Amazon is no stranger to surprise hardware events – last year, they did this for the launch of the second-gen Amazon Echos along with the Echo Spot – and they just had another one – and they went big. Amazon just announced a bunch of new audio products, including an all-around better Echo Dot, Echo Plus and Echo Show smart speakers, and an Echo Input, which is the first Echo product without a speaker built-in, but lets you turn any speaker (with an 3.5mm jack) into an Alexa smart speaker; it’s basically an Echo Dot without a speaker.
However, what’s more exciting is the announcement of three higher-end audio products. There’s the Echo Link ($200), which is an audio component that connects to your home hi-fi stereo system allows you to stream music directly to it. There’s the Echo Link Amp ($300), which is a 2-channel amplifier. And there’s Echo Sub, the company’s first wireless Echo Sub ($130).
Essentially, all these new high-end audio devices are built to connect to your existing speakers, or existing Echo speakers, and make them sound even better. In many ways, they represent Amazon full-on attack on companies like Sonos (especially its recently announced Sonos Amp) and even Apple and Google, both whom are taking audio really really seriously. And these new batch of Amazon audio products actually look nice, too, so you’d have less qualms about hiding them in media cabinet or behind a picture frame.
Here’s what you need to know about Amazon’s latest audio products.
Echo Link
The Echo Link will connect to a receiver or an amplifier, or directly to powered speakers, letting you stream music directly to that hi-fi system. It supports multi-room audio, so it’ll allow the system that it’s connected to play along with all the other Echo speakers in your house. It also has a nice and large volume knob that’ll let you control the volume.
