It's not without its faults, but we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the Echo Studio’s sonic performance. It’s a powerful speaker, absolutely booming with bass force and overall volume, and easily the best-sounding Echo speaker to date. It sounds big, goes loud and there's a good level of detail and dynamics. We're not convinced entirely by the way it handles bass, and we wouldn't exactly call it audiophile quality, but for the money, the Echo Studio has a lot going for it. Its size means you’re going to have to think about where you’re going to place the Echo Studio – it won’t fit quite so discreetly onto a shelf as other Echos have. You can access tone controls through the Alexa app for Android and iOS, plus change volume manually and pair another Echo Studio or manage and group any other Echo speakers you own. Again, the scale of the sound is the main benefit here, and there’s considerably more depth and energy to the sound than you’ll find from your TV’s own inbuilt speakers. The only caveat to that is that where a soundbar is emits sound from directly below your TV, if you opt to use a single Echo Studio you’ll have to get used to the sound coming from the left or right of the screen. That’s something you can fix, albeit at considerable extra expense, by adding a second Echo Studio.

The Echo Studio can also upmix other music to 3D on its own, but the effect isn't nearly as prominent or capable. And, of course, there are still limits to what a single speaker can do, even if it has drivers pumping out sound in all directions. (unknown) Performance Whether or not the Echo Studio earns the title of best-sounding smart speaker on the market is up for debate, but I found the audio quality to be leaps and bounds above that of other smart speakers like the Echo Dot, and it's also better than the HomePod Mini. If you want full stereo sound, you can even pair two Echo Studio speakers in one room, and you can also add the Echo Subfor a fuller audio. Five separate drivers hide behind the fabric grille cover of the Echo Studio, arranged in different directions to provide Dolby Atmos-compatible positional audio. A 5.25-inch woofer fires downward from just above the bass ports, a one-inch tweeter fires directly forward, and three two-inch midrange drivers fire left, right, and directly upward. The woofer provides the low-end, while the tweeter and three midrange drivers all work in tandem with each other to create a sound field with more precise (and more vertical) imaging than a set of stereo speakers. All five drivers are driven by a peak total of 330 watts. Don't be fooled by its squat size, the Echo Studio can get plenty loud. Sure, it can't quite match the Apple HomePod in terms of sheer volume (Apple often uses a single or pair of its smart speaker to DJ to its expansive retail stores) but it's more than loud enough to boogie while cooking, or fill the living room with music at your next party. In addition to built-in Alexa, the Echo Studio also supports Zigbee, a communication protocol used in low-power smart home devices, and Matter. This means you can easily add any Zigbee- and Matter-enabled devices to your smart home network via the Echo Studio, effectively making it a hub for compatible smart home devices. What I'd like to see in the next modelWell, this is what the Echo Studio is really about. Sure, it looks pretty good. And of course, it's capable of all the amazingly clever stuff you've become accustomed to from Alexa over the years – but does it sound any good? Getting directional audio to work and be immersive is difficult. Doing it from a single speaker source is even more challenging. Alexa is a very capable voice assistant, and its selections of both compatible smart home devices and third-party skills are unparalleled, but it can be a bit stiff to work with. Alexa expects fairly precise syntax, especially when you're controlling your smart home. Google Assistant is a bit more flexible with natural language, which more than makes up its slightly smaller home automation compatibility list and fewer third-party functions. Producing immersive, directional audio is always going to be difficult, but doing it from a single speaker source is even more challenging.So how does it fare? That’s far from ideal when you’re midway through a movie because Alexa momentarily mutes the audio to listen to commands – and it’s a slow, rather laborious way of adjusting the volume anyway.

Fire up the Echo Studio for the first time and Alexa will tune its sound for your room's acoustics by firing out a number of different test tones and reacting to its readings. The whole process doesn't last longer than a few seconds, but you will need to recalibrate the speaker if you move it around. Update: now the device has officially 'launched' there's an option to turn off the upmixing by going into Device Settings > Echo Studio > Audio Settings and then flipping the toggle. Be ready for a jump in volume when you do.] Editors' Note: This is still the most recent version of the Echo Studio. Read our original review from November 6, 2019 below. The Studio is also capable of a little processing wizardry to add height to stereo mixes – simply keep the 'upmixing' setting enabled on the Alexa app. But don’t expect the same quality of results you’d get from a well-tuned Atmos mix.As with 3D Music, it’s a good idea to moderate your expectations when it comes to the Echo Studio’s performance in this regard, however. Though can generate more of a sense of space than you’d expect of a single speaker unit, it certainly couldn’t compete with the Vizio 5.1.2 Home Theatre Sound System we were testing at the same time, either in terms of detail or immersiveness. It’s a decent upgrade on your TV’s speakers, for sure, but don’t expect miracles. As ever with virtualized surround sound, we're not of the mind set to consider it more impactful than having discrete physical speaker channels above and behind you, hooked up to a AV receiver. But that's a huge expense, and not practical for all living room arrangements, making the powerful Echo Studio an impressive value option.

