Music to my ears

The Google Home Max is finally worth picking up at $200 during Black Friday

29 Nov 2019, 13:56 by Joe Maring

When it initially launched back in late-2017, the Google Home Max was a hard sell. The speaker itself did a lot of things right, but with a heart-stopping price of $400 in what could still be considered the early days of the Google Assistant, it's no surprise why it never caught on the same way the more affordable Google Home Mini did.

A lot has changed since then, however, and with Black Friday now here, the Home Max is being heavily discounted — even more so from its previously-lowered MSRP down to $300.

If you're in the Google Assistant ecosystem and want a speaker that can fill your home with incredible sound, the Home Max is finally worth picking up.

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Take it to the max

Google Home Max

The powerful Assistant speaker that could

Now that Google Assistant has had some time to improve and the price has been substantially lowered, the Google Home Max is finally worth picking up. It sounds incredible, uses AI to adjust audio playback based on the room it's in, and has some of the best far-field microphones you'll find.

$199.99 $299.99 $100 off

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The Google Home Max is not the newest smart speaker around, but it's still the only "premium" speaker made by Google. And, two years since its unveiling, it holds up quite well.

We were impressed with the Home Max's audio quality when we reviewed it a couple of Decembers ago, and that point has held true. Compared to other speakers like the regular Google Home or Amazon Echo, the Home Max sounds substantially better. This is a huge speaker, and it makes good use of the large footprint.

There are two 4.5" woofers inside the Home Max, along with custom tweeters. The end result is a speaker that brings your music to life with extreme volume, clarity, and deep bass. Your next door neighbors may not be your biggest fans if you decide to scoop the Home Max up, but it's bound to put a smile on your face each time you listen to music on it.

https://www.androidcentral.com/sites/androidcentral.com/files/styles/large_wm_brw/public/article_images/2017/12/google-home-max-4.jpg?itok=U7Reiu6E — *Source: Android Central*

To ensure you get the best audio possible, the Home Max utilizes something that Google calls "Smart Sound." This is a process that uses AI and machine learning to automatically adjust the EQ settings of the Home Max according to the shape and size of the room that it's in, allowing for perfect acoustics no matter where you place it. The Home Max isn't the first speaker of its kind to do this, but having a feature like this is always a nice touch.

A single Home Max should be more than enough to fill any room with powerful sound, but if you want to crank things up a notch, you can pair two of them together for stereo playback. Furthermore, along with playing music by asking the Google Assistant to do so, the Home Max also supports playback via Bluetooth and a wired auxiliary port (two things that are not possible on the Apple HomePod).

Speaking of the Google Assistant, it's improved a lot since the Home Max first came out. Google's been hard at work to make the Assistant better and better with every day that passes, with it now being one of the most well-rounded digital helpers out there. And, when you do want to invoke the Assistant for a command or question, the Home Max's excellent far-field microphones are just as good as ever.

We do wish that the Home Max came in more colors and wasn't quite as bulky as it admittedly is, but for $200 during Black Friday, it's one of the more compelling smart speakers out there. If you're all about the Google Assistant and want a speaker that'll do justice for all of your favorite tunes, the Home Max is worth another look.

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