Amazon Echo Dot Max evaluation: Alexa+ will get room to stretch

Greatest Costs Right this moment: Amazon Echo Dot Max

The primary wave of “made for Alexa+” gadgets has arrived, and amongst them is Amazon’s flagship Echo speaker—the Echo Dot Max, the successor to the sooner, fourth-generation Amazon Echo speaker. 

The Echo Dot Max is each a direct substitute for the greater than six-year-old Echo speaker in addition to an improve over the ever-popular Echo Dot, which remains to be very a lot part of Amazon’s Echo speaker lineup. Amazon has additionally unveiled new Echo Present 8 and 11 good shows in addition to the music-focused Echo Studio. (We’ll have full opinions of the eight-inch Echo Present and the Echo Studio quickly.) 

I’ve been testing the Echo Dot Max ($99, the identical value because the older Echo speaker) for roughly two months now—I even have a number of different Echo gadgets scattered round the home, together with the fifth-generation Echo Dot and most up-to-date Echo Present 8—and I’ve additionally been kicking the tires on Alexa+, the AI-enhanced model of Alexa that’s nonetheless in a free early-access mode. 

After a pair months with the Echo Dot Max, I’ve blended emotions. The speaker comes filled with smart-home performance, together with Zigbee, Matter, and Amazon Sidewalk hubs, though its lack of Z-Wave assist retains it from being a common good dwelling bridge for hardcore good dwelling customers. It’s upgraded audio is definitely higher than that of the $49 Echo Dot, however it additionally pales in comparison with some competing good audio system on the identical value level.  

And at last, there’s Alexa+, the AI-enabled revamp of the “basic” Alexa, which arrives with nice promise however loads of tough edges. However whereas the Echo Dot Max was “constructed for” Alexa+, the AI-upgraded assistant isn’t unique to the speaker—in actual fact, you should utilize Alexa+ on all of Amazon’s present Echo gadgets, together with the way more inexpensive Echo Dot.

So, must you purchase the Echo Dot Max? Ought to Echo Dot house owners pony up for the improve? Right here’s the place my head’s at after two months of testing.

Observe: Alexa+ can be free whereas in its early preview interval; so for this evaluation, I’ll be focusing extra on the Echo Dot Max’s {hardware} and options relatively than Alexa+ itself.

Design 

Amazon is sticking with the spherical design that it launched in 2020 with the fourth-generation Echo Dot. Come to think about it, all the key good audio system at the moment are formed like softballs, together with the upcoming Google House Speaker, the Apple HomePod mini, and the Echo Dot Max we’re reviewing right here. 

Measuring 4.27 x 4.27 x 3.9 inches (WxDxH) and weighing a bit shy of 18 ounces, the Echo Dot Max is significantly smaller and lighter than the fourth-generation Echo (5.7 x 5.7 x 5.2 inches, 34.2 oz) it’s changing. On the identical time, the Dot Max is simply barely bigger than the present fifth-gen Echo Dot (3.9 x 3.9 x 3.5 inches, 10.7 ounces). The dimensions distinction between the Echo Dot Max and Echo Dot is obvious whenever you place the 2 audio system aspect by aspect, however the Dot Max seems to be decidedly Dot-sized. 

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Whereas the essential form of the Echo Dot Max hasn’t modified, the main points have developed. Other than the bigger weave of the material across the Dot Max in comparison with the Dot, the newer speaker (together with its greater sibling, the Echo Studio) strikes the amount and mic-mute buttons from the highest of the machine to a shallow dish on its face, surrounded by the telltale Alexa ring.

The Dot Max additionally jettisons the Motion button, which was primarily used for stopping alarms, timers, and notifications; now, you simply faucet the highest of the speaker to carry out the identical perform, identical as on the fifth-gen Echo Dot (which nonetheless had an Motion button). 

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Transferring the Echo Dot Max’s buttons to a extra seen spot on the speaker was a good suggestion on paper. However whereas the speaker has some heft to it, it’s not heavy sufficient to remain in place whenever you attempt to press considered one of its buttons; as an alternative, it’ll scoot backward with the power of a button-press except you maintain it down along with your different fingers or one other hand. 

Behind the speaker is a barrel-shaped socket for the facility cable, which terminates in a comparatively compact wall wart. As with the fifth-gen Echo Dot, there’s no 3.5mm jack for connecting a wired speaker, that means you’ll need to accept Bluetooth if you wish to pipe the Dot Max’s audio to one other machine. 

Setup 

Getting Amazon’s numerous Echo audio system up and working has all the time been a breeze, and it’s no totally different for the Echo Dot Max.  

First, you plug within the Dot Max; after a number of seconds, the Alexa ring ought to glow yellow, indicating it’s awaiting activation. Then, fireplace up the Alexa app, and the brand new speaker ought to pop up robotically; if not, simply faucet the “+” button within the top-right nook of the display so as to add a brand new machine, then observe the prompts.  

