The Amazon Echo Studio gives a new dimension to sound with the addition of Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio allowing for pristine music-playing and home cinema capabilities, while keeping all the smart features we know and love.
Powerful Sound
With a 5.25-inch woofer and 330W of power, the Echo Studio produces a raw sound quality with rich bass by combining the bass aperture’s ability to maximise airflow and the powerful output of the woofer. It has a 1-inch tweeter (a dome-shaped treble speaker that produces high audio frequencies) and three two-inch midrange speakers in order to balance the sound distribution and produce slick high frequencies.
Immersive Audio
Thank to the five directional speakers and the advanced audio algorithms engrained within the Echo Studio, the sound is nothing short of mesmerising. At the heart of this impressive sound dispersion is the Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio. Dolby Atmos is an audio format that gives sound a three-dimensional aspect to it. In what is a step up from surround sound, Dolby Atmos essentially gives sound more spatial freedom rather than restrict it in channels. Stereo sound, for example, is distributed via two channels and surround sound by four or five. Dolby Atmos rids the channels completely and instead creates an atmosphere of sound all around you.
360 Reality Audio places the listening experience in a spherical, 360 space. Pairing the two make for an incredible listening experience. Whether you’re watching movies being chucked into the explosive action, or hearing individual instrumental details in your favourite songs; the Echo Studio is bound to fill your ears from all angles and directions.
Alexa is here to help
On top of these ambitious audio additions, the Echo Studio remains an assistant at heart. Alexa transforms your home into a smart one, increasing your productivity:
“Alexa, wake me up to Here Comes The Sun tomorrow at 7 am”
Helping with your shopping:
“Alexa, reorder dog food”
Providing you with news and information:
“Alexa, play news from…” (Sky, Fox Sports, ABC, RNZ, and Newstalk ZB)
And just assisting you with general communication:
“Alexa, call Mum”
Setup your routine by going to the menu on the Alexa App, selecting the + icon then “When this happens” and the choose how the routine is triggered. Select “Add Action” and then choose which action it completes. Lastly, under “From” choose which device you want it to work from. See below for an example.
Make use of an expansive range of skills, which are basically apps that you can download from the skills store. Benefit from over 20,000 skills including some of the more popular ones, such as Headspace (for meditation), Find My Phone, AnyPod (podcasts), Chop Chop (the kitchen companion) and way more.
Things to try with the Echo Studio
- Ask Alexa to play a song
- Play music across multiple devices by adding multi-room music speakers in the Amazon Alex app
- Play with the Echo Studio’s ability to adapt any room that you’re in
- Check out the equaliser (“Alexa, set the bass to maximum”)
Funny commands for Alexa
- Alexa, what do you think of the iPhone?
- Mac or PC?
- Can you steak like Yoda?
- Can I tell you a joke?
- How are babies made?
- Do you speak pig latin?
- Who is the fairest of them all?
The Amazon Echo Studio is at $199, a fair price for a great piece of technology.