Google Nest Audio review

Smart home segment has seen tremendous growth in the last couple of years and life in smart homes is always simpler with a hub(s) to remotely control and operate different IoT devices scattered across the home. (Google Nest Audio Review हिंदी में पढ़िए)

Smart speakers like Google Nest Audio serve the purpose. Priced at Rs. 6,999, the Nest Audio costs the same as the last generation Nest Hub that also has a basic display. Google has focused on audio quality and has duly equipped this Nest device to compete against Amazon’s 4th generation Echo speakers.

In our Google Nest Audio review, we will talk about what we liked and what we didn’t and help you decide if this should be the apt smart speaker choice for your home. 

Nest Audio Review: Price and specifications

Nest Audio Review: Design and Build

Google Nest Audio has a vertical pillow shape design with an inviting mesh fabric exterior available in Black (charcoal) and Grey (chalk) colors. We like the looks and love how it can blend into oblivion on the corner shelf when not in use. Also, Google predominantly uses recycled material in its construction and that kind of ads to the feel-good factor.

There are no physical buttons this time, but there are hidden touch controls for volume and play/pause (center) arranged along the top surface. While the idea sounds cool, these invisible touch controls didn’t quite work for us.

On the rear, there is a toggle that lets you turn off the input from 3 microphones.

LED indicators are present on the front and they light up during the setup or anytime you interact with the speaker

There is no audio jack, so you can’t add Google smarts to your home sound system using an aux cable.

Also Check: Google Nest Hub Smart Display Review

Nest Audio Review: Software

Nest audio connects to Android and iOS phones via Google Home App. The app is very well designed. It lets you remotely control volume and has a mini equalizer to adjust Bass and Treble.

Google Assistant, the vital force that ads meaning to the concept, is still smarter than Amazon Alexa at understanding Indian dialects and context, and this continues to lend the Assistant-powered smart speakers an edge in India.

Nest Audio proved quite deft at recognizing and controlling smart home products in our home using voice commands. We had two languages set-up – English (India) and Hindi – and even my 5-year-old kid could ably interact with Google Assistant, asking random questions and requesting animal sounds.

During the course of our review, we asked Nest audio to play songs or play Youtube videos on our Android TV. The accuracy was quite good, but there is still room for improvement here. 

To have to repeat voice commands, however infrequently, can get annoying and that’s why we prefer casting phone audio to the speaker from the Home app or directly from within music apps. 

Yes, the biggest reason to prefer Google Smart Speakers is the option to seamless cast audio directly from within podcasts and music apps like YouTube, Gaana, JioSaavn, Spotify, and even Amazon Music.

If you have more than one Google Assistant speaker (from any brand), you can easily group them as a pair and get the option to directly cast to the pair. To group these speakers in stereo and assign them individual left and right channel, both speakers need to be Nest Audio.

If you have multiple speakers in different rooms, you may also broadcast music to all of them. 

Also Read: Realme Buds Wireless Pro ANC Review

Nest Audio Review: Sound Quality and Microphone

Nest Audio speaker includes a 75mm mid-woofer to handle bass and mids and a 19mm tweeter for high frequencies. We are not talking about audiophile-grade audio, but the speaker sounds quite fun and is suitable for a wide variety of content.

The sub-bass frequency response is limited due to the tiny size and you need to balance your expectations. Low-frequency rumble and bass drop in the song Acid Rain by lorn could still travel to our chair across the hall. 

There is a dedicated tweeter to take care of the treble response and users can also get some boost using the basic equalizer in the home app. High frequencies lack detail but considering just a single speaker at play, there is no reason to complain. Vocals are crisp and clear even when multiple pieces of equipment join in.

So, overall, the Nest Audio sounds pretty good and if you are particularly fastidious about audio, you may consider pairing two of these together in stereo.

Google Nest Audio also has an Automatic EQ working in the background that adjusts sound based on the content you are listening to. For instance, if you are listening to a podcast or speech, Nest Audio can increase volume based on ambient noise to make the words sound clearer. Similarly, Nest Audio can also adjust Media EQ based on the type of song you are listening to.

All of this, however, happens in the background and it’s hard to ascertain how much of an impact these adjustments have. 

The microphone can pick ‘Hey Google’ from across the room, but we didn’t notice any improvement in this regard as compared to last generation Google Home. The microphones can also be used for answering calls made to google home, and call quality is quite decent.

Nest Audio Review Verdict: Should you buy it?

By now we are very familiar with the concept of smart speakers. These act as hubs in a connected home, sit silently in a corner until you need some assistance turning on your TV or your lights, or if you need to seamlessly shift audio from your phone’s tiny speakers to something more fulfilling. 

And a good smart speaker is one that does so reliably. Priced at 6,999, the Google Nest is not meant to replace your party speakers, but it does have the basics covered and sounds pretty good – which should make it a good buy for most people invested in Google’s smart home ecosystem.

Xiaomi’s Mi Smart speaker costs even lesser and does fine when it comes to controlling smart home devices. Nest Audio, however, sounds so much better and is noticeably more responsive.

Google’s Nest Hub display costs the same INR 6,999 in India and if casting music ranks lower on your priority list, you may consider trading in some audio quality for the added display that makes the experience more interactive.

Pros

• Elegant design
• Audio quality is good enough for the price
• Chromecast integration in popular apps is helpful
• Responsive microphone

Cons

• No 3.5mm audio jack
• Invisible touch controls are meh