The smart speaker wars are heating up. The Apple HomePod now on-sale in Australia, moving the battle to the high-end. Google hasn’t begun selling the Home Max in Australia just yet, but online retailer Kogan has taken up the slack, now offering it for sale.
The Home Max is being sold by Kogan under their ‘Direct Import’ program, so it’s a US model, imported to Australia and on-sold with an Australian compliant generic charger and 1-year Australian warranty supplied.
The Home Max from Kogan is selling for $579 + Delivery (around $9) in both colour options – Grey and Charcoal – but that’s actually a pretty decent price. The Home Max sells in the US for $399USD which is around $517AUD as a direct conversion, and delivery alone from the US to Australia would cost more than that.
Home Max is a big speaker when compared to the standard Home, or Home Mini, but it includes more speakers with two 4.5-inch high-excursion woofers, two 0.7-inch tweeters, adding up to a sound that’s 20 times louder than Google Home.
Home Max features a Google AI powered function called ‘Smart Sound’ which can automatically adapt itself based on where it’s placed in the room, to give you better quality sound.
Just like Google Home, the Max is designed to blend into your home. It’s designed to sit either vertically or horizontally on your shelf, whichever you find better and if you want, you can purchase two and pair them with wireless stereo pairing – or incorporate them into your multi-room audio setup.
At the Made by Google event in October, Rishi Chandra, Vice President of Product Management and General Manager of Home Products at Google said that Home would ‘initially launch in the US, with more countries coming early next year’, so the wait is now on for an Australian launch, but if you can’t wait then head to Kogan and grab one now.
It’s now apparent there will be some problems using the US version of Google Home and Home Max in Australia.
There are certain localisations burned into the ROM that will be missing on the US model. Local Australian radio stations won’t work properly. Some home automation functions won’t work.
In the future, if Google ever introduces Australian telephone calling on the Google Home it likely won’t work on a US Home Max that was grey-imported into Australia.
My advice: Wait until Google officially releases the Home Max into Australia. Buy the Australian version only.
Hi Les, I also have reservations about what limitations that might exist with using the version sold by Kogan in Australia, but failed so far to find any real-life experience, did you find anything concrete somewhere?
I have a US Home Max. Not sure where Lee got the info from but it’s working fine here. The limitations are exactly the same as using a Google Home or Home Mini – basically that certain functions are US Only.
Early review: damn this thing sounds Awesome!
Nah will wait for V2 au product.