The Google Home Mini speaker is a good idea in theory: It can act as a small speaker for your tunes or entertainment, competes against the smaller Amazon Echo devices, and acts as a voice assistant satellite device for those who really like Google Assistant. However, problems have cropped up when it comes to user experience.
For one thing, the Home Mini has been crashing and eavesdropping on conversations (not at the same time, obviously), which hasn’t been great for publicity. But there’s another problem, a design flaw many users have noted – the Mini doesn’t have a line-out jack.
The lack of a line-out jack makes it difficult to link the Home Mini up to any more powerful speakers or headphones for extra sound, more privacy, or other advantages. It’s particular annoying when compared to the Amazon Echo Dot, which has exactly this feature for such reasons. The absence is noticeable for those who want a more versatile speaker.
So, it’s no surprise that someone has found a workaround. That someone is SnekTek, and the workaround is incredibly complex.
It involves carefully melting off the bottom of the Home Mini, wiring up an audio out component just right, and drilling into the base so the line out could be exposed for use.
Needless to say, that’s going to destroy your warranty, and probably won’t help you diagnose any future problems with the Mini (after all, it could have always been something you did). But it does fix the problem, and at a low cost – electrical engineering skills not included although certainly required!
So, if you like doing your own complicated mods for electrical equipment to improve them, this project should be right up your alley. If you aren’t interested in this method at all, it’s worth noting that you can also stream sound from a Mini to a Chromecast-connected speaker system.
3 responses to “Post Title”