cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Replies are disabled for this topic. Start a new one or visit our Help Center.

Strange popping sound in my nest mini

limuremu
Community Member

Hello, I’ve just got my best mini about a month ago, and it’s been great so far. That being said, in the past week I’ve been hearing this sort or popping or cracking sound, similar to what you would hear if you had dust on a vinyl record and tried to play it. I haven’t heard it happen when the assistant is responding to me, but they don’t happen on a schedule or anything, more randomly. I’ve unplugged it and plugged it back in, rebooted it through the Home app, and tried plugging it into a different outlet. I’m pretty sure it’s not my wifi, and I’d like to avoid a factory reset if possible but I’m running out of options. Any help?

1 Recommended Answer

kelanfromgoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

Hey everyone,

Our recent firmware update 3.73 has reached 100% rollout, and with it comes an update that should resolve the "popping noise" that many of you have described in this thread. If you are still experiencing this issue, please confirm that your devices and Google Home app are up to date. If the issue persists, please reach back out here with as much detail as you can provide and I'll make sure the team is aware.

Thank you all for the patience.
Kelan

View Recommended Answer in original post

795 REPLIES 795

Agree! There are so many BUGS and broken features...

I found so so many...

It's almost a MIRACLE when the devices trigger an ALARM set at the correct time!

Everything else is just a BONUS! 😄

Wadadli
Community Member

I have the same issue casting BBC Sounds to a Nest Mini from my Samsung S21 Ultra. Get the pop sound evert two minutes.

I can't believe I'm saying this (because i like Google a LOT, this company gave the world so much) BUT, this problem plus the Google complete radio silence, is screaming class action lawsuit!

Hey @marcolopes ,  let's delve deeper into the Google "phenomenon", shall we?

Sure, Google has left its mark on the world. We've got the search engine, maps, and a whole lot of advertising thrown into the mix. But before we start praising them, let's take a moment to ponder the not-so-rosy aspects.

First off, let's talk about that search engine. It's a lifesaver when you're hunting down information, but it comes at a cost. Google's tracking our every move, hoarding our personal info like it's going out of style. It's like having a nosy neighbor who knows more about you than you do yourself.

Now, onto Google Maps. It's a navigational godsend, right? Well, not quite. While it's handy for finding your way, it's built on user-generated content. Ever noticed how those directions can sometimes lead you astray? Blame it on the crowd-sourced content.

But here's where it hits close to home: us, the users. Google Maps relies heavily on our input, but do we really have a say in how it operates? Sure, we can report issues and suggest edits, but do they always get addressed? Google allows malicious placemarks (points of interest) to be added, Like every mailbox on each corner and other useless info. There are parks that don't exist and a lot, lot more issues. 

With Google, it feels like we're shouting into the void, with no real impact on the accuracy of the maps we rely on.

And let's not overlook the elephant in the room: advertising. Google's bread and butter. It bombards us with ads tailored so precisely it's almost creepy. Ever searched for a product, only to have ads for it haunting you on every website you visit thereafter? Yeah, that's Google's doing.

So, before we start singing Google's praises for all it's supposedly given the world, let's take a step back and acknowledge the not-so-glamorous side. Sure, it's shaped the world, but maybe not always for the better, especially for us, the users.

I'm aware of all that!

Yet... I still maintain what I said... and I just don't care how much information Google has about me! I just don't! 

You know what the problem in Europe is? Governments implemented hyped data protection policy, but it's not for public benefit!! It makes everyone's life miserable!!

As of yesterday, Worldcoin registration was HALTED in Portugal, and in the past few weeks in Spain! Why? Because the regulators know nothing about nothing, and just protect the government interests!! They must know everything, control everything and everyone (specially the money), and don't let anyone else interfere in the progress, in the name of public interest!! We are all going to die anonymous, but stupid and isolated!!

So, about Google... I just don't care that they know everything about me! What they have given to the human race is beyond anything they could take from me!

YET... they suck big time when it comes to the Nest ecosystem...

They should not sell hardware and focus on what they do best... maybe they should SELL the whole Nest division to another company that knows what it's doing (perhaps SONOS??? 😀)

I get where you're coming from.

I had family over in the EU who were into some strange ideas, like pseudoscience and alternative facts. They didn't really care much about privacy until one of them got hit by identity theft. It was then that they started taking it seriously. They used to also say things like, "I don't care what 'they' know about me."

But it's not just Google; it's lots of big corporations, conglomerates, and companies. They've got this mindset that can mess things up for everyone. They often act in ways that aren't ethical (morally and business), fair or right. And underneath it all, they're the ones really in charge, not the governments.

And to add to all that, my family in the EU got hit hard by COVID. We lost a bunch of relatives to it for having this mindset. It's been a **bleep**ty time, with corporate greed and unethical behavior making things even crappier.  Things will get much worse before it ever gets better.

