Amazon Echo Studio (2nd Gen, 2025) Review: Big Sound, Compact Design

Six years is a long time between major updates for any product, but Amazon used that time well. The Amazon Echo Studio smart speaker has gone through a complete overhaul in 2025, and the result is something genuinely different from what came before. It is smaller, rounder, smarter, and designed around a version of Alexa that is more capable than anything Amazon has shipped before.

If you have been sitting on the fence about upgrading your home audio, or if you are buying your first serious smart speaker, this review will give you everything you need to make the right call.

Amazon Echo Studio Quick Specs

What We Liked and What We Did Not

There is a great deal to like here. The redesigned spherical body looks like proper home decor rather than tech clutter, and being 40 percent smaller than the original makes placement much more flexible. The sound is clear, open, and wide, with excellent vocal reproduction and strong mid and high frequency detail. Spatial audio through Dolby Atmos gives supported music a real sense of dimension that standard speakers simply cannot produce.

Alexa Plus, available immediately in the US, is a meaningful step forward over standard Alexa, with more natural conversations and genuinely useful follow-through on complex requests. The smart home hub capabilities covering Zigbee, Matter, and Thread are class-leading for a speaker at this price. Controls are now on the front panel rather than the top, which makes them easier to find and press without looking down. Build quality is solid, with a satisfying weight that keeps the speaker planted on any surface.

On the other side, the bass is noticeably less powerful than the original 2019 Echo Studio. The 3.5mm audio input has been removed entirely. Alexa Plus is not yet available in the UK at launch. The Alexa Home Theater feature, which enables multi-speaker surround sound, is not yet live. The status light ring sits on the front panel, so you cannot see it from the side or behind the speaker.

Who Is This Speaker Best For

This speaker is an excellent fit for anyone who listens to music daily and wants noticeably better sound than a standard smart speaker can deliver. Prime members who want to take advantage of Alexa Plus at no extra cost will find this ideal. The built-in multi-protocol hub also makes it a strong pick for anyone building or expanding a smart home. And for those looking to future-proof their setup, Alexa Home Theater and broader Alexa Plus availability are both on the way.

It is less ideal for listeners who primarily enjoy bass-heavy music genres like electronic, hip-hop, or EDM, where the physical impact of deep low frequencies is central to the experience. It is also not the right fit for anyone who needs a wired audio input, or for UK buyers who want Alexa Plus right away rather than waiting until 2026.

A Fresh Look That Actually Works

From Cylinder to Sphere

The first thing you will notice about the new Echo Studio is that it no longer looks like a chunky black cylinder sitting on your shelf. Amazon has moved to a spherical, fabric-wrapped design that is about 40 percent smaller than the previous model. It measures roughly 6.1 inches tall and 5.6 inches wide, which means it sits much more discreetly on a bookshelf, countertop, or side table without dominating the space around it.

The new shape is covered in a 3D knit mesh fabric that gives it a more premium, textured feel compared to older Echo designs. A large concave panel on the front houses the volume and mute buttons, with a light ring that glows different colors based on what Alexa is doing. Blue means Alexa is listening. White fills up to show volume level. Red signals the mic is muted. It is a clean, intuitive system that takes almost no time to get used to.

The top of the speaker is touch-sensitive, so you can tap it to pause or resume music, snooze an alarm, or dismiss a timer. It is a small addition, but it feels natural in everyday use. For complete amazon echo studio product info, Amazon ships it with a power adaptor, a quick start guide, and an Alexa Plus booklet. The speaker is only available in Graphite in the UK, while US buyers also have a Glacier White option.

Controls That Make Sense

One welcome change is that the volume buttons are now on the front of the speaker rather than the top. This makes them far easier to reach and find without having to stand directly over the device. The buttons have a satisfying, solid feel when you press them, and the whole control panel does not wobble or move when you interact with it.

That last point matters more than it sounds, because lighter speakers can slide around on a surface when you press buttons firmly. If you have used the amazon echo dot max, you may have noticed exactly that issue, and the heavier, more planted build of the Echo Studio solves it entirely.

What Is Inside and How It Sounds

The Speaker Hardware

Under that fabric shell, the new Echo Studio uses three 1.5-inch full-range drivers and a 3.75-inch woofer. The drivers are arranged in a 3.1.1 channel configuration, angled to fire left, right, and upward, enabling spatial audio from a single unit. This configuration supports Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio, giving music a sense of depth and dimension that a conventional speaker simply cannot replicate.

For wireless connectivity, the speaker supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, which are both meaningful upgrades from the previous generation. It also works as a smart home hub, supporting Zigbee, Matter, and Thread devices, meaning it can connect to a broad range of smart home gadgets without a separate hub. If you have an Eero mesh network at home, the Echo Studio can also extend it. There is even a built-in temperature sensor that feeds data into your smart home setup, a thoughtful extra for those who enjoy home automation.

One thing worth noting is that there is no 3.5mm audio port on this model. If you were hoping to connect it directly to a turntable or another device via cable, that option is gone. In a world where most people stream everything, this will not be a dealbreaker for the majority of buyers, but it is worth knowing upfront.

How It Actually Sounds Day to Day

This is the part that matters most, and the honest answer is that the new Echo Studio sounds genuinely impressive for its size. The clarity across the mid and high frequencies is excellent. Vocals come through cleanly, instruments carry real texture, and the overall presentation is open and wide rather than flat or boxy. At moderate volumes it sounds particularly good, and it holds up well at higher volumes without distortion creeping in. For a speaker this compact, the room-filling ability is genuinely remarkable.

