Google Home Max with Chromecast and Assistant

google home max

Google Home Max is actually quite a big deal. For the first time, Google releases a speaker that is on pair with the top multiroom speakers on the market in terms of sound quality. Loaded with the Assistant, it has voice commands and is also a hub for controlling other smart home devices.

Home Max is twenty times more powerful than the original Google Home (that has quite bad sound) and has dual 4.5-inch high-excursion woofers for deep bass. It has Smart Sound, where Google uses artificial intelligence to make Max adapt to the environment it is in, the context, and your preferences. Smart Sound automatically adjusts the listening experience to where it is placed in a room. If it is moved, it will tune itself within a few seconds.

home max inside

Home Max supports all the services that chromecast built-in does, so every mayor one, except Apple Music. It also has Bluetooth and an aux port. So if you absolutely must play Apple Music, use those.

To enable the Assistant to play Spotify with voice commands, open the Google Home app, link your Spotify account and set Spotify as your standard music service. Then your ready to control Spotify with commands like “Ok Google, play Dr. Dre”, “Ok Google, what song is this?” and so on.

In some ways it is strange that it took Google this long to release a great sounding speaker. But it is probably due to them wanting to incorporate the assistant and having a large enough ecosystem around it at launch.

As with Google’s flagship mobiles, now the Pixel 2 series, it shows other manufacturers what could be achieved with Google technology and is also a clean version of their vision for the multi-room market. It will probably lead to more chromecast built-in speakers from other manufacturers that follows in its footsteps, with built-in Google assistants as well.

Sonos One with Alexa voice control

sonos play one

The Sonos One is basically a Play:1 with integrated Alexa voice recognition. You can play music by simply saying “Alexa, play Ramstein”. If you want to play the music in another zone, simply add the zone name after. Or “everywhere” for playing the same music on all speakers in your home. It has six onboard microphones to be able to capture the commands from any direction.

In some ways Sonos One is a work in progress. It does not have support for voice commands for Spotify at launch, even though it will get it soon after. It does have Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeart Radio, and other. It will get Google Assistant support sometime in 2018.

As with Play:1, Sonos One is a mono speaker but two Sonos Ones can be combined to a stereo pair for filing a room with hi-fi-like sound, or used as surround speakers with a PlayBase or PlayBar and an optional Sub.

sonos one top

To protect privacy, the microphone is disabled with one click. The on board leds indicates if the mic is active or not.

Sonos is challenged by a wide range of new competitors that tries to take a piece of their market. The new speakers from Google, Apple and Amazon are based around voice commands. With Sonos One, the company shows that they won’t give up their market leader position without a fight. Good for them, and the market.

New Marshall speakers with AirPlay, Spotify Connect and Chromecast

With over 50 years in the speaker and amplifier market, Marshall is a well known brand that now enters the multi-room market. They do so with a three-speaker lineup packed with wireless technology. They all have Chromecast built-in, AirPlay, Spotify Connect and Bluetooth. You can also use the (old school) 3.5 mm socket and RCA input.

Marshall multiroom

Acton multi-room is the smallest one. It has one 30 Watt Class D amplifier for the woofer and two 10 Watt Class D amplifiers for the tweeters.

Stanmore multi-room is the middle speaker and has one 50 Watt Class D amplifier for the woofer and two 15 Watt Class D amplifiers for the tweeters.

Woburn multi-room is the beast of the lineup. It has two 15 Watt Class D amplifiers for the tweeters and two 40 Watt Class D amplifiers for the woofer.

Marshall appYou can control the speakers with the App for iOS and Android, directly from casting apps like Spotify and with the on board sound controls. Apart from volume and balance, the on board control also includes a switch with sevens presets for playlists on Spotify and Internet radio stations.

 

So quite cool speakers from Marshall that are worth considering when adding multi-room to you home.