKEA Symfonisk speakers, and frequently get requests (from family) to make changes to audio announcements (both scripts and automations). Rather than buy another Sonos to test the scripts, I’m looking for something to just play the audio before pushing the changes to HA.
I am no fan of Sonos; expensive and proprietary dependent, the antithesis of HA. I have no proprietary software in my house systems, if I can avoid it.
On a RPi 3, even a 2,(preferably 4 with more RAM for future uses) with even a cheap DAC, you will get high hifi & using some decent quality active speakers, most commercial systems won’t come close.
Admittedly, I have DIY active speakers that shade anything near 10 or even much more, but getting the source as accurate as possible makes the subsequent chain easier.
Oh yes, of course, Logitech Media Server, the best music sever, has an HA integration.
A cheap and cheerful solution would be to use an RPI 3 running LMS and Picoreplayer (you can run them both on the same pi) and just use a pair of headphones plugged into the pi’s onboard headphone socket, or even bluetooth connected ear buds, mains powered and wifi connected or wired.
Like others I am running some headless Pi’s, but I have KODI running on them and use them as speakers for Text-to-Speech. I just have some cheap USB speakers connected to the Pis.
Thanks all. I was trying to avoid going down the Pi route (I have 7 of them already in the house), plus by the time you’ve bought the Pi, the SD card, a case, PSU and some cheap speakers, you’re at the £50 mark anyway.
Finding WiFi enabled speakers is a real pain although I’ve seen devices like the LG WK7 (discontinued and on sale), but was unsure of support for it within HA. I may just go down the Google Nest Mini route as they’re under £35
@Tromperie Like you, I’m not a fan of closed ecosystems, but in the case of the IKEA lamps they perform a dual function, so even if Sonos kills support for the product I can still use them as table lamps. I run a Plex server myself (also on TrueNAS) and have previously built my own media player using a Pi-DigiAMP+ so agree about audio quality. This query was me looking for a low cost solution to a 1st world problem of not wanting to get of my backside to troubleshoot an audio issue 
It is very much a first world problem.
To integrate with HA and be inexpensive (not cheap), using Picore Player on a Pi with DAC HAT, probably with LMS also installed, is the best solution I can think of. A pair of powered computer speakers from eBay or Gumtree and you have a quality system with few possible problems, aside from hardware failures, inevitable as they are.
I hope your parents have an appreciation of good music and you aren’t condemning them to crap audio only for a few pounds. (Sorry, a bit of editorial in this last paragraph.)