DxOMark has added two more devices to its speaker rankings. The first is the Google Nest Audio smart speaker which falls under the Essential category while the other speaker is the Yamaha MusicCast 50 which falls under the Advanced category.

Google Nest Audio

With an overall score of 112, the Nest Audio grabs the second spot on the Essential category, trailing behind the Amazon Echo Studio which has a score of 124.

The review says the Nest Audio delivers “remarkable maximum volume for its size”. However, the fact that it has a mono speaker and is front-firing means “the sound reproduction isn’t consistent”. There is also a lack of bass in most use cases according to DxOMark. The review also commends the speaker’s Ambient IQ feature which allows it to automatically adapt to its acoustic environment when streaming vocal content such as news, podcasts, and audiobooks from the internet. This means the feature is not available when playing content locally.

You can read the full review here.

Yamaha MusicCast 50

The Yamaha MusicCast 50 is the latest addition to DxOMark’s speaker ranking. The MusicCast series was announced in 2015 but the MusicCast 50 didn’t launch until September 2018.

The speaker which weighs 4.5 kilograms is not designed to be moved around. It has two 30mm dome tweeters and two 100mm woofers and supports Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. It also supports AirPlay 2 in addition to MusicCast, Bluetooth, and Google Cast. It also has an optical input port and a mini 3.5mm jack.

Its overall score of 136 puts it behind the Harman Kardon Citation 200 and
Google Home Max. The speaker gets praise for its maximum volume, great bass, wide sound field, strong punch, and few artifacts making it great for watching movies.

The speaker is not perfect. For starters, the Yamaha MusicCast is also a front-firing speaker just like the Nest Audio, which means you don’t get surround sound and makes it unsuitable for outdoor use. Considering this speaker weighs 4.5 kilograms, we don’t know why you will want to move it around in the first instance.

The full review goes in-depth with a focus on dynamics, spatial, and timbre tests.

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The post DxOMark Speaker: Google Nest Audio smart speaker scores 112; Yamaha MusicCast 50 scores 136 appeared first on Gizmochina.