ECHO STUDIO

‘ The Echo that sounds good’ is a simple pitch – but can Amazon deliver?

£190 amazon.co.uk

Echo Studio fills a long-time gap in the Echo range. It’s the Echo that sounds good, here to replace, or at least take on, ‘proper’ speakers.

To that end it’s got oodles of bass, support for HD and UHD (CD quality and hi-res, respectively) music files from Amazon Music HD and an array of drivers that includes an upward-firing one, giving support for 3D audio and potentially letting it serve as a rear Dolby Atmos speaker. You can pair two as a stereo duo, or connect as many as you like into a multiroom speaker system, along with any other Echos you may own.

Or, to put it another way, it’s a Sonos One rival. Sure, there are plenty of other wireless speakers we could compare it to, but the Sonos One is market leader at this price.

The Echo Studio has a BIG sound. As well as a 3.5-inch woofer, there’s a dedicated tweeter and two mid-range drivers, positioned to provide stereo – or something quite like it – via Dolby Atmos-based processing. Uniquely in this market, there’s also an upward-firing midrange driver, giving further support for Dolby Atmos as well as ‘3D Audio’ music. There is not an awful lot of music available in 3D at present – even Amazon’s own ‘best of 3D audio’ Alexa playlist is fleetingly brief – but it does sound… interesting. Obviously the killer app here will be when (if?) Amazon is able to provide the likes of the Pink Floyd and Muse back catalogues in 3D. The Echo Studio sounds big and powerful, if a bit lacking in refinement, and that’s also what it looks like. It’s like a standard Echo that’s gorged on protein shakes, and come back hella swole. Big light ring, big bass port, big… everything. The result is quite ugly but not full-on offensive.

The Studio is a huge leap forward in terms of sound quality over previous Echo speakers, and it’s well worth £190 so long as you’re an Amazon Music HD subscriber. It’s a solid performer with Spotify as well, but if you use any other streaming service there are better options available. Amazon Music and Music HD are keenly priced compared to their rivals, and have just as many tunes on offer, all searchable by voice. And if that gets annoying, you can always use your phone, tablet or laptop.

Echo Studio won’t win any design awards but it looks acceptable, it’s excellent value for money, and if you’re fully on-board with Amazon, it’s a real winner.