Google Nest Audio Speaker Review

[AudioSceptic]

Homepod is a different animal: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/apple-homepod-review-smart-speaker.23882/

It cost $299 though. Is there a different model now?

There's been a 2nd gen since Feb 2023 <https://www.apple.com/uk/homepod-2nd-generation/specs/>. We have a Homepod mini which sounds surprisingly good but I wouldn't use it for music.

 

[Steve Dallas]

As known already from other measurements they are great performers with also fantastic cabinet material, kind of little bargain Genelecs.
Would be interesting to find the reason of those interferences in the tweeter region, maybe diffraction from the screw holes?
I would like to see some measurements with those covered with some tape.

My guess is the front grille:

 

[olieb]

My guess is the front grille:

Yes, or the back plate, or both. The aluminium cabinet looks good and the resonance frequencies do not change with angle, so it seems not to be caused by reflection.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Fortunately our hearing bandwidth resolution shrinks as frequencies go higher, making us much less sensitive to those variations. To wit, here is the same graph but with 1/10 octave smoothing (instead of standard 1/20th):

Thanks for the review, Amir.
Where do you stand regarding the use of even higher smoothing when presenting data? I understand that many use 1/3rd octave smoothing as it more closely approximates human bandwidth resolution.

I’m not suggesting we don’t use 1/20th for our usual technical analysis, but perhaps the addition of the 1/3rd octave smoothed graph could be useful as well? Particularly for those listening in nearfield where the direct, on-axis sound dominates. The predicted in-room response is effectively highly smoothed as well?

It’s great to see such decent engineering in products like this.

 

[GXAlan]

True. While the hobby aspect -the obsessive tinkering is fading, audiophile-level sound quality is now accessible to a much broader audience. Overall, I see this as a win.

100% a win. I wrote this post a few weeks ago, and the first step to the hobby — not necessarily tinkering but the interest in spending money and achieving “next level” sound is the first experience of something better. If someone starts with this Google level of quality, that first step of hearing something better may not happen during one’s formative years, especially since they will be listening at low SPLs.

Atmos audio may be a wow relative to a single speaker…. There may also be an issue if this has a lot of IMD relative to the sweep, but for the volumes needed, maybe not?

Post in thread 'Has DSP turned us into audio neurotics? [rant]'
https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...-into-audio-neurotics-rant.57378/post-2098441p

At this point, can we really still be surprised by this level of performance?

I think the price point is surprising. I am used to Sonos Era 100 prices at $250 for something this well engineered.

The technology is here, and customers deserve high-quality, thoughtfully designed products without paying a premium for outdated or poorly engineered alternatives.

+1

I wonder if this is being subsidized by data collection and/or marketing budget for getting people to subscribe to things like Google Music.

Ideally, the switch should physically disconnect the microphone so no hack could reactivate it.

I believe the newest Sonos products with physical mic switches do this. That said, this IS one area where the younger generation doesn’t care. They are the generation of excessive sharing. Parents are guilty too. I’m always surprised at the number of parents posting photos of their children online…

 

[192kbps]

Long lost Great rating!

 

[NicolasGr]

Enough with the soapboxing you guys. Amir showed you the switch that turns off the mic.

Oh, like the phone airplane mode and location service off that still allowed Android ( Google OS) to receive position pings from wifi and cell towers, only to send them later and secretly to Google servers for " network coverage quality assessments"... while explicitly indicating it wasn't tracking users' location?

 

[Old_School_Brad]

100% a win. I wrote this post a few weeks ago, and the first step to the hobby — not necessarily tinkering but the interest in spending money and achieving “next level” sound is the first experience of something better. If someone starts with this Google level of quality, that first step of hearing something better may not happen during one’s formative years, especially since they will be listening at low SPLs.

Atmos audio may be a wow relative to a single speaker…. There may also be an issue if this has a lot of IMD relative to the sweep, but for the volumes needed, maybe not?

Post in thread 'Has DSP turned us into audio neurotics? [rant]'
https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...-into-audio-neurotics-rant.57378/post-2098441p

I think the price point is surprising. I am used to Sonos Era 100 prices at $250 for something this well engineered.

