Apple HomePod vs. Google Home Max: Sound or Assistant?
Apple HomePod vs. Google Home Max: Sound or Assistant?
2018-03-06
hey Siri hmm what's better the Google
home max or the home pot I say get a
home pod I just love the sound of it hey
Google what's better the home pod or the
Google home max hmm the Google home max
is clearly the best okay that didn't
work smart speakers are becoming ever
more popular and now we actually have
some that sound pretty good here we have
the Apple home pod and the Google home
max I'm gonna compare them the design
the sound quality and the assistance
built in and see which one is better but
not only that which one you should
actually buy the first thing you notice
when looking at both these speakers is
just the sheer difference in size the
home acts is a huge speaker you can use
it vertically or horizontally sits on
this little rubber pad to minimize
vibrations it has a fabric front it's
made out of plastic but it's a very
hefty hence solid speaker the home pod
on the other hand is very small it's
still pretty heavy but it's covered in a
squishy fabric material and looks pretty
much the same from any angle
now as for controls on the actual device
the whole max has a little touch bard
that you can use to swipe and adjust for
volume or tap it to play pods
the home pod is similar there's a
touchpad at the top it has dedicated
volume controls that you can tap and in
the middle you can tap for play pause or
to activate Siri now in theory both of
these controls are pretty much the same
but in practice they work they work a
little bit differently the home pod is
much more responsive I found with the
whole Mac you kinda have to play this
guessing game when you touch it you
don't know exactly where to go and
sometimes it doesn't register your touch
I don't have any of that with the home
pod
some other design notes though the home
max has a built-in 3.5 millimeter jack
it has a very easily removable power
cable and USB ports and it has a
dedicated mute switch something you
don't get with the home pod from a
design perspective both have advantages
disadvantages but from a usability and
what what I want to have in my house
perspective I think the home pot takes
it it's not that the home max is bad
it's just the home pot is a little bit
better sound is hard to judge what I
think sounds good
may not sound good to you so instead of
just telling you what speaker I think
sounds better I'm gonna tell you the
differences in the sound the home max
has two four and a half inch subs and
2.7 inch tweeters and this translates to
very loud and very basic sound the max
gets loud enough that I can't listen to
it at full volume
in fact if it's anything above 75% it
starts to hurt a little bit the max only
projects in one direction though so
you'll probably want to put it bookcase
or up against the wall but it does
listen to its environment and kind of
change itself so you'll get the best
sound no matter where you put it the
home pod even though it's quite a bit
smaller has one sub and seven horn
loaded tweeters so in this little
package there's quite a lot it doesn't
get quite as loud as the home max and
one big difference the speakers are all
around the home pod so you get 360 audio
and like with the home max it listens
and it adapts to its environment so you
can put the speaker pretty much anywhere
you
for sound I think the biggest difference
between the two is how they handle the
high-end and how they handle the low-end
the home acts tends to overshoot the
high-end a little bit so you do get some
distortion but it has really punchy bass
the home pod on the other hand is kind
of the opposite the high end is very
crisp and clear and doesn't really have
any Distortion and the low end well it
doesn't have distortion it's not quite
as boomy as what you get with the max I
found the mids on both to be pretty
similar they're not as crisp as you can
get and there is some distortion there
it's pretty even in that front one last
thing about distortion though even
though the home max does get very loud
if you play it at its full volume it's
definitely enough Distortion while the
home pod you can crank all the way up
and it still sounds good so when it
comes to just pure accuracy and quality
I'm gonna have to give this round to the
home pod but like I said sound is a very
subjective so what I like may not be
what you like and you may love the beats
by dre bass that you get with the home
max it's really up to you so this round
is somewhat of a tie probably the
biggest debate between the home pod and
the home max is Siri versus Google
assistant and this reaches far beyond
these two speakers but when you start to
compare them there are some pretty big
differences for basic tasks like weather
setting alarms timers they handle that
pretty much the same on both but when
you get to more complicated and specific
questions Google assistant just destroys
Siri there's a certain line that you
just can't cross with Siri as long as
you don't Sirius pretty good but with
Google it just handles everything pretty
well there's one thing though and that's
that the home pod has a six array
microphone and it can hear you really
well much better than the home max I
could stand across the room speak in a
normal voice anyway here we no problem
even if there was music playing the home
acts on the other hand even if there's
nothing playing sometimes I'd have to do
it two or three times and if there is
music playing I'd have to shout I was
very impressed with the home pod and I
think Google needs to add more than just
two microphones given that these are
speakers it's important to talk about
music and how you can
pull it so only Google home max you can
use pretty much any service you'd like
except for Apple music on the home pod
you can only use Apple music yes on the
home pod you can use airplay and yes on
the Google home acts you can use
bluetooth but if you're just gonna
control up your voice that's a very big
distinction that you need to keep in
mind Apple music is really the big
discrepancy here if you use it then
you'll probably want the home pod and if
not the home max but when taking
everything into account Google assistant
is just plain better it can handle more
complicated queries you can handle
multiple voices sure it doesn't hear you
as well but when it does hear you it
just works in comparison it's almost a
tie of which is better and it depends
what category is most important to you
if you like sound quality I would choose
the home pod if you want say bigger
speaker that's more bassy and go with
the whole max and if the assistant is
what's most important to you Google just
wins here but because this is a vs. I'm
not gonna leave it at a tie for me I'd
have to choose the home pod I'm already
an apple music subscriber I prefer the
sound of the home pod it's significantly
smaller which makes it easier to put in
my home the basic questions is Siri work
fine and it's fifty dollars cheaper at
three hundred fifty dollars over the
four hundred for the home max neither of
these speakers are perfect but they're a
step in the right direction of having
great sounding home audio that you can
talk to but be sure to let us know down
below in the comments which one you
would choose and why really interested
to know if you enjoyed this video be
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I want to Q also much for watching again
I'm Matt Gonzalez with TechnoBuffalo and
I will see you next time
you
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