The spatial audio performance stands out as one of its real strengths. When you stream Dolby Atmos tracks from Amazon Music, there is a noticeable sense of dimension to the sound. Voices and instruments seem to occupy slightly different positions in the room, which is a unique experience for a single speaker. The effect is not dramatic, and it will vary depending on the shape and size of your room, but it adds a layer of enjoyment that standard stereo playback cannot offer. Tracks with layered arrangements, wide mixes, and strong vocal presence benefit the most from this setup.

A Word on the Bass

Here is the honest conversation that every review of this speaker needs to have. The original Echo Studio from 2019 had a massive 5.25-inch downward-firing woofer that could genuinely shake the air in a room. The new model uses a smaller 3.75-inch woofer, and the bass, while present and clear, does not carry that same physical impact. If you loved the original for its deep, room-filling low end, the new version will feel lighter in that area.

This is not a bass-light experience for most music. The low frequencies are balanced and well-controlled, and for most genres including pop, rock, classical, jazz, and podcasts, the overall sound is arguably more refined than the original. Amazon has tuned the bass to complement the music rather than dominate it. Heavy electronic music and hip-hop with ultra-deep sub-bass will feel less punchy than on some competing speakers, but for everyday listening across a wide range of genres, the balance is genuinely enjoyable and never fatiguing over long sessions.

Alexa, Smart Home, and What Is Coming

Alexa and Alexa Plus

The new Echo Studio is designed with Alexa Plus in mind, Amazon’s updated AI-powered voice assistant. In the US, buyers get early access to Alexa Plus right out of the box, and the experience is a noticeable step forward from standard Alexa.

The conversations feel more natural, follow-up questions are handled smoothly, and the assistant can tackle more complex requests without getting confused or reverting to formulaic responses. That combination of premium audio quality and next-gen AI support makes this one of the best alexa devices you can buy today if you are already invested in the Amazon ecosystem.

In the UK, Alexa Plus is not yet available at the time of writing, with a launch expected in 2026. Standard Alexa works well on this speaker, responding quickly and accurately even from across a noisy room, but UK buyers will need to wait a little longer to experience everything this speaker can truly deliver. Once Alexa Plus is live, it is included free with Amazon Prime, and costs $19.99 per month for non-Prime users.

Smart Home Integration

For anyone building out a smart home, the Echo Studio offers a strong and practical foundation. Among the standout amazon echo studio features is the built-in Zigbee, Matter, and Thread support, which means it can connect and control a wide range of smart devices without needing a separate hub.

Setting up lights, plugs, sensors, and thermostats through the Alexa app is straightforward, and the speaker handles these commands reliably day to day. For example, an ecobee smart thermostat pairs seamlessly with the Echo Studio, letting you control your home temperature by voice.

Alexa Home Theater

One of the most exciting upcoming features is Alexa Home Theater, which will let you pair up to five Echo Studio or Echo Dot Max speakers with a compatible Fire TV device to create a full surround sound system for your television. This feature is not yet live at the time of writing, but Amazon has confirmed it is coming. When it arrives, it could transform the Echo Studio from a standalone music speaker into the centerpiece of a genuinely capable home cinema setup, representing extraordinary value at this price point.

How It Compares to the Competition

At $219.99 in the US and £220 in the UK, the amazon echo studio price puts it in a genuinely strong and competitive position in the market. Here is how it stacks up against its closest rivals:

The Echo Studio is the only speaker in this group that combines spatial audio, a full multi-protocol smart home hub, Alexa Plus compatibility, and a price under $250. The Sonos Era 300 delivers more powerful and detailed sound, but it costs more than twice as much and offers limited Alexa support with no confirmed path to Alexa Plus.

The Apple HomePod is a brilliant-sounding speaker, but it only works fully within the Apple ecosystem, making it a non-starter for Android users. The Bose Home Speaker 500 gets louder and supports AirPlay and Chromecast, but it lacks spatial audio and has no built-in smart home hub. For the money, no competitor matches the Echo Studio’s overall combination of capabilities.

Should You Buy It?

The 2025 Echo Studio is a well-built, well-thought-out speaker that delivers on the things that matter most to everyday listeners. The sound is clear, open, and wide. The spatial audio adds genuine enjoyment to supported music. The smart home integration is among the best available in any speaker at any price. The design is compact and attractive enough to sit comfortably anywhere in a modern home.

If you are upgrading from an older Echo, buying your first premium smart speaker, or building out a smart home and want a capable audio and control hub in one device, this is a confident recommendation. The promise of Alexa Home Theater and fuller Alexa Plus availability also gives it strong long-term value.

If the original Echo Studio’s thundering bass was the thing you loved most, the new model will feel different. It is a more balanced, more refined speaker rather than a bass-first powerhouse, and that shift suits the vast majority of everyday listeners far better.

Final Thoughts

The 2025 Echo Studio represents Amazon’s clearest statement yet about what it wants its flagship speaker to be. It is not trying to be the loudest speaker in the room or the one with the most chest-thumping bass. It is trying to be the most complete, the most capable, and the most future-ready smart speaker you can buy at this price, and it largely succeeds on all three counts.

The design is a genuine improvement. The sound is wide, clear, and immersive in a way that very few speakers at this price can match. The smart home foundation is rock-solid. And with Alexa Plus and Alexa Home Theater still rolling out, this speaker has more to give than it does today. That kind of long-term value is rare, and it matters when you are spending over $200 on a single device.

No speaker is perfect for everyone, and the Echo Studio is no exception. But for the wide range of people it is designed for, it is difficult to find anything better at this price point. It earns its place at the top of Amazon’s lineup, and it earns a place in your home.

Frequently Asked Questions