Among the many setup screens you’ll have to traverse are numerous privateness disclosures and terms-of-service agreements. You’ll additionally have to designate which room in your house the Dot Max will reside in, as nicely as set default music companies. All instructed, the setup course of takes between 5 and 10 minutes. 

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Sensible hub connectivity 

The Echo Dot Max is taking up from the older, fourth-generation Echo speaker as Amazon’s workhorse good speaker, and as with its predecessor, it comes with every little thing—nicely, nearly every little thing—you’ll want to attach to your good dwelling gadgets. 

Other than Wi-Fi, the Echo Dot Max boasts a Zigbee hub, good for connecting to Zigbee-enabled sensors, gentle bulbs, good locks, good plugs, remotes, and different low-power good gadgets that thrive in mesh-network environments. The Dot Max additionally acts as a bridge machine for Amazon Sidewalk, the so-called “neighborhood” community that leverages different close by Echo and Ring gadgets to attach good gadgets that may in any other case be past Wi-Fi vary. Lastly, a Thread border router permits the Dot Max to attach Thread-enabled Matter gadgets to the web and to one another. 

The lacking hyperlink is—and stays—Z-Wave, a preferred mesh protocol much like Zigbee that provides its personal wealthy ecosystem of gadgets starting from gentle switches and dimmers to good locks and storage door openers. Amazon’s earlier flagship Echo audio system are lacking Z-Wave hubs, too. Amazon-owned Ring model does provide some Z-Wave sensors that work with its Ring Alarm and Ring Alarm Professional base stations, however these sensors have not too long ago been supplanted by a brand new era primarily based on–you guessed it–Amazon Sidewalk. 

Whereas not strictly within the class of good hubs, the Echo Dot Max does act as a repeater for Amazon’s line of Eero mesh Wi-Fi routers, boosting their vary by as much as 1,000 sq. ft. It’s value noting that the cheaper Echo Dot will even work as an Eero sign repeater, however it lacks the Dot Max’s Zigbee hub and Thread border router options.

Sensible sensors 

The Echo Dot Max comes loaded with a wide range of onboard good sensors—together with ambient temperature and light-weight sensors—that are primarily aimed at detecting the presence of close by folks. Particularly, Amazon touts its new “Omnisense” know-how, which swimming pools knowledge not simply from the temperature and light-weight sensors but in addition from the Dot Max’s microphone array.  

Additionally out there on the bigger Echo Studio in addition to Amazon’s latest-gen Echo Present shows, Amazon payments Omnisense as a approach to assist Alexa—and notably Alexa+ — to “intelligently act on numerous occasions occurring in and round your property,” corresponding to triggering customized routines for particular folks, or proactively letting you already know that your storage door is unlocked at bedtime. 

Alexa+ and good dwelling performance 

One of many largest attracts of the Echo Dot Max is that it was constructed for Alexa+, the long-awaited AI revamp for Alexa. Particularly, the Echo Dot Max runs on Amazon’s customized AZ3 chip, which powers the speaker’s four-microphone array and is designed to allow extra responsive chat with Alexa+ by filtering out background noise and boosting wake-word sensitivity. You don’t want to stay with “Alexa,” by the best way. You may change it to “Amazon,” “Laptop,” “Echo,” or “Ziggy.” 

After which there’s Alexa+ itself, a new model of Alexa with generative AI smarts. Nonetheless in an early-access section and subsequently free for now (it’ll ultimately be included with a Prime subscription, whereas non-Prime customers might want to pay $19.99 a month), Alexa+ guarantees extra pure voice exchanges, agentic performance (that’s, the flexibility to hold out multi-step duties in your behalf), more proficient dealing with of media playback, and smarter smart-home management. 

The truth of Alexa+ is a blended bag. (As Alexa+ remains to be in early entry, I’m not giving it a full evaluation but.) Typically it’s fairly good, as when it creates routines primarily based on voice prompts (“Alexa, make a routine that turns the bed room lights on at 8 a.m.”), or when it appropriately guesses the identify of a music primarily based on a obscure question (“Alexa, what’s the identify of that music that was the title monitor for the TV present referred to as The Hills?”). Different instances, not a lot—and frustratingly, Alexa+’s success and failure for numerous duties adjustments over time.  

For instance, after I requested Alexa+ to play that tune from The Hills–”Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield—it instructed me that it at present lacks the performance to play music from such a question on Apple Music, my default music service for Alexa (presumably as a result of Alexa+’s Apple Music API doesn’t have that means but). Once I instructed it that the lounge carpet was soiled, hoping it might ship my Roomba out for a fast vacuum job, it as an alternative gave me a treatise about eco-friendly tendencies in the lounge carpet “trade;” wanting again over the chat logs, I realized Alexa+ had misheard my preliminary remark. 

