Google Nest Audio

Google’s new Nest-branded smart speaker has gained the suffix ‘Audio’, which suggests the Californian giant is highlighting how splendid its latest voice-activated device actually sounds, rather than what its Google Assistant can help you with.

The redesigned Google Nest Audio feels surprisingly tall and heavy in our hands. Whatever your thoughts on pebble-coloured, fabric-swathed cuboids, here is a second-gen speaker that could never be mistaken for an air freshener. So, will Google’s shot at nominative determinism succeed?

Building bricks

The Nest Audio’s dimensions are roughly that of an upright house brick, but the aesthetic is altogether more calming. There’s no branding or visible controls, apart from a switch around the back of the unit that turns off voice pick-up.

The speaker is so unassuming it almost fades into the background, that is until you bark ‘Hey Google’ to fire up its AI calling card: a quartet of horizontal LED lights shining out from under the speaker’s skin. The enclosure is made from 70 per cent recycled plastic, too.

Under the Nest Audio’s chalk-coloured jacket (also available in black) there’s a 19mm tweeter, 75mm woofer and Quad Core A53 1.8 GHZ processor. There are three capacitive touch controls too: tap in the middle of the speaker’s curved top to pause and resume playback, tap to the left to reduce volume and tap on the right edge to increase it. These functions don’t require much force and work well.

The Nest Audio must be plugged in to a mains socket in your home to operate, so bear that in mind if you want your smart speaker to sit away from a wall. Even for Google newbies, set-up is a breeze. Plug the Nest Audio in, download the Google Home app and follow the prompts. The speaker locates wi-fi, links to our Spotify Premium account, assumes its ‘lounge’ location within our ‘home’ and takes on its new name.

In terms of streaming services, as well as Spotify, there is also Youtube Music, Deezer, Tunein and a few others which once linked, can be accessed by saying ‘Hey Google, play Cardi B’, for example. With Chromecast built in, you can also cast tracks to your Google Nest Audio with just two clicks of your favourite music-streaming app on your phone.

Voice pick-up is impeccable throughout our tests, with Google answering accurately, clearly and snappily, even with music at high volume. It is possible to alter the Nest Audio’s EQ levels within the app, but we don’t recommend doing so. After experimenting, we keep these neutral – augmenting the bass doesn’t yield the desired weightiness, and upping the treble results only in a harsher listen.

Within the well-designed Google Home app, you can now create a stereo pair comprising two Google Nest Audios – a Nest Audio and Google Home can also be paired, but only in mono. Doing so creates a more room-filling, substantial sound with a broader soundscape.

According to Google, this speaker is 75 per cent louder, and has 50 per cent more bass than the 2016 Google Home smart speaker it succeeds. So, can you get an enhanced and room-filling sound with just one Google Nest Audio? Sadly not. While those stats may be true, it simply doesn’t equate to the level-up in sound quality we had hoped for.

The Google Nest Audio is rather likeable as a background music provider and for listening to podcasts in the kitchen – it is both fun and reliable when answering our requests – but, even at this relatively low price, it isn’t quite the serious audio proposition we’d hoped for.

Listen to a similarly priced JBL Flip 5, for example, and while you won’t get smart capabilities (nor app support, nor streaming over wi-fi), Coheed and Cambria’s The Crowing sounds weightier, times better across the frequencies, and has an extra layer of detail in the vocal.

Tiring treble

Switching to Jojo Desmond’s Studio 54, the lyrical, soulful and charismatic belter comes through centrally and is well handled through the midrange, but we lose the brooding disco bassline that pumps energy through the track. The more mellow Lonely Heart is just not quite as three-dimensional, emotive and dynamic as it ought to be. Listening to Cardi B’s I Like It, we increase the volume in search of a room-filling bassline, but find that brings a harshness through the treble which becomes tiring over time.

The Google Nest Audio is well made, easy to operate and answers our requests accurately and with finesse. It also plays music – and for some that will be every box ticked. If you’re looking for a smart speaker that provides a slightly bigger background noise than an entry-level Nest Mini, the Google Nest Audio is a good option. But, it is three times as expensive as its Mini sibling, and we cannot say that it’s three times as good.

For a product with a name that’s intended to appeal to an audio-conscious market, the Google Nest Audio really needs to sound better.