The Google Home Speaker sounds good and looks great — but it’s finicky

The Speaker comes in four colors… but red is the way. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge Right out of the box, the new Google Home Speaker passed a couple of important tests. Even with the volume at 100 percent and music blaring out of the speaker, it quickly ducked the audio and listened every time I said "Hey, Google." In fact, in two days of testing, the speaker's three microphones haven't missed a single wake word - except for the time I stage-whispered to it from the other room while trying