Amazon Echo Dot....
- Thread starter jdk972003
- Start date
IVB
Senior Member
Sorry, planning on sending him at noon.
I think my issue is that I started with the nicer one, and 48 hours ago found out that not only do I not owe the IRS, I'm getting a surprise refund. Hard to accept a limited product when I can give to one of you and no be out any money (for once).
I think my issue is that I started with the nicer one, and 48 hours ago found out that not only do I not owe the IRS, I'm getting a surprise refund. Hard to accept a limited product when I can give to one of you and no be out any money (for once).
tmbrown97
Senior Member
I'm personally looking forward to the Dot. I have nice speakers in my kitchen, but they're a little more work to use than the echo (have to AirPlay into them). The convenience of the Echo is awesome - my kids play with it all the time, and now that it has spotify, +100. But, the sound quality just wasn't there compared to my good speakers.
So - with the new one, I can pipe it into the big speakers and reduce footprint - getting the best of both.
My 7yr old daughter is currently collecting money from anywhere she can to save up for her own Alexa (Echo). She loves that thing.
So - with the new one, I can pipe it into the big speakers and reduce footprint - getting the best of both.
My 7yr old daughter is currently collecting money from anywhere she can to save up for her own Alexa (Echo). She loves that thing.
wkearney99
Senior Member
Ok, got both my 2 Dot and 1 Tap units.
The fidelity on the Dot is nowhere near that of a full-sized Echo. 'Tinny' about describes it. If you were underwhelmed by audio from the regular Echo (compared to say, a Sonos) then you'll definitely find the Dot lacking. Enough such that my wife insisted on an Echo instead of the Dot for her office at work.
The Dot appears to respond to voice commands the same way as a regular Echo. It uses a micro-USB connector for power and has a 3.5mm socket for audio output. The box included micro-USB cable and transformer, along with a 6' stereo 3.5mm cord for audio. The sockets are flush with the back of the Dot, whereas the full-size Echo tucks the lone power socket underneath itself.
I set the Dot up using external speakers. It sends ALL audio out. It'd be interesting to have the option to play some things through it's own speaker vs music out. I don't know what it supports, but suspect it's a simple either-or; all or nothing audio jack. It does deliver stereo output. Can't speak to the quality of the codec but it's on-par with the same output from PC playing the same source material.
The Tap is interesting. It sets up the same as a regular Echo and Dot. It's about 1/2 the size of a regular Echo. It fits well in the hand. It uses a base for charging and has a set of ring contacts on the bottom for this. The fidelity is better than the Dot, of course, but slightly less than the regular Echo. I set the Tap and an Echo on the same counter and had them play the same song. The Echo had better fidelity but not as dramatically better than a Dot. I could see the Tap being useful in the same way as a lot of other Bluetooth-connectable speakers, with the added perk of push-to-talk Echo functionality when there's an Internet connection available.
There's a rubberized case available for the Tap. It covers the bottom of the Tap such that you use the back microUSB port to charge it instead of the cradle. I'd have preferred if it used wireless charging and that it worked through a case. There's likely some 'good reason' for going with wired charging for the Tap but it's darned convenient on my Android devices.
The fidelity on the Dot is nowhere near that of a full-sized Echo. 'Tinny' about describes it. If you were underwhelmed by audio from the regular Echo (compared to say, a Sonos) then you'll definitely find the Dot lacking. Enough such that my wife insisted on an Echo instead of the Dot for her office at work.
The Dot appears to respond to voice commands the same way as a regular Echo. It uses a micro-USB connector for power and has a 3.5mm socket for audio output. The box included micro-USB cable and transformer, along with a 6' stereo 3.5mm cord for audio. The sockets are flush with the back of the Dot, whereas the full-size Echo tucks the lone power socket underneath itself.
I set the Dot up using external speakers. It sends ALL audio out. It'd be interesting to have the option to play some things through it's own speaker vs music out. I don't know what it supports, but suspect it's a simple either-or; all or nothing audio jack. It does deliver stereo output. Can't speak to the quality of the codec but it's on-par with the same output from PC playing the same source material.
The Tap is interesting. It sets up the same as a regular Echo and Dot. It's about 1/2 the size of a regular Echo. It fits well in the hand. It uses a base for charging and has a set of ring contacts on the bottom for this. The fidelity is better than the Dot, of course, but slightly less than the regular Echo. I set the Tap and an Echo on the same counter and had them play the same song. The Echo had better fidelity but not as dramatically better than a Dot. I could see the Tap being useful in the same way as a lot of other Bluetooth-connectable speakers, with the added perk of push-to-talk Echo functionality when there's an Internet connection available.
There's a rubberized case available for the Tap. It covers the bottom of the Tap such that you use the back microUSB port to charge it instead of the cradle. I'd have preferred if it used wireless charging and that it worked through a case. There's likely some 'good reason' for going with wired charging for the Tap but it's darned convenient on my Android devices.
I've seen a couple comments like this, but Amazon never claims the Dot has audio like the Echo... It was made for use with external speakers, or as they say 'for a smart alarm clock or assistant in the kitchen...'.wkearney99 said:
I think it'll work great hooked to a stereo or whole house audio system (assuming the audio out is decent.) I'm not sure how people thought it would have decent audio in that tiny box either, I guess it's nice to dream?
wkearney99
Senior Member
I agree, and I didn't expect much. It's certainly serviceable for everything else, and maybe a little bit of music playback. If you're using it for just typical speech skill stuff it's fine. If you're just listening to new briefings and the like, again, fine.
I'm looking into using an in-wall jack and amp setup, to sit in-between whole house audio. Something with a local input.
My next big question to the amazon folks is how readily can a Skill determine what model Echo is connected, and potentially remembering a per-device setup.
I'm looking into using an in-wall jack and amp setup, to sit in-between whole house audio. Something with a local input.
My next big question to the amazon folks is how readily can a Skill determine what model Echo is connected, and potentially remembering a per-device setup.
IVB
Senior Member
cobra said:
I think the mind-numbingly stupid decision Amazon made was to disable the internal speaker if line out is plugged in. IE, if I plug it into my home theater system, it must be on & source set to Echo in order for me to hear anything. It would have been much smarter to push audio to both concurrently, so I can leave it plugged into the stereo system but still hear Alexa for the 95% of the time that it isn't plugged in.
As it exists now, i'm trying to determine whether to
A) run a hardwire and only plug into the Dot when I want to voice control music (but that requires manual stuff first killing the flow and unplug when done), or
B) sell my Dot, go with Echo's and lose the ability to use voice control with native skills.
I'm leaning towards
A') stick with the Dot, buy a Sonos Connect, and use Dot->CQC->Sonos for voice or app control.
Thats an EXTRA $350 for the connect, but then I can use the Sonos app or voice.
wkearney99
Senior Member
Well, I'm not prepared to go all 'drama queen' on complaining about what an $80 gizmo can or can't do. I can understand where using a simple 3.5mm make/break jack is less involved than setting up a whole other audio output stream and adding mixer control to the software framework.
Amazon's been remarkably open toward other vendors. I'd venture there will be more to come on that front.
Amazon's been remarkably open toward other vendors. I'd venture there will be more to come on that front.
