Smart speaker/smart display reviews

greenhorn

Well-Known Member

Veteran

Like a lot of us, I was pretty sceptical of paying to install a wiretap in my house. Then I got a second generation echo and was blown away by the sound quality vs size, and now I have three of them, a JBL smart display, Alexa show 8, home mini and home.

My main use is for whole house audio. Earlier, getting whole house audio meant blasting my stereo at full volume and pissing off my neighbours, but these let me get music at sane volumes all around the house. In terms of audio quality, I find the JBL link view the best, then the echo show 8, 2nd Gen echo, Google home all sound similar, with the mini bringing up the rear.


I'm interested in how the mi smart speaker sounds. Anyone else has reviews?

 

kalph09

Member

Disciple

Am using MI smart speakers and they are pretty average. They don't seamlessly connect with Mi devices (am spoilt by Apple's ecosystem) and certainly not meant for blasting loud music. They are best suited for a 10X15 room, at 4k they are certainly not worth the price. (I got them at 2k)

 

msankadi

Well-Known Member

Adept

Google nest mini 2 has deceptively good sound quality and seamless integration with Tidal, Spotify and all other chromecast apps. Easy to manage as groups etc on Google Home app.

I have an Amazon echo full size one as well and compared to that the google home nest mini 2 (not the first one) has very good or similar sound which is just amazing for such a small device.

The 2nd gen google mini is in a different league compared to their 1st gen

 

greenhorn

Well-Known Member

Veteran

Let me check which Gen mini mine is. I got it free from Google so didn't bother too much on which one it is

 

superczar

Well-Known Member

Veteran

The Mi speaker is not bad - thats the best i can say about it
It goes loud but distorts a bit and has boomy bass..
I got it for 1499/- so cant complain though

 

greenhorn

Well-Known Member

Veteran

Where does it slot in between the mini and standard size speakers? Some say that it's almost as good as the regular size previous Gen home and echo

 

superczar

Well-Known Member

Veteran

greenhorn said:

Where does it slot in between the mini and standard size speakers? Some say that it's almost as good as the regular size previous Gen home and echo

Click to expand...

its hard to say
The size and associated physics naturally mean that the sound is fuller than the miniature echo/ home
It is however not close to The full size echo and home (i have both) and absolutely nowhere near the full sized homepod

Google, Amazon and esp apple have done some phenomenal work on their internal DSP to make even their miniature speakers sound good despite the physical limitations - while the Mi one (I think) handles the audio as is.

The net result is a fuller sound (compared to the miniatures) for sure but The overall SQ is very mediocre at best .
If its coming At 1499, do consider - but not at full price

 

greenhorn

Well-Known Member

Veteran

Then I'll stick to the home. There are refurb units on sale for 4k on 2gud