The Google Home Max is loud.
Like, really, really loud.
It's so loud that it drowns out noisy roommates blasting an NBA game, or insistent sirens right outside.
It's so loud that if you have it cranked up between you and another person, you probably won't able to hear them.
There's more to the Google Home Max than its volume, though. It's nice to look at, dead-simple to use, and has the Google Assistant built in, the best smart assistant on the market.
In fact, after using the Home Max for a few weeks, I'm struggling to find anything bad to say about it.
The Home Max has Google Assistant built in, which in my experience is the best smart assistant around. It seems to understand our natural way of speaking better than its peers, and can easily translate commands like "Hey Google, turn it up a little bit" or "OK Google, put on some relaxing music."
The Assistant has a good memory, too. I was impressed by one scenario where I asked it what the weather was going to be like the next day. The Assistant answered immediately — and when my boyfriend entered the room a few minutes later and said, "Hey Google, I didn't hear you," it repeated the same response.
The Assistant exceeded every expectation. I've long struggled to find the need for smart assistants in my everyday life, but now I'm sold.
The design of the Home Max isn't revolutionary.
The speaker can sit either vertically or horizontally and is not wireless. It uses the same soft fabric on the speaker as the Home Mini, and while I tested the white and gray version, the Home Max also comes in black.
At first I was a little disappointed that the Home Max doesn't look all that different from most speakers. It doesn't have a futuristic design and it doesn't look particularly modern.
But I eventually came to see that as an advantage. The speaker is sleek and unobtrusive, and looks just as good sitting on my desk as it would in a living room or kitchen. It blends into its surroundings rather than becoming the centerpiece.