# Google Home Speaker vs. the mainstay Nest Mini: Is this a true upgrade? > Source: > Published: 2026-06-24 23:00:00+00:00 The Google Home Speaker is now the easiest and most affordable way to get Gemini into your smart home, but how does it perform against the device it’s meant to replace – the Nest Mini? To clear things up, the Nest Mini is perfectly capable of offering a serviceable Gemini experience, but the image of having a fluid conversation via Gemini Live is not one you’ll get with the Nest Mini. As Google continues to expand the function of its AI model and outperform what Google Assistant was capable of, we get a new small-ish speaker, positioned as a fair replacement. In design, both devices bear some appealing similarities. Google chose to keep the fabric accents and go for a small profile, though the [new Google Home Speaker](https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-5527864-14460385?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstore.google.com%2Fconfig%2Fgoogle_home_speaker%3Fhl%3Den-US%26selections%3DeyJwcm9kdWN0RmFtaWx5IjoiWjI5dloyeGxYMmh2YldWZmMzQmxZV3RsY2c9PSJ9&sid=andrewromero) is several inches taller than the Nest Mini. Top-down, the profiles are about the same, and Google chose to keep the volume adjustment just as simple, with a tap on the right or left side to adjust. Whether it’s down to new internals or a conscious decision to make a bigger model, the larger Google Home Speaker, on the other hand, is designed to be a more prominent part of your home decor. That said, it is not a major departure from the Mini’s hidden-hardware approach. To put it into perspective Because of its height, weight, and acoustic requirements, you cannot simply pin it to a wall. You need to dedicate shelf space or a prime spot on your kitchen counter to accommodate its very modest size increase. The most noticeable change comes in reactionary lighting. When you chat with the Home Speaker, a ring of LEDs at the base lights up with Google’s iconic color scheme, then it fades to blue as it listens and responds. It mimics the LEDs on the Nest Mini in every way, even glowing orange when muted. Google did pull some sort of switcharoo, opting to integrate the USB-C cable into the speaker at the base rather than at the brick, like the Nest Mini. This means you can’t switch the cable out for a longer one. Perhaps even worse – at least, to me – is the exclusion of cable clips that have been present on every Nest Speaker up to this point. Shame! Colors also play a role depending on where you plan to put a smart speaker. While the Nest Mini comes in a variety of muted shades to blend into different rooms, the [Google Home Speaker](https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-5527864-14460385?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstore.google.com%2Fconfig%2Fgoogle_home_speaker%3Fhl%3Den-US%26selections%3DeyJwcm9kdWN0RmFtaWx5IjoiWjI5dloyeGxYMmh2YldWZmMzQmxZV3RsY2c9PSJ9&sid=andrewromero) mostly sticks to simple neutral tones, but with one bold, bright Berry option. The annoyance is that the Hazel and Berry colors are limited to the US market. ## Improved smart home experience As for the internals, things get a little more complex. The Google Home Speaker is, by all accounts, meant to be a speaker, first and foremost. Yes, it’s a vessel for Gemini and future features, but it’s also an entertainment hub. You can use Google Cast to play music in the same way as the Nest Mini, and grouping the device with others in the home is just as easy. But processing time on the Nest Mini is far outdone by the Google Home Speaker. So long as you have signed up for Early Access to Gemini, the “core” assistant experience on both devices is identical on paper. Even if you use the “old” Google Assistant experience, the Nest Mini relies heavily on cloud processing for many of its smart home commands, which can sometimes result in a slight delay between asking for the lights to turn off and it actually happening. The new speaker listens, processes, and plays music much faster. It offers a smoother experience, and the same quirks that cause Gemini to make mistakes here and there have nothing to do with the hardware. The full-sized Google Home Speaker includes upgraded onboard machine learning chips that process your most common commands locally. Performance is noticeably snappier because of it. You will rarely see the frustrating lag that sometimes plagues the aging Nest Mini when asking complex queries. Gemini processing is faster and handles complex input. Additionally, the larger footprint leaves room for robust connectivity protocols. The Google Home Speaker acts as a fully-fledged Matter and Thread border router, helping your smart bulbs, locks, and sensors talk to each other without needing a separate hub. The Mini can participate in these networks, but it does not offer the same robust networking backbone as the larger model. ## Bigger, but better sound? As for sound, I’m having a hard time getting around how Google designed it. I thought I’d be able to easily say, “yeah, the Google Home Speaker sounds far superior to the Nest Mini. After all, it’s been over 6 years.” I can’t say that, though, because the Google Home Speaker has audio quirks that have detracted from my experience. First off, using the EQ settings is key. I have my units set to 40 for bass, and 80 for treble. That’s just to kick the highs up a little bit and clear the headroom in most music. The issue is that there seems to be a lot of muddy artifacts left over from the low-end amplification Google is trying to do with the new drivers. They do add a little bass, and you can feel it in your fingertips as opposed to the Nest Mini, but it doesn’t add much of that room-filling “oomph” you’d expect. What it does do is give it a cardboard tube effect, as if it were playing through a paper towel roll. And that, somehow, gives the high ends a little bit of a “warble,” where cymbals and hi-hats have an unintended crunch. The Nest Mini performs surprisingly well in the highs, but the lows are absent. It can sound tinny, but the Google Home Speaker sounds both dark and tinny. As for the benefit of 360-degree audio, I’m troubled to find the benefit over a simple up-firing design like the Nest Mini when these two are side-by-side. It’s likely a no-brainer on the design front, as long as it doesn’t negatively impact the sound. That being said, I don’t think it really adds much when you put them against each other. The [Google Home Speaker](https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-5527864-14460385?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstore.google.com%2Fconfig%2Fgoogle_home_speaker%3Fhl%3Den-US%26selections%3DeyJwcm9kdWN0RmFtaWx5IjoiWjI5dloyeGxYMmh2YldWZmMzQmxZV3RsY2c9PSJ9&sid=andrewromero) is not an audiophilic streaming device. It’s, again, a vessel for Google Gemini that plays your favorite tunes while you cook or hang out. That being said, if you’re upgrading for better sound quality, I think there are better options, even if the Home Speaker sounds better – subjectively. If it’s for sound and Gemini, it’s an easy justification, even though it’s $50 more than the last small display-free speaker. The Google Home Speaker is available for [pre-order](https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-5527864-14460385?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstore.google.com%2Fconfig%2Fgoogle_home_speaker%3Fhl%3Den-US%26selections%3DeyJwcm9kdWN0RmFtaWx5IjoiWjI5dloyeGxYMmh2YldWZmMzQmxZV3RsY2c9PSJ9%26utm_medium%3Daffiliate_publisher%26utm_source%3DCJ%26utm_campaign%3DGS5348525%26utm_content%3D5527864%26CJPID%3D5527864%26CJAID%3D14460385%26gad_source%3D7%26dclid%3DCNX3p6yloJUDFeCiywEdJ_4ZHg&sid=andrewromero) with shipping in July. *Damien Wilde contributed to this article.* *FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.* [More.](https://9to5mac.com/about/#affiliate) [our homepage](http://9to5google.com/)for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on [exclusive stories](https://9to5google.com/feature/exclusive/), [reviews](https://9to5google.com/guides/reviews/), [how-tos](https://9to5google.com/guides/how-to/), and [subscribe to our YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/9to5google)