Amazon Echo Sub Overview: Alexa, Goes Growth!

Amazon Echo Sub

MSRP $129.99

“The Echo Sub fits a really particular area of interest, and fills it properly.”

Execs

• Compact and enticing
• Will get loud
• Goes deeper than anticipated
• Fills a room with respectable bass

Cons

• Gained’t hook up with something however Echo audio system
• Can’t play sound from movies

We’re keen to wager even Amazon couldn’t have guessed its Alexa-enabled Echo speaker ecosystem would turn out to be so fashionable so quick. After a wildly profitable 12 months of Echo gross sales, Amazon launched a brand new technology of audio system, ranging in dimension from the tiny Dot to the tall-boy-beer-can-styled Echo Plus, and in doing so, stepped up the sound high quality choices. However even Amazon’s best-sounding speaker, the lately launched second-generation Echo Plus, lacks what it takes to rock a celebration and fill out a room with solid-sounding bass. Enter the Amazon Echo Sub.

Amazon heard opinions from professionals and customers alike and answered the decision for larger sound, although we couldn’t have predicted it might have carried out so with a sub. Google’s resolution is the Dwelling Max, and Sonos has the Play:5, each huge audio system that take up a variety of house and make their presence well-known — there’s no hiding them. With the Echo Sub, Amazon affords a big-bass resolution for house owners of its compact Echo audio system. One that may be tucked away out of sight.

Right here’s the catch, although: The Echo Sub solely works for sure Echo speaker house owners, and due to the best way it integrates with Echo audio system, it’s use is fairly restricted. Learn on to seek out out if this little footstool of bass is one thing it is best to spend money on.

Out of the field

The Echo Sub comes packaged in a field nearly as compact because the sub itself. Opening the field reveals the Sub wrapped in plastic with solely an influence wire in tow and a bit warning sticker over the ability port directing you to ensure your Echo audio system are all arrange earlier than plugging the sub in. Seems, this isn’t completely crucial, but it surely does clean out the setup course of.

Riley Younger/Digital Traits

The Sub has simply sufficient weight to instill confidence that its parts are of respectable high quality; a light-weight sub is rarely a very good sub. The cabinetry sounds inert sufficient for injection-molded plastic, however a knock on the cap up prime had us involved we’d hear some buzzing when issues obtained raucous.

The sub is wrapped in what’s turning into a really familiar-looking cloth, and the highest has a matte charcoal end. All in all, this is likely one of the extra enticing and compact subs we’ve reviewed.

Options

When you peer by means of one among a number of plastic vents on the sub’s underside, you possibly can see its 6-inch woofer. The driving force has a strong encompass – additionally a very good signal – and the motor construction feels sturdy as properly. Toss in what Amazon claims is a 100-watt amp (positively digital) and also you’ve obtained the makings of an honest little subwoofer.

As for options, that’s about it. There’s an motion button on the again of the sub to assist reset it when crucial, however you’ll discover no inputs or outputs. There’s no strategy to join this subwoofer to something apart from an Echo speaker.

Setup

We’ve obtained at hand it to Amazon for making what we anxious can be a hard setup course of a surprisingly easy affair. Pull up the Alexa app on an iOS, Android, or Fireplace machine, press the brand new home icon on the underside proper, click on the little plus icon within the higher proper nook, click on Add machine, choose Echo, then Echo Sub.

Riley Younger/Digital Traits

As soon as the sub has been plugged in, it would seem as a tool you possibly can click on so as to add. Ours mentioned FRP Plus, which threw us off for a second, however after giving it a go, we realized we had been certainly including the sub. The following step includes connecting it to your Wi-Fi community. When you’ve obtained a couple of, you should definitely add the sub to the identical community to which your Echo speaker(s) is related.

The ultimate setup step includes pairing the sub with an Echo speaker or audio system to create a bunch. For our assessments, we paired the Sub with a third-gen Echo Dot, second-gen Echo, third-gen Echo Plus, and two second-gen Echo audio system, all in stereo. We’ll touch upon the efficiency of every combo under, however first, let’s speak concerning the sub’s bass efficiency.

Efficiency

The Echo Sub isn’t a hi-fi machine (we’ve obtained a suggestion for excellent bass on a budget with extra flexibility under), however it’s respectable and consistent with what we anticipated.

To be clear, the Echo Sub can get loud. When you reside in an residence, you would piss off the neighbors for those who wished to. The Sub can even play a bit deeper than we had been anticipating. It begins rolling off at 50Hz and is completed taking part in something audible by about 40Hz.  That’s quite a bit higher than most pc speaker-style subwoofers, which is attention-grabbing as a result of that’s the closest product comparability we may give you for the Echo Sub. It’s higher than a pc speaker sub, however not fairly as tight and refined as a home-theater subwoofer.

To be clear, the Echo Sub can get loud.

