I don't normally go for gadgets, but this smart speaker is more like my second brain

In spite of my job testing home technology and appliances, I’m actually very old-school when it comes to how I run my home. I tell the time with a clock and jot down reminders on a pad of paper by the door (at least it’s not a blackboard). That’s why I’m a little astonished to find myself waxing lyrical about my new partner in crime: the Amazon Echo Studio. Don’t mistake me for a tech evangelist, but after living with it for a few weeks, I think I'd be lost without it.

This all started when Emily, our Homes News Writer, recommended the Amazon Echo Dot as one of the gadgets she couldn’t live without. “I don’t know what I ever did without mine,” she told me. “It’s a great alarm, a fantastic speaker, and really handy to have around the house.” Curious, I decided to dip a toe into Amazon’s smart-home waters. Very quickly, I realised I hadn’t stepped into a puddle of smart home tech, I’d waded into a whole river.

The Amazon Echo Studio is a bit like having a second brain housed in a speaker. At its simplest, it delivers impressively rich sound for music; at its most helpful, it can control the temperature of your home, set alarms, turn on the TV, and jot down reminders without you lifting a finger. Some technology makes life feel more complicated, but this does the opposite. It’s surprisingly simple and now I wouldn’t be without it.

Amazon Echo Studio review

At this point, you might be wondering what the Amazon Echo Studio actually is, as well as what it does. Amazon’s smart-home gadgets can sound a little confusing if you’re not familiar with the names, but this one is easy to explain. The Echo Studio is a smart speaker, which means it’s designed to play music, podcasts, and radio with high-quality sound while also responding to voice commands through Amazon’s Alexa assistant.

As a speaker, it’s impressive. You can stream music from your phone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and it supports Dolby Atmos and spatial audio, which essentially means the sound feels fuller and more immersive, as if it’s filling the room rather than coming from a single box on the shelf. In practical terms, that translates to deep bass, clear vocals, and plenty of power: ideal whether you’re listening to the radio over breakfast or belting out Dancing Queen in the kitchen.

But the Echo Studio does more than play music. It can also act as the hub for your smart home, connecting to compatible thermostats, lights, plugs, and cameras over Wi-Fi. You can control everything through the app or simply ask Alexa out loud: “Alexa, I’m cold” or “Alexa, it’s too dark in here.” I quickly started using it for smaller everyday tasks too: setting cooking timers when my hands were messy, adding notes while rushing around the house, and setting bedtime alarms. Once you get used to it, it’s surprisingly handy.

What makes the Amazon Echo Studio different to other home assistants?

Compared with other smart speakers, the Amazon Echo Studio sits at the more premium end of Amazon’s range. It still comes with Alexa built in, but it’s designed to deliver noticeably better sound than smaller models. Newer versions also benefit from faster processing, which helps Alexa respond more quickly and makes conversations feel a little more natural when you’re asking questions or setting commands.

Another feature that helps it stand out is how easily it integrates with your TV. Pair it with a compatible Fire TV device and it can work almost like part of a home-cinema setup, adding fuller, room-filling sound to films and programmes without the need for a full soundbar system. For anyone who streams a lot of TV or music, it’s a simple way to upgrade your audio without filling the room with extra kit.

Design-wise, it’s surprisingly understated for something with this much power. The cylindrical shape is compact enough to sit neatly on a shelf or side table, with a soft fabric finish and simple tactile controls on the top. I particularly like that it feels solid and well made. It stays firmly in place rather than wobbling around when the bass kicks in. It’s the sort of subtle design that blends into your home while still feeling like a worthwhile investment.

Is the Amazon Alexa Studio good value for money?

The controls on the Amazon Echo Studio are simple. On the front of the speaker you’ll find a microphone mute button, along with volume up and volume down controls. Tapping the top performs a few handy actions too: it will pause music, dismiss timers, end calls, or snooze alarms.

Everything else is handled either through the Alexa app or through voice, commands which keeps the whole experience intuitive, even if you aren't techy. The Echo Studio also communicates with you through a coloured light ring on the front of the speaker: it glows blue when Alexa is listening or responding, and other colours appear depending on the task it’s carrying out. Some reviewers prefer the older Echo models, where the light ring sat on top and could be seen from any angle. On this model it’s positioned on the front, which means you do need to be facing it to see the colour clearly. In everyday use, though, I didn’t find this made much difference.

As a speaker, I was impressed with the Amazon Echo Studio, even without having particularly trained audiophile ears. Music sounded rich and full in my living room, with enough power to fill the space comfortably without cranking up the volume.

Professional reviewers tend to praise the Echo Studio’s sound quality too, particularly its ability to produce deep bass and clear vocals for a speaker of this size. Of course, serious audio enthusiasts will always find more powerful options in larger speakers, but that’s hardly surprising.

What really makes the Echo Studio stand out, though, is how useful the Alexa assistant becomes once it’s part of your daily routine. While many reviews focus purely on the sound quality, the voice control is arguably just as valuable, especially if you’re not particularly techy.

With a simple voice command, the Echo Studio can play music and podcasts, answer questions, set alarms and timers, and control compatible smart-home devices such as lights or thermostats.

As someone who is constantly making lists and juggling jobs around the house, I quickly got used to calling out reminders or adding notes without stopping what I was doing. It might sound like a small thing, but for busy (and occasionally forgetful) people like me, it’s surprisingly helpful.

Generally, I like to think that I resist trends, technology, and fads, but I think the Amazon Echo Studio is offering something very different. It has designed itself in a way that has rendered it essential in my home. What did I ever do without the Amazon Echo Studio? You'll have to ask Alexa.