Google announced a second Home product that happens to be focused on audio quality instead of only being a home assistant. At the heart of the Google Home Max is the new AI powered Smart Sound system that adapts to home conditions on the fly.
Smart Sound allows the Google Home Max to identify the acoustic conditions of where the speaker is located. It’s advanced enough to recognise walls where the sound reflects and adjusts the output direction and volume to compensate. Ideally, this produces the most optimal sound quality for a particular location.
The machine learning system is also powerful enough to adapt if the speaker is moved. Allowing the user to shift it around without having to worry about affecting the sound quality.
This same machine learning also adapts the Google Home Max to the owner’s personal habits. According to the presentation, this means that it is capable of reducing the volume in the mornings, raising the volume if there are disturbances, or just changing the settings according to the kind of music being played.
As an additional bonus for audiophiles, the Google Home Max includes an aux cable port. It can also sync this audio with other Chromecast devices located on the same network.
The Google Home Max is set to be sold for $399 in the US in December. This price tag also includes a 12-month subscription to YouTube Red, mostly for access to YouTube Music. It’s also set to be shipped to more countries from 2018.
