How do Amazon's new echoes compare to other smart speakers?

Amazon has introduced two new smart speakers to the avalanche of announcements during its material event in the fall of 2019 this week: a third generation Echo and what it claims to be its best speaker to date, the Echo Studio. Launched by Amazon with the first Echo, the smart speaker market now offers a multitude of competitors to choose from. But how do the new models of Amazon compare?

Amazon Echo Studio

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If you want the best Echo speaker for music, the $ 199.99 Echo Studio is the one Amazon wants you to buy. Five drivers are available: a one-inch tweeter, three 2-inch midrange speakers and a 5.25-inch woofer, which should be able to show Amazon Music HD, the new streaming level of music streaming. Amazon that offers streaming without loss. It also supports "3D audio" for the few tracks that support it, using formats such as Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio. The novelty in the Echo range (but not among Amazon competitors) is the possibility for Echo Studio to automatically adjust its output for the room in which it is located. Like the classic Echo, Echo Studio can play music from most popular music services.

My colleague Dan Seifert had a private listening session and said that Echo Studio would "easily challenge" other high-end smart speakers. And as its price is lower than many competitors, this should allow Sonos, Apple and Google to sit and listen. You can preorder Echo Studio today, and Amazon says it will be available as of November 7th.

Sonos One

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At $ 199, the Sonos One is a direct competitor to Amazon's new Echo Studio. However, while Echo Studio is just an Alexa business, Sonos One gives you a lot more freedom, with the ability to use Alexa or Google Assistant.

The Sonos One is not able to detect and automatically adjust the sound depending on the room in which it is located. (For this you will have to follow Sonos Trueplay's manual tuning process.) But when it came out, the Sonos One held the crown as the best Alexa speaker at its price. With the announcement of Echo Studio, there is a chance that could change.

Apple HomePod

Image: Apple

The Apple HomePod, launched in February 2018, comes with seven tweeters and a 4-inch woofer that are all controlled by an Apple A8 processor. It also offers some tips to quickly adjust the sound to fit better to the room in which it is, like other smart speakers, but its relatively high price of $ 299.

Like many other Apple devices, the HomePod is closely related to the ecosystem of its manufacturer. It uses Siri, which is not as efficient as the Google Assistant or Alexa of Amazon, without the possibility to switch to a competing assistant. For now, Siri can only personalize his answers in one person, although it is possible to tailor his responses to individual voices later this fall. You can also use Apple Music only natively. If you want to play music from another music service, you need to use AirPlay to stream it from your iPhone to your HomePod. This means that the speaker is not a great option if you mainly listen to Spotify on an Android device.

Nevertheless, if you are married to the Apple ecosystem, you will not find Siri supported by any other smart speaker from this list, making the HomePod your only option.

Google Home Max

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Google Home Max, released in late 2017, at $ 299, is Google's next offering offered to Amazon and Apple's high-end speakers. It has four speakers: two 4.5-inch woofers and two 0.7-inch tweeters. According to Dan Seifert's study, it sounded better than "any other smart speaker" he had tested at that time. However, he said that it did not sound as good as the high-end Sonos: Play: 5, which lacks voice assistant.

Like many other high-end smart speakers, Google Home Max can automatically adjust to the room in which it uses its microphones. Since this is a Google product, it runs Google Assistant. However, it supports fewer music services than Amazon or Sonos.

If you plan to buy the Google Home Max today, wait a few weeks: Google will hold an Oct. 15 event in which new hardware, possibly with new speakers, should be announced. So there is always a chance the Google Home Max could see an update.

Sonos Move

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Sonos' Move, his new $ 399 portable speaker, has only a woofer and a tweeter. But in the study of Dan Seifert, he found that the Move was "clearer and sharper" than the Apple HomePod, so it has nothing wrong. He now has the interest to adjust himself to adapt to the room in which it is automatically. (On other Sonos speakers, this setup process requires you to map the part with an application on your phone.)

The Move, unlike other smart speakers in this list, is also designed to be moved. It charges on an included base and Sonos indicates that the charger gives him 10 hours of battery. It also supports Bluetooth technology for listening to music outside of a Wi-Fi network.

Like the Sonos One, but unlike the other smart speakers listed here, the Move can work Is Amazon or Google Assistant, you can choose the virtual assistant that suits you best. Like Amazon's echo, it also works with any music service you could want.

Amazon Echo (third generation)

Image: Amazon

Amazon's third-generation echo looks a lot like its predecessor: it's a fabric-covered speaker, but Amazon claims it will have better sound quality with a 0.8-inch tweeter and speaker 3-inch bass (just like the existing Echo Plus). at). It still costs $ 99.99 and, like other Echos, it can stream music from any music service, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and Pandora. Alexa is on board, but she misses the Zigbee smart home hub that comes with Echo Plus and Echo Studio. So it will not be as useful as those if you want it to be at the center of your smart home.

If you just need something to play music while doing things at home, the echo is probably a good option. You can pre-order the new Echo today, and Amazon has announced that it will begin shipping Oct. 16.

Ikea Symfonisk

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Ikea's Symfonisk stands out a bit from this list because it is the only speaker not to include a voice assistant. But we thought it was worth it because it can be transferred to an existing Sonos network and its price of $ 99 places it in direct competition with the new Amazon Echo.

When we reviewed it earlier this year, we thought it easily surpassed Amazon's current Echo in terms of sound quality. It also integrates seamlessly with the Sonos ecosystem, which means you can control it with the help of the Sonos app and use it as part of the Sonos ecosystem. a Sonos multiroom configuration. If you do not care to control the speaker with your voice, it's a pretty convincing option.

Google Home

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Of course, Google Home is a more direct competitor to Amazon's latest Echo device, especially after Amazon dropped its price to $ 99 earlier this year. However, Google's mid-range smart speaker was launched for the first time in 2016 and the hardware has not been updated since, so this device is almost three years old at this point.

Technically, there is nothing wrong with that. It's not as if smart speaker technology has changed dramatically in the last three years. So, if you want to enter the Google ecosystem rather than Amazon, then it's your best option at this price.

So which one to choose?

We have not yet completely reviewed Amazon Echo Studio or third generation Echo. So it's impossible to say how any of Amazon's new speakers will compare to the immediate competition.

Based solely on the specifications, it is clear that there is not much difference between the many players in the market. The best speaker for you will probably come in what ecosystem of devices you are currently investing in. Sonos is a good choice if you're still on the fence, do not know if you're Alexa type or Google Assistant type, but definitely. not Siri type.