Echo Studio Vs Sonos Play 5

Amazon seems to work more than it sleeps; people had hardly gotten comfortable with the release of the new Echo studio back in 2014 when Amazon unleashed the Echo dot. And for as much as it swiftly conquered the hearts of many and gained a position at the pedestal, the victory was short-lived and as we speak Google Alexa can do more than just speaking in the new Amazon Echo show 8.

Well, the latter is for your information, as our focus is on the Amazon’s Echo studio, and we believe that it has become almost impossible to keep tabs on technology, as what might seem new and technologically advanced today, can become irrelevant in the next two weeks.

Smart speakers have come a long way from grappling with issues of low battery capacity and unbalanced sounds; but with every new release, they tend to offer better performance in sound clarity and can entertain you for extended hours. Even better is that new smart speakers now incorporate a viewing screen and have a plethora of customizable applications.

While Sonos has managed to remain unshakeable for the past five years competing with giants like Amazon Echo studio, we must appreciate the fact that the company produces smart speakers with less noise and better sounds “hi-fi”. Sonos play 5 therefore, retains all the rights as high-end audio. The above notwithstanding we want to bring to your attention that Amazon still commands the largest installed base of smart speakers in the United States, and that is beside it dropping its market share to 53% from 61% beginning January 2020.

Enough of the battle for supremacy between the two smart speakers let us now get down to business and understand each of these smart speakers on a more personal level.

Echo Studio

It is very easy to pass the echo sound as your basic smart speaker given the black ensemble that comes complete with a smart plug bundle. Well, you better rid your mind of such thoughts because this smart speaker will create an immersive 3-dimensional soundscape that will engulf you in studio-quality audio. And while your average speaker will have you use the touch buttons to increase the volume and skip to the next song, the Echo studio is equipped with Alexa, meaning control and management is hands-free.

Alexa allows you to fully customize the smart speaker, and you can even ask Alexa to play your favorite music or song, other information that you can be provided with at the comfort of your couch are such as the weather report and you can set the alarm just by giving commands, how cool is that.

 

The anatomy of the echo studio has a lot to do with the revolutionary sounds that the smart speaker produces. The insides of the charcoal black ensemble consist of five powerful speakers, which have been strategically positioned to produce natural sounds that will blanket your room. Four speakers have been positioned at the top part of the speaker facing four different directions and one speaker at the bottom facing down.

If you have ever downloaded music from the different online sites, then you must be familiar with quality issues, however, if you have a good system like the Echo Studio then it will override the supposedly low-quality sound and make the music sound incredible. Additionally, the smart speaker features the built-in Dolby Atmos technology which exposes users to multidimensional audio experience, consequently adding depth, space, and clarity.

Pros

• Echo studio is adaptable to any room
• The smart speaker has incorporated multiple layers of privacy protection
• Set up and use is a simple 4 step process
• The speaker produces natural life-like sounds

Cons

• Fails to connect to the TV
• The produced sounds are still lacking

 

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Sonos Play 5

If you love rich music with deep bass then the Sonos play 5 is your smart speaker, Sonos architecture is way different from the Echo studio but just as functional. The Sonos internal speakers face one direction, “the front,” when compared to Echo Studios internal speakers that face at least five different directions.

The anatomy of the Sonos therefore, consists of six class D digital amplifiers, three tweeters, and three mid-woofers, when playing music with the Sonos smart speaker the sound is directed to one side with regard to how you have placed the speaker, be informed, however, that the phased array enables a wide stereo soundstage that can direct the produced sounds to the left-right and center.

But for the Echo sound, music waves are multidirectional because the internal speakers assume four different positions consequently engulfing the whole room in studio-quality music.

So to create a more engulfed sound environment you will have to pair Sonos with another smart speaker and mind you, they have to be placed in close proximity or at least in the line of sight of each other. And while the Sonos can assume different positions either upright or horizontal, the Echo sound just assumes one position and will do the job of the two Sonos speakers perfectly.

Sonos provides you with a 3.5mm jack that you can use to connect the smart speaker to your turntable, projector, CD player, or to a phone and that is all you get for the connectivity options. The Echo studio, on the other hand, has incorporated a built-in-hub designed to integrate with the smart devices in your home, all you need to do is ensure that the smart devices are powered on, then ask Alexa to discover the devices.

Additionally, the Echo device can send you alerts once the sound of the smoke alarms is detected or the sound of glass breaking, thus you can always keep your home safe even when you are away. Sonos also comes with an Ethernet port that you can use to connect directly to a router to get stronger Wi-Fi signal.

Well, the above option is not available with the Echo studio but you can wirelessly connect your Echo smart studio speaker with the Fire TV cube or the 3^rd generation fire TV, and wait for the scenes to come to life with the natural and clearly distinguished sounds produced by the Echo studio.

And for easy management of your Echo studio, the smart speaker comes equipped with a status indicator ring at the top of the speaker that will turn to different colors sending different messages. For example, solid red shows that the microphone has been turned off and Alexa has basically gone to sleep, so your commands are not being listened to.

The above feature is not available in the Sonos smart speaker; however, with this system, you have the liberty to connect them in different rooms over Wi-Fi thus brings every room together in one consolidated home sound system.

Pros

• Can be attached to the wall
• Specially designed to produce deep bass
• Can play music from other external devices like the CD player or the turntable
• set up process is simple and control is via the Sonos application

Cons

• The app quits recognizing the smart speaker with extended use
• The wireless card quits working overtime

 

View price on Amazon

 

Final Verdict

We must say that the Echo studio takes the cup, first because it can integrate with the smart devices used in a smart home. Secondly, the internal speakers face at least five different directions and you, therefore, don’t have to move it or place it in a specific position to get the best sounds. Lastly, you have also been provided with the status led light ring at the top of the smart speaker.