Amazon has been in the digital device game for quite a while. Their Fire HD Tablets are good quality at great price points. Now Amazon has done it again. They pushed the boundaries and created something that most people will enjoy using, and I use the word ‘most’ because lets face it, there’s no pleasing everyone. With that in mind, I’m going to provide you with a balanced, technical view of the Echo Buds, coupled with personal observations and first hand experience using them. It is my goal that you leave here with a greater understanding and knowledge of the Echo Buds, to better inform you in making the decision whether or not to purchase these for yourself.
Sound
The bass is focused and revealing, striking kick drums and bass notes hard but quickly backing off in places where competitors like Samsung’s Galaxy Buds wobble and blur. There’s even a slight dip in mid-range sounds that creates more musical space for guitars and keyboards. They project a surprisingly wide soundstage for those instruments to occupy—especially on acoustic recordings of jazz and classical music, which can sometimes feel like the audio equivalent of watching a great movie on a really tiny screen. Something that I found really great was the equalizer that’s inside the Alexa app. This EQ manipulates sounds not just from Amazon’s Music app, but also the entire system. For instance, I have my EQ set a certain way that makes the music I listen to pop. I can enjoy this same sound from my google play music app, or even from a youtube video.
design
Fit is a key component to the Echo Buds’ great sound. Amazon includes three sizes of eartips, and the Alexa app comes with a test that uses special tones and the Echo Buds’ microphones to map your ears and take the pain out of finding the right pair.
The touch sensors, which are on the outside of each earpiece, are frustrating. They can be customized to do everything from skip songs to call up Google Assistant (in situations where Alexa isn’t enough, I guess?) but no matter how you customize them, you can’t make them adjust the volume. And beyond that, a good portion of my taps didn’t register.
In fact, I found that asking Alexa to do everything for me made me feel better. At least I’m getting some convenience in exchange for placing a multi-billion dollar company’s ears in my bedroom, bathroom, and now basically everywhere else.
final thoughts
You might want wirefree buds with more than the five hours of battery life, or with earfins that aren’t annoyingly difficult to put on correctly. You might want touch controls that always work. The Echo Buds can frustrate in these basic ways, but with Alexa they’re still quite usable, and they sound fantastic.
The Apple AirPods are the big alternative for iPhone owners, thanks to their hands-free Siri access. I’d opt for the Echo Buds. Amazon has better voice-based apps inside Alexa’s ecosystem than Apple does with Siri, and the audio nerd in me simply demands better sound, actual sweatproofing, and more comfortable eartips than Apple offers.
Then again, maybe it’s that Alexa already wakes me up each morning. In any case, I’ll give the edge to Amazon.
