BackAmazon’s Echo Sub has some good bass, but isn’t smart enough to stand alone
If you're satisfied with the audio quality of Echo, you are not likely to complain about the bass of the Sub
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New Delhi: Of all the new devices Amazon added to its Echo line recently, the Echo Sub is a curious but obvious addition.
It’s not a smart speaker in the sense that you can’t speak to it like you can to your Echo, Echo Dot or Echo Plus. You also can’t add an Echo Sub to an existing 2.0 audio system and make it smart.
The Echo Sub exists for a single purpose—to add bass to Echo speakers. Though it succeeds in this mission, there are some things one must be aware of.
While the Echo Sub does add bass to Echo speakers, it doesn’t really compare to full-fledged woofers on similarly-priced audio systems. That said, if you’re satisfied with the audio quality of Echo speakers, you are not likely to complain about the bass response you get from the Sub.
When you first set it up though, you will have to spend some time finding the bass levels and Amazon provides no control for this. The Sub doesn’t have knobs or buttons for this and the app doesn’t have an equaliser. All you have is the voice command, “Alexa, turn down/up the bass".
As a result, the Sub can often draw attention to itself when the bass is too high or be negated if it’s too low. Your Echo Plus or Echo do have some bass properties of their own, so the Sub can become really insignificant if the right bass levels aren’t set. This will also change from song to song. The Sub usually works best for rock music.
Simply put, the Echo Sub does what it’s meant to. However, one wonders if Amazon missed the mark on its first attempt to make an Alexa-powered subwoofer.
The company told us that the Sub can’t function as a stand-alone Alexa device, which means it can’t turn dumb devices smart, something Echo devices have often been used for. Further, you will have to play music directly from the Echo speakers (voice commands) when they’re connected to the Sub. This is a major downside, because then you are stuck with only Amazon Music and Saavn’s collection. Though vast, they do miss song requests more often than would be ideal. You can’t connect a phone or TV to the speakers to enjoy better bass when the sub is connected. That feels like a big miss, because it makes the Sub significantly less useful.
The Amazon Echo Sub is a decent first attempt but like the first Echo speakers, there’s a lot that’s wanting. If Amazon could improve future variants, this could be the best way for those building an Alexa-powered audio system at home to improve bass response. For now, it’s a better idea to connect an Echo Dot to an existing 2.1 or 5.1 channel audio system.
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