And whereas Alexa+ was capable of shortly create routines primarily based on voice instructions (“Alexa, create a routine that claims ‘Welcome to the workplace’ every time I enter the room,”), I had a heck of a time getting the routine to set off correctly, and Alexa+ solely provided restricted assist when it comes to debugging the routine. 

Amazon has been cautious to level out that Alexa+ remains to be in early entry modem, and that it’s not charging for the AI-enhanced voice assistant. Additionally, you may all the time return to the “basic” Alexa (“Alexa, exit Alexa+”) when you desire it, and the unique Alexa stays fairly succesful at finishing up good dwelling instructions, managing procuring lists, taking part in music, and performing different family duties, albeit with out Alexa+’s loquaciousness. Lastly, it’s value noting that Google’s competing Gemini at House suffers from its personal annoying foibles—and in contrast to Alexa, there’s no reverting again to Google Assistant from Gemini. 

Nonetheless, in its present type, Alexa+ elicits as many groans of frustration because it does gasps of enjoyment—or no less than, that’s been my expertise over the previous couple of months. As with LLMs like Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude (Amazon is a significant stakeholder in Anthropic), I do anticipate to see enhancements in Alexa+ over time. 

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Music playback and audio high quality 

Other than its new AZ3 processor, the Echo Dot Max comes with an all-new acoustic setup, together with a 0.8-inch tweeter and a 2.5-inch high-excursion woofer tuned to ship 3 times the bass of the smaller Echo Dot. The speaker also can deal with lossless music tracks. 

In the event you like, you may create a complete 5.1-channel dwelling theater expertise with as much as 5 Echo Dot Max audio system and an Echo Sub, as long as you pair the audio system with a second-generation Hearth TV Strick 4K, the second-gen Hearth TV Stick Max, the Hearth TV Stick 4K Plus, or the Hearth TV Dice (3^rd-gen).  

So, how does the brand new Echo Dot Max truly sound? I don’t declare to be an audiophile, however I do have in depth expertise with a wide range of good audio system in addition to Sonos wi-fi audio system, and I discovered the Echo Dot Max’s audio efficiency to be a) higher than the Echo Dot (correctly, given that it’s double the worth) and b) nonetheless considerably mediocre. It definitely does pack extra bass than the older Echo Dot, however I nonetheless discovered its general sound a tad small and mushy. On the identical value level, I a lot desire the clear, detailed, and punchy sound of Google’s Nest Audio speaker, though that machine is for a really totally different ecosystem.

If you’re on the lookout for an Echo speaker that strives for top-shelf audio, think about the $219 Echo Studio (2025 launch), which affords a trio of full-range drivers, a woofer, and assist for spatial and Dolby Atmos sound. We’ll have a full evaluation of the Echo Studio quickly. 

So far as music streaming assist goes, the Echo Dot Max helps Amazon Music Limitless, Apple Music, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Pandora, SiriusXM, Tidal, and different streaming companies. Two notable omissions: YouTube Music and Qobuz (the latter service’s Qobuz Join is generally suitable with higher-end audio gadgets and techniques). 

Must you purchase the Amazon Echo Dot Max?

The Echo Dot Max is a pure evolution of Amazon’s Echo line of good audio system, taking the core of the older Amazon Echo and upgrading it with cutting-edge {hardware}, together with a processor designed particularly for Alexa+.

In the event you’re beginning your good dwelling journey and are able to go all-in on the Alexa ecosystem, the Echo Dot Max makes for a fantastic basis. It packs a Zigbee hub, a Matter hub, and an Amazon Sidewalk bridge. Most customers will get by with out Z-Wave assist, and you’ll all the time add a separate Z-Wave hub that can work with Alexa. The design with the buttons in entrance can be an enchancment, and its audio efficiency is stable, if wanting superior.

As for Alexa+, it may not be absolutely baked, however it’s free for now, and I’m sure it’ll enhance as time rolls on. In the event you don’t need to (ultimately) pay for Alexa+ otherwise you’re dissatisfied with its talents, you may all the time fall again on the “basic” Alexa, which can stay free.

Is the Echo Dot Max an computerized improve for Echo Dot house owners? Not essentially. The Echo Dot helps Alexa+ identical to the Dot Max does, and whereas it lacks the the beefier speaker’s Matter and Zigbee capabilities (which you may already be getting from different gadgets in your house), it’ll double as an Eero mesh extender (assuming you’ve got an Eero router or a Ring Alarm Professional and you employ the Eero router inside it).

Briefly, the Echo Dot packs a whole lot of warmth for simply $49, it’s often on sale, and it stays our Editors’ Alternative for finest budget-priced good speaker. In the event you already personal the Echo Dot and produce other gadgets that function Zigbee hubs and/or Thread border routers, it’d make sense to present the Echo Dot Max a cross.

This evaluation is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the perfect good audio system.