Home Max hands-on: Google takes on Apple's HomePod and Sonos

Sonos and Apple have some unexpected competition in the voice-activated speaker market this holiday season. Google's somewhat unexpected Home Max is built with high quality music playback in mind, first and foremost. At $399 ($50 more than the HomePod and $100 less than the Sonos Play:5), it's priced accordingly -- but at first listen, it has the chops to match up with those other speakers. And Google says that its machine learning capabilities will give the company a leg up other players in the market. In a controlled listening environment, Google gave the press a demo of how the Home Max sounds, as both a single speaker and in a stereo configuration.