Google Nest Audio Review - 6 Months Later

The Google Nest audio is the latest smart speaker from the Google Nest brand .

I've had one for over six months now and I have to say , I've been pretty impressed with its overall sound and performance .

So let's dive into what makes the Nest audio a great smart speaker .

And first , we've got to talk about sound quality .

The Nest audio sound quality has vastly improved over the original Google Home speaker which it replaced when it launched , vocals are more clear , which is great for music and podcasts .

The base has also been improved quite a bit and it's a huge step up from Google's other tiny smart speaker .

The Nest mini , here's a comparison of how it sounds to some other smart speakers .

I'd rank it as the best sounding smart speaker in Google's current lineup .

Now that the Google Home Max has sadly been discontinued , which sucks because that was a great speaker .

If you want to make your nest audio sound even better , you can stereo pair it to another Nest audio which will significantly improve the sound stage of the speakers and give you an overall better sound .

You can just go into the nest audio settings , click the gear icon , audio and then stereo pair , follow the on screen instructions .

And you've now paired two Nest audio together .

Now , if you're going to buy a smart speaker , music availability is a huge area of concern .

You want to make sure that it works with your favorite music streaming service .

The Nest audio has a huge selection of music services that you can ask the Google Assistant to play from natively .

The list includes Spotify , Pandora , Apple Music , youtube , Music , Dieser and iheart Radio .

Basically all of the big services here in the US except for Tidal and Amazon Music .

Now , if you live outside of the US , you want to double check and make sure that the streaming service that you're using will work with the Nest audio .

And if you want to play media on the speaker that isn't from a natively supported service , you also have the ability to cast that media to the speaker .

As long as the app you want to play the media from has cast support with casting the Nest audio has another trick up its sleeve .

And that's speaker groups .

If you have multiple Google Cast enabled speakers , you can group them all together in the Google Home app to create a group and simultaneously play music and media on them .

At the same time , I use Castt Groups a lot .

I've got six Google speakers in my bedroom alone and I group them all together and when I listen to music on that speaker group , it sounds like music is coming from every corner of my room and it just sounds fantastic .

Also some on Google devices like my Akea receiver can be grouped in with the nest audio as well , which is awesome .

You can also set your nest audio to default to playing music on another speaker or speaker group as well .

So for example , in my room , when I tell my Nest audio to play an album , it defaults to playing it on the group , Josh's bedroom speakers .

You can also create speaker groups on the fly as well .

If you want to add speakers to a group or individual speaker that's currently playing music and it's easy to do .

You just hit the media button in the Google Home app and it'll show you what's currently playing in your home .

And from there , you can adjust the volume on individual speakers in the speaker group or add new speakers to the group .

Now , another big feature with the Nest audio is with the Google Assistant , which is Google's smart assistant that runs on the speaker .

The Google assistant is great for things like asking it to play a specific song or artist on the nest audio or controlling smart home devices like smart lights or the thermostat .

It's also great at helping you throughout the day .

You can create lists like a grocery or shopping list , make outgoing phone calls and of course , you can use it to set timers alarms and just ask you the things you normally type into the Google search bar .

Like does dark chocolate stem your appetite on the website Healthline dot com .

They say studies show that dark chocolate may reduce cravings and promote feelings of fullness which may help support weight loss .

Pretty cool .

Now , if you want to learn more about the Google Assistant , we actually did a video specifically on it that I'll link here and in the video description below and we also do frequent assistant update videos .

So make sure you subscribe to the channel , so you'll get those in your feed .

All right .

Now , another thing that Google got right with the nest audio is its design .

The speaker blends well into the background and has a subtle modern look to it with its mesh fabric covering .

I also like that .

Google uses recycled materials as much as possible with the speaker's design .

And that Google gives you a lot of different color options with their speakers .

I have chalk for my color , but you can also get them in charcoal , sage , sand and sky , which is pretty unique because Apple Amazon and Sonos don't offer that many different color options for their competing speakers .

There's a physical mute switch at the back that physically cuts the connection to the mics giving you that privacy comfort you want with a smart speaker , the touch rules at the top of the device are responsive though , you will need to know where to tap , to do different things .

Tap the center of the speaker to play or pause media and then tap the left side for volume down and the right side for volume up .

If you pick up the speaker , you'll also notice that this thing is pretty heavy .

It weighs £2.65 or 1.2 kg where the original Google Home weighed £1.5 or 0.5 kg added weight with speakers is typically a good thing .

It's often an indication that you've got a better speaker .

All right .

Now , the last couple of features I want to cover are all in the Nest audio settings in the Google Home app .

If you get up in the middle of the night and ask the assistant for something on the nest audio , sometimes those led s can be a bit blinding .

So Google gave the nest audio night mode which can reduce the brightness of the speaker's led s as well as allow you to set a maximum volume for the speaker at night , which I definitely use .

I also like Google , lets you set the volume for alarms and timers separately from the main volume for music and media .

Though , I do wish they had a better interface for managing alarms in the Google Home app for speakers like the Nest audio .

Another feature I've used a lot with the nest audio is the Google sensitivity if you put your speaker in an area of your home where it can't hear you .

Well , this feature allows you to increase or decrease the sensitivity of the wake word that triggers the assistant on the nest audio .

All right .

So those are some of the top things I've found with the nest audio while using it over the long term .

Now , let's talk about issues and downsides .

I haven't run into any issues while using the nest audio over the past six months .

But while using it , I have noticed a few downsides .

The first is you can't use the speaker to send and receive text messages .

Even if you have an Android phone , you also can't take incoming phone calls on the speaker or transfer a phone call from your android phone to this speaker like you can with an iphone and homepod mini .

The last downside with the nest audio is because the speaker is a directional speaker .

If you're replacing a Google home or want to put the nest audio out in the middle of a room , it's only going to project sound in one direction and not in all directions like the Google home that it replaces .

Now , for me , this isn't an issue and I'll gladly take the improved sound of the nest audio over the omnidirectional sound from the Google home .

That was less quality .

All right .

So those are all the positive and negative things I found while using the nest audio over the long term .

So do I ultimately recommend getting one ?

Yes , absolutely .

It's the best sounding smart speaker in Google's line up to date and for 100 bucks off on sale for $79 .

I absolutely think it's worth it at those prices .

Now , when compared to the competition , which at this price level is the home pod mini and Amazon echo .

To me , the nest audio competes well against the other two .

The reason I choose Google speakers from my home is in my case , the Google assistant just does more for me than the Amazon assistant and Siri and with cast support , Google makes it really easy to set up and manage multiple speakers and speaker groups and cast to them regardless of the device you're using .

Now , if you're trying to decide between the nest audio and the nest mini and cost isn't the predominant barrier .

I'd steer you towards the nest audio every time it sounds way better .

And I personally think it's worth it to make the jump from the mini to the audio in almost any scenario , unless you're looking to put a speaker in an area where you just don't care all that much about sound quality , like say a bathroom .

Now we'll be coming out with a more detailed comparison between the nest audio and and the nest mini shortly .

So make sure you subscribe to the channel to see that video and if you found this video helpful , make sure you hit that thumbs up button below .

We also did a video comparing the Apple home pod mini to the nest audio .

So if you're looking at both of those speakers and trying to decide which one you want , make sure you check out that video in the video description below .

Well , that's gonna do it for me for six months later .

I'm Josh Teter .

Thanks for watching .