The Nest Audio a month later, has it faded?

One thing that many users really notice when using Google Home and Nest products is the difference in sound. Originally, it wasn’t the Google Home speakers Really intended as a playback medium, but has become one. This was clearly recognized by Nest Audio’s massive sound upgrade. I’m brought up to me for reviews pretty regularly. “Would you still like this after the new toy shine wore off?” Today, a month later, we’re taking another quick look at Nest Audio.

The look is even better

One area where electronics keep draining or becoming obsolete over time is looks. In this case, the old Google Home speaker looks pretty dated, with Nest Audio fitting in with the setting. It’s a great consolidation of looks that the Home Mini, followed by the Nest Mini, started off with. The Google Home Max is another step beyond that, and since a $ 400 speaker is a niche, it’s a little irrelevant to this conversation other than appreciation of the unified look.

I’m still a little unconvinced about the long-term viability of the material front – focused on the fact that I have two little carbon-based life forms in my house with sticky fingers – that keep searching for goods, but that’s something that does it all over again needs to be reviewed in 12 months or more. At the moment it fits in More Settings than the older Google Home speaker with minimal additional space used by the device.

The sound is great, maybe too good?

Probably the biggest focus for me and many other Nest Audio reviewers is good … the audio! Not only as a generation comparison, but also as a stand-alone intelligent speaker, it is one of the best I’ve ever heard without spending significantly more money. In fact, I’d even say it almost rivals my first generation Sonos Play: 1 in terms of audio output. There are limitations, and if you’re looking to go one step further – as mentioned earlier – the Home Max, which is likely to be updated soon, or something like the Sonos One is more to your liking.

The smart parts

The Assistant in Nest Audio is Google’s best delivery to date. This is mainly due to the combination of physical hardware (good quality, far-field microphones) and Ambient IQ. The microphones make a big difference as they can better spot your requests not only next to the speaker, but also from other areas of your home.

I have found that even when there is significant noise – children, loud music, television, etc. – the success rate in triggering and retrieving the assistant’s requests is leaps and bounds ahead of previous generations. Ambient IQ also increases the volume of the assistant, if the noise around you is not from Nest Audio, enough that you can hear what else is going on without the speaker being ridiculously loud.

So has the shine faded?

The short answer is no, but I have a few inquiries for Google when they design the next Nest speaker.

The first is to have an Ethernet port for better and more consistent connectivity. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t heard “Wait a minute while I’m connected to Wi-Fi” when they tried to do a task on their Google Home or Nest speakers.

The second is a power supply that does not occupy two ports on a power supply board or partially block the second port in a wall. This is just a small convenience factor to minimize the impact on other electronic devices in the home. Both wishes are not necessary, but rather a little polish for an already very good product.

A month later, the Nest Audio still impresses me with how far it has come as a generation development. The sound is really good, Assistant has evolved and it looks like the goods. Whether you’re starting your smart home or looking to upgrade existing smart speakers, I firmly believe the $ 149.00 investment is worth it.