Smart Speaker Showdown: Homepod Mini vs Nest Audio! Find Out Which One Reigns Supreme!

Smart speakers have become a popular household item in recent years, and for good reason. With the ability to control various smart devices, access music and podcasts, and set reminders, these devices have made our lives more convenient. The Homepod Mini and Nest Audio are two of the most popular smart speakers on the market, but which one is better? In this article, we will compare the two devices and see which one reigns supreme.

Design

The Homepod Mini has a unique, spherical design that makes it stand out from other smart speakers. It is small and compact, measuring just 3.3 inches tall and 3.9 inches wide. It comes in two colors, white and space gray, and has a mesh covering that looks elegant and sophisticated.

On the other hand, the Nest Audio has a more traditional design, resembling a rectangular prism. It is larger than the Homepod Mini, measuring 6.89 inches tall and 4.89 inches wide. It comes in five colors, including charcoal, chalk, and sage, and has a fabric covering that looks modern and attractive.

While the design of the Homepod Mini is unique and eye-catching, the Nest Audio’s larger size allows it to output better sound quality.

Sound Quality

Speaking of sound quality, this is an important consideration when comparing smart speakers. The Homepod Mini has a single full-range driver and two passive radiators, which allows it to deliver 360-degree sound. It also has an acoustic waveguide that helps to direct sound out of the bottom of the device and decrease distortion.

The Nest Audio has a 75mm woofer and a 19mm tweeter, which provides better bass and treble. It also has more advanced tuning and software updates that help to enhance sound quality.

While the Homepod Mini’s 360-degree sound is impressive, the Nest Audio’s superior drivers and software make it the clear winner in terms of sound quality.

Smart Assistant

Both devices are equipped with smart assistants that allow you to control various smart devices, play music, and set reminders. Homepod Mini uses Siri while Nest Audio uses Google Assistant.

Siri can be a bit hit-and-miss sometimes, not always picking up on the user’s commands. Google Assistant, on the other hand, tends to be more responsive and accurate. It also has the added benefit of being integrated with Google’s vast database, which can be useful for answering general questions and finding information.

In this category, Nest Audio definitely comes out on top.

Price

Price is always an important consideration when purchasing any device, and in this case, the Homepod Mini is slightly more expensive than the Nest Audio.

The Homepod Mini retails for $99, while the Nest Audio is priced at $99.99. While the difference in price is not significant, it is still something to consider when making a purchase.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both the Homepod Mini and Nest Audio are excellent smart speakers that offer a range of features and functions. While the Homepod Mini’s unique design and 360-degree sound are impressive, the Nest Audio’s better drivers and software make it the clear winner in terms of sound quality. Additionally, the Nest Audio is more responsive and accurate when it comes to the smart assistant. And, with a lower price point, the Nest Audio is the better overall value. Therefore, the Nest Audio reigns supreme in this smart speaker showdown.

The home speaker market is massively competitive, and picking one is confusing. We pitted the HomePod mini against the Google Nest Audio, and the results are pretty simple - it comes down to which phones you and your family have.

If you’re an iPhone user and have other Apple devices in the family, just buy the HomePod Mini. Otherwise, the Google Nest Audio Audio is your best best.

If you have an older Google Home device, you should also take a look at our comparison of the Nest Audio to the older Google Home to see if it’s worth upgrading.

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Design 

The HomePod mini and Nest Audio look nothing alike. The HomePod mini is compact, circular, and features a colorful touch interface on the top. It measures just 3.9 inches wide and 3.3 inches high, and weighs 0.76 pounds. It won’t look out of place on your kitchen countertop, TV stand, bookshelf, or anywhere else you decide to put it. Currently, the color options are white, space gray, orange, yellow, and blue. 

Best for iPhone owners

Apple HomePod Mini

Best for Android owners

Google Nest Audio

The Nest Audio, by contrast, is more of an oval or a super-sized pill. It measures 3.07 inches wide and 4.89 inches tall, dwarfing the HomePod mini. It weighs a relatively hefty 2.65 pounds, and it’s big enough that you may not be able to comfortably fit it in some places. The design is fairly muted in other regards. It comes in friendly fabric-wrapped colors like Chalk, Charcoal, Sage, Sand, and Sky so there’s nothing that will clash with your decor. 

The Nest Audio doesn’t have much in the way of physical controls aside from a 2-stage mic mute switch and three areas for capacitive touch controls. Having a hardware mute is a nice feature for privacy, but there isn’t any other visual interface like on the HomePod mini. You do get a set of four LED lights on the front that show up to indicate that the speaker is active though. 

Sound Quality 

As smart speakers, both the HomePod mini and Nest Audio have respectable audio chops, but it’s the latter that’s really oriented toward being a dedicated speaker with the smart features as more of an afterthought. The Nest Audio features a 75mm woofer and 19mm tweeter. It also boasts three far-field microphones to pick up voice commands from multiple places in a room and cut through background noise.

Google also has some clever AI features built-in, allowing to Nest Audio to dynamically adjust audio for optimal performance. It benefits from having a quad-core A53 processor clocked a 1.8GHz along with a high-performance ML hardware engine. 

By comparison, the HomePod mini’s smaller size means that it has a smaller woofer and tweeter. It has a full-range driver and dual passive radiators for deeper bass and crisper high frequencies. There’s also a lot of clever things backed in on the software end with 360-degree sound and computational audio for real-time tuning. Despite all this, the sound from the Nest Audio is going to be more robust and room-filling, especially when it comes to bass.

Smart Features and Connectivity

Nest Audio comes with Google Assistant, and it’s arguably the most capable smart voice assistant on the market. It has plenty of integrations, great language recognition, and will work with a much wider range of smart home devices. The Nest Audio also comes with dual-band Wi-Fi and works equally well with Android and iOS devices. The Nest Audio can do playback on multiple Nest devices assuming you have more than one. It can also make phone calls and even act as a home security setup with Nest Aware. 

Both speakers will work with all major streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Audible, Pandora, and others. The HomePod mini additional supports AirPlay 2, supporting streaming from Airplay devices and apps. 

Price 

Both the Nest Audio and HomePod mini cost $100 at MSRP, making the choice between them come down to your priorities and platform. It’s possible one or both will get a sale during Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Google and Android users, along with those who prioritize audio quality first and foremost, will likely want to pick the Nest Audio. It offers robust sound, the best voice assistant, and great integration with smart home devices. Apple users will benefit from sticking to the HomePod mini. It works well with other iOS devices and has HomeKit integration. The compact size and shape also makes it take up less space than the Nest Audio. 

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