It was the best when using Amazon Echo Studio as a dual (1/2 page)

　Amazon often holds limited time sales, most recently from August 17th to 19th. Many people would shop there.

　Unlike time sales for all users, Amazon Prime Day is held once a year for Prime members. In 2021, it was held for two days, June 21st and 22nd.

　Since it is for Prime members, Amazon original products can be obtained quite cheaply, but Kodera ordered the smart speaker "Amazon Echo Studio" on this Prime Day. Those who think that they already have it are sharp. It is the second one.

　Amazon Echo Studio is a smart speaker that allows you to enjoy 3D audio and high resolution with just one unit, but the biggest difficulty is that you have to install it in front of you, "center". Even if you want to listen while working, you have a PC monitor in front of you, so you can't put it in front of it.

　That's why I've tried various things, such as putting it on the edge or behind it, but it doesn't work. I wanted to make a pair and put them on both sides of the monitor and listen to them, but they are usually quite expensive at 24,980 yen each. I think it's worth it in terms of performance, but it takes a lot of courage to buy two. I was thinking of buying one someday, but completely forgot about it.

　However, on Prime Day the other day, this Amazon Echo Studio was sold for about half the price of 12,980 yen. That's right, when I think about it, I remembered that I wanted to listen to two units, so I ordered it immediately.

　The reason why I am writing this now is that the delivery date at the time of ordering was mid-September. Perhaps because of the shortage of semiconductors, there is no inventory, but they sell what they sell.

　I had planned to wait patiently, but the delivery date was shortened to the end of August, and it was pushed forward and arrived on August 9th. After using it as a stereo pair for about two weeks, I was very satisfied with the purchase.

About this article

This article is partly reprinted from the e-mail magazine "Kodera Nishida's 'Monday Lunch Buffet'" that is distributed every Monday. This article was delivered on August 23, 2021. Click here to apply for an e-mail magazine subscription (660 yen per month, tax included). In addition, a note version of "Kodera Nishida's Column Buffet" (980 yen per month, tax included) with additional content has also started.

Stereo pairs are easy and powerful

　Making an Echo Studio into a stereo pair isn't too difficult. Select one of the speakers with the Alexa app on your smartphone and select "Stereo Pair / Subwoofer" from "Settings".

　Choose two Echo Studios because you have a choice of which to pair. To make the names easier to understand, I assigned the names of L/R in advance.

　When you select it, you will hear a confirmation announcement from each of the left and right, so you can check if the L/R positions are correct. If the settings are reversed, you can switch the left and right by tapping "Switch Speakers".

　Then give the pair a name and you're all set. A paired set of two speakers appears as a speaker group on the app's home screen.

　When playing from Amazon Music, if you select this "stereo pair", it will sound as a pair.

　As a desktop speaker placed on both sides of the monitor, the performance is sufficient. A subwoofer is not required, high resolution is supported, and 3D music can also be played, creating an extremely versatile speaker system.

　The best performance is only when listening to music on Amazon Music, but the song lineup is pretty complete, so I'm not dissatisfied so far.

　3D music listened to in a stereo pair is still powerful. Recently, Dolby Atmos compatible sound bars have become available for less than 100,000 yen, but even if you buy this pair at the regular price, it will be less than 50,000 yen. system. At this price, both Dolby Atmos and 360RA (Reality Audio) compatibility are attractive.

　Of course, it's not as good as a system that has discrete speakers behind it, but the performance was more than sufficient for a front 3D system.