Our take a look at tracks included D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar, Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk that includes Bruno Mars, the Roisto Remix of Charlie Puth’s How Lengthy, Snarky Pet’s Lingus, and Oscar Peterson’s Tricrotism reduce from The Sound of the Trio (as a result of, Ray Brown).

One in all our chief considerations was that the Echo Sub must cowl the bass spectrum so excessive into the mid-bass area that we’d have the ability to hear the sub’s placement – ideally a sub will solely play frequencies so low which you could’t inform the place they’re coming from. Fortuitously, although, we didn’t have a lot bother with the sub giving its location away until we positioned it far-off from the Echo audio system it was paired with. Our suggestion is to do your finest to maintain the sub close to the Echo audio system it’s working with to get probably the most seamless mix. When you do it proper, it would simply seem to be your Echo or Echo Plus obtained a complete lot larger.

Dan Baker/Digital Traits

The standard of bass response was, once more, respectable. For music – which is nearly all it would play proper now – it’s ample to get a giant, sturdy sound able to serving as the inspiration of a celebration. It sounds wonderful at each low and loud volumes, and it’s not “one-note” bass, the place you get a static resonance and a bunch of thump with out definition. We may clearly hear in-tune notes produced by Ray Brown’s upright bass, in addition to the deep drone of the bass on Brown Sugar.

Paired with the brand new Echo Dot, there was sufficient of a spot between the place the Dot stopped taking part in bass and the place the Echo Sub picked up that we may decide it out. The Echo Dot might seem to be an odd pairing for the Echo Sub, however now that the brand new Dot seems like an actual speaker, it makes a complete lot of sense. An Echo Dot with an Echo sub is the proper mix of loud sound and out-of-sight speaker.

Pairing two Echo audio system and the Echo Sub supplied a formidable 2.1 sound system.

Matched with the second-generation Echo speaker, we obtained an impressively full sound. The pairing had extra physique and extra pronounced treble, with a way more lifelike midrange.

Pairing two Echo audio system and the Echo Sub supplied a formidable 2.1 sound system. This association is out there as a bundle for $250 proper now – an $80 low cost — and we think about {that a} hell of a deal. The sheer quantity of sound you get from this specific grouping of audio system is staggering for the value. We additionally loved having actual stereo impact and one thing of a soundstage with depth. This could be a killer system for a dorm room.

The perfect sounding setup, nevertheless, must be an Echo Plus or two Echo Plus audio system paired in stereo with an Echo sub. The Echo Plus is a a lot better-sounding speaker than the second-gen Echo, even whether it is about the identical dimension. It’s obtained a bigger essential driver and a extra highly effective tweeter, and the results of the upgrades is healthier midbass and extra managed, detailed treble. This could even be the costliest association, bundled at $330, which is a bit expensive and features a redundant second good residence hub, but it surely nonetheless represents a financial savings of $100.

Some limitations

We’re unhappy to say that pretty much as good because the Echo Sub performs, the best way it’s built-in with Echo audio system means its use is restricted to taking part in music and podcasts. You may’t join your telephone to your Echo speaker and stream something from it with out breaking the connection between the Echo speaker and the Sub.

Riley Younger/Digital Traits

This additionally means you possibly can’t join your Fireplace TV to the system and get TV audio to your audio system. That’s an actual disgrace as it’s an apparent use case, and one we expect a variety of people would get pleasure from making the most of. Maybe we’ll see this mounted down the highway. For now, although, you’ll get no audio out of your movies to the Echo sub.

Guarantee data

The Echo Sub comes with a 1-year restricted guarantee, identical to most Amazon-made gadgets. Supplemental warranties are additionally out there for buy.

Our Take

The Echo Sub is designed and outfitted to do one very particular factor and do it properly sufficient. It succeeds at providing loud, respectably deep and sturdy bass to eligible Amazon Echo audio system, and does it with ease. That’s the place its utility stops, although. The Echo Sub is constructed for a really particular type of Amazon fan.

Is there a greater various?

Not for Echo audio system, no. One may jury-rig a system utilizing adapter cables and two echo audio system the place one served the sub, however it might be a bit sophisticated to run as a bunch and never as cost-effective. When you arrived right here hoping to get good bass on a budget, take a look at this subwoofer from Monoprice. It performs deep and loud, and is shockingly succesful for the value.

How lengthy will it final?

We expect the Echo Sub will have the ability to final so long as an Echo Speaker is prone to final. Future variations could also be extra versatile and highly effective, however the Sub itself will final lengthy sufficient for customers to get enticed by one thing else down the highway.

Do you have to purchase it?

Sure. When you’re an Echo speaker person who desires to make a full-sized system out of your Alexa machine, that is the one strategy to do it, and the outcomes are fairly spectacular. For that motive, we provide our Really helpful Product badge.

Editors’ Suggestions