The Echo includes Amazon’s AZ1 Neural Edge processor, an all-new silicon module purpose-built for accelerating machine learning applications. While the Echo is physically smaller than the brick-shaped Google Nest Audio, its drivers are marginally bigger, and you get one more of them – the Nest Audio houses only one 19mm tweeter and one 75mm woofer. It’s different the same cannot be said of other competing, blend-into-the-background smart blobs currently on the market. The new Echo’s design is nothing if not a conversation piece. The purpose of the latter is to help you set up new devices quickly and extend the working range of things, such as Ring Smart Lighting, that may be beyond the capabilities of your home wi-fi. Alongside its built-in Zigbee smart home hub (previously only seen in the Echo Plus), there’s support for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Amazon Sidewalk. The drivers in the new Echo are the same size as those found in the Echo Plus and the outgoing third-generation Echo, but you now get two tweeters rather than one. Like the older Echo Plus, it now features what Amazon calls ‘premium adaptive sound’, allowing it to sense the acoustics of your space and fine-tune audio playback accordingly. Underneath its notably more mesh-like fabric jacket, the Echo houses a 76mm woofer plus dual 20mm front-firing tweeters, a set-up that supports Dolby Stereo (not to be confused with Dolby Atmos, which remains exclusive to the Echo Studio in the Amazon smart speaker family). It’s a small issue – since Echo speakers need to be plugged in to operate, you’re unlikely to put one in the centre of a room, but we found better multi-directional sound in the older, cylindrical model. Perhaps one small mark against the new design is a rising die-cast aluminium ellipse that is at its highest above the connection ports, meaning that the back portion of the speaker doesn’t provide great omnidirectional sound output. Around the back is where you’ll find the power socket and 3.5mm audio output. On the top panel are buttons for Alexa, volume and mic mute.
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