

Google packed in two 18mm tweeters and two 4.5-inch woofers, good for driving a lot of volume and bass.
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I wish these controls included a way to skip forward a track, but the good news is that Google could theoretically add feature this with a software update. Tapping the center of that line pauses or resumes music, while sliding your finger right or left turns volume up or down. The top of the speaker also includes a thin strip of touch-sensitive controls there's a line to help orient you. It would be nice if the Home Max had RCA ports, because so many traditional home-audio products use them, but most users will probably be opting for Spotify. I gave a few records a spin and it worked easily, although I had to use an RCA-to-3.5mm converter I had around. But the 3.5mm jack is useful for plugging in a variety of audio devices, from directly hooking up a tablet or smartphone (not the Pixel 2 or newer iPhones, though!) to adding a turntable to your setup.

It's not clear what the USB-C port is meant for aside from charging your smartphone (Update! Google says you can add a USB-C ethernet adapter for faster internet). Around the back, you'll find the mic-mute switch, power jack, a USB-C port and a 3.5mm audio input. There's not much else about the Home Max that's visually remarkable. I've never listened to the speaker without the cloth in the way, so I don't have anything to benchmark against, but it doesn't appear to impede audio in any way. Google says it designed the fabric on the front to be acoustically transparent and that it tried several dozen options before settling on the weave pattern. It's similar in size to the Sonos Play:5 and just as well-built. The gently rounded corners and fabric-covered front both bring to mind Google's tiny Home Mini and make it just a bit more "friendly" than your average speaker. Still, it's a charming, attractive device. The Google Home Max is a large, heavy speaker it's definitely more conspicuous than the standard Home or Amazon's Echo lineup. But the Home Max offers a unique combination of simplicity, high-quality audio and voice-activated features courtesy of the Google Assistant. At $399, the Home Max is more comparable with dedicated, higher-quality speakers. Of course, that higher quality comes at a significantly higher price.

Google's Home Max is the company's first attempt to join the HiFi audio space - it does everything that the smaller Home speakers do, but with significantly larger and higher-caliber components. That's slowly changing, though: The Alexa-powered Sonos One speaker performs well and is affordable, while Apple's forthcoming HomePod sounded excellent in a brief demo we saw earlier this year.
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Sure, they're serviceable in a pinch, and are better than most cheap Bluetooth speakers, but they don't compare to options like the entire Sonos lineup, let alone a nice set of bookshelf speakers like the Audioengine A5+. Smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home have proved useful - but they tend not to sound very good.
