Echo Studio (Newest gen) | Our best-sounding Wi-Fi and Bluetooth smart speaker ever | Dolby Atmos, spatial audio, smart home hub and Alexa | Charcoal

I have been an Echo nerd for a while, having set up a stereo system some time ago with the original Echo Plus devices. I always wanted to move towards the Studio at some point.I originally purchased a single Studio and linked it to my Fire TV Cube and was surprised at the quality of the sound, particularly the sense of immersion into the soundstage. The Studio is a substantial bit of kit, much bigger than the Echo it replaced and a lot heavier as well.Once the room scanning process had completed, it was a breeze to link to my Cube and set up in the app. The sound is detailed and crisp with a pleasant bass to it. The single studio did surprise me in its ability to give the impression of a stereo set up, but I knew that I wanted a bigger stage.I waited until there was a substantial price drop and purchased both a second Studio and also the Echo Sub.Good Points - the pairing process and setting up the new expanded cinema audio system was really easy to do. The Alexa app coupled with a video on the support page meant it was simple and intuitive.Being able to use the Alexa remote control to manage volume just works. I have everything set up on the Alexa remote, so my TV, Cube and sound are all controlled off one item. I am thinking to get the professional remote on prime day as I love the idea of light up buttons (geek).The bass provided by the sub is unbelievable. Where you need the bass - explosions, engines etc - the room simply moves and you can feel it in your chest. I ended up turning it down slightly as it was almost too overpowering.The music playback (I have Amazon Music Unlimited) is absolutely fantastic. The HD tracks are detailed, balanced and clear. OK, so a full on audiophile set up would probably be better, but then that would involve having high end components and speaker stands. I suspect that if I could position the current Studio speakers differently and put them on stands the sound would be even better.Volume on music playback is very very loud.The bad - It would be nice if Amazon would consider expanding the number of supported devices in a home cinema set up. To be able to add a couple of Echos at the back of the room to get 5:1 sound would be awesome and surely wouldn't be too hard to do?Playback from the TV is rather quiet depending on what you are streaming. I often find I have turned the volume up to 75% which can be a bit of a shock when you quit home cinema streaming and go back to music. Apparently this is a common issue and noone has managed to come up with a solution.I used to get situations where the sound would drop out when the Cube was waking up from sleep mode. This required the Cube to be restarted, whereupon the sound would once again connect. I haven't had this issue for months now so I can only assume it has been sorted in a software upgrade.Overall I am massively impressed. The quality rivals a bespoke home cinema set up yet is wireless. You also get all the benefits of the Alexa infrastructure. I have a lot of echo devices so being able to call and drop in is useful. I also have smart heating and it is great to be able to tell Alexa to alter the temperature.All in all I think the Studio is a brilliant investment. I am only dreading when Amazon eventually release an updated version as upgrading will be a costly process.

Having a number of Amazon Alexa devices around the home the Echo Studio has been on my radar for a long time and I have read the Spec and reviews too many times to count and on each occasion a review of one type or another plus the price has stopped me from purchasing.Until now when I decided it was time to trial them for myself rather than be swayed by others and how pleased I am with my decision.With my own experience of buying other Amazon Alexa devices and paired them for listening to music I was never going to buy just one Echo Studio so bit the bullet and decided to buy a pair. Amazon delivered the next day so there was no anxious waiting around for them to arrive.They came extremely well packaged, not the shipping packing - this was actually quite poor considering the value and type of the product, the actual speakers came double boxed and in Amazon cloth bags to help lift them out as they are weighty. They have a real quality feel and look. I do agree with other reviews that the power cable needs updating but that’s my only criticism about the overall look. Before buying I compared the other speakers available and these appeal to me more than anything else out there regardless of price.Unboxed and plugged in, they paired seamlessly with our network and Amazon account and connection took less than 5 minutes including an update they self performed. The sound quality is superb and we haven’t even pushed them over 50% as they are loud. A quick look at the Alexa app and a tweak on the EQ to suit my personal treble & bass choice and to pair them, not just together but with our Amazon fire stick and we sat back just to enjoy ‘all round perfection’ whilst watching tv via the fire stick.We moved onto streaming some music tracks via Amazon Prime and Apple Music and were pleasantly surprised by the rich tones and extremely clear sound quality.I reached out to Amazon for a suggestion re a good make of Optical cables and a Optical powered splitter in prep to link our tv to the Echo Optical input/s (you need two optical cables as a single cable will not provide sound to both speakers hence the required splitter too). Amazon suggested to purchase ‘any good quality cables and a powered splitter is recommended if the total cable length between the TV and both Echo Studios is more than 10 feet’. I only wanted to purchase a powered splitter anyway and found a nice triple output version with an additional 0.5mtr cable and a 5v USB power cable included with two 1.5 mtr Optical cables ordered too I would be all set to go when they arrived. I was apprehensive with this set up as I had read so many reviews whereupon others had experienced problems setting up this type of Optical connection.My purchases arrived today and within 5 minutes everything was set up. I had already changed the tv output to optical because I had set up the optical tv out to a LG Sound bar (which to be honest wasn’t good and the sound lag was awful) so having now set up the Echo Studios with the tv I could wait to see what we faced?I couldnt be more happy I was blown away with the sound quality. All the problems I had read about that other people say they experienced was not what I was now experiencing. I kept the tv running and just asked Alexa to play music and it switched perfectly and when that song finished I simply said ‘Alexa stop music’ and it switched back to the tv with no problem. It’s worth pointing out that the tv remote stops working the sound up/down/mute but you simply just voice control it and there is no voice lag between the tv picture and the Echo speakers unlike when using the sound bar. With the 3rd output on the splitter I can even plug in a set of headphones whereas I couldn’t do that prior as I had no headphone output via the tv. Cost of the 2 x cables £19.98 and the splitter £15.99 and worth every penny for the sound quality we are now getting via the Echo set up. And to top it all off the Echo Studios still work perfectly when asking Alexa to do anything (obviously the tv sound stops whilst this takes place but thereafter it simply switches back to tv sound.I have no cons what so ever my only two regrets are not buying during Black Friday to save a few bob and for not buying before now.The pros are quality sound now from the tv and streaming music and the two Echos are connecting to my iPad & Samsung phone to play music perfectly via Bluetooth.So if you are in doubt about trying & buying just do it and see for yourself if they fit the bill for your needs. There’s a lot of help out there if you get stuck with set up or what accessories work and worse case scenario if you don’t get on with them you have time to simply return them.I’m glad I took the gamble to try them for myself and I now have all round sound perfection from these great Echo Studio Speakers.