When Google announced the Home Max in October of last year, I was fortunate enough to listen to it first hand; I was absolutely blown away. The sound quality is by far and away better than any other smart speaker I’ve heard, and it rivaled the quality of the Sonos system I have at home. Most impressively, Google developed the speaker drivers in-house. To be fair, the Home Max doesn’t have much competition. In the current market, the closest you can get with a built-in assistant is Sonos’s One. But the biggest problem with 99% of smart speakers is that they are more smart assistant than they are hi-fi speaker. As handy as Google Home, Home Mini, Amazon Echo and Echo Dot are, they don’t sound all that impressive if you want to listen to music. The Home Max is the first of its kind to value sound quality and the convenience of Google Assistant equally. The Max went on sale today from Verizon Wireless for $399. There is still a waitlist on Google’s store if you’d rather buy directly from the manufacturer. You can also purchase the speaker from Best Buy for $399.
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