So Google has nipped the ‘Home’ moniker from its lineup of smart speakers and ushered in the ‘Nest’ lineup with the new Google Nest Audio.
What looks like a brick of fabric has a lot happening inside. It’s a major improvement over the Google Home in terms of design and sound and contains all of Google’s essentials in a package that costs Rs 6,999.
So what more does Google’s latest gizmo offer to audiophiles? Let’s take a closer look at the Google Nest Audio.
Pros
- Good sound
- Compact
- Good design
Cons
- Prone to dust and smudges
- No audio jack
What’s Good
The Google Nest Audio is loud enough for an average size 10x13 room thanks to its 75mm woofer and 19mm tweeter.
The sound is unidirectional but crisp which is what I liked compared to the 360-degrees sound that the Google Home offers. Bass might not be exemplary but it’s relatively better than its predecessors. Despite the low bass, the audio is clear and the audio has better separation from instruments and that helps when you’re listening to podcasts.
You can set up the speaker via the Google Home app and it’s easy.
Aesthetically, the Nest Audio looks good with any kind of decor, be it a plush tabletop or even marble in the kitchen. The fabric that’s been used on the speaker is the same as the one on Google Nest Mini and it’s been made from recycled plastic bottles.
If you don’t like the grey one Google sent us, you can choose from options such as dark grey, pink or the sage colour as Google calls it.
The Nest Audio listens to you better thanks to the three far-field mics that have been added to this setup. It picks up prompts even if you’re playing music at high volumes.
You can pair two Nest Audio speakers and place them in different corners of the room to give you that multi-dimensional sound experience. Voice recognition has improved a lot as Google has been working at the back end trying to make the AI more intuitive.
With the Nest, you’re with the Google ecosystem and that’s a big advantage compared to other smart speaker brands. You can get any type of information and request any song which Google can fetch from its extensive YouTube Music library or from Spotify, Saavn or Gaana.
However, you need to subscribe to YouTube Music to request a particular song or an album. Else, the device will just pick a similar playlist from an array of radio stations it has access to for free.
The Nest Audio also comes with a physical mic-off button at the back which comes in handy when you don’t want Google listening to your private conversations.
It comes with LED lights at the centre which indicate the level of volume and light up when you activate the speaker with the prompt “Ok Google” or “ Hey Google”.
I liked that Google has done away with the physical control buttons and gone all touch this time around. You tap on the top left side to increase the volume and the right to decrease. You can also toggle play/pause but taping in the middle.
Warning: It’s prone to accidental touches.
What’s Bad
One of the biggest drawbacks is that the Google Nest Audio does not come with a 3.5mm audio jack. I know the world has moved on to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi but sometimes you feel the need to plug in wires to experience high-fidelity audio. There’s a reason that professional headphones and audio equipment today still run on wires.
Its competitor in this price segment, the Amazon Echo Plus, comes with an audio jack.
Since the speaker is made out of fabric, it is prone to dust and smudges. Make sure you go for a darker shade of the speaker, preferably the dark grey.
Verdict
The Google Nest Audio is the perfect companion for your weekend Blues (the genre) and works well for people who do not want a fancy screen for their smart speaker and want just an audio device that sounds good.
People who listen to a lot of music and podcasts should definitely go for the Google Nest Audio.
What works a bit against the Nest Audio is the price tag. At Rs 6,999, it is Rs 1,000 more expensive than the Amazon Echo Plus (3rd Gen) which is also a good smart speaker.
But I’ll definitely give some extra brownie points to the Nest Audio because it has Google backing its brain.
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