Pros & Cons
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- Big, balanced sound for the size
- Lots of connectivity features
- Supports multiple smart home hub standards
- Instant Alexa+ access
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- Not as powerful as its predecessor
Amazon Echo Dot Max Specs
| Bluetooth | |
| Built-In Voice Assistant | Amazon Alexa |
| Channels | Mono |
| Multi-Room | |
| Physical Connections | None |
| Speakerphone | |
| Wi-Fi |
After 11 years and four generations as the flagship of Amazon's Echo speaker family—and arguably the first major smart speaker ever—the standard Amazon Echo has been retired. Taking its place is the new Amazon Echo Dot Max, a $99.99 Alexa-powered speaker that fits perfectly between the smaller, more affordable $49.99 Echo Dot and the high-end $219.99 Echo Studio. Essentially the fifth-generation Echo in everything but name, the Echo Dot Max delivers impressive sound for its size, robust connectivity and smart home integration, and full access to the Alexa+ AI assistant. Just like its predecessor, the fourth-generation Echo, the Echo Dot Max earns our Editors' Choice award as the best all-around smart speaker.
Design: A Small Orb With Tap and Voice Control
While it effectively replaces the previous 5.2-by-5.7-by-5.7-inch (HWD) Echo, at 4.3 by 4.3 by 3.9 inches, the Echo Dot Max is closer to the 3.9-by-3.9-by-3.5-inch Echo Dot in size. It’s available in black, white, or purple, and like the other two speakers is also an orb. Grille fabric wraps around almost the entire body, with the exception of a circular, concave plastic front panel that serves as a volume rocker and features a mic mute button in the center. It looks a little like the Death Star, but the large volume plate enhances visibility of the buttons and clearly indicates the direction the speaker should face.
A light ring surrounding the plate shines blue in the direction your voice is coming from when you activate Alexa. The light ring also displays the volume level as a white arc that expands to cover the entire ring in a full circle at maximum output.
(Credit: Will Greenwald)Besides the buttons on the control panel, you can also physically interact with the Echo Dot Max by tapping it. This multi-purpose gesture can be used to play and pause music and snooze alarms.
The sole physical connection on the Echo Doc Max is for the proprietary power adapter, with no other ports on the speaker.
Features: Better Smart Home Support and Instant Access to Alexa+
The Echo Dot Max supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, with Amazon Sidewalk and LE Audio, and can serve as a hub for Matter, Thread, and Zigbee smart home devices. It also features ambient light, temperature, ultrasonic, and Wi-Fi radar sensors, allowing it to detect your presence in the room even without sound.
As a smart speaker designed primarily for voice control, the Echo Dot Max features built-in Amazon Alexa and can be instantly upgraded to the more conversational Alexa+ AI assistant (without a new speaker, you must request and wait for access). Alexa+ is currently in Early Access, and when it’s officially launched, it will be $19.99 per month. However, it will also be included with Amazon Prime, and if you’re using an Echo speaker, you probably already have Prime, so the subscription price is moot. I tested the Echo Dot Max with Alexa+.
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(Credit: Will Greenwald)In this review, I’m focusing on the speaker’s audio performance more than the Alexa+ experience, as that remains the same across every compatible Echo device. In short, Alexa is a useful voice assistant that can answer questions, play music and podcasts, control compatible smart home devices, set alarms and reminders, and perform other tasks. Alexa+ is easier to talk to than standard Alexa, so you don't have to worry about precise syntax nearly as much. In testing, it also offered more detailed information when I asked a question about Hades II, a game I’ve been playing.
Audio Performance: Big Sound for the Size
Internally, the Echo Dot Max has a 2.5-inch woofer and a 0.8-inch tweeter. This configuration leans closer to the fourth-generation Echo’s 3-inch woofer and dual 0.8-inch tweeters than the Echo Dot’s single 1.73-inch driver. Since the Echo was never designed to provide stereo audio on its own, the absence of a second tweeter on the Echo Dot Max doesn’t seem like a significant loss. If you want directional audio from a single speaker, you’ll have to step up to the Echo Studio, which has three 1.5-inch full-range drivers (two horizontal, one vertical) and a 3.75-inch woofer.
The lack of stereo isn't a problem for the Echo Dot Max, but its smaller woofer does mean it isn't quite as powerful as its predecessor. The Dot Max can still fill a modestly sized room with sound, and it comes within swinging distance of the fourth-generation Echo's audio performance, just not with as much oomph.
It won’t rattle your furniture, but the Echo Dot Max puts out fairly strong low-end frequencies considering its puny size. The bass synth notes on our test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” sound reasonably deep, and the kick drum hits reach low enough that they don’t sound poppy like on similarly small speakers. Digital signal processing appears to suppress the very low frequencies at high volume levels, a common tactic used to prevent distortion.
While it doesn’t reach extremes, the Echo Dot Max’s general sound signature is nicely balanced and leans toward the low-mids to high-mids, as demonstrated on Yes’ “Roundabout.” The opening guitar notes sound full, though there isn’t enough high-frequency finesse to crisply convey string texture. When the track fully kicks in, every element can be clearly heard: the bassline reaches deep enough to anchor the mix, the snares and guitar strums receive plenty of treble presence to cut through the lower frequencies, and the vocals are distinctly audible.
The Crystal Method’s “Born Too Slow” sounds better on the Echo Dot Max than most comparable speakers I’ve tested. The backbeat that drives the track reaches just deep enough to give at least some sense of thump, and the squealing guitar riffs and vocals stand out well against it.
Besides playing music, the Echo Dot Max will be able to work as a satellite with the upcoming launch of Alexa Home Theater. This feature lets you sync up to five Echo Dot Max or Echo Studio speakers (only one or the other; you can’t mix and match them) with an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, or Fire TV Cube media streamer to form a surround sound system for Dolby Atmos and other content you watch on your TV. Alexa Home Theater hasn’t launched yet, but I will revisit this review once it does.