Customer Ratings & Reviews

This speaker is a much-needed upgrade from the previous Nest model. The sound is much clearer, and Google Assistant/Gemini understands you much better.

After a very long time, Google now has something akin to a successor to the Mini home speaker. Yet while it’s a welcome addition to the Google product ecosystem, I cannot help but wonder if Google could have simply made an updated refresh of the Mini instead. Physically, the Home Speaker is significantly larger than its old Mini predecessor. However, its larger size means the speaker can be bigger to produce better and fuller audio. The volume control is similar to the Mini with one side decreasing volume and its opposing side increasing volume. There is a center touch to pause or resume playback of current media. Powering the Home Speaker is an integrated USB-C cable connected to a small USB power block. I have attempted to use a 3rd party USB power charger as an alternative but it didn’t work for my case. I find it a little strange it didn’t work, but using a 3rd party USB power block will have varying degrees of success. I also would like it if Google did not integrate the USB cable directly into the speaker itself. Cables can fail and not being able to replace said power cable is a big miss. Audio playback is decent and definitely an improvement over the Mini. Mids and highs are decent but low frequency range is lackluster. Any tunes that you expect those low frequencies to pop or punch, you’ll find it seems like it took a back seat instead. Google touts it being able to pair with its Google TV Streamer, which is a nice touch. But as someone who cares a little more about audio fidelity than most average joes, I don’t think it’s a good fit. The fact that movies and shows will make good use of the low frequencies (especially action movies) will only support the sub-par low frequency performance of the Home Speaker. Okay, so if media playback is not a good idea, what’s left? Well, as long as the Home Speaker isn’t used as a primary driver for media playback, it’s a great device for accessing Google’s digital assistant (formerly Google Assistant, now called Google Gemini). And if you have several smart devices that integrate with Google’s Home ecosystem, then it’s an excellent companion to help control those devices. Honestly, I like the new Home Speaker. The audio is an improvement. But pricing is questionable. At MSRP, I don’t know if it’s worth it. The Nest Mini can be had for less if you can find it. If you seek a smart speaker just for Google’s digital assistant and capabilities, it is difficult to recommend the Home Speaker. But it is good if you need it to do more than that. The Good: decent mids+highs, decent sound, can pair with Google TV Streamer, The Bad: lackluster lows, integrated USB power cable, hit/miss using 3rd party USB power/charger block The Ugly: future cable failure Verdict: flip a coin