Which Amazon Echo Has The Best Sound? Here's What Users Have To Say

Amazon's Alexa is one of the most popular smart home services on the market, right along with Google Home and Apple's Siri. Backed by the largest online retail market in the world, Alexa is compatible with a whole host of different products, from Amazon Fire TVs to basic smart plugs and light bulbs. But for most people who are thinking about setting up a smart home, the first thing that they're going to want to invest in is a smart speaker. 

These can play music and have a whole host of other handy uses. There are several different third-party speakers out there that are capable of running the Alexa platform, but Amazon's own first-party brand of smart speakers is called Echo. There are a few different kinds of them out there, each with their own design and specialty. There are the standard Echo Dots which are spherical speakers with a light built into the base, the Echo Show speaker which includes a large mounted tablet display, the Echo Spot flat speaker with a smaller built-in display, the Echo Pop flat speaker with no display, the cylindrical Echo Studio, and several others.

Those who are thinking about getting one of these might be interested in learning which of them has the best sound. It probably won't come as much of a surprise to learn that Amazon claims the $200 high-end Echo Studio offers the best audio experience. But to learn more, you'll want to take a look at the device's specs, what kind of ratings it has from users on Amazon, and what professional reviewers have had to say about it.

Amazon first released the Echo Studio back in 2019 as a high-end alternative to the company's standard Echo devices. It was intended to compete with the Apple HomePod and the Google Home Max, which were already growing in popularity. It has the same voice control functionality and interactive smart home control features as any of Amazon's other speakers, but it's housed in a taller and more cylindrical shell and has several other hardware-based features that help to set it apart.

"Echo Studio now features spatial audio processing technology for a wider and more immersive audio experience," says Amazon. This means that the Studio is actually able to feel out the acoustics of the space and self-mix its own audio to optimize its sound. Amazon goes on to claim that, "For stereo formats, Spatial audio processing technology creates a wider and more enveloping sound stage. Its 5 speakers produce powerful bass with improved clarity, dynamic midrange, and crisp highs. Dolby Atmos technology adds space, clarity, and depth."

This device is composed of three 2-inch midrange speakers, one 20-millimeter tweeter, and one 5.25-inch woofer that has a built-in bass aperture to maximize low-end output. This combination of speakers is amplified by a 24-bit DAC with a 100 kHz bandwidth. In terms of input, it has a combination jack that can either be used with an analog 3.5-millimeter or an optical mini-TOSLINK line in, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

The Studio is significantly more expensive than most of the other Echo devices that Amazon offers, which is why "Value for the Money" is one of the frequently cited reasons for giving the speaker a less-than-perfect star rating. Even so, it still manages to carry a weighted overall score of 4.5 out of five from the company's customers, with "Sound Quality" being the most frequently cited reason that they enjoyed the product. "The Echo Studio is a quantum leap from any other speaker that Amazon has produced to date," wrote one reviewer. "Everything else sounds like a transistor radio in comparison. The sound separation is fantastic and you can actually feel the bass at higher volume levels."

Many reviewers have also claimed that you can get even higher quality audio by purchasing two Echo Studio speakers and running them in studio mode. "It commands respect, it really does," another reviewer said about this more advanced configuration. "There is such a depth to this. The bass is deliberate and authoritative. Very punchy. It has exceptional dynamic range (at high volumes this can be startling) and the stereo image is just stunning. An enormous stage. Those 6 midrange speakers sound sweet indeed."

Customers also praised the device's overall functionality, ease of setup, build quality, and size. But while sound quality is easily the biggest selling point, it's worth noting that several users have reported connectivity issues, usually relating to Wi-Fi.

The Echo Studio is a product that is designed, manufactured, and sold by Amazon, so it stands to reason that some prospective buyers might take the reviews featured on Amazon's own digital storefront with a grain of salt. Fortunately, there are plenty of online tech and audio forums that aren't affiliated with Amazon, where you can hear the opinions of other users. There is definitely a large subset of audiophiles who prefer more traditional dedicated speakers to any brand of smart speaker, but most of the users who compare the Studio to other Echo devices seem to be in agreement that the Studio is able to generate impeccable audio.

One Reddit user posted about how they got an Echo Studio for Christmas and claimed that it sounded as good as speakers that cost two to three times as much. "I got one too and we love it!" one commenter responded. "The kids hate hearing my music but the plus side is it downs out my singing! "

Another Reddit user asked if the Echo Studio would be sufficient to be the main audio source for a large house party. Several of the commenters reported that they'd used their own Echo Studio for similar gatherings and that it worked exceptionally well. "Lent my echo studio to my gf for a house party last year with ~40 people and it was easily loud enough at about 75% of max volume," said one contributor. "We didn't even have to use our extra echo dots to supplement."

Buyer reviews are always valuable, but it's also good to get the opinions of professional reviewers. Many pro publications even perform extensive tests that measure the capabilities of products in a way that most users aren't able to.

DXOMark, for instance, has an extensive scoring system that measures timbre, dynamics, spatial audio, volume, and the presence of digital artifacts. The Amazon Echo Studio did exceptionally well in their testing across all fronts. "It offers good tonal balance with good bass depth, especially when considering the fairly compact dimensions," they stated. "Wideness is also impressive when compared to models with similar specifications. Add a loud maximum volume, linear volume consistency, and very good punch at loud volume to the mix, and you get yourself a speaker that does very well in party or outdoor use, or when gathering with friends and family."

Dan Seifert of The Verge tested one of these speakers as well. "The new Echo Studio is not only the best-sounding Echo speaker ever made, it is perhaps the best-sounding smart speaker I've tested, regardless of brand, manufacturer, or even price," he said. He claimed that the speaker is able to produce loud, spacious audio from a variety of streaming services and that it worked well in its added capacity as a Dolby Atmos home theater system should you choose to pair it with an Amazon Fire TV.

Wirecutter stated that it's "Amazon's biggest and best-sounding Alexa speaker" and claimed that it's on par with the Sonos One. "When it comes to power and performance, the Echo Studio has no equal among the lineup of Echo devices."