First look: Amazon Echo Link and Amp could take over the audiophile market

The echoes are for people who want to set kitchen timers and listen to music through tiny speakers, right? Until the September event of Amazon, it's how many music fans would have described the range of Amazon Echo Speakers.

Everything has changed with the introduction by Amazon of a clutch of hi-fi components – Echo Input and Echo Sub, but more importantly, Echo Link and Echo Link Amp – which together have the potential to take Alexa to every speaker, amplifier, hifi and TV in every room of a house.

Has Amazon just made a game for the entry-level audiophile market? His bone along the way? You have bet your bar of sound.

Amazon Echo Input bridges the technological gap

Although Amazon has unveiled new versions of its Echo Dot and Echo Plus Both audiophiles, both with improved loudspeakers, will rightly ignore them as quality convenience issues. This is not the case with Echo Input, a speakerless dongle that allows you to add Alexa to an existing speaker for a ridiculous price of $ 34.99 / £ 34.99.

This tiny, black or white Google Chromecast Audio-like device with a stereo equipped with a 3.5 mm jack, but also wireless Bluetooth speakers, bringing essentially all the features of the Echo Dot to any enclosure in a home.

"Amazon's Echo input adds far-field Alexa experiences to existing connected devices such as Bluetooth speakers, your old stereo, or even your widescreen TV with an input jack," explains Werner Goertz, Analyst. Gartner.

It has four microphones, but especially the echo input allows any speaker to be added to a multi-room music setup. However, the announcement of the Echo entry – currently available by invitation only – has proven to be a simple appetizer for audiophiles.

Without Sub, the amp and the link are ready for audiophiles

Since the poor bass response has so far kept the Echo family of devices out of the reach of those looking for great sound quality, it's not surprising to see Amazon announce Echo Sub.

This subwoofer, available in October, has a six-inch woofer and a power of 100W. It is intended to be associated with Echo or Echo Plus, and is available separately or with two Echo devices to create a fast 2.1 streaming system. As clever as it may sound, though, a 2.1 setup that uses Echos will only fit a small room or a small living space.

Serious audiophile material comes with the arrival or the Echo Link ($ 199.99, again only in the US at the moment) and echo Echo Link ($ 299.99). Both support multi-room music via Alexa, but also provide simple voice volume control for an otherwise perfectly analog configuration that currently only includes a disc player.

Unlike most members of the Echo family, these are serious and well-equipped pieces of equipment. For example, Echo Link (available later this year in the US) for connection to an existing amplifier has ins and outs for optical, coaxial and analog audio, a 3.5mm headphone jack and an output subwoofer. There is also an Ethernet port and a volume knob.

The Ampo Link Amp (available in early 2019) for connection to passive speakers adds a built-in 60-channel 2-channel amplifier with left / right speaker terminals. Naturally, the voice can be used to select music, change the volume or configure multi-room options on Echo Link and Echo Link Amp using the Alexa app or another Echo device. Critically for audiophiles, the latter contains a high-resolution 24-bit DAC. access to lossless audio music from Tidal a service.

Is Amazon stealing the thunder of Sonos?

Amazon's decision to opt for the audiophile market is a direct attack on a market – multi-room music – which is currently dominated by Sonos (of which Sonos Amp was released in December). However, it is also an effort to enter a market before its other competitors.

"The focus on audio products and accessories with Echo Sub, Echo Link and Echo Link Amp will help Amazon deliver high-end audio experiences in the face of Apple HomePod, Sonos Products and even Google with the Home MaxSaid Geoff Blaber, vice president of research for the Americas at CCS Insight. "It should be noted that Amazon does not rely solely on pre-integration into new products, but on the implementation of existing home appliances and devices via connectors and adapters to generate the utility and use.

Can Amazon challenge Sonos? Absolutely, and its modular multi-room music offering of good quality with integrated voice control will be irresistible for some. If Echo Dot is the entry level, it is the next logical step.

Are we ready for hi-fi Alexa?

There is a big question: does your average hi-fi enthusiast care about voice control? Or multi-room? I'm not convinced that they do it … again. I would not be surprised if the Echo Link and Echo Link Amp remain niche products and have a limited lifespan (and they might not even come out of the US).

But much will depend on the sales of Echo Input, which will introduce – for a nominal fee – the concept of voice control to many music fans.

Amazon probably already knows it; it is largely about "Alexa everywhere".

"Amazon's announcements remind Apple and Google that Alexa has a significant lead that it seeks to optimize," says Blaber. "The Echo is just one of the many checkpoints, because competitors are still riding the loudspeaker train."

So it's a matter of extending its dominance over smart speakers, certainly, but it's all about one thing: Amazon wants to have Alexa everywhere as soon as possible so that it becomes the default way to control … well, everything.

Comprising your kitchen and your car.