Google Nest Audio Speaker Review

[waynel]

For us paranoid folk....does it really?

I have two pairs of these and they work fine as stereo pairs. There is a switch on the back to turn off the mic but it leaves orange lights on the front. I took off the grill, covered the LEDs with black electrical tape and replaced the grills. Now no mic and no lights.

 

[xray]

The voice reminder that the mic switch is off only triggers when you toggle the switch off and on every reboot. A reasonable feature IMO.

Edit: it also reminds you if you touch the unit to adjust the volume.

 

[function9]

I suppose it is mono.

If you buy two, can you assign "left and right"?

Yes I have 2 in stereo I use regularly.

 

[function9]

Yes, but apparently it's unreliable. Quick Google suggests that they had a solid implementation, but it was too close to Sonos', they threatened a lawsuit, and the new implementation is bad.

Works for me once setup.

 

[Oso Polar]

f the microphone is enabled, all audio is processed by some kind of wake word detection engine. This engine only has one task: to check if you say "OK Google", and this is done locally, i.e. the audio is not recorded or shared with Google.

This may be what Google says, certainly not what these devices do. I have Google Mini speakers all over the house and I certainly notice online ads about the topics I was discussing with someone else in the house soon after the fact.

 

[HCT-5808]

I have two pairs of these and they work fine as stereo pairs. There is a switch on the back to turn off the mic but it leaves orange lights on the front. I took off the grill, covered the LEDs with black electrical tape and replaced the grills. Now no mic and no lights.

I have 4 of these and I run them in two stereo pairs mainly for Roon. Like waynel, I have the mic switched off all the time and they work normally. I pulled the grills off and disconnected the LED instead of using tape, but same result. The mic switch is a physical "clicky" switch on the back. It is not a button or other type of soft switch.

These have 3 sensor areas on the top. If you touch the top left or top right it will lower the volume. If you touch the top center it will remind you the mic is off.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Many years ago I went through the various permissions and cookies for google not accepting things I didn't think I should share and subsequently many google pages wouldn't open, including things like a terms and conditions letter from a gardener who sent me a quote.
I have not used google since for anything, knowingly, my son thinks I am daft and the utility of their tools is worth abandoning any privacy. I do not.

 

[xray]

This may be what Google says, certainly not what these devices do. I have Google Mini speakers all over the house and I certainly notice online ads about the topics I was discussing with someone else in the house soon after the fact.

I've noticed that as well. For instance we talked about where we should go for a hike on the weekend and hours later I started seeing trail guide articles for my area in my news feed.

 

[Timcognito]

I've noticed that as well. For instance we talked about where we should go for a hike on the weekend and hours later I started seeing trail guide articles for my area in my news feed.

Spooky. It will be troubling if information about Viagra or Preparation H start showing up incidentally for some unfortunate souls.

 

[olieb]

I've noticed that as well. For instance we talked about where we should go for a hike on the weekend and hours later I started seeing trail guide articles for my area in my news feed.

Three options here I think.
Either your brain is playing tricks on you, making you imagining things, or Google is listening in, or Google knows you already so well that it can predict your behavior.
All three would make me nervous, the last probably the most.

 

[MZKM]

Reserved.

 

[GXAlan]

What is your indicator that the "audiophile hobby" is dying?

Re-Tales #28: A hi-fi market health check

How healthy is the hi-fi market? One widely reported silver lining of the pandemic was increased sales of anything to do with home entertainment, including hi-fi. Recently, though, inflation has broken out and the stock market tanked. Higher prices all aroundfrom shipping and logistics to...

www.stereophile.com

The Pending Audiophile Demographic Disaster Is Still Brewing

Nobody wants to talk about their demise but the recent death of retailer, Andy Singer, reminds us of the pending demo problem for the hobby

futureaudiophile.com

It helps to come to a definition on the audiophile hobby as opposed to the music industry. If you include Bluetooth speakers and soundbars, the home audio market is growing in size and revenue. Products like this and Sonos provide very good value.*

*Like Facebook, your data may be used to help Google with other activities. Remember that Gmail read all your emails to develop their spam filter. Individuals may find this to be too costly while others welcome the monetization of their info being passed down in the form of hardware cost savings.

 

[xray]

Three options here I think.
Either your brain is playing tricks on you, making you imagining things, or Google is listening in, or Google knows you already so well that it can predict your behavior.
All three would make me nervous, the last probably the most.

This review thread is probably not the place for discussion on this topic so I'll close my remarks with this.

There is a chance that my daughter did a search on the topic and Google associated the WAN IP address for that search with everyone on my LAN.

 

[kemmler3D]

For the money, I voted "great". $100 for bass down to 60hz and reasonable directivity and flat-ish FR in an active speaker? Hard to beat.

Now, we have to consider that Google is probably taking a considerable loss on this to get these ... devices ... into your home.

In a related story, an engineer on the Amazon Echo Dot told me that ONE of the chips that went into that thing cost $18. That's just one part among many. They were retailing for sometimes as little as $20. Amazon was probably selling it 4-5x cheaper than a company would that had to make a profit on it. I imagine Google is doing something similar, if not so egregious here.

 

[GXAlan]

There is a chance that my daughter did a search on the topic and Google associated the WAN IP address for that search with everyone on my LAN.

Thunder was a startup that was acquired by Walmart in 2021. This video is 5 years old, so you have to imagine that it’s even more sophisticated now.

 

[ivayvr]

Back to our overheated planet!
Where they can be had for 30, in any currency, no bit coin?
At their current price, they are $ 160 less per pair than new Adam Audio 3DV, here in Canada. At USD 30, they are almost four times cheaper than Adam D3V, data harvesting or not!

 

[Timcognito]

Back to our overheated planet!
Where they can be had for 30, in any currency, no bit coin?
At their current price, they are $ 160 less per pair than new Adam Audio 3DV, here in Canada. At USD 30, they are almost four times cheaper than Adam D3V, data harvesting or not!

Yeah for $160 less they can have my data, contacts and clog my inbox.

 

[Chrispy]

I have two pairs of these and they work fine as stereo pairs. There is a switch on the back to turn off the mic but it leaves orange lights on the front. I took off the grill, covered the LEDs with black electrical tape and replaced the grills. Now no mic and no lights.

But do you still get ads for what might be talked about in the room with the devices?

 

[Mr. Widget]

Yeah for $160 less they can have my data, contacts and clog my inbox.

You sell yourself short.

 

[EJ3]

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

That is a myth that they would like you to believe. There are ways (how else could there be a "dark web").