Tested: Wi-Fi speaker with Google Assistant and great sound

the Teufel Motiv Go Voice It is a new version of the compact WiFi speaker from the German audio brand. What’s new is Google Assistant support: you can talk to the smart voice assistant thanks to the built-in microphones.

Google Home app for Android or iOS is required to install, otherwise the speaker won’t work. This installation process goes smoothly, because Google Home automatically recognizes your Teufel speaker. Via the Google app, you can also set which services the speakers support, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Netflix.

With the Google Home app, you can include the speaker in your WiFi, and then you can connect other devices to it. Only then can you also connect via bluetooth. This is still done via bluetooth 5.0, while the newer and better version 5.3 is more common. This is a downside, but with this kind of smart speaker, WiFi streaming is ultimately more important.

voice

Motiv Go Voice has two full range drivers, two passive voice drivers and 20 watts of power. Despite its small size (20 cm wide and 11 cm high), it produces a very powerful sound that can easily fill a large living room. The stereo sound is clear and full. The bass is quite there, but it can sometimes sound a bit dull. when listening to Podcasts Voices sound nice and clear.

Battery life is pretty good: 16 hours. Four lights on top indicate how much battery is left. There’s also a button on the side to turn the microphone on and off, so Google isn’t always listening. There is also a mini jack input for the wired connection of other devices.

dynamore

At the top are the control buttons for volume, pause, and for turning Bluetooth, Google Assistant, and Dynamore on and off. With the latter function, you can make the sound click more spatially in a virtual way. This works well in practice. The effect depends on speaker placement and volume, but from a distance and directly in front of the device, the Dynamore sounds just fine. There is no equalizer, so you can’t adjust the sound yourself.

The design is somewhat retro yet stylish and the build quality is very solid. The speaker is made of aluminum and plastic and has a durable, perforated fabric front. Unlike its Motiv Go predecessor, this Motiv Go Voice case is not splash-proof. It does not charge with USB-C but with an AC connection. This is another minus.

Teufel Motiv Go Voice costs 250 euros. This makes the Teufel speaker much cheaper than a portable speaker SonosMove (449 euros). the Google Nest Audio Much cheaper (100 euros), but it also looks lower quality.