The speaker itself is a huge spherical covered in a beautiful fabric that weighs 986g. One of my favorite aspects of the speaker is its design and construction. Its spherical form distinguishes it from the other smart speakers on the market. The round design limits the locations in which it may be comfortably placed, but once found, it will blend perfectly in.
Despite the fact that this is a smart speaker with a voice assistant, you'll most likely use the app to get a lot done because it allows you to manage practically everything. Not to mention that it is required during the first setup phase. The app allows you to manage volume, link Bluetooth devices, add a second speaker or subwoofer, create multi-room groups, set alarms, choose whether to use the aux as an input or output, and much more. You may also add more Alexa skills to your speaker to increase its capabilities.
Turn on "Follow-up Mode" in the device settings. When you ask Alexa a question, she will respond and then immediately listen to see if you have a follow-up question. This feature bypasses the wake word requirement.
When linked to the Alexa app, you can do everything from managing compatible smart home devices to asking it weather queries. By asking Alexa, I can play and control music straight from the speaker. If you don't want to utilize Alexa, there are playback controls embedded into the speaker's top. You'll also receive an action button, a mute button, and two volume controls.
Skills are the equivalent of apps for Alexa.
If you don't want to use your voice, the Echo (4th Gen) includes Spotify Connect, which allows you to play music straight from the Spotify app without having to use Alexa at all. This is great when I want to listen to music while muting the microphone. The Echo (4th Gen) also features Bluetooth 5.0, allowing you to use it as a regular Bluetooth speaker if your source device cannot connect to Wi-Fi.
Connecting to the Echo (4th Gen) to play music is simple. Simply remove it from the box, connect it into an outlet, and follow the instructions in the Alexa app, which is available for both iOS and Android. You can use the Alexa personal assistant once you've linked it to your Wi-Fi.
When you engage Alexa, an LED ring at the bottom turns blue, giving you instant feedback on whether the speaker recognized your voice. The power and aux inputs are located on the rear of the speaker. If you intend to add this to an existing speaker arrangement, the base has a threaded universal mount.
No, you don't! The Amazon Echo (4th Gen) is not a portable speaker, despite having Bluetooth 5.0. The 30W adaptor on the back must be hooked into an outlet at all times. The power wire that comes with the speaker is all white and rather lengthy, so you should have no trouble finding an outlet.
Because of its bigger drivers, the Amazon Echo (4th Gen) sounds noticeably better than prior versions of Echo speakers. This Echo includes a total of three drivers: two 20mm tweeters and a single 76mm neodymium woofer. Because of the massive size of the woofer, the lows here are powerful.
The low end receives a significant volume bump, but the mids suffer slightly. If you look at the frequency response graph, you can see that there is a lot of focus in the region of 40-100Hz. The repetitive bass kicks that run throughout Ratatat's song Bustelo are easy to follow, although they seem a touch too powerful for my liking. The added focus makes the speaker appear larger than it is, albeit at the price of the mids. The middle frequencies have a noticeable drop-off, making vocals seem less clear than on something like the Google Nest Audio.
This was fairly obvious in Fleet Foxes' Can I Believe You, when voices occasionally sounded lower in volume than I'm used to hearing while listening to the song through other speakers or headphones. This understatement goes to the highs as well. Even at high volumes, the highs never sound harsh, but the cymbals and hi-hats aren't as clear. You can hear them, but most of the reverb that creates a feeling of distance is missing.
Yes, the Amazon Echo (4th Gen) is an excellent choice if you want a smart speaker that sounds well and offers you access to all of the Alexa-compatible devices. It not only looks fantastic, but it also sounds great and is reasonably priced. It is frequently promoted as well.
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