What's happening in YouTube. Josh Teder here from 6 Months Later and today we
have our very first look at the Google Home Max,
Google's premium smart speaker. We'll take a look at what features set it
apart from other Google Home devices, how good the sound quality really is, and if
this is a smart speaker that you'll want in your home. This is 6 Months Later.
In October of last year, Google unveiled two new smart speaker devices for its
Google Home device family. The first was the Google Home Mini device, which we
took a look at a few months ago on this channel, and the second was the Google
Home Max. Priced at $399 in the US and released in December 2017, the Google
Home Max it's a top of the Google Home device family. Its overall design
complements both the Google Home and the Google Home Mini. The mesh on the outside
of the Google Home Max looks very similar to the mesh used on the Google
Home Mini, except it's much softer to the touch. And the premium hard plastic
around the Google Home Max is very similar to the material used in the Google
Home device. Weighing just under 12 pounds, the Google Home Max is a pretty
hefty speaker. Now around the sides of it you'll see slots for microphones. This is
so the max can hear you when you have your music blasting, and I mean blasting.
These mics are seriously good. I've had the music up extremely loud muttered the
trigger word under my breath and not only could the Google Home Max hear me,
it could actually understand what I was asking. On the back of the device, you'll
find a mute switch very similar to the design on the Google Home Mini, also on
the back you'll find your power input, USB C port, as well as a 3.5 millimeter
audio jack. On top of the speaker is where you can change the volume and play
and pause music when the speaker is in stereo mode. Or when it's in mono mode
you'll be able to slide your finger along the right-hand side of the speaker.
If you have the speaker turn the wrong way, it'll let you know it's turned
upside down. Google Home: "By the way, the Google Home is upside down." The volume bar itself has
a very nice design to it it has this 3d shadow looking thing on it that makes
you intuitively just want to slide your finger across it. In the center of the
volume touch bar is the area where you can play and pause the music that is
currently playing on your Google Home Max.
Unlike the Google Home Mini, there is no touch sensitive part of the Google
Home Max's mesh front. Which is probably a good call on Google's part, considering
the amount of trouble the touch sensitive part of the Google Home Mini
caused them late last year. In the center of the Google Home Max, four white dots
will appear when you wake the assistant. This should look familiar to any of you
out there who have, or have seen a Google Home Mini. Now the four LEDs in the
Google Home Max are a bit larger than the ones found in the Mini, to complement
the larger size of the Google Home Max. Overall I've been very impressed with
the aesthetics of the Google Home Max. Somehow Google took a very large speaker
and made it aesthetically pleasing in a home setting and it looks rather nice in
about any room you put this thing in. Now did the big question, how does it sound?
And the short answer is, it sounds great. The sound is really punchy. The long
answer, which we'll get to in a second is, it really depends on what the
environment is around the Google Home, with ultimately how it's going to sound.
Now like other high-end speakers out there whether from Bose, Sonos etc, with
the Google Home Max, you'll notice a lot of detail in the music or media coming
out of your speaker. You'll hear much more detail out of the music from a Google
Home Max speaker then you will from lower quality speakers like the Google
Home and especially the Google Home Mini. The Google Home Max will sound slightly
different depending on which environment it's in, and this is a good thing. It's
actually a main feature of the Google Home Max called
smart sound. With smart sound, Google uses its machine learning algorithms to
constantly adjust in tune your Google Home Max to the environment that it's
in, to make sure that you get perfect, punchy sound coming out of your Google
Home Max, regardless of whatever room it's in. Now this is a feature I've come
to really enjoy over the past week of testing my Google Home Max. I like this
thing so much I've just been moving it to whatever room I'm spending
most amount of time in per day, because I really enjoyed the punchy sound and I
like the fact that you can adjust both the bass and the treble in the Google
Home app on your mobile device. And this thing is powerful. I don't even think
I've hit the 70% level on volume, just because even at 50% this thing gets
pretty loud. If you want to throw a house party you probably only need maybe one
or two of these things and you can blast the music. I mean you can seriously blast
it with this speaker. So, if you're into that, this may be the Google Home for you.
Overal,l I've been very happy with my Google Home Max, it's got a great sound
which you'd expect from a $400 speaker. I do have to say though, when I first got
it, I actually really didn't think it sounded that great. It took me a few
hours to really listen to the music coming out of it and appreciate all of
the detail you could hear in the music that was playing from it. In the short
amount of time that I've had my Google Home Max, it has become hands down my
favorite Google Home smart speaker. I would recommend the Google Home Max.
anyone that wants that premium speaker with good sound, good aesthetics, and of
course the baked in Google Assistant. Now we'll have much more on the Google Home Max
six months from now when we do a full updated review of it. Until then, let
me know what you think of the Google Home Max in the comments and feel free
to ask me any questions you may have about it. Also, be sure to LIKE this video
if you'd like to see more stuff on the Google Home Max as well as the Google
Home device family, and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you'll never
miss out on another video on the Google Home devices. Until next time, thanks so
much for watching. I'm Josh Teder for 6 Months Later.