Amazon’s range of Echo speakers is extensive, covering a full spectrum of performance and price. The most popular is the Echo Dot, a device so affordable that it’s a great way to sample Alexa. At the other end of the scale is this, the Echo Studio, Amazon’s most accomplished speaker.
I’ve been an avid user of Echo devices for many years, with my smart home built with Alexa and an Echo in every room. This is why you should consider the Echo Studio as your next smart speaker.
Amazon Echo Studio: At a glance
Amazon Echo Studio review
While many of Amazon’s devices are designed to be good value for money, that perhaps isn’t the top priority for the £219 Echo Studio.
Instead, Amazon’s focus is on quality, creating a device that surpasses other Echo speakers. It offers support for more advanced streaming, like highresolution music, and immersive formats like Dolby Atmos and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio — now commonly bundled together as “spatial audio”.
Setup of the Echo Studio is as easy as other Echo devices. After plugging in, you add it via the Alexa app, which will connect it to your account and your local wifi network. Once connected, the Echo Studio will run a test to adjust the sound output to the room you’ve put it in and you’re ready to start listening.
Shaped like a barrel, there are two openings at the base of the speaker for bass output, while there are five speakers inside the Studio. This includes a speaker on the top, which helps create the immersive sound it creates, the idea being that this is a speaker to fill a room with sound.
The top is ringed with microphones, so it’s great at hearing your commands, while there are the usual physical controls here, including a privacy button, volume controls and an action button.
Amazon Echo Studio: Features and sound quality
With the focus on quality, the Echo Studio really comes to life when it has access to higher quality music. While your basic Spotify subscription will sound great, this is a speaker that’s better suited to those who subscribe to get access to higher quality streams.
Naturally, Amazon would like you to subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited — which includes higherresolution tracks and a catalogue of spatial audio tracks — but you’ll find that all music sounds great on the Echo Studio.
It’s a naturally bassy speaker, so it handles modern music with aplomb, but some might find that the bass can be a little overwhelming. The app gives you some sound control, so you can turn the bass down if you want.
The Echo Studio also has a bigger sound than other Echo speakers, so it’s an ideal speaker for roomfilling playlists. If you’re having a party, it’s the Echo Studio that should power it.
Amazon has broader ambitions for the Echo Studio, however. All Echo speakers can be grouped or paired and it’s a popular choice to take two Echo Studios and pair them with Fire TV to create an immersive sound system for your TV. Because they support Dolby Atmos, you’ll get that more enveloping sound when watching the latest movies too — and the bass performance of the Studio makes for a really robust sound.
That’s all on top of the inherent intelligence that this speaker offers through Alexa. It will respond to your voice commands, it will control your smart home devices and give you the full Alexa experience you get elsewhere. It’s just that this is a better speaker than anything else that Amazon offers.
Good Housekeeping’s verdict on the Amazon Echo Studio
The Amazon Echo Studio is an easy solution for higherquality listening. It’s a bigger and better speaker, offering a more robust sound that’s better for larger spaces. The bass delivery is solid, while the ability to connect it to a Fire TV for a simple home cinema solution could be an attractive option for many.
There are a few downsides – this is a more expensive route to Alexa and there are bettersounding wireless speakers (many of which will cost you more money), but if you’re a fan of Alexa and have ever found yourself wanting more from your music, then the Echo Studio is the place to go.
Chris Hall is a freelance journalist who specialises in consumer technology, pursuing a passion that started over 20 years ago. In 2008 he took on a fulltime Reviews Editor position at technology website Pocketlint.com, before stepping up to EditorinChief in 2012. Chris led coverage over a 15year tenure, exposing him to every gadget, system and technology you’d ever want to know about.
Chris left the EditorinChief position at Pocketlint.com in 2023 having published over 4,000 articles on consumer technology. His experience covers everything from smartphones and headphones to cars and computers. Chris doesn’t just test for reviews, he lives with a lot of technology, building a smart home and looking for a simpler solution to a connected home. This is much to his family’s irritation, because everything is always changing, especially the remote controls.
As a freelance writer, Chris has contributed to The Telegraph, T3.com, TechRadar and Autocar while launching his own technology website The Disconnekt – writing news about the latest technology, guides to help people make the best choices when shopping for technology, as well as reviewing extensively.
Chris has appeared on BBC News and Sky News, BBC Radio and The Times Radio talking technology, and even once played a part on The Apprentice. Chris has also been an expert judge at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards and the Uswitch Awards.
When not writing about technology or rearranging the technology in his home, Chris can be found on his bike, trying to get lost in the Surrey hills.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25826491/PXL_20250106_223233485.jpg "Intel still dreams of modular PCs — it brought a tablet laptop gaming handheld to CES£")
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25803641/247455_Kindle_Scribe_SVasani_0001.jpg "Kindle Scribe (2024) review: nothing to write home about£")