topic New Gemini Voices on sound muffled on Nest Speakers in Speakers and Displays

New Gemini Voices on sound muffled on Nest Speakers

PancakeLegend — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:09:59 GMT

On Nest Mini and Nest Audio speakers, the new Gemini voices sound muffled.

Maybe this could be improved by changing EQ settings, but I'm listening to jazz right now and the cymbals sound clear and bright and I wouldn't want to compromise music audio quality for assistant voice quality. Honestly, the Nest Mini has excellent audio for it's size, but these new assistant voices sound like it's talking through a pillow (an exaggeration, but you take my point).

Re: New Gemini Voices on sound muffled on Nest Speakers

moralesvicente — Sat, 09 May 2026 21:11:40 GMT

Hello @PancakeLegend,

Thanks for reaching out to the Google Nest Community. I’m sorry to hear you’re experiencing muffled sound on your Nest Mini and Nest Audio speakers when using the new Gemini voices. No worries; I'm happy to assist you with this.

Here are some steps you can try:

Try a different assistant voice: Change the Gemini/Assistant voice in settings and check if clarity improves.
Reboot your Nest speakers and the device you’re using to control them.
Update everything and make sure that your phone, apps, and devices are fully updated.
Compare audio types: test Gemini voice vs music vs other spoken audio (like podcasts).

Let me know how it goes; I’ll be waiting for your response.

Cheers,

Daniel

Re: New Gemini Voices on sound muffled on Nest Speakers

PancakeLegend — Sat, 09 May 2026 21:33:50 GMT

Thanks for your response. I've already isolated the issue as being unique to the Gemini assistant voices. Chimes, alarms, and music still sound as clear and full as they ever have, the software updates are out of my control. Reboot changes nothing. The voices sound a bit hollow, and weak in the upper range. As mentioned in my post, normally these speakers have pretty good response across the range. To me it sounds like assistant voice audio is being compressed and streamed with a more aggressive codec than before. I'm confident that this isn't a technical issue that can be fixed at my end.

As flagged, this is feedback. Please improve the new Gemini Assistant voice quality. When the drop is quality is noticeable, then you've gone too far.

Re: New Gemini Voices on sound muffled on Nest Speakers

moralesvicente — Sun, 10 May 2026 00:57:27 GMT

Hi @PancakeLegend,

Thank you so much for posting. I really appreciate the effort you took to isolate the issue. We’re always looking to improve, so please consider submitting this via our feedback form. Your input is incredibly important and helps us provide a better experience for everyone.

Best regards,

Daniel