Skip to main content

Amazon takes a shot at Apple and Sonos with $199 Echo Studio, a 3D smart speaker

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Amazon’s Echo is one of the most popular smart speakers in the world, and while it’s got plenty of smart features, its primary function for most people is listening to music. It’s not a bad speaker for that activity, but it’s nowhere near as good as a Sonos One or an Apple HomePod, both of which offer voice assistants. Now, however, there’s a new Echo in town — the $199 Echo Studio — and it promises to make your smart speaker one of the best music-listening devices in your home.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Available for pre-order now and shipping in November, the Echo Studio uses a multi-angle driver configuration, which Amazon claims can deliver a fully immersive 3D-listening experience from just a single speaker. To back that claim up, the Echo Studio is compatible with two of the leading surround-sound formats: Dolby Atmos and Sony 360.

At $199, the Studio sits right beside the $199 Sonos One, while it undercuts similarly high-end smart speakers like the $350 Apple HomePod and (regularly) $399 Google Home Max, by up to $200.

Inside the Studio are left, right and top midrange speakers that create directional sound, a directional tweeter, and a built-in 5.25-inch bass driver coupled with a bass port.

Atop the Studio, you’ll find the usual complement of Echo buttons, the familiar LED ring light, and a seven-mic array. Using similar technology to both the HomePod and the new Sonos Move, the Studio can self-tune its EQ settings using these mics. Amazon claims this process takes as little as 10 seconds, according to The Verge.

To get even more out of the Echo Studio, you’ll be able to create a stereo pair if you buy two of them, and the speaker can also be synced to a 4K-capable Amazon Fire TV device so you can experience Dolby Atmos soundtracks (supported by Amazon Prime Video, naturally) via a wireless speaker.

Sonos One:

Apple HomePod:

Google Home Max:

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Echo Studio comes at an interesting time for Amazon as the company just announced a major upgrade to its Amazon Music Unlimited streaming platform called Amazon Music HD. Featuring both lossless and hi-res music tracks, it’s primed as the perfect music service to pair with the Studio’s high-caliber sound performance. To take advantage of the Studio’s 3D-audio prowess, Amazon Music HD has about 1,000 songs in this surround sound format. Picking one of these tracks while listening to the Studio will automatically stream the 3D version unless you choose otherwise.

As such, Amazon has suddenly moved ahead of both Spotify and Apple Music when it comes to sound quality while adding a comparable competitor to Apple’s HomePod at a price that runs as much as $100 less.

While the Echo Studio has a lot to live up to when it comes to its 360 sound promises — we’re not sure how potent Dolby Atmos can be through a speaker this size when it comes to creating truly spatial sound — just the fact that the speaker adds such specialized codecs is a second major indication in as many months that Amazon is getting very serious about sound.

Amazon also announced a whole bunch of new Alexa-powered devices including:

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the driver arrangement in the Echo Studio. The drivers are arranged in a multi-angle configuration. Also misstated was which Amazon Fire TV devices can sync with the Echo Studio. Only 4K-capable Fire TV devices can wirelessly sync with it.

Simon Cohen
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
Sonos One vs. Amazon Echo Studio
The Sonos One on a stand.

For years, Sonos fans clamored for a smart speaker to make its way to the platform. For nearly as long, Amazon Echo speaker supporters have yearned for the kind of ease of use and sound quality for which the Sonos family is famous.

In 2017, Sonos provided its answer in the Sonos One, a compact wireless speaker with Amazon Alexa (and later) Google Assistant access built in. Two years later, Amazon put all its chips on the table with the Amazon Echo Studio, designed to be Amazon’s best-sounding speaker yet. Now both companies have something more versatile to offer smart-speaker fans. But which is the better buy? We stacked the pair against each other in multiple categories to find out.
Price

Read more
Amazon Fire TV update turns Echo devices into wireless home theater speakers
Amazon Echo Sub

Amazon has released a new firmware update for the Amazon Echo, Amazon Echo Dot, Amazon Echo Plus, and Amazon Echo Studio that introduces the option to have them moonlight as an additional speaker while watching content through an Amazon Fire TV Cube, Amazon Fire TV Stick, or Amazon TV Stick 4K. The update amounts to a makeshift home theater solution for anyone looking to breathe fresh life into their entertainment setup with existing hardware.

You have the option to hook up as many as two Echo devices and an Echo Sub to create a makeshift 2.1 surround sound system. It shouldn't sound bad, either. The Echo Studio can handle Dolby Atmos, while both the latest Echo and Echo Plus have Dolby Audio Processing to boot. This essentially means they're armed with the same tools the basic home-theater-in-a-box setups have, even if the actual speakers themselves aren't quite on the same level.

Read more
Microsoft Surface Earbuds vs. Amazon Echo Buds: Two takes on true wireless
microsoft surface earbuds review

The Amazon Echo Buds and Microsoft Surface Earbuds are two of the latest true wireless earbuds to have been announced, yet only one of them can be yours right now. This creates a bit of a predicament: Do you head over to Amazon's website and order the Echo Buds, or wait until Microsoft blesses us with the Surface Earbuds in 2020? It's tough to say, really.

While the Amazon Echo Buds performed better than expected and took home a stellar 4.5 out of 5 stars score in our full review, there's a chance the Surface Earbuds could outperform them when they eventually hit the shelves. So if you're torn between the two, your best bet is to look at how they compare on paper, since we can't compare them in the real world just yet.
Price

Read more