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The Echo Studio has always been a slight oddball in the Echo lineup, not least because of the high price, but also because of its bulky design. While the rest of the range moved to a spherical look, the Studio stoically stuck to the design that landed way back in 2019.
But what the Echo Studio did, it did really well – and that was delivering a higher-quality sound, with spatial audio and Dolby Atmos, supporting the higher-quality formats that Amazon Music also introduced.
While there’s also a new Echo Dot Max, it feels like its time for the Echo Studio to shine.
The Echo Dot Max sounds great
Before we get to the Studio, let’s talk about the Dot Max.
Rather than refreshing all the Echo speakers and Show models, Amazon chose to launch the Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11. Amazon is also saying that these devices are built for Alexa+, not only benefitting from a new design but also new hardware.
Sitting at the core of these devices are new AZ3 and AZ3 Pro processors, making them the most powerful Echo devices yet. They are purposefully designed to process AI on the edge and give the best experience that Amazon’s advanced voice service will offer.
The Echo Dot Max is likely to be the most popular. It’s bigger than the existing Echo Dot, and provides a significant boost in sound quality. In particular, it’s able to deliver a richer, more bassy sound – Amazon says it offers 3x the bass and you can really hear it. How has it achieved this improvement? By utilising not one but two drivers: one “high-excursion woofer” dedicated to delivering lower frequencies and a “custom tweeter” for the treble.
It’s a little more expensive than you might expect an Echo Dot to be at £100 – almost double the price of the current Echo Dot. I’d recommend waiting for Black Friday to get a better deal on this dinky speaker. If you’ve got keen eyes, you’ll spot that there’s an Amethyst version – which looks great.
The new Echo Studio is dramatically different
Back to the Echo Studio and the design matches the Echo Dot Max, with something of a Death Star aesthetic. But it’s much more compact than it was previously (40% smaller), so it fits into a room better than it did before. There’s going to be some conflict with Amazon’s Echo – which has a similar spherical design, but is slightly smaller – but the Studio has much more potential.
I sampled the sound quality of the new Echo Studio and I was impressed with how immersive the results were. It’s designed for Dolby Atmos spatial audio, and when listening to test tracks I could really hear the wider soundstage that it offered. It’s much more enveloping, more obviously immersive and that’s from a single speaker.
Inside, there are three drivers paired with a high-excursion woofer, which – Amazon tells me – have been tuned by Dolby.
Amazon also has ambitions to take these speakers further. I also experienced the Alexa Home Theatre setup, with five of these Echo Studio speakers linked together. That’s makes for a formidable array, which can be created by pairing these speakers with a compatible Fire TV stick (currently not available for Fire TV models), for a 5.0 or 5.1 surround sound setup.
There’s the option to add the Echo Sub, but from what I heard, the Echo Studio has more than enough bass to deliver those deep tones without the need for the extra speaker.
I had the chance to listen to some music on this setup – Michael Jackson’s Thriller – which was wonderfully detailed and bursting with atmosphere – while a quick sample of Ready Player One showed real cinematic Dolby Atmos, with precise object positioning. Of course, the downside is that you’ll need quite a bit of kit to make this work – and then use it with a Fire TV Stick, which might not suit your setup.
The Echo Studio’s final trick is room tuning, so it should always be able to deliver the best possible audio for the space it has been installed in. There’s a downside, of course, which is the price at £220.
Echo Show gets a fresh new design, too
The Echo Show – Amazon’s Alexa-driven smart screen – has also been given a bit of a makeover, with two new models – a new Echo Show 8 and 11 – benefitting from a fresh new design. The new speakers are less blocky than the old Echo Show 8 and knocks the dated design of the Echo Show 10 into the annals of Echo history.
The new design has a mesh-covered, spherical capsule behind the display housing the speakers, while the display sits atop, almost as though it floats. There are stereo speakers within, offering spatial audio, with a woofer to bring out the bass, and a new user interface designed to present the skills of Alexa+ better.
The Echo Show 8 will cost £180, while the larger Echo Show is £220 . All the models are all available to pre-order now.
