Amazon Echo Dot Gen 4 Speaker Review

The Amazon Echo Dot is a small speaker with a distinctive spherical design. It sits on its base, which is flat. There's a ring of light that surrounds the base of the speaker that activates for voice commands, volume adjustments, and when you turn the microphone off. However, it doesn't flash when your music is playing. You also can't change the color.

This speaker has middling portability. It's small and lightweight, and you can easily carry it with one hand. However, it's only powered by AC, so you have to keep it plugged into a wall outlet for it to work.

The Amazon Echo Dot has a passable build quality. The speaker itself feels solid, and the fabric surrounding the speaker is tight and doesn't seem like it could rip easily. However, it isn't rated for dust, water, or impact resistance like some of the other speakers we've tested, like the Sony SRS-XB23.

The controls are mediocre. The four physical buttons let you adjust the volume, mute/unmute the microphone, or activate Alexa without using the wake word, "Alexa". You can also hold down the Action button for 25 seconds to reset the speaker or tap it to silence an alarm. Also, tapping the front of the speaker snoozes your alarm.

• Amazon Echo Dot
• Power cable
• User Manual

The Amazon Echo Dot has middling frequency response accuracy. It struggles to reproduce low-bass, so you don't feel the deep thump and rumble in bass-heavy music like EDM. Its balanced mid-range can reproduce vocals and lead instruments clearly, but it lacks detail in the treble range, so your audio can sound dark or dull. However, you can use the bass and treble adjustments in the companion app to adjust the speaker's sound.

The soundstage is okay. It has to downmix stereo content into mono to play it, which doesn't sound as immersive. Fortunately, its directivity is impressive, so the soundstage is perceived as open and spacious.

The Amazon Echo Dot has sub-par dynamics. It doesn't get very loud, and it has some compression artifacts present when you play it at max volume. It may not be suitable for listening to music at parties.

This speaker doesn't have a battery, and you need to plug it into a wall socket to operate it. According to the manufacturer, it enters 'Low Power Mode' when it's idle to help reduce its energy consumption, but we don't test for this.

The Amazon Echo Dot has exceptional voice assistant support. It has built-in Alexa support, and you can activate it with your voice. It understands you, even if you aren't very close to the speaker, and it can separate your voice from background noises. Also, you can mute the microphone if you don't want it to listen to you.

The Amazon Alexa app is incredible. It offers bass and treble adjustments, so you have some control over the speaker's sound profile. You can pair two Echo Dot speakers together to create a stereo pair, which helps create a wider soundstage. Also, you can connect multiple speakers to play music across a large area or through multiple rooms in your house thanks to the Party Mode and Multi-Room features.

The Amazon Echo Dot comes with a 3.5mm AUX port, so you can wire your devices like your smartphone to the speaker to play audio.

This speaker is Bluetooth-compatible. Thanks to its superb range, it stays connected even if your device isn't very close to the speaker. While its latency with Android devices may be too high for watching videos, it performs better with iOS devices. However, some apps compensate for latency, so your real-world experience can vary.

The Amazon Echo Dot has fair Wi-Fi connectivity. While it's Wi-Fi compatible, it doesn't support Apple AirPlay or Google Chromecast connections.