In Part 1, I tried an ESPHome dial with an excellent AMOLED touchscreen, but its encoder limited fast turns and fine adjustments. In Part 2, i tried the X-Knob which offered a precise magnetic encoder and programmable haptic steps, but pressing it felt mushy and did not always register reliably and the device was definitely prototypish.

I also wanted a precise dial with physical buttons for play/pause and skipping forwards or backwards, and a better hardware feel than the otherwise capable Hue Tap Dial. A Stream Deck, a SofaBaton or an Unfolded Circle remote was not what I was looking for: I wanted to rest my hand on a dial and turn it. I still needed a display for modes and target values, but I was now considering a separate, larger screen with room for playback controls, a clock and film information.

Finding a high-quality dial: the Beosound Essence Remote

Being a Hi-Fi enthusiast, I already knew the Bang & Olufsen Beosound Essence Remote, a small dial designed to sit on a table or be wall-mounted to control a B&O music system. It has an elegant, discreet design and the build quality one would expect from B&O. This is essentially what I was looking for, provided I can use it without being tied to a beautiful but expensive ecosystem or limited to only controlling volume and playback.

I was therefore pleasantly surprised to learn that the Essence Remote uses standard Bluetooth Low Energy HID reports, so I bought one second-hand to see whether it could work with Home Assistant.

Fortunately, it had exactly the combination I had been looking for. The dial turns smoothly without coarse fixed mechanical steps and tracks both small adjustments and fast turns accurately. No acceleration necessary. The four physical button areas have a subtle, almost silent click that I can clearly feel, so I can use them without looking down. I have not confirmed the encoder’s exact type, but its performance is excellent.

How it responds in practice

In the finished setup, dimming a lamp with a Hue White Zigbee bulb feels almost instant. The signal travels over Bluetooth to an ESP32, then over Wi-Fi to Home Assistant, which sends the command to the bulb over Zigbee.

Volume control feels equally responsive. Small turns make fine adjustments, while fast turns let me move through the range quickly. The video below shows the changes on the Denon receiver’s TV overlay.

The same play/pause button works across playback sources. The Home Assistant logic checks which source is active on the receiver and sends the command to the corresponding device or integration. It automatically controls Apple TV, Blu-ray playback on the PlayStation, Spotify Connect or other supported streaming directly on the receiver.

Hardware that feels good to use

The remote is heavy, with a solid, bead-blasted aluminium base and rubber feet that keep it in place. It can also be wall-mounted without the table base. Battery life has been around a year in my experience. I have become so happy with it that I have now bought three second-hand units for different rooms.

New prices were around $300–350, but I have found listings for $150–200. B&O no longer lists it as an active product, so availability varies.

It also has infrared emitters pointing in four directions, hidden behind the black ring around the base. I have not used the IR functionality, but it may be useful for other setups.

Building a Bluetooth bridge for Home Assistant

To use the remote in this setup, I needed something to receive its Bluetooth reports and turn them into Home Assistant events. I built an ESPHome Bluetooth bridge for B&O remotes, based on an existing BLE HID component, with B&O-specific decoding and button handling. An ESP32 receives the Bluetooth reports and forwards the events to Home Assistant over Wi-Fi.

Once connected, the remote worked well. The challenge was its aggressive sleep behaviour: after waking, the first button event could arrive before the bridge was ready to receive it. That first press should not just wake the remote; it should also play or pause the music. I adjusted how the bridge enables notifications to capture the first report reliably. It also supports single, double, triple and long-press actions.

I designed two 3D-printed cases for the bridge. In the living room, a tiny ESP32-C3 Super Mini sits under the coffee table, close to the remote.

In the dining room, I use an ESP32 DevKit with an external antenna, in another case I designed. There, the remote controls a Sonos speaker.

(For anyone interested, both models are free on MakerWorld)

A separate screen for modes and targets

That solved the physical controls, but I still needed visual feedback. As I described in Part 1, curtains and skylights move at their own pace, so their movement does not immediately tell me what target I have selected. A screen lets me set a position and leave them to catch up. It also shows which function the dial is currently controlling.

