Amazon waited six years to update its flagship smart speaker, and the wait produced something noticeably different. The redesigned Echo Studio shrinks the original's bulky, helmet-shaped body down to a compact sphere, 40 percent smaller than before. That's a real engineering feat. It's also, according to nearly every reviewer who's tested it, the reason this Echo Studio doesn't quite hit as hard in the low end as its predecessor.
This review breaks down what changed, what got traded away, and whether the new Echo Studio still earns its premium name despite giving up some bass along the way.
A 40 Percent Smaller Echo Studio
The physical transformation is hard to overstate. Where the original 2019 Echo Studio resembled a medieval knight's helmet, bulky and awkward on a shelf, this new version looks more like a rounded spaceship. It measures roughly 6.1 by 5.6 by 5.8 inches and weighs about 1.63 kilograms, wrapped in a knit fabric exterior with front-facing touch controls.
That size reduction changes daily use too. The original demanded real shelf space and rarely looked elegant doing it. This one tucks into tighter spots and blends into a living room far more naturally.
Inside sits Amazon's new AZ3 Pro chip, which reviewers describe as noticeably snappier than the original's processor. Alexa responses feel quicker regardless of what happened to the audio hardware.
None of this came free, though. Fitting the internals into a smaller shell meant compromising somewhere, and Amazon shrank the components most responsible for deep bass. That trade-off defines nearly every review of this Echo Studio, and it's worth understanding before deciding if the smaller footprint is worth it.
What the Echo Studio Gave Up for Its New Size
Here's the tension running through every Echo Studio review so far. The 2019 model used a larger woofer capable of genuinely deep bass. This version drops to a 3.75-inch high-excursion woofer paired with smaller full-range drivers, and reviewers across multiple outlets agree the difference is audible.
Tom's Guide, TechRadar, Forbes, and others independently landed on the same conclusion. Bass isn't as detailed or forceful as the 2019 original delivered. One reviewer missed the "oomph and clarity" of the older model specifically in lower frequencies, even while praising the redesign otherwise.
Connectivity took a hit too. This Echo Studio drops the 3.5mm jack entirely, along with any optical audio port. Anyone wanting a wired connection, for a turntable or older receiver, loses that flexibility. Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 remain solid, but they're not a full replacement for physical inputs some households still want.
None of this makes the new Echo Studio a bad speaker. It makes it a different one, prioritizing size and smart home integration over the raw audio power that earned the Studio name originally. Whether that trade works depends on what you actually listen to.
How the Echo Studio Performs Across Different Music
The smaller woofer doesn't hurt every genre equally. Reviewers describe a genre-dependent picture, more nuanced than a blanket "less bass" verdict.
Vocal content fares best. Podcasts and audiobooks sound crisp and clear, since mid-range reproduction stays clean without fighting heavy bass. Pop and acoustic tracks sound satisfying too, since both lean mid-range anyway.
Hip-hop and dance hold up better than the spec sheet suggests. One reviewer felt actual floor vibrations during bass-heavy tracks, thanks to the woofer's punchy, tight response. Rock reportedly sounds excellent as well.
Metal and industrial expose the real weak spot. Reviewers describe these denser mixes turning muddy, with vocals occasionally buried and poor instrument separation.
Casual listeners streaming podcasts or mainstream genres won't notice much. Audiophiles chasing precision across every genre will.
Smart Home Features and Alexa Plus
Where the redesigned Echo Studio actually improves is smart home functionality. It supports Zigbee, Matter, and Thread as a border router, and can double as an eero Wi-Fi satellite if you're already inside that ecosystem. Built-in temperature and presence sensors add further smart home utility, even if voice command integration for the temperature sensor still feels incomplete according to hands-on testing.
Alexa+, Amazon's newer AI-enhanced assistant, represents the bigger software story here. Responses feel faster and more natural compared to the standard Alexa experience, and routine capabilities have expanded meaningfully. The catch is availability. Alexa+ remains limited to the US at launch, leaving international buyers with the improved hardware but not the full software experience Amazon is promoting.
For households already invested in Amazon's ecosystem, particularly those using Fire TV or other Echo devices, this Echo Studio functions as a genuinely capable hub, not just a speaker.
Echo Studio vs. the Competition
Priced around $220, the new Echo Studio sits in reasonably competitive territory. Tom's Guide's comparison lands on a clear verdict: this remains the strongest choice for an Amazon-centric smart home and home theater setup, but anyone prioritizing pure audio fidelity above ecosystem integration should look toward something like the Sonos Era 100 instead.
That distinction matters. The Echo Studio was never purely an audiophile product, but the 2019 original came closer to that territory than this redesign does. Buyers upgrading from an older, basic Echo speaker will find this a clear step up. Owners of the original Echo Studio specifically chasing raw audio power may find this redesign a sidegrade at best.
Conclusion
The redesigned Echo Studio makes a deliberate trade, and reviewers largely agree on what that trade actually cost. Forty percent smaller, better looking, smarter, and considerably more livable in a modern home, but measurably less powerful in the bass department compared to its 2019 predecessor.
For most listeners streaming podcasts, vocal-heavy music, or mainstream genres, that trade will barely register day to day. For anyone who bought the original Echo Studio specifically for its low-end power, or who leans heavily into dense, bass-forward genres like metal, this new Echo Studio asks a fair question: is a smaller, smarter speaker worth losing some of what made the name "Studio" mean something in the first place?
