Google Nest Audio smart speaker is all about sound (Review) – Cybershack

The Google Nest Audio is a $149 smart speaker with decent audio tuning that makes it useful and sounds good too. Honestly, the sound quality is unusually good for a cheap smart speaker.

The designers of Google Nest Audio wanted to appeal to Joe and Jane Average. They don’t necessarily need to understand the technicalities of a sound signature – read How to tell if you have good music (sound signature is key – guide). But they understand volume without distortion, artificial sound versus natural sound, and whether they like it. And the jury says: ‘Yes’.

Australian review: Google Nest Audio smart speaker

Price	149 dollars
Producer	Google
Product page	Here
Guarantee	Two years
Country of manufacture	Thailand
O	Google is an American company most commonly known as a search engine. Although the company made a name for itself as a search engine and most of its revenue comes from advertising, it branched out into Made By Google Hardware.
More	CyberShack Google news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (exceeds expectations or class leader) against many of the items below. Sometimes we give a Pass rating that isn’t as good as it should be, and a Passing ‘+’ rating to show that it’s good but not quite up to Exceed. Most images can be clicked to enlarge.

First Impression – A bit stocky and chunky in Chalk and Charcoal – Pass+

The worst would be to compare it to any other smart speaker brand. It’s clearly Google, and you either like its design elements or you don’t. I don’t mind them.

However, the appearance suggests that sound comes from both sides, but the reality is that it has a forward-firing 75mm woofer and a 19mm tweeter for forward-facing sound.

Technical specifications – Pass+

• Size: 175 (H) x 124 (W) x 78 mm (D) x 1.2 kg (without power adapter). The Home was 96.4 (round) x 142.8 (h) x 477g – quite a difference
• Cover: The back and base are plastic, the front panel (under the acoustic mesh) is metal
• Front-facing 75mm woofer and 19mm tweeter
• Three remote microphones
• Stereo Pairing or Google Groups
• Tap to play/pause and increase/decrease volume
• Dual-band Wi-Fi 5 AC 2.4/5 GHz
• BT 5.0 and Chromecast
• Quad-core A53 1.8 GHz with built-in machine learning
• Power supply: 24V/1.25A/30W plug with 1.5m cable
• Black or chalk
• Google Assistant and the ability to do more on the device
• Google Home app for Android or iOS

How does that sound? Pass+

Better than a speaker this size should have. This is due to Google’s ambient IQ. No, it’s not room tuning, but it uses its three microphones to determine what ambient sounds the audio content is competing with and adjust accordingly. You cannot see it or touch it; take Google at its word.

Next is the basic Google Home EQ where you can adjust the bass or treble. Media EQ also analyzes content and adapts to music, podcasts, audiobooks or the Assistant.

Google lists a maximum of 86 dB; our tests peaked at 84dB. The sound was surprisingly clean and “listenable”.

• Deep bass: 20-40Hz – zero
• Mid-Bass: 40-100Hz – extends nicely to a maximum at 100Hz
• High bass: 100 to 200 Hz – flat
• Low-mid: 200-400Hz – flat
• Mid: 400-1000Hz – flat
• High-mid: 1-2kHz – flat
• Low treble: 2-4kHz flat
• Treble: 4-6kHz – drop to avoid treble harshness
• Treble: 6-10 kHz – flat
• Dog whistle: 10-20 kHz – flat up to 20 kHz

It is a balanced border with a neutral sound signature – neither the bass nor the treble overwhelm the midrange. The EQ does allow for high bass boost, but I’d leave it flat and leave the rest to Google smarts.

Another use – Pass+

It can do everything any Google Assistant speaker can do. However, its sound quality is perfect for Google Duo audio calls – crystal clear.

You can stereo pair it and use it for multi-room speaker setups. It has Chromecast for streaming music from your smartphone.

Google Assistant and Privacy – Pass

You can read more about what Google Assistant does here.

If you have a smart speaker from any vendor, it collects your data – what you request, where it is, and often much more.

You can mute the microphone using a special slide switch. Since we have a household full of Google Assistant speakers, it’s helpful to prevent them all from responding!

You can view your Google Assistant history on the My Activity page, which is accessible through the Google Home app and online at myactivity.google.com. You are in control of your data and can delete your history at any time.

Unlike some other speaker ecosystems, it’s not an online shopping mall add-on.

CyberShack View – Google’s Nest Audio smart speaker is all about sound

It’s pretty good in its class – lower price, higher music quality, and a smart speaker too. Rating is easy. In its price category, there is a) no alternative and b) no better one. It’s a tangible improvement over the Google Nest Mini – a cheap way to add OK Google (speaker review).

Now you might be wondering why you should go with Google Assistant and not Alexa. Read Google’s OK rules below.

Rating Explanation

Features: 90 – It’s a Google Wi-Fi speaker with a focus on sound quality

Value: $95 149 is very good

Power: 90 The sound signature is good and the EQ and smarts take care of the rest

Ease of use: 90 – Easy to set up via Google Home

Design: 85 – some like it and some don’t