Google reveals $399 Home Max music speaker to compete with Apple HomePod
At its Made By Google event on Wednesday, Google surprised tech onlookers by rolling out a powerful new music speaker, powered by Google’s voice assistant: Google Home Max.
The speaker boasts dual 4.5-inch high-excursion woofers and 0.7-inch tweeters. It can integrate smoothly with YouTube Music, Spotify, Pandora, Google Play, and iHeartRadio.
This is a direct shot at Apple HomePod, which Apple announced in June.
“The first thing you’ll notice is how we obsessed over the bass,” said Rishi Chandra, VP of Google Home products. “And Max can play loud—really loud.”
Chandra touted the Max speaker’s ability to adapt to the sound environment of your home using a feature Google is calling SmartSound. “The challenge of speakers today is that they’re tuned for ideal acoustic conditions, but they fall short in the real world,” he said. “That’s why they always sound great in the store, but not in your home.”
The base of the device snaps on magnetically, so there are no rubber feet in the wrong place if you change the position of the speaker. “We thought through every detail,” Chandra raved.
Google also announced on Wednesday a mini version of its Home speaker.
The Max speaker ships in December, the price is $399, and it comes in two colors: chalk and charcoal. It also comes up with a free 12-month subscription to YouTube Red.
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Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering tech and media. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
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