Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen)
(4th Generation)
When Amazon abandoned its puck-shaped Echo Dot last year and served up a spherical design instead, there was much mocking and laughter online. Amazon wasn’t the first to consider a spherical audio solution, of course, and plenty of other manufacturers have extolled the virtues of gastropod shapes, so is the new globular Dot better than its puck-shaped predecessor? And, might the public change its tune over time?
The Echo Dot is similar to the Apple Homepod Mini in stature; placed side by side, the two speakers are almost identical. Our charcoal Echo Dot sample is a similar hue to the black Mini and the power cable is mounted at the same angle – although the Dot’s is removable rather than fixed, and flanked by a 3.5mm audio line out for wired listening.
Much like the larger Echo (4th Gen), the Dot’s spherical design is lopped off at the bottom to provide a base, and it’s here you’ll find the Amazon Echo range’s trademark blue ring of light. The four physical buttons for mic on/off, action and volume are still present and there’s also a ‘tap to snooze’ feature, which is helpful if you use your Dot for alarms.
Solo driver
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the extra height afforded by a spherical design must mean an extra driver under the hood. However, the all-new Echo Dot includes a solo 4cm driver – just as the third-gen Dot did, albeit it’s now front-firing. The same four-mic array for voice pick-up is also here. Inside is a new chip, which promises to make Alexa’s response times up to twice as fast as before. The fourth-gen Echo Dot also enters a new low-power mode when idle to save on energy consumption.
As anyone familiar with Amazon Echo devices knows, set-up is a case of downloading the Alexa app on your smartphone, plugging in the Dot and following the prompts. Helpful advancements have been made to encourage the ownership of several Echo devices. For example, you can name and group all your Echo products within your home, so saying “Alexa, play David Bowie in the living room” means any Echo devices in that group will oblige. Stereo pairing is possible, but only between two Dots of the same model. Under the Communicate tab on the Alexa app, you can make an announcement (such as “I’m home”) be broadcast to your speakers, and under the Home tab you can browse ‘skills’ to enable on your Dot. Of course, you can link music streaming subscriptions, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited (but not Tidal or Qobuz). Although Apple Music, Beats 1 Radio and Apple Podcasts are supported skills on the Echo Dot, venturing into Apple’s ecosystem with an Amazon Alexa product isn’t the smooth ride you’d get from the Applecentric Homepod Mini.
Add this to features such as Amazon Routines (to dim lights in your smart home, for example), ‘dropping in’ on anyone sat near a Dot for a two-way conversation, and Alexa’s help with everyday queries and this affordable smart speaker offers a staggering amount of clever perks for the money.
The ideal placement for this Dot is in a corner or facing out into a room with the power connector at the back. But despite a design that’s slightly fussier over placement than before, once you set it down you’ll hear the difference.
It isn’t time to sell your pair of stereo standmounts just yet, but if you regularly listen to podcasts or music at your desk, the Echo Dot offers a solid step-up on the previous model for audio. We kick off our listening with R.E.M’S Automatic For The People album and find the keys and strings in Nightswimming three-dimensional and well fleshed out, aided by a clear, refined treble.
Emotive dynamics
The brooding intro of Maria Mckee’s Show Me Heaven dispels any fears that the Echo Dot might undercook the bass. It would be churlish to expect huge low-end clout from such a small speaker, but here the Dot is more capable than we expected and helps an emotive dynamic build over the course of our listening.
The Homepod Mini betters the Dot for detail and overall sound quality, but it’s double the price and a far more Apple-centric beast. At this price, you won’t find a better-sounding smart speaker than the Echo Dot.
The question of which voice assistant to introduce to your home is largely a personal one. If your household comprises mostly iphone users, the Homepod Mini offers Apple-focused functionality and a noteable step up in terms of sound quality over the Echo Dot, albeit at a substantial price hike.
But by updating its most popular and affordable Echo device, Amazon has laid down the most compelling case yet for choosing Alexa. Amazon’s entry-level smart device has come a long way in terms of sound quality and, regardless of the aesthetic, the sonic performance is better than ever.