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Google Nest Audio Spinorama and Measurements

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Hi! I published my review of the Google Nest Audio today. You can read that here. It's written for a more mainstream tech audience, but most of the same information is there, so I'll try to keep this post relatively light on the non-measurement-related text.

As I note in my review, when Google gave journalists a more in-depth look at the speaker after its announcement, I felt it deserved a deeper look than a simple quick impression of the sound quality.

The presentation had the usual phrases along the lines of "deep lows and crystal clear highs" and how the speaker will let you hear music "aS tHe ArTiSt InTenDeD," the most annoying phrase in audio marketing. But then the device's product manager said, unlike the original Google Home, this speaker had been designed via "double-blind testing." That made my ears perk up -- that phrase carries some weight around here.

He also talked about maximizing dynamics, increasing thermal dissipation, waveguides, dispersion, minimizing resonances, and internal cabinet volume. All from a top-level overview tailored to mainstream tech coverage, but still, just hearing those things made me feel Google had put some real effort into this design.

And it shows. Here's the spin as measured at 62 percent volume at a distance of 2 ft/0.6m via Bluetooth:

View attachment 86234

I mean, wow. This is a $99 speaker -- for each unit, but still; we've seen much worse spins from speakers far more expensive. The only 'real' issue here is the high-Q dip at 9 kHz, and it's largely balanced out off-axis. Below this, directivity control is excellent, with no visible crossover dip and a listening window that is ±1.5dB from 200Hz to 8kHz. There are no obvious significant resonances. It's quite wide directivity, too.

Someone buy the engineers a pizza.

The response does drop precipitously after 13kHz. I should note that as I used Bluetooth for these tests, I wasn't sure of the sample rate being used, so that might affect the highest frequencies slightly (I got slightly different results for 44kHz vs 48kHz, for example). But this should not be an audible issue for most people. I can hear up to 19kHz fine and though maybe the speakers lacked a little 'air,' at this point that might just be the bias of knowing the measurements.

The elevated bass is not a problem; it is due to some purposeful loudness compensation, and it is subjectively appreciated. At this SPL (admittedly not very loud) you're getting useful in-room bass down to the 40s. More on this later.

I think any way you cut it, this is pretty darn good performance given the price and size. I should also note the speaker is a lot smaller than I had assumed from photos -- its face smaller than a paperback book. It's 6.9 x 4.9 x 3.1 inches (17.5 x 12.4 x 7.8 cm), which makes the unit even smaller than the iLoud Micro Monitor (7.1 x 5.3 x 3.5 in / 18 x 13.5 x 8.9 cm). The woofer is just 3 in (75mm) and the tweeter is 3/4" (19mm).

Here's an image provided by Google of the unit without its cover:

View attachment 86252

You can see that unlike some of the smart speakers out there, this is a pretty traditional design. A woofer, a tweeter, and a waveguide in a sealed enclosure. No fancy weird drivers and layouts, just the good ol' basics. Not that I mind more inventive designs, but only if they contribute something useful.

Let's look at horizontal directivity. First the ER curves:

View attachment 86258

Again, 9kHz and above 13 kHz aside, it doesn't get much better than that.

Here are the raw horizontal curves.
View attachment 86265
This is extremely good for the most part. Among the best I've seen below 8 kHz, frankly. To be fair, having a small woofer for easier integration with the tweeter helps, but still: $99 speaker.

Note the bumps below 500Hz were artifacts of an impromptu measurement setup; I just moved so I have not yet figured out my permanent measurement setup. These bumps are not present in several other measurements of the speaker.

Just to make sure though, I performed a few measurements with the speaker about 8 feet up, further from reflecting surfaces other than some leaves from the trees. Here is one such measurement with a 9ms gate. Note I might've been slightly off axis here as the speaker was too high up for me to confirm alignment, but the point was confirming the lack of resonances below 1kHz.

View attachment 86283

Back to directivity, here are the horizontals normalized to the on-axis.

View attachment 86268
No significant anomalies other than the obvious one.

And the normalized polar map telling us the same thing:
View attachment 86280

The speaker is also well controlled within its vertical listening window, though it is better below the tweeter axis than above it. I feel this should be the other way around, as this is the type of speaker you are more likely to hear while standing up. ± 0/5/15 vertical:

View attachment 86284

Ceiling and floor reflections are pretty typical for a 2-way, which is to say fairly messy:
View attachment 86285

Which you can see as well in the polar map:

View attachment 86286

Luckily evidence suggests that if the verticals don't show up much in the ER and PIR curve, they shouldn't hurt much in terms of tonality.

