Needing a good stereo/speaker to pair with Google Home Mini

[PackYourBaggins]

So I recently took advantage of the free Google Home Mini with Spotify premium deal, and I love the Mini, but obviously the sound quality when listening to music leaves a lot to be desired. So I'm on the hunt for a good bluetooth stereo or speaker to pair with it. At first I was thinking just a decent bluetooth speaker, but then again, I'm not really in need of portability. I just want a good sounding speaker for the Mini. I also thought leaving a portable bluetooth speaker plugged in all the time may not be good (I don't know that for fact though). So in summary, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Whether it be a bluetooth speaker or a stereo with bluetooth, I just need something decent to pair with my Google Home Mini so I can listen to music in good quality. And hopefully it won't cost me a small fortune. Any suggestions?

 

EDIT: For anyone who may not know, the Google Home Mini does NOT have an audio jack of any kind, so any speakers I get will need to be either bluetooth or Chromecast compatible.

[rice guru]

9 minutes ago, RelentlessN7 said:

So I recently took advantage of the free Google Home Mini with Spotify premium deal, and I love the Mini, but obviously the sound quality when listening to music leaves a lot to be desired. So I'm on the hunt for a good bluetooth stereo or speaker to pair with it. At first I was thinking just a decent bluetooth speaker, but then again, I'm not really in need of portability. I just want a good sounding speaker for the Mini. I also thought leaving a portable bluetooth speaker plugged in all the time may not be good (I don't know that for fact though). So in summary, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Whether it be a bluetooth speaker or a stereo with bluetooth, I just need something decent to pair with my Google Home Mini so I can listen to music in good quality. And hopefully it won't cost me a small fortune. Any suggestions?

What is your budget?

[PackYourBaggins]

Just now, rice guru said:

What is your budget?

Truthfully, I don't know. Realistically I really wouldn't wanna pay more than a couple hundred, but I don't think I've ever actually owned a good stereo, so I don't really know how much I'd be looking at for a good one.

[Slayer3032]

You could just hook it up to some powered bookshelf speakers, I have some non-powered Micca MB42x's which I've had for like 5 years back when they were cheaper and were pretty highly rated. I've been pretty happy with them and they're really compact.

https://www.amazon.com/Micca-PB42X-Powered-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B00NXAEPDC/

 

I haven't kept up on what are recommend anymore so I'd go check out the audiophile subreddits and like head-fi or whatever other forums/sites are good resources still. You also have the option of buying non-powered speakers and getting a separate amp which would help with long term modularity and upgradability.

https://www.amazon.com/Kinter-K2020A-Original-TA2020-020-Amplifier/dp/B077Z7DBRT/

 

[PackYourBaggins]

2 minutes ago, Slayer3032 said:

You could just hook it up to some powered bookshelf speakers, I have some non-powered Micca MB42x's which I've had for like 5 years back when they were cheaper and were pretty highly rated. I've been pretty happy with them and they're really compact.

https://www.amazon.com/Micca-PB42X-Powered-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B00NXAEPDC/

 

I haven't kept up on what are recommend anymore so I'd go check out the audiophile subreddits and like head-fi or whatever other forums/sites are good resources still. You also have the option of buying non-powered speakers and getting a separate amp which would help with long term modularity and upgradability.

https://www.amazon.com/Kinter-K2020A-Original-TA2020-020-Amplifier/dp/B077Z7DBRT/

 

Are these bluetooth compatible though? The Google Home Mini doesn't have an audio jack, so my options are limited to bluetooth speakers and stereos.

[Slayer3032]

16 minutes ago, RelentlessN7 said:

Are these bluetooth compatible though? The Google Home Mini doesn't have an audio jack, so my options are limited to bluetooth speakers and stereos.

Oh, well you're just not going to get the best audio quality out of bluetooth. Most of that has been fixed with newer revisions to bluetooth but I find it to always be a toss up on if your devices are going to play at a decent bitrate. I figured the Google Home devices would come with one of the really nice combo 3.5mm/optical jacks like the Chromecast Audio.

 

There are powered bookshelfs out there with bluetooth built in and you can also buy a little bluetooth adapter which you can just plug into a 3.5mm.

https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Bluetooth-Receiver-Wireless-Hands-Free/dp/B00O8FYUJA/

https://www.amazon.com/Edifier-R1280DB-Bluetooth-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0719C132V/

https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-R-41M-Powerful-Detailed-Bookshelf/dp/B07FKH3VPV/

 

If you're looking for better audio quality, maybe a different Google Home device might be a strong consideration before dumping $200~ into a setup that might not deliver what you should expect at that price range.

[PackYourBaggins]

1 minute ago, Slayer3032 said:

Oh, well you're just not going to get the best audio quality out of bluetooth. I figured the Google Home devices would come with one of the really nice combo 3.5mm/optical jacks like the Chromecast Audio.

 

There are powered bookshelfs out there with bluetooth built in and you can also buy a little bluetooth adapter which you can just plug into a 3.5mm.

https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Bluetooth-Receiver-Wireless-Hands-Free/dp/B00O8FYUJA/

https://www.amazon.com/Edifier-R1280DB-Bluetooth-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0719C132V/

https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-R-41M-Powerful-Detailed-Bookshelf/dp/B07FKH3VPV/

 

If you're looking for better audio quality, maybe a different Google Home device might be a strong consideration before dumping $200~ into a setup that might not deliver what you should expect at that price range.

