Cinema Sound at Home: New Amazon Echo Models Attack Sonos
Amazon launched the new generation of its smart speakers and displays. The company is talking about the "most advanced Echo line-up to date". This involves four new devices: Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 11. The models should not only have better sound, but also impress with a sharper screen. Let's check the new devices in detail.
New Echo models: Amazon makes improvements in all areas
The new Echo Dot Max is a good example of how Amazon is continuing to develop its portfolio. Instead of just being a small everyday device as usual, it is designed to clearly set itself apart from previous models in terms of sound. On board is a two-way system with a customized tweeter, plus almost three times as much bass as the 5th generation Echo Dot (review). The design dispenses with a separate speaker module, which ensures more powerful, fuller bass - and all in a more compact format. The Amazon Echo Dot Max will cost $100.
Amazon has also made improvements to the Echo Studio: The speaker is 40 percent smaller, but it also aims to deliver the best sound in its class. Dolby Atmos and 3D audio are integrated. It also has a classic design. With several Studio or Dot Max devices, you can also create a 5.1 home theater with Alexa in no time at all. Normally expensive, Amazon wants to create something with a plug-and-play character. The price of the Echo Studio will be $220.
Amazon is going in a similar direction for the visual devices, the Echo Show 8 and the Echo Show 11. Slimmer, elegant design, displays with improved in-cell technology and over a million pixels for better readability, plus a 13-megapixel camera for video calls. Even acoustically, something has changed: both models rely on stereo speakers with front-facing radiation and extra woofers for room-filling sound.
Optionally, you can buy a stand that allows flexible viewing angles by tilting and rotating - practical for recipes in the kitchen or longer video chats, for example. You have to pay $180 for the Echo Show 8. The Echo Show 11 costs $220.
The brains of the speakers
At the heart of all new devices are Amazon's own AZ3 and AZ3 Pro chips, which not only improve speech and audio processing but will also be able to run generative AI models directly on the device in the future. There is also "Omnisense", a new sensor data fusion that combines various sources - camera, ultrasound, Wi-Fi radar or microphones - to make Alexa react more proactively and personally in the future.
At the same time, all devices should be "Alexa+ ready". This means that as soon as Amazon's AI version launches in Germany and Austria, the devices will seamlessly benefit from the new features without the need for a hardware upgrade. All models presented are now available for pre-order. The Echo Dot Max will be delivered from October 29. The Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11, on the other hand, will not be available until November 12, while the Echo Studio will ship from November 15.
