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<\/a><\/p>\nInside the Google Home Max.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The quality and crispness largely stays intact as you turn up the volume, however as you get closer to the maximum levels some detail can be lost if you\u2019re too close to the speaker. The audio\u2019s crispness seems to hold together tighter if you correlate an increase in volume with your distance from the speaker.<\/p>\n
Features wise, the Google Home Max has a lot of the same as the Home and Home Mini. Google Assistant is obviously built in and a main attraction, plus there is hands-free calling, music streaming, Chromecast casting and it can connect through both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Unique to the Home Max is an auxiliary port to plug in other devices, such as a vinyl record player.<\/p>\n
Home Max also uniquely has what Google calls Smart Sound, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically tune the smart speaker to the room and its furniture, walls or people. If you move the speaker around or to a different room completely, Smart Sound will automatically adapt for the best audio quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re getting that kind of bass response you\u2019re normally going to create a lot of distortion if it is placed close to a wall, especially for a speaker the size of Home Max, and that can actually double or triple the amount of bass response to create a muddy sound,\u201d Shah said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe machine learning algorithms we put into play here use device\u2019s microphone and speaker to model the acoustics of the home to measure the distance between rooms and apply the corrective influence\u2026 You don\u2019t have to think about where you have to place it or which room to place it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Based on the week of testing our review unit, Smart Sound seems to work well whether the product is propped up against a wall or near lots of objects.<\/p>\n
The Home Max also comes with a rubber-like magnetic base that can be stuck to its bottom or side for both vertical and horizontal standing. This base means the unit won\u2019t damage wooden surfaces due to vibrations while playing music as some of the competitors seem to do, according to various tech blogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is thinking about whether I have to place this speaker on a particular type of wood or shelf, people just place their speaker where there is space,\u201d Shah said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want people to go off and re-do their house to have awesome sound.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Home Max\u2019s polycarbonate and sealed enclosure will also prevent as much vibration from the frame as possible and give a \u201ctrue representation\u201d of the music behind it, Shah added.<\/p>\n
Finally, another feature unique to Home Max in the Home family at the moment is the ability to pair two of them for stereo sound \u2014 including left and right channel separation. This is different from the usual multi-room pairing other Google Home or Chromecast devices already have which just play the same thing at the same time.<\/p>\n
Competition<\/strong><\/h3>\nGoogle announced its first Home smart speaker in May 2016, about a year and a half after Amazon\u2019s Echo had its initial limited release in the U.S. While the idea of regular smart speakers have been around for years now, it wasn\u2019t until last year that the idea of a premium, higher-priced smart speaker really started gaining momentum.<\/p>\n
Because of its emphasis on high quality audio, the Google Home Max\u2019s most direct competitors are often considered Apple\u2019s HomePod and Sonos\u2019 One or Play:5.<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s HomePod still isn\u2019t available in Canada yet, which means Google has beat a competitor to the country with a smart speaker product again. Google has been aggressive with its Home strategy in Canada after coming north of the border in June 2017, prior to Amazon\u2019s Echo in November. Google Assistant is still the only smart speaker assistant available in French.<\/p>\n
The HomePod had an initial delay in the U.S. and still doesn\u2019t have a Canadian launch date, so for this review there could be no direct comparison. However, tech blogs in the U.S. have often positioned the Home Max and HomePod with similar sound.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sonos has been available in Canada for some time and its One smart speaker even has Amazon\u2019s Alexa built in. It is smaller and cheaper at just $249, but sounds surprisingly crisp when compared to others in the price range.<\/p>\n
The Home Max definitely sounds more clear and full than the Sonos One if you only have one of each, but that should be expected for the price. If you purchase a second Sonos One, bringing the total up to the Home Max\u2019s price tag, you can pair them for stereo sound like with Google Home Max and the lines are more blurred. Two independent Sonos One smart speakers acting with left and right audio channels make for a compelling argument at the same price as a Home Max.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re just looking at just the one smart speaker comparison though then the Google Home Max takes the prize \u2014 at least until we re-evaluate once Apple\u2019s HomePod comes to the country.<\/p>\n
Conclusions<\/strong><\/h3>\nUltimately, choosing the right smart speaker for you comes down to your budget and smart assistant preference. Other inexpensive Google Home models are still solid and have a persuasive price, meanwhile those wanting Alexa as an assistant may side with the Sonos One due to its sound quality (it will also be getting Google Assistant later on).<\/p>\n
That said, it\u2019s hard to argue that the Google Home Max sounds fantastic once you give it a listen. The audio is rich and crisp thanks to its larger woofers and tweeters, clearly giving it a wider range of sound compared to other standalone smart speakers in Canada at the moment. Music enthusiasts in particular will enjoy the Home Max, as it fills the room with great sound.<\/p>\n
Is the Home Max worth the $320 price increase over its regular Home sibling for some people? No, probably not. The Home Max is clearly geared towards those who want a premium, high-quality speaker with a smart assistant built right into it. Otherwise, the more inexpensive alternatives will likely suffice for those who just want to get their feet wet in the space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While the new smart speaker is bigger and better than its smaller siblings, not everyone may find the $320 jump in price worth it just yet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9806"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9807,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9806\/revisions\/9807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}