New Amazon Echo Dot Max "Dolby Speakers"

The new Amazon speakers can be easily integrated into a home theater system and are often more affordable than soundbars with additional speakers. This sounds tempting, but there's a catch. Or two.

A highlight of the Amazon presentation in New York was certainly the announcement of the new Echo speakers: the compact Echo Dot Max and the significantly larger Echo Studio.

In the showroom, it quickly became clear: If you want to treat your ears to something, you'd be better off paying the extra and opting for the much more expensive Studio (€240) instead of the €110 Dot Max. In direct comparison, the Max has roughly the qualities of a good kitchen radio, while the Echo Studio, with its three speakers and Dolby Atmos, produces a much rounder, fuller, and wider sound. Not quite stereo, but substantially more substantial than the smaller Echo.

Particularly impressive was the demonstration of how five Echo Studio devices connected to a television can be used to create a surround sound system. Using their microphones, the devices can acoustically sense the positions of their fellow players and automatically adjust to each other. Without a measurement microphone or app, they should be able to form a team and, together, produce convincing Dolby Atmos sound.

Where is the subwoofer?

The presentation succeeded convincingly. In a scene from the film "Ready Player One," speeding cars ripped through the room, not only visually but also acoustically. The five small speakers produced such a thunderous soundscape that a journalist asked in astonishment where the subwoofer was. The answer: There isn't one.

That all sounds very convincing. Even more so when you consider that a five-pack of Echo Studio speakers costs €1,200. That's roughly equivalent to a small Sonos home theater system. Not a bad deal.

But there are limitations. For example, only speakers of the same type can be connected to a TV system. It doesn't matter whether you use two, three, four, or five, but they all have to be Dot Max or Studio models. An Amazon employee promises that the devices will also be compatible with each other in the future. He declined to say when that might be available. This option is expected to be available via a software update.

With the embroidery requirement

While that's understandable, it's still puzzling why Amazon's developers failed to make this surround sound option available, for example, on the Amazon TVs unveiled on Tuesday. Amazon managers forgot to mention that it only works with a second-generation Fire TV Stick 4K Max, a second-generation Fire TV Stick 4K, or a third-generation Fire TV Cube. Not with the company's own TVs. An Amazon employee cites the chip in the sticks as having certain capabilities essential for the process.

Share this post