![]() If you're in the market for a smart speaker with a built-in display that also supports Google Assistant, there's little reason not to get the second-generation Nest Hub. There are cheaper Google Assistant speakers, and there are better-sounding ones, but Google nailed it by producing a speaker that sits at the junction between different specialties. There's no 3.5mm audio jack on the speaker for input or output, which is probably its only shortcoming. It's a shame that you can only use wireless audio, though, and you can't hook a Nest Audio into an existing sound system. The Nest Audio has nothing much in the way of physical controls, with a microphone mute switch joined by touch points to turn the volume up and down. The Nest Audio also packs smart features such as Ambient IQ, which can adapt to background noise to ensure your audio always sounds good. Despite its fairly compact size, the sound is room-filling. Inside the Nest Audio is a 75mm (2.95-inch) woofer and a 19mm (0.74-inch) tweeter, which combine to produce balanced sound with good performance across the spectrum, including with vocals. ![]() ![]() Google also included Chromecast protocol integration, which makes it a breeze to send audio from your mobile device to your Nest Audio. It supports all the major music streaming services, including Apple Music, and once set as the default, all you need to do is trigger the speaker and ask for your songs. The Nest Audio is a good speaker for most people who want good audio. Google smart speakers have had strong aesthetics for as long as they've been a thing, and the Nest Audio follows the simple, fabric-fronted design seen on other recent products. It costs about the same as an Amazon Echo, and it doesn't look too bad, either. The Google Nest Audio is the best all-around smart speaker that Google has ever released. So, if you're looking for the right smart speaker to go along with that, these Google Assistant speakers are the best ones to get. Therefore, backing Google Assistant isn't a bad play. And this will only continue to grow thanks to Matter, the new universal smart home standard that promises better interoperability. Just as with Alexa, there is a big selection of smart home tech that integrates with Google Assistant. It's also an incredible platform for smart home integration, too. A compatible smart speaker will take that very assistant from your phone and insert it into every room in your home. But it's there on your phone as a voice assistant, and it's a great tool to add some smart features to your everyday life. While very similar in many regards, Google Assistant has one key advantage when it comes to implanting itself into your daily routine: If you use an Android phone, you've probably already been using Google Assistant, perhaps without giving it much thought. In one corner, you have Amazon Alexa, and in the other, Google Assistant. The only problem now, might be finding one on sale.When it comes to the best smart speakers on the market, there is really only a choice between two voice assistants. In a world increasingly defined by the latest products, it is great to see something that rewards you for holding on to your existing equipment. We are big fans of the original Google Chromecast, and we're hugely excited to see that bag of streaming tricks being used for music. Google has definitely achieved that particular objective. The Chromecast Audio is a simple and slick device with one goal in mind: to bring wireless music streaming to systems that may be in need of updating, without having to replace all your existing kit. That means Spotify, for example, has a maximum quality of 320kbps. Google has been tight-lipped about the technical specifics, but we do know the bitrates are dictated by what individual apps can do. The Chromecast Audio also saves you battery power, as your smartphone doesn’t actually handle any data. ![]() Connecting over wi-fi also means your music doesn’t get interrupted by the sound of text messages and alerts, as it does when using Bluetooth. The performance certainly reflects that assertion: the Chromecast Audio’s wi-fi sound offered noticeably greater detail and dynamism than we got over Bluetooth. That is somewhat redundant given the speaker’s built-in wireless capabilities, but Google is keen to stress that wi-fi has a huge advantage over Bluetooth, namely less compression. Next we tried the Chromecast Audio with a B&W T7 Bluetooth speaker.
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