+1

I wonder if this is being subsidized by data collection and/or marketing budget for getting people to subscribe to things like Google Music.

I believe the newest Sonos products with physical mic switches do this. That said, this IS one area where the younger generation doesn’t care. They are the generation of excessive sharing. Parents are guilty too. I’m always surprised at the number of parents posting photos of their children online…

I don’t find the price point all that surprising, but I rarely buy HiFi gear brand new. Anyway, I was looking up launch prices.
The Libratone Zipp launched at $399, The Sonos One at $199 while the Google Nest Audio came in at just $99.
This feels more like part of Google’s strategy to pull users into their ecosystem than a product with a real or typical markup. They did something similar with the Chromecast Audio, which was a steal at $35. It’s hard to believe they made much profit on that. But maybe the typical markup on these devices is much higher than we’d expect. When you compare Temu prices to those on Amazon -or later on in the retail chain -you can see how high the actual prices are for most people and get some kind of idea.
With that in mind I still think Google makes good money on the Google Nest Audio.

 

[USER]

Oh, like the phone airplane mode and location service off that still allowed Android ( Google OS) to receive position pings frim wifi and cell towres, only to send them later and secretly to Google servers for " neywork coverage quality assessments"... while explicitly indicating it wasn't tracking users' location?

Hope you aren't using some sort of computer with internet access to write this or else you are in for a surprise.

 

[soundofsilence]

Would love to see the scores of Sonos Move. Its a speaker I use and enjoy from time to time

 

[musicforcities]

Pretty great given its intended use and pricing. I like seeing a flatter curve than one finds in so many similar products (echos, bose, etc). And not be as locked into a very constrained ecosystem like Sonos.

Though google will know your music tastes better than you do, and you will likely get ads for non music related items the algorithm associates with what you listen to, as with you tube. If I go on a binge listen of 38 special, night ranger and lenerd skyward do I end up seeing ads for handguns, survivalist gear and “nutritional supplements” like I do after I watch videos on you tube about welding or machining metal? Can I then binge listen to Taylor swift to direct the algorithm back to serving up ads for perfume, clothes and posh vacation spots?

Consider the cheap passive speakers offered for $150-200 a pair. This would seem outperform most of them. and looks to be built better as well. Hopefully the stereo pairing is a bit more robust than with echoes, which often seem to loose their mate n my experience.

If one could pair 5 of these with a sub, it could make a very nice 5.1 system for apartments or small rooms. And ideally dispense with a bulky avr. Seems entirely feasible that google could integrate such capacity with a google streaming box/device.

I think I would still rather have a pair of JBL or other similar small powered monitors with AirPlay or Bluetooth. But still…

One can find a pair Polk signature s10 on clearance for about $200. No idea how they measure. But you still need $70 a Fossi v3 amp or something like it.

 

[staticV3]

Would love to see the scores of Sonos Move. Its a speaker I use and enjoy from time to time

Here are measurements:

Sonos Move on and off-axis measurements (an interesting case study)

Edit: Proper spinorama in this post. So I got around to measuring the Sonos Move. I've previously argued that audiophiles don't give Sonos enough credit, considering the very few measurements I've seen have been solid, they have some legit design chops behind their speakers, and their target...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Measured: The Sonos Move shows a Bluetooth speaker can sound great

Audiophiles are often dismissive of mainstream brands and technologies. Take Sonos, the biggest name in wireless audio. While many acknowledge their speakers sound good, itâs usually accompanied by a qualifier like âfor a wireless speaker,â

thenextweb.com

Measurements for speaker Sonos Move

www.spinorama.org

The Move is Omnidirectional, hence incompatible with the Preference score algorithm.

 

[Jimbob54]

I was just going to snag a pair of these and try my luck with a stereo implementation but the biggest issue (at least in the UK) is that these are unobtanium.

Anyone heard if there may be a model refresh incoming (or Google has perhaps done a google and backed out of the market?)

EDIT- snagged a pair. Apparently Google has silently discontinued though so get em while they are hot!

 

[Mr. Widget]

I think the price point is surprising. I am used to Sonos Era 100 prices at $250 for something this well engineered.