 

We started noticing the pops recently when playing soft music with long notes in a playlist called SPA Lounge on Spotify. Never noticed the pops for the past 3 years living with these awesome speakers. Now I dont think they are so awesome anymore 😞

Hmmm8888
Community Member

@hmauroy 

The speakers never were awesome. But the issue isn't [hardware] related with the user's equipment.

tsengf
Community Member

Do you happen to know what might have changed? I don't think this community knows what's causing the pops. My best guess is the firmware version, but I cannot confirm.

hmauroy
Community Member

I don't know what changed. It started a few weeks ago while starting listening to calm music where the notes are long and interleaved, so there are no pauses in the sound. It happens several times an hour.
I have no idea how the buffring of the data stream from spotify is handled in Google Nest mini. But I guess there is some sort of overflow of some intensity values which makes the pops.
I just wanted to chime in to create another data point for use cases.

Not limited to Spotify or YouTube Music...

It's related to ALL STREAMING!

I noticed it when streaming DAILY NEWS!!!!

Hmm_8888
Community Member

Seems like "data point" is becoming a popular phrase in forums these days which is as absurd as the comments here asking when Google is going to fix the problem or the shilling. 

pluri
Community Member

@hmauroy  As already said, also by others, the issue is happening with all streaming sources and is NOT due to bad/corrupted audio data in the streaming. The proof is that the pop noise is present even with the volume turned to zero !

Also if you pair the nest with an external Bluetooth speaker, the pop noise still happens on the (otherwise silent) Nest while the reproduction of the streaming music on the external Bluetooth speaker is flawless, so no bad data in the audio streaming.

The pop noise is more noticeable to our ears when listening at low volume a gentle music in a silent room (at night) rather than listening at high volume some kind of loud heavy metal song.

Also from my experience the loudness and the reiteration rate of the pop noise is not always the same ... why ? I don't know.

We have to consider that these devices are pretty dumb, most of the "magic", apart recognising the "Hey Google" sentence, is done remotely on the Google servers, the problem may be even starting there.

Only Google knows which is the cause and if there is a solution. However they really seems to have abandoned the development of such products under many aspects (there are many other even worse bugs) so I really think that they just don't care to provide a solution.

Just take this in mind when purchasing other products or services from this company (not that the others are much better though).

hmauroy
Community Member

Of my 3 speakers, only the one with firmware 2.58.384934 is popping. The other two have 2.57. 375114. 

Listen carefully!!

I have 3 devices also. 2.57 and 2.58 (not even officially announced!!) and they ALL pop!

pluri
Community Member

@hmauroy I have two devices with fw. 2.57. 375114 and they BOTH pop. I'm pretty sure that sooner or later you will notice the pop noise also on you other speakers.

This is what puzzles me!

For me, i noticed it from DAY 1 (but i bought 3 devices 6 months ago!)

Many have been reporting this for +3 YEARS now!

So??? Was it ALWAYS there? Was if FIXED and reintroduced??

You can check my posts with links to many reports all over the net (mainly reddit)

Hmm_8888
Community Member

I just got an notification that someone selected the RECOMMENDED Answer by the mods. Talk about unbelievable. Much like for the last few days there were many likes on social media with posting bogus media of the solar eclipse which was limited to the North America claiming the footage was from Australia, the EU, Asia, or South America. What an unhinged time we're living in. 

Same here... must be someone HAPPY with the "Hey, it's been A YEAR! but OUR TEAM is aware of this and working on a solution"!!!! 🙄

Jaarimaa
Community Member

Any solution yet?

NO solution.

NO google feedback.

NO support feedback.

NO moderation feedback.

@marcolopes That goes for you too. Refrain from responding to lazy posters who just come here and ask the same bloody question: what's the fix or is there an update. I have already unsubscribed from this thread and I imagine many others have too because of these annoyances.

pluri
Community Member

@Hmm_8888 do what you like to do, is up to you. Just don't tell other what they can or cannot do.

If you are unsubscribed why are you still posting ?

tsengf
Community Member

Hi all, I know that I'm going against the common sentiment here, but I want to share my experience since I've joined this thread. I was on FW 375114 when I first joined. I have since updated to 384934 and popping still happens. Since I first posted, the intensity of the pops stayed the same, but the rate of the pops decreased significantly. When it happens it's still obnoxious. What I want to say is that I can confirm that when the "Ultrasound sensing" feature is disabled, I do not get the obnoxious pops. Every once a while, when I'm paying attention, I will hear a faint disturbance in the audio stream. If I were to guess, they're the pops but I can barely notice them. I have also confirmed when I reenable the "Ultrasound sensing" feature, the pops are again obnoxious.

My question is why some people have some success from disabling "Ultrasound sensing" and not others. Could it be due to the speaker placement and its surrounding? Maybe when the feature is off, the speaker is still doing something to sense its surrounding. I don't know and can't explain it.

Feature description:

"Ultrasound sensing uses your Google Nest device's speakers and microphones to determine whether a person is approaching the device. Your device's speaker will emit soft, inaudible ultrasonic pulses. These pulses are reflected off of nearby objects in the room and the microphones detect these reflections."

Sorry, i don't notice any difference in the POPPING with or without "Ultrasound sensing" on OR off!

pluri
Community Member

@tsengf I can't say nothing about fw.  384934 because my two devices are stuck with fw. 375114.

