The Amazon Echo Studio (2025) was unveiled at Amazon’s fall hardware event in September last year and launched in India in May 2026. Amazon says its new-generation smart speaker is 40% smaller, boasts “premium audio,” and utilizes the AZ3 Pro chip for a smarter Alexa experience. It also includes Dolby Atmos for a more immersive sound experience as well as upgraded Alexa Plus (in supported regions) and Alexa Home Theater.
As a former 1st-gen Echo Studio owner, I was skeptical of these audio claims but excited to test the smarts. That’s why I set it up in my home office, connected it to my Govee smart lights, and relied on Alexa more often. Turns out there’s plenty to like about the second-generation Echo Studio. It is smarter indeed, but it might not necessarily be better.
Amazon gave its new Echo Studio a spherical makeover. It has a circular body instead of the cylindrical design of its predecessor. The volume buttons and mute button are located at the indented center alongside a new touch control at the top. You can tap it to instantly pause or resume music, or customize it from the app. It mostly worked fine, but there were times when the speaker didn’t register my touch.
Like the previous-gen model, the Echo Studio (2025) is has a 3D knit fabric finish with more texture than before. The center is surrounded by a light-up ring for Alexa and volume and pairing indicators. In regular use, the buttons felt more intuitive than before. However, its matte plastic indent remains prone to fingerprints. My unit started to look untidy after just a few touches.
Connectivity options include support for Wi-Fi 6E for streaming, Alexa Home Theater, multi-room audio, and smart home controls (Zigbee, Matter, and Thread), alongside Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless playback. However, there are no wired audio inputs this time around. It wasn’t an issue for me, but if you were planning to connect this speaker to an existing audio system through a 3.5mm audio port, it won’t be possible.
The second-generation Echo Studio relies on three 2.5-inch full-range (left, right, and upward-firing) drivers and a 3.75-inch woofer to power the sound. This is different from the 5-driver setup on the 2019 model, which included one 5.25-inch downward-firing woofer alongside one one-inch tweeter firing directly forward, and three two-inch midrange drivers firing left, right, and directly upward.
To compare, the only noticeable difference was in the lower-end frequencies, with the bass not being as detailed as before. You won’t get the same oomph and clarity here. Otherwise, the new Echo Studio sounds bigger than its size.
It offers room-filling sound without needing to hit the highest volume. I also put it in my living room (a long room instead of my bedroom-sized office) and had a similar experience. The vocals sound clear with strong presence and have an audible reverb for spatial sound. Songs with multiple instruments had clear separation, with the guitar and drums not mixing with the background vocals. It delivers an immersive experience for compatible Dolby Atmos music.
I couldn’t use Alexa Plus (as it is not available in India yet) or Alexa Home Theater because I don’t have any other supported Amazon device for the feature to work. In theory, you can connect up to five Echo Studio (2nd gen) or Echo Dot Max devices to create a surround sound environment with the Fire TV Stick 4K or 4K Max. Amazon claims Alexa will automatically trigger the Home Theater feature if it detects several plugged-in Echo devices.
In my usage, the Echo Studio (2025) was more responsive and reliable at detecting the Alexa wake word than its predecessor.
Like before, it connects through the Alexa app, which can be used to enable Do Not Disturb, access Drop In, manage Bluetooth connections, adjust the three-band equalizer, and set up routines. The latter includes the ability to use temperature or presence detection through Omnisense and set up routines on that basis.
However, the built-in temperature sensor doesn’t allow Alexa to pull data from it. I asked it about the room temperature, but it struggled to answer even though the number was right there in the app. Plus, I wish Alexa could change settings for me. I wanted to remove my Echo Studio 2025 from the Living Room group and place it in my Bedroom group, but I couldn’t do so with a voice command. It needs to be smarter, and I’m guessing Alexa Plus would make things better.
Overall, the Amazon Echo Studio (2025) might be the best-sounding Echo speaker in Amazon’s lineup right now, but I prefer the 1st-gen model’s audio output. In 2019, it was built like a speaker with added smart benefits. However, the 2025 model is a smart device first and a speaker second.
Nonetheless, the new Echo Studio is an impressive smart speaker, and I can’t wait for Alexa Plus to roll out in my country for it to be more useful. In its current state, you get a compact speaker with big sound, familiar Alexa smarts, new routine capabilities, and aesthetic looks for $220 / INR 23,999. It is now available for purchase in Graphite and Glacier White color options.
