Gadget of the Week – Google Home Max

Published on January 11, 2018

Ask anyone who has a voice assistant for their home or office, and they’re all likely to give you a variation of the same phrase: “I love it.”

Here at the Geek office, our team is among the converted. Frankly, it’s hard to remember a time before we could organize our shopping lists, conduct quick web searches, and blast out our favorite tunes, all with just a simple voice command to our handy dandy speaker system.

But, for all the ease and usefulness of a voice assistant, it’s still worth asking – would you pay nearly $400 for one?

That’s the question that seems to inevitably accompany the Google Home Max. Released in mid-December, the Home Max comes with a $399 price tag, which is steep by any measure. But it might just be worth it, when you consider how powerful the Home Max seems to be, according to early reviews and reports.

In addition to complete integration with the Google Home system (including the Google Assistant), the Home Max offers sound specs that would make any audiophile drool: The device offers two 4.5-inch high-excursion woofers and two custom tweeters, perfect for filling any room with high quality sound. When laid on its side, the Home Max uses its dual-speaker capacity to play in stereo; stand it on its end, and it switches to mono, perfect for pairing with another speaker for an immersive surround sound experience.

And, even with the improved sound quality, Google assures users that they’ll never have trouble communicating with the Google Assistant; the Home Max’s six onboard microphones should ensure that you’ll have total far-field voice control at all times, whether you’re sitting in silence or blasting Pantera.

It’s up to you if it’s worth shelling out four bills for this souped-up, Sonos-slaying speaker. But there’s definitely value to be seen here; certainly, any improvement in sound quality over current levels would be welcome, considering how lackluster the speakers can sometimes feel on a standard Amazon Echo or Google Home device. And with Apple’s HomePod looking like it’s not going to see the light of day until later in 2018, true speaker-heads have limited options at the moment.

Want to try out a Google Home Max for yourself? You can order one now through Best Buy, Verizon, or Google’s website.

Think there are any other smart home gadgets we need to try? Want to blow our minds with another speaker option? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a line today on Facebook or Twitter to keep the conversation going!