Amazon's latest Echo Dot Max has finally arrived, and it's a significant upgrade over its predecessors. The new speaker boasts improved sound quality, sleeker design, and additional smart home features, making it the best all-around smart speaker on the market.
The Echo Dot Max comes in purple, white, and grey, and its compact design makes it perfect for small spaces. It also supports Thread, Matter, and Zigbee smart home protocols, allowing users to seamlessly control their devices with voice commands.
One of the standout features of the Dot Max is its improved audio quality, which is comparable to that of the new Echo Studio. The speaker's bass packs more punch than the regular Dots, making it ideal for music lovers.
The Echo Dot Max also has a separate tweeter and woofer, resulting in a crisper sound with plenty of bass. It can be paired with another Max for stereo sound and will soon work as part of an Alexa Home Theater group.
The device's microphone array is also improved, allowing it to hear users more clearly and respond faster to voice commands. The new AZ3 chip powers the speaker, making it one of the most powerful devices in the Echo lineup.
However, not all is perfect with the Dot Max. The price tag of $99 may be a barrier for some users, and the absence of a 3.5mm audio jack is a notable omission. Additionally, Alexa Plus, the AI-powered assistant that comes with the speaker, still feels like a work in progress.
Alexa Plus has improved conversational abilities compared to the old Alexa, but it's slow, inconsistent, and forgetful at times. The voice assistant struggles with running Routines via voice, and its ambitions to be a personal assistant feel hamstrung.
Despite these limitations, the Echo Dot Max is still an excellent smart speaker that offers great sound quality, improved design, and additional smart home features. It's worth considering if you're due for an upgrade from your current Echo device.
For those looking for even better sound, the new Echo Studio is a more expensive option that boasts identical features to the Dot Max but with a more powerful AZ3 chip and better speaker parts.
The Echo Dot Max comes in purple, white, and grey, and its compact design makes it perfect for small spaces. It also supports Thread, Matter, and Zigbee smart home protocols, allowing users to seamlessly control their devices with voice commands.
One of the standout features of the Dot Max is its improved audio quality, which is comparable to that of the new Echo Studio. The speaker's bass packs more punch than the regular Dots, making it ideal for music lovers.
The Echo Dot Max also has a separate tweeter and woofer, resulting in a crisper sound with plenty of bass. It can be paired with another Max for stereo sound and will soon work as part of an Alexa Home Theater group.
The device's microphone array is also improved, allowing it to hear users more clearly and respond faster to voice commands. The new AZ3 chip powers the speaker, making it one of the most powerful devices in the Echo lineup.
However, not all is perfect with the Dot Max. The price tag of $99 may be a barrier for some users, and the absence of a 3.5mm audio jack is a notable omission. Additionally, Alexa Plus, the AI-powered assistant that comes with the speaker, still feels like a work in progress.
Alexa Plus has improved conversational abilities compared to the old Alexa, but it's slow, inconsistent, and forgetful at times. The voice assistant struggles with running Routines via voice, and its ambitions to be a personal assistant feel hamstrung.
Despite these limitations, the Echo Dot Max is still an excellent smart speaker that offers great sound quality, improved design, and additional smart home features. It's worth considering if you're due for an upgrade from your current Echo device.
For those looking for even better sound, the new Echo Studio is a more expensive option that boasts identical features to the Dot Max but with a more powerful AZ3 chip and better speaker parts.