Thankfully, the answer is a resounding "yes". For its size, the Echo Studio delivers a really full soundscape. There is a hefty amount of bass from the speaker, but it's not overwhelming. You don't need to worry about it distorting everything else, like you get from most Beats-branded Bluetooth speakers. Although it can be used as a TV speaker, however, it’s worth pointing out that the Echo Studio doesn’t come with a remote control, and this poses problems when it comes to the simple task of adjusting the volume. Simply put, the only way of adjusting the volume of the speaker when it’s connected via the optical input is to ask Alexa to do it or walk up to it and use the physical controls on the speaker. You can’t use the volume control in the Alexa app to do that, although weirdly it does work for streaming music.

On the top of the unit is the familiar blue glow of the Alexa smart home hub; you’ll know by now what these are capable of but if your home has smart lights from Philips Hue, or robot vacuums, then you’ll be familiar with the concept of having a central hub device which tells all the others what to do. You can, of course, still fire random questions at Alexa in the same way you would do normally, only now asking her to play music is a much more rewarding experience because the sound quality you get is a huge step up from previous iterations of the Echo range. Again, it can't produce a true surround sound field that completely wraps around you, but the Echo Studio offers some impressive stereo imaging and forward-facing verticality that gives the impression of a pair of stereo speakers with additional upward-firing drivers. At high volumes, the speaker fills the room easily, bringing the exciting thunder of guitar strums and drumrolls while letting Bellamy's voice come through clearly. When he sings that no one's going to take him alive, his voice can be heard directly in center, while the harmonies can be placed in the distance, to the left and right. Alternatively, as pictured above, you can create a stereo pair with two Echo Studios, placing them either side of your TV and creating that standard central sweet-spot between them. The Echo Studio tries to do some impressive things with its five drivers and 3D audio mixing. It doesn't quite succeed to the extent that an Atmos-compatible soundbar can, or an even more expensive Atmos surround sound system, but at that point you'll be spending several times the price of the Studio for the improved audio imaging. As it stands, the Echo Studio puts out a large sound field with modest but surprising directionality.

Again, it can't produce a true surround sound field that completely wraps around you, but the Echo Studio offers some impressive stereo imaging and forward-facing verticality that gives the impression of a pair of stereo speakers with additional upward-firing drivers. At high volumes, the speaker fills the room easily, bringing the exciting thunder of guitar strums and drumrolls while letting Bellamy's voice come through clearly. When he sings that no one's going to take him alive, his voice can be heard directly in center, while the harmonies can be placed in the distance, to the left and right. (unknown) Like all previous Echo devices, you'll still find the trademark ring of LEDs around the top of the Echo Studio. Meanwhile, frequency range extension technology has been implemented with the aim of improving mid-range clarity and delivering deeper bass. Of course, only time will tell how much difference these technical-sounding improvements make to audio quality. The Echo Studio also features a built-in Zigbee home automation hub, like the Echo Plus, which allows you to use the speaker to control compatible devices. (unknown) 3D SoundAnd since the Echo Studio has a line-in and optical-in port, it can be used with televisions as a sound bar regardless of the streaming device you have. Although it doesn’t quite match the HomePod for outright sound quality, the Echo Studio delivers a bigger and more immersive sound than any Echo speaker to date, while offering many features that Apple’s similarly shaped smart speaker is crying out for. The Echo Studio can also upmix other music to 3D on its own, but the effect isn't nearly as prominent or capable. And, of course, there are still limits to what a single speaker can do, even if it has drivers pumping out sound in all directions. Performance The Echo Studio also features a built-in Zigbee home automation hub, like the Echo Plus, which allows you to use the speaker to control compatible devices. 3D Sound It’s an open, airy presentation that suits the 3D environment well. The speaker sits you in the jaws of a tall soundstage, where there's a good amount of detail to percussion and high frequencies.