Lastly, we look at the woofer's behavior at different SPLs. The top curve is 90% volume, the bottom curve is 30%. White is the 62 percent volume the speakers were tested at, which equates to about 71 dB at 1m. I've applied baffle step compensation to each of the measurements, although note this will necessarily be a little bit off; I could not get as close to the woofer as ideal because I couldn't take off the fabric cover. Actual results might be slightly different, but this is good enough for this evaluation:

View attachment 86245I have no idea what the notch at 150Hz is about. The Nest Audio does not have built-in room EQ like the Google Home Max, so it's not trying to fix a room node or anything. Perhaps it is a notch to minimize distortion artifacts that might arise at high SPLs.

View attachment 86297

Some of you know I usually care little about distortion if it's not audible in a pejorative way. In this case, I was a little surprised it wasn't audible at high SPLs, given how small the thing is; other small speakers I've tested tend to show more signs of strain at high volumes.

Granted, I'm not sure how useful distortion measurements of the woofer alone are, but at the very least we can see Google took care to make sure distortion does not rise above the fundamental at high SPLs, as many cheap speakers do. Here's the woofer at the SPL level of the spin:

View attachment 86298
(Note that I could note apply baffle step compensation to distortion, hence the droop)

And here it is at 90:

View attachment 86299

Again, still not crazy loud at 90%. I believe this translates to about 84-85 dB @ 1m. But still, distortion in the bass remains well below the fundamental.

So there you have it. It's a small speaker and it won't get crazy loud or crazy low, but what's there is designed very well considering the low price and design constraints -- not to mention all the other features packed into the speaker. Easy peasy recommendation if you don't need high SPLs and can live without the option for a sub (Amazon added a wireless sub for the echo, so who knows, maybe Google will do the same).

Quick question: were you able to figure out the crossover frequency?
 
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napilopez

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No, but based on the nearfield woofer measurements it appears to be around 2 kHz
 

Ralferator

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I ended up buying a set of Nest Audios, I ummed and ahhed for a day before opening them - worrying I wouldn't be able to return them.
I was thinking there's no way a speaker that small will be able to really get down to 40-50hz or give a full enough sound.

I opened them and I am pleased to say I was wrong, I can't believe the bass extension on speakers this size, generally good sound all-round.

They've replaced the Sony SS-CS5s we were using in the kitchen (the Sonys are going to my desk now), they're at about head height on the fridge so I've dropped the treble back one notch on the app, overall I'm thoroughly impressed.

Thanks @napilopez for your original post/spins, a set of these speakers is never something I'd imagine being happy with, but here we are.

Nice. Do you think they could be good enough for a 25 qm room for background music? I would place them close to a wall for stronger bass response.
 

Ralferator

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A regular Chromecast can be paired with a HDMI audio extractor, or the new Google TV version supports USB DACs when paired with a hub. These add complexity, and the functionality is not exactly the same: some applications distinguish audio and video variants and function differently. Video variants in general have broader support.
AVRs, for example, may include built-in Chromecast and support subwoofers, but this would a more expensive solution.

Do you know if it is possible to use the Nest Audio speakers via wifi with google home and add an active subwoofer by adding a regular chromecast with a hdmi-vga+3,5mm adaptor? Or will i have to get a Google Home Mini, open it and add a 3,5mm aux port to it, to be able to ad a subwoofer?
 

tktran303

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I got these for my son for Christmas. ~At US$70, he'll have an alarm clock, internet radio and music player and weather forecast, all with his voice.

2 drivers, a DSP, 2 channels of amplification, power supply, as well as wifi and blutooth? It's definitely a loss leader.
Thanks napilopez: I can tell these will sound GREAT in a kids bedroom...
 
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Cleankut

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Just bought 2 of them today. You have to use them as a stereo pair, makes a big difference. They do sound a lot better than the pair of google mini's I had from 2018. For $100 a pair there is no better deal for the build quality and sound. I can't believe they were able to use an aluminum and magnesium enclosure for this price.
 