See below.

Google should actually pay users who place this speaker in their house for the sole privilege of spying on their every word.

Just think of the depth of personal data one can collect if you use Android phones, Nest thermostats, cameras, Chromecast, and the suite of Google apps? Pretty impressive really.

 

[NicolasGr]

Hope you aren't using some sort of computer with internet access to write this or else you are in for a surprise.

There was a time were toggling a switch off would actually turn the function off. In software it seems more fluid, from almost "off" to actually "on", but without bothering telling you.

 

[NicolasGr]

I don’t find the price point all that surprising, but I rarely buy HiFi gear brand new. Anyway, I was looking up launch prices.
The Libratone Zipp launched at $399, The Sonos One at $199 while the Google Nest Audio came in at just $99.
This feels more like part of Google’s strategy to pull users into their ecosystem than a product with a real or typical markup. They did something similar with the Chromecast Audio, which was a steal at $35. It’s hard to believe they made much profit on that. But maybe the typical markup on these devices is much higher than we’d expect. When you compare Temu prices to those on Amazon -or later on in the retail chain -you can see how high the actual prices are for most people and get some kind of idea.
With that in mind I still think Google makes good money on the Google Nest Audio.

the Chromecast audio offers surprisingly good fidelity, is reliable, and good looking. I have two and I'm happy I kept them after I tried several brands "streaming apps" that were just full of bugs.

 

[ta240]

Amazing what happens when you apply proper engineering and science to even a tough problem. Small, lifestyle speaker that sells for next to nothing which teaches many speakers what good design is like!

I'm not sure it is fair to compare Google's R&D investment and profit strategy to other audio companies. Google is an advertising company with massive funds to invest in keeping people within their ecosystem for market research. Anything they don't make, or even lose, on the price of the speaker will easily be made up with the data they gain. If that doesn't bother you, then it is a win as a consumer, but still can't really be compared to how most other companies develop and sell products.

Some of Google's ideas that have flopped would have bankrupted normal companies. They are able to take it in stride and move on to the next project. They paid $20,000,000,000.00 to keep google the default search on Safari browsers. They can hand these speakers out like Halloween candy if it gets people using them to do searches.

I'm pretty sure a fair amount of other companies R&D departments would love to spend the money and time to improve their products and go through the amount of development Google did with this, however their management has to look at risk vs reward and just how much their product will possibly make just on its selling price.

 

[oceansize]

I was just going to snag a pair of these and try my luck with a stereo implementation but the biggest issue (at least in the UK) is that these are unobtanium.

Anyone heard if there may be a model refresh incoming (or Google has perhaps done a google and backed out of the market?)

EDIT- snagged a pair. Apparently Google has silently discontinued though so get em while they are hot!

Available on the UK Google site.

 

[JohnBooty]

I love that this is "the new normal."

Over the last few years we have consistently seen excellent frequency response from unexpected places, even small "smart speakers", thanks to DSP and companies willing to invest the engineering effort.

I still cannot stand listening to music on them, generally.

The dynamic range simply isn't there. Music on these small devices never feels even remotely alive.

However, they are great for vocal clarity. Podcasts and TV/movies (assuming you don't need huge cinema-style immersive sound) are excellent. Dialogue clarity on my BT speakers and Apple devices is noticably better than my living room 5.1 system.

 

[kencreten]

This is the power of economies of scale X engineering. No boutique audio company can compete with the Google (or Apple) Empire…

This is why the audiophile hobby is dying. You don’t need to know anything to enjoy high performance audio. No complex wiring or impedance matching. Literally plug and play!

If you think about the AirPods as external hearing aid, that will have economies of scale and processing horsepower than anything else a hearing aid company can offer.

We have stores dedicated to boutique and classic audio in Los Angeles. What is your indicator that the "audiophile hobby" is dying? From my perspective, the dishonest audio retailers regarding cables and foo speakers is robust. Take the recent Tekton debacle. There's plenty of companies servicing "audiophiles?" For me, I've always wanted commoditization of quality audio, with items I could tell my non-audio hobby friends, "just buy this for hifi sound."