Regarding why some people say that disabling ultrasound resolves or improves the problem my guess is this: in my experience the rate and intensity of the pops is really random and unpredictable, there are some days when I can't hear any or just very subtle ones, while in other cases I may have two or three very loud pops in few minutes.

Then the pops are more evident in a quiet environment, when listening to low volume music, rather than listening to high volume music in a noisy environment, there only the strongest one are evident.

So to say that something is a solution it takes to hear with attention and for long time to have a significant statistic.

Regarding the ultrasound feature the only obvious function is to light up the touch buttons when you approach the device ... this is especially useful at night. Google says that no data collected from the ultrasound sensor is sent to the cloud.

P.S. as I'm writing this I noticed that this feature is currently not working on my two Nest Mini even if it is enabled in the options ... so we have another bug, very good ! This thing is really falling apart.

tsengf
Community Member

@pluri Good points. I want to add a little more light with regards to my situation. I have the mini in my office that I stream internet music during the work day. It's playing several hours a day. I have the volume set to 1 (hey google, set the volume to 1). I have been monitoring the pops for about 2 months. I can't remember when I last posted (when I interacted with marcolopes). My mini is sitting in a dark corner of the room behind my monitors. I'm pretty sure if the ultrasound is suppose to detect me, the monitor would be obstructing it. For me, there is a light and day difference in the quality of the pops with Ultrasound sensing on and off.

BTW! The devices POPS when streaming anything... except when you ask to play "relaxing sounds" (i believe they are stored locally and repeated in loop!)

The device POPS when:

- Streaming Spotify

- Streaming Youtube Music

- Streaming the NEWS!

- Streaming the ASSISTANT ANSWERS! (YES!!! IT popped yesterday when answering me!!)

marcolopes
Community Member

I can!!!

BOTH firmware's are absolutely the same in what concerns with this problem!

Firmware 384934 isn't even listed as OFFICIAL! 😄

marcolopes
Community Member

Well, I'm going to (once again, and again!) turn OFF the "Ultrasound sensing" on all devices and report back!

P.S. don't forget to REBOOT the devices after the switch, because it makes a difference on the first hours?? Another specific behaviour that puzzles me!

sr_vrd
Community Member

I literally just bought one of these today. I had no issues with my first gen Google Home Mini, and this one, which I bought specifically to play music/books/sounds at night, is extremely annoying.

 

Has there really been no progress on this issue for this long? Extremely disappointed. I will probably return it tomorrow.

 

It was also really difficult to get it to set up and I have not been able to add it to speaker groups, which was one of the reasons I decided to buy this specific device. 

marcolopes
Community Member

Reporting (again!!) about the possible fix disabling the "Ultrasound sensing"

1) I have disabled (again!!) the "Ultrasound sensing" on ALL devices (standalone, stereo pairs, etc)

2) I have rebooted ALL devices

3) They started popping almost immediately, and i could NOT notice any difference on the popping

SO... in my experience, disabling the "Ultrasound sensing" results in NO REAL difference in the popping frequency or VOLUME.

hyvuonggia
Community Member

Looks like there is the issue with the Ultrasound sensing that cause poping sound. After turn off, the random popping sound is gone. Atlease in my case.

You can turn off by following this link: https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9509981?hl=en#zippy=%2Cgoogle-nest-mini

I want to voice that turning off the Ultrasound Sensing feature also eliminates the popping on my Minis. As I mentioned in another message, it is not clear to me why disabling this functionality helps some users but not others.

NO, IT WON'T!

IT will pop again soon!

In my case, it pops right away!

TURNING OFF THE "Ultrasound Sensing feature" does NOT RESOLVE the popping issue in the NEST MINI!!!

@marcolopes I have been running with the Ultrasound Sensing feature disabled for 2+ months. I am confirming that I not hear the pops. My volume setting is 1. I stream content for several hours each day. When I reenable Ultrasound Sensing, the pops immediately come back. As I mentioned in this thread, it appears that Ultrasound Sensing resolves the issue for some users but not all. I do not understand why. I'm located in the US by the way. I'm also happy to record a audio stream if it helps to convey the point. But regardless of this, I agree that Google is not doing their job of resolving this for all users.

Can you turn the "Ultrasound Sensing feature" ON and report back?

That is really strange!!!

Are you testing only 1 device?

What's the firmware version?

@marcolopes I've been running with the Ultrasound Sensing feature enabled for exactly one week. Yes, the obnoxious pops come back when the feature is enabled. The frequency of the pops is roughly once every 10 minutes. I'm listening on the volume setting 1. I own multiple nest mini's. They all have the same behavior. I am on FW 384934. I can confidently say that the Ultrasound sensing feature has an impact for me. I cannot explain why this doesn't impact all users. Does the country of use make a difference? I'm located in the US.

I find that very strange! I don't find any difference with or without "Ultrasound Sensing feature disabled"

I'm am in Europe.

Minor typo in my previous response but fixed. I'm curious if there's a correlation between users saying that disabling this feature fixes things and where they're located?