RMW_NJ

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Just bought 2 of them today. You have to use them as a stereo pair, makes a big difference. They do sound a lot better than the pair of google mini's I had from 2018. For $100 a pair there is no better deal for the build quality and sound. I can't believe they were able to use an aluminum and magnesium enclosure for this price.
I was just listening to my pair in my office today and was thinking that they are probably the best deal I’ve ever gotten in home audio. I have a pair of HomePod Mini’s in the kitchen, and wish I would have just bought another pair of the Nests.
 

tktran303

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These are a great stocking stuffer. I can't believe it's almost been a year since I got them for my kids. I've been too busy to try them in stereo... but I have no doubt they'd be great in an office or small room. They do Bluetooth too, so you can just stream music to them from your phone...
 

kaxixi

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Lurker here.

I own three of these: two of them as a stereo pair in the living room, one in the kitchen on its own. I've had them since soon after the OP, which motivated the purchase. I wanted to share my experience with them, which is mixed.

On the one hand, they sound great. I am 110% satisfied with the sound. The OP did not lead me astray.

On the other hand, Google's software is... borderline unbearable? When I go to cast in Spotify, the speaker groups are often unresponsive, and Spotify just plays on my phone. The more speakers you have on your network, the more problems you'll have. Sometimes, the speakers will be unresponsive until you hard-reset them by pulling their plug. Volume control suu-uuuucks. I can't actually tell you how Google decides on the volume when you start the music--it seems to me to be random. Whatever logic they are using, if any, works poorly for me. Sometimes it's super quiet, sometimes it's absurdly loud. From there, changing the volume is super glitchy. Tell Google Assistant to lower or raise the volume and it never seems to get you to a reasonable level. Ask the Assistant to set the volume to a particular level (3 or 4) and it seems to result in a different volume level each time. To actually get to the volume level you want, you have to use the Google Home app, and the setting is buried, requiring more clicks than is reasonable. Finally, and this is a nit, but, if I turn off the mics, the speaker's LEDs glow orange, and this doesn't turn off. It looks bad.

All of these issues have existed since the speaker's release. Google could fix them with OTA software updates, but there is no sign that such fixes are in the cards. My sense is Google has a habit of putting out really impressive hardware, but zero infrastructure for improving the user experience from that point on.

So, I can recommend the sound of the Google Nest Audios, but I cannot recommend the overall experience.
 

Pilot

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[..] the speaker groups are often unresponsive, and Spotify just plays on my phone [..]
Same with my pair. ( It happens I think when there is a change in the WiFi and the pair has to "re-register". Spotify may also be playing a part, as the pair does show up in Google Home - which wasn't always the case until I disabled 40Mhz in the 2.4Ghz band! )

I would still recommend them though, for the price they are selling at now (~€60 each in Greece). Once you go around the issues, e.g. specify a percentage of volume to the assistant or - as has been mentioned already - realize they are unusable for video playback (due to sync delay), they are an unbeatably cheap solution.

Sidenote: I think they sound better and more accurate than the old Audyssey Lower East Side's I have, especially in the transients I am guessing, where the LES seem "slow" to me. I haven't been able to find a measurement of those old speakers, it would be interesting to see.
 

tktran303

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Lurker here.

I own three of these: two of them as a stereo pair in the living room, one in the kitchen on its own. I've had them since soon after the OP, which motivated the purchase. I wanted to share my experience with them, which is mixed.

On the one hand, they sound great. I am 110% satisfied with the sound. The OP did not lead me astray.

On the other hand, Google's software is... borderline unbearable? When I go to cast in Spotify, the speaker groups are often unresponsive, and Spotify just plays on my phone. The more speakers you have on your network, the more problems you'll have. Sometimes, the speakers will be unresponsive until you hard-reset them by pulling their plug. Volume control suu-uuuucks. I can't actually tell you how Google decides on the volume when you start the music--it seems to me to be random. Whatever logic they are using, if any, works poorly for me. Sometimes it's super quiet, sometimes it's absurdly loud. From there, changing the volume is super glitchy. Tell Google Assistant to lower or raise the volume and it never seems to get you to a reasonable level. Ask the Assistant to set the volume to a particular level (3 or 4) and it seems to result in a different volume level each time. To actually get to the volume level you want, you have to use the Google Home app, and the setting is buried, requiring more clicks than is reasonable. Finally, and this is a nit, but, if I turn off the mics, the speaker's LEDs glow orange, and this doesn't turn off. It looks bad.