I wanted more than a mode indicator, though. Alongside volume and playback controls, I wanted to see what was playing, the time and when a film would finish. A tiny screen inside a dial would mean more pages and submenus, and I would still have to look down at my hand to read it.

I considered returning to the Hue Tap Dial with an external screen. A Stream Deck could also provide useful controls, but I did not want one beside the sofa. The separate-screen approach let me keep the dial interaction I preferred without fitting everything into the remote.

A sofa dashboard on the Nest Hub

I already had a Google Nest Hub on the table displaying family photos, so I developed a dashboard for it. Its different views show playback information, a clock and when the current film or programme will finish. The four main controls are volume, lights, curtains and skylights. There are also touch controls for playback and other actions, although I mainly use the dial.

I created a custom design with recessed controls, defined edges and a sense of depth. I prefer this restrained, more tactile appearance to the flat, colourful cards common in modern dashboards.

The upper button on the Essence Remote cycles between the four modes. The dashboard highlights the selected control and shows the value as I turn. For curtains and skylights, it shows the requested target while the motors move towards it. A small animation beside the target percentage indicates when the curtains or skylights are opening or closing. I can see what I am doing without changing my grip or looking down at the remote.

A Google Cast flow in Node-RED starts the dashboard when I press the remote button or turn on the TV or receiver. It stops casting when I switch the system off, returning the Nest Hub to its photo frame.

I paid about $38 second-hand for the Nest Hub. It is discreet and also lets me send voice commands to Home Assistant through Google Assistant. Google’s Ambient EQ adjusts brightness and colour temperature to the room, making photos look natural. The screen’s contrast is nowhere near the AMOLED dial’s, and it could certainly be better, but the device serves several useful purposes.

As local voice AI matures, I would like to revisit the assistant side, perhaps eventually experimenting with replacing the Nest Hub’s internals.

Applying the same idea elsewhere

The principle does not depend on this particular remote or screen. An ESPHome display or, with a suitable dashboard solution, an Echo device could fill the display role. Home Assistant and ESPHome let me connect devices that were never designed to work together.

For volume and lights, I would prioritise precise, fast rotation tracking over an attractive built-in screen. A slower dial might suit temperature adjustment, but it would not give me the response I want for everyday sofa controls.

This is the combination I have been happiest with: a remote that feels good to use, with a display positioned where I can comfortably see it.

Pros

• Smooth, precise rotation and quiet physical buttons that work by feel.
• Solid construction and long battery life.
• Responsive control across volume, lights and different playback sources.
• A separate screen shows modes and targets without restricting my grip.
• The Nest Hub also provides voice control and a photo frame.

Cons

• The remote is expensive and availability is limited.
• No tactile steps in the dial, if that is important to you.
• Requires an ESP32 bridge, a powered display and some Home Assistant/Node-RED setup.
• The Nest Hub’s display quality is a compromise, and visual feedback depends on it being in view.
• Casting the dashboard to the Nest Hub rather than displaying the dashboard in a normal web browser introduces a slight delay of a few milliseconds in visual updates.

What could I improve next?

After about 3 months of use, this setup feels intuitive and works very well in practice. The dashboard itself grew out of several years of refining the touch controls before I added the dial, and the combination now feels easy to use and read from the sofa.

Seeing people modify their Android TVs UI gave me an idea: a small overlay in the corner showing the selected mode and target as I turn the Essence Remote. My Denon receiver already does this for volume, so extending it to curtains and skylights would be useful. If I had an Android TV I could modify, I would be tempted to try it. TV status notifications or an Apple TV camera-style pop-up displaying the dashboard might offer other routes, but I have not explored whether either would work well.

I like the idea of needing no extra screen, although the Nest Hub earns its place: it still shows playback information and controls when I listen to music with the TV off, and adjusting the skylights does not interrupt everyone’s film with a pop-up. For now, I am very happy with it, but I would be interested to hear what others would improve or try next.