▷The Google Nest Audio review. Better audio, same intelligence 🥇

Google Nest Audio review

Google NestAudio he is the heir to Google Home, the smart speaker that had conquered the homes of Italians in 2016. Together with him was Home Mini, a super compact and economical variant that 12 months ago underwent a restyling and changed its name. Today it is called the Nest Mini and is another member of the Nest family.

For those of you who missed a few episodes, let's make a quick summary: Nest was a company specializing in the production of smart devices. In short, its core business - the fulcrum of the activity - was the smart home. In 2014 it was bought by Google for $ 3.2 billion but remained independent until 2018, when it was absorbed by the Big G department responsible for creating smart home products. That's why today the devices that come out of this sector of the company have “Nest” in the name.

Until recently, Google Home seemed immune to this change. In reality, the company has invested considerable resources to be able to develop the new speaker. In fact, he did not want to make small improvements to the previous model but redesign it and adapt it to the needs and tastes of consumers. The result? We talk about it in this review.

Change everything

The design is completely renewed, starting from the shape. Instead of a cylinder we have a parallelepiped with rounded corners, completely covered with a phonotransparent fabric made by recycling the plastic of PET bottles. The only exception is the base, rubberized to allow the device to remain anchored to any surface.

But don't be fooled by appearances: inside it's all metal. A choice that makes the smart speaker decidedly heavier (1,2 kg) but also very stable.

The Google Nest Audio review. Better audio, same intelligence

But let's go back to talking about the design of Google Nest Audio.
Outside, on the back, we find the proprietary connector for charging and a small switch that allows you to physically deactivate the microphones to avoid being heard.
On the front instead we have 4 LED which are activated when you give the command “Ok Google” and which show you the volume level. The latter can be adjusted via i pulsanti soft touch that we find on the top. In total we have three: the two external ones allow you to define the volume while the central one corresponds to Play / Pause.

Overall we are faced with a speaker minimal, elegant and capable of adapting to any environment, without losing its intuitiveness which had characterized the first model and which we also find on Mini and Hub.

The ear also wants its share

The second important novelty is found under the body and no, we are not talking about metal. We have indeed a new 19mm tweeter and a 75mm woofer, accompanied by a 53GHz Quad Core A1,8 processor and a chip dedicated solely to machine learning which allows you to perform the simplest commands even when the device is offline. The chip should also speed up the responses of the virtual assistant but unfortunately it is a function that is only active in the United States.
The latter are received by 3 microphones, with performance certainly superior to what was seen on the first Google Home. Don't expect any changes on the functionality front though: Google Assistant is the good old assistant ever.

The Google Nest Audio review. Better audio, same intelligence

What is different is the rendering of the audio. The volume is higher, the sound is more immersive, the bass less exaggerated compared to Google Home and above all the various sounds can finally be clearly distinguished without ever undergoing distortions.
None of this turns it into an audiophile product. Google has worked hard to get that result does not want and must not please the most refined ears but satisfy the general public.

The application is also available to users GoogleHome, indispensable for the initial configuration but also to put your hand to the equalization settings. Among these also Middle EQ, that adapts Nest Audio to the content being played, e Ambient IQ, which instead helps the assistant to adapt to the noise in the house to ensure that his voice is always well audible.

Google Nest Audio review: buy it or not?

Google NestAudio it is a necessary upgrade. With the proliferation of Echo devices and the advance of speaker manufacturers integrating Mountain View voice assistant capabilities into their devices, Big G had no other choice.
The result is a compelling, well-made, and perfect speaker for anyone who has chosen Google Assistant to rule their thing. The price is certainly adequate: 99,99 euro.