All of these issues have existed since the speaker's release. Google could fix them with OTA software updates, but there is no sign that such fixes are in the cards. My sense is Google has a habit of putting out really impressive hardware, but zero infrastructure for improving the user experience from that point on.

So, I can recommend the sound of the Google Nest Audios, but I cannot recommend the overall experience.

Ah software. Keeping people employed.

I have a friend in the software business and it’s a fiercely competitive field. If they released a product with perfect working 1.0 status; well, it would never be released. Better to go with good enough but on-time; and do updates later.

Would love some insight from @amirm
about software/firmware built into speakers/appliances.

The thing with Google, it appears, is that they drop products when it’s not earning them money.

That’s business as usual but except that they have such a large marketshare userbase it pisses lots of people off
 
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pierre

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These are available new in sand (pink) color for $42.50 each at https://www.ebay.com/itm/115496087013. I just ordered a pair. @Maiky76 or @pierre, any chance one of you can develop an EQ based on @napilopez's data?

EQ is here.
CEA2034.webp

 

silkpurse

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there has got to be a way to insert wired audio thru a digital i2s hack. These measure great and the active limiting really make them far better than the usual small speaker use case.
 

Walter

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I should have posted this long ago. I just forgot. @napilopez thank you so much for testing these and bringing them to my attention. They sound absolutely fantastic on my desk, once I got them elevated to minimize the "desk bounce." Sitting on the desk, and therefore also a good 10-12 inches below my ear, they were really "boomy," with noticeably muted treble. I freely admit I don't have the most discerning ears, but I notice no real difference anywhere within maybe 20% of on-axis listening, either vertical or horizontal.

The one caveat, and it is a big one, is that it just does not work well when used with a desktop computer, or at least not Linux. The software is incredibly unreliable, and the lag is unbelievably long. When people say these are not suitable for use with video in stereo, they are not kidding. I thought, "hey, no problem, my video player software has adjustable audio delay." Nope. At least on Linux, I was sometimes seeing as much as 15 second delay, and it not only varied from video to video, it varied at different points within the same video--and forget fast forwarding or rewinding. That threw it all to hell. Even just playing audio had a delay of 3-8 seconds. The only exception was if I played through Chrome, but it is too limited as either a video or audio player to be worthwhile.

So I switched to using Spotify and local files on my phone, and using my IEMs for video and meetings, and this now ranks as the best sub-$100 audio purchase I ever made.

FYI, filled halfway with sand, these make excellent stands for them: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006401401413.html. I used Size L.
box.jpg
 
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napilopez

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I should have posted this long ago. I just forgot. @napilopez thank you so much for testing these and bringing them to my attention. They sound absolutely fantastic on my desk, once I got them elevated to minimize the "desk bounce." Sitting on the desk, and therefore also a good 10-12 inches below my ear, they were really "boomy," with noticeably muted treble. I freely admit I don't have the most discerning ears, but I notice no real difference anywhere within maybe 20% of on-axis listening, either vertical or horizontal.

The one caveat, and it is a big one, is that it just does not work well when used with a desktop, or at least not Linux. The software is incredibly unreliable, and the lag is unbelievably long. When people say these are not suitable for use with video in stereo, they are not kidding. I thought, "hey, no problem, my video player software has adjustable audio delay." Nope. At least on Linux, I was sometimes seeing as much as 15 second delay, and it not only varied from video to video, it varied at different points within the same video--and forget fast forwarding or rewinding. That threw it all to hell. Even just playing audio had a delay of 3-8 seconds. The only exception was if I played through Chrome, but it is too limited as either a video or audio player to be worthwhile.

So I switched to using Spotify and local files on my hone, and using my IEMs for video and meetings, and this now ranks as the best sub-$100 audio purchase I ever made.

FYI, filled halfway with sand, these make excellent stands for them: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006401401413.html. I used Size L.
View attachment 355134
I'm glad my recommendation was useful!

Yes, it's a shame Google didn't really care about low latency listening. Could have been an excellent pair of desktop speakers for those who wanted it.
 

Walter

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I'm glad my recommendation was useful!

Yes, it's a shame Google didn't really care about low latency listening. Could have been an excellent pair of desktop speakers for those who wanted it.
Yes, I console myself with the thought that if they had accommodated this, either through software or speaker level inputs, i would have never been able to buy a pair for $85--even in pink.
 
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