I completely forgot that the Chromecast dongle exists. In this case, the speakers you first suggested seem like an appealing option now. But to be honest, I even find the audio on an Echo Plus to be pretty damn good, so I don't really have to have a top-of-the-line speaker system. I am currently using the Echo Plus just because it has much better audio quality when listening to music, but I prefer Google Home right now cause it's a little smarter than Alexa, and I personally find the Google Integration to be more useful to me than the Amazon integration the Echo offers. 

[PackYourBaggins]

1 hour ago, Slayer3032 said:

Oh, well you're just not going to get the best audio quality out of bluetooth. Most of that has been fixed with newer revisions to bluetooth but I find it to always be a toss up on if your devices are going to play at a decent bitrate. I figured the Google Home devices would come with one of the really nice combo 3.5mm/optical jacks like the Chromecast Audio.

 

There are powered bookshelfs out there with bluetooth built in and you can also buy a little bluetooth adapter which you can just plug into a 3.5mm.

https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Bluetooth-Receiver-Wireless-Hands-Free/dp/B00O8FYUJA/

https://www.amazon.com/Edifier-R1280DB-Bluetooth-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0719C132V/

https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-R-41M-Powerful-Detailed-Bookshelf/dp/B07FKH3VPV/

 

If you're looking for better audio quality, maybe a different Google Home device might be a strong consideration before dumping $200~ into a setup that might not deliver what you should expect at that price range.

I just discovered that Google discontinued the Chromecast dongle earlier this year, so that's out the window. My best option now seems to be Chromecast-enabled speakers.

[rice guru]

https://www.amazon.com/JBL-Professional-Reference-Monitors-JBL104/dp/B07MHQZV62/ref=sr_1_14?crid=QA83NM0LTGUG&keywords=jbl+powered+bookshelf+speakers&qid=1572830422&sprefix=jbl+bookshelf+powered+%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-14

heard these a while ago at a store really liked the sound of them gets decently loud. they are powered so you don't have to worry about amps and dac and stuff they are just plug and play.

[PackYourBaggins]

15 hours ago, rice guru said:

https://www.amazon.com/JBL-Professional-Reference-Monitors-JBL104/dp/B07MHQZV62/ref=sr_1_14?crid=QA83NM0LTGUG&keywords=jbl+powered+bookshelf+speakers&qid=1572830422&sprefix=jbl+bookshelf+powered+%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-14

heard these a while ago at a store really liked the sound of them gets decently loud. they are powered so you don't have to worry about amps and dac and stuff they are just plug and play.

Are these Chromecast compatible? Or bluetooth? I looked through the product page and didn't find any mention of wireless capabilities. Unless I missed it somewhere, which is entirely possible.

[Derkoli]

18 hours ago, RelentlessN7 said:

So I recently took advantage of the free Google Home Mini with Spotify premium deal, and I love the Mini, but obviously the sound quality when listening to music leaves a lot to be desired. So I'm on the hunt for a good bluetooth stereo or speaker to pair with it. At first I was thinking just a decent bluetooth speaker, but then again, I'm not really in need of portability. I just want a good sounding speaker for the Mini. I also thought leaving a portable bluetooth speaker plugged in all the time may not be good (I don't know that for fact though). So in summary, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Whether it be a bluetooth speaker or a stereo with bluetooth, I just need something decent to pair with my Google Home Mini so I can listen to music in good quality. And hopefully it won't cost me a small fortune. Any suggestions?

I would honestly go for the Edifier R1850db's, they will get plenty loud enough, have a remote, have bluetooth and look pretty good. Also sound pretty good from reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/Edifier-R1850DB-Bookshelf-Speakers-Bluetooth/dp/B073W1R4XQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=edifier+r1850db&qid=1572887477&sr=8-1

 

 

[rice guru]

48 minutes ago, RelentlessN7 said:

Are these Chromecast compatible? Or bluetooth? I looked through the product page and didn't find any mention of wireless capabilities. Unless I missed it somewhere, which is entirely possible.

they can plug in through RCA or 3.5 mm to the google home mini , or you could add a bluetooth adapter through RCA like this https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Bluetooth-Audio-Adapter-Streaming/dp/B00IQBSW28/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=bluetooth+adapter&qid=1572887657&sr=8-7

[rice guru]

2 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

I would honestly go for the Edifier R1850db's, they will get plenty loud enough, have a remote, have bluetooth and look pretty good. Also sound pretty good from reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/Edifier-R1850DB-Bookshelf-Speakers-Bluetooth/dp/B073W1R4XQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=edifier+r1850db&qid=1572887477&sr=8-1

 

 

damn dude forgot about that speaker definitely go the edifiers instead . 

[Derkoli]

Just now, rice guru said:

damn dude forgot about that speaker definitely go the edifiers instead . 

Yeah edifier are making amazing stuff for the price. Really want to get my grubby mitts on the edifier S3000Pro's

[PackYourBaggins]

1 hour ago, rice guru said:

damn dude forgot about that speaker definitely go the edifiers instead . 

The Google Home Mini doesn't have an audio jack of any kind, so wireless is my only option. Surely most 3.5mm bluetooth adapters would be compatible with a Google Home Mini, yeah?