Amazon Echo Studio vs. Amazon Echo Show 10: Which to buy?

Amazon has been all over the smart tech market for the past few years. Ever since the first Echo device brought virtual assistants from your phone to your home, the e-commerce tech giant has made its smart home devices a notable priority, updating them frequently and drastically improving iteration of origin. In fact, the Echo line has grown so diverse that many devices offer vastly different features that meet the specific needs of potential users. The Echo Show 10 and the Echo Studio are two excellent examples of the high end of the Echo spectrum.

With both over $200, they’re not the tiny-sounding tiny devices of the mid-2010s. The Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) is a top-tier smart display with motion-tracking technology that lets you easily step out when voice shopping gets too much of a hassle, while the Echo Studio delivers a next-level listening experience with studio quality audio that will fill your entire room and more. So which one is right for you? It depends on what you are looking for.

Smart display or high-quality audio?

The main difference between the Echo Show 10 and the Echo Studio is quite significant, which should ideally make it easier for you to decide: smart display versus smart speaker. As you’ve probably figured out by now, the Echo Show 10 is a smart display, featuring a 10.1-inch touchscreen that coordinates content with your voice commands, while displaying everything from news and weather personal photos in standby mode. This adds a great ease of use to the Alexa experience, especially for those of us who don’t have the attention span to listen to long responses.

The Echo Studio, on the other hand, has no display. It’s just a big smart speaker that looks amazingly like the original Apple HomePod except for the gap near the device, which houses the bass opening to maximize bass output. That’s not to say it has nothing to offer over the Echo Show 10. In fact, when it comes to speakers and audio quality, the Echo Studio definitely takes the edge. The Echo Show 10 still has pretty solid sound quality, but the Echo Studio simply has more speakers (five on the Studio versus three on the Show 10), resulting in better, fuller sound.

Both devices are equipped with the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP), so it’s easy to connect your smartphone to listen to music, because we all know that voice command to access the ideal playlist can be a bit of a pain. throw of the dice.

Video chats or voice calls?

Another important distinction between the Echo Show 10 and the Echo Studio is to be expected when comparing a smart speaker to a smart display: the camera. As you can imagine, the Echo Studio doesn’t have a camera, as it would be pretty weird to have a camera floating around a screenless smart speaker. The Echo Show 10, on the other hand, sports a 13MP camera in the upper right corner of the screen, allowing users to monitor their pets through the Alexa app.

Additionally, the camera facilitates video chatting, which separates these two devices in terms of communication. In other words, the Echo Studio can facilitate voice calls, while the Echo Show 10 can support video calls. I think we can all agree that communication via virtual assistants hasn’t really taken off as much as the tech industry (or the Jetsons) had hoped, but if you’re debating the merits of staying in touch through an Echo device, the Echo Show 10 adds some style to your setup.

Excellent for smart homes

If you’re looking for one of these devices to be part of your smart home ecosystem, you’ve come to the right place. Right off the bat, Alexa is one of the best options for smart homes because it allows for a whole bunch of integrations and, in my self-described expert experience, noticeably outperforms other virtual assistants in responsiveness to voice commands. While we’ve found Google Assistant to be, overall, a better virtual assistant, Alexa is just a better fit when it comes to managing your smart home.

And when it comes to smart speakers and smart displays powered by Alexa, you’d be hard-pressed to find better than the Echo Show 10 and Echo Studio. In addition to the high-quality audio found on both devices, the responsiveness and efficiency of voice commands are noticeably an improvement over the less robust Echo iterations. Especially with the Echo Show 10, which immediately swivels in response to your voice, the microphone is always pointed straight at you and ready for your next command.

Privacy and peace of mind

These days, the idea of ​​smart speakers and smart displays constantly recording your conversations has taken off. Whether or not that’s true doesn’t really matter anymore, because just thinking about it will likely encourage you to avoid technology altogether. Fortunately, Amazon has thought of everything and added privacy features to the Echo Show 10 and Echo Studio to reassure potential users that they’re not listening.

The Echo Show 10 is probably the most unsettling device, as it has a microphone and speaker that could watch and listen to your every move. Luckily, the Echo Show 10’s camera has a privacy shade, which even the most advanced hacker would struggle to open without actually being in your home. Additionally, the Echo Show 10 and Echo Studio come with settings that allow you to turn off the microphone, which disconnects it from the device. That’s right, no scary targeted ads will come from any of these Echo devices if you don’t want them to.

This price though

There’s no two ways about it; the Echo Show 10 and Echo Studio are quite expensive for smart speakers/displays. The Echo Studio is $200 and the Echo Show 10 is $250, which would absolutely rank them as premium choices for virtually any buyer. That said, the high-end speakers themselves can easily hit hundreds without all the smarts that Alexa brings to the table. The value proposition is even higher for the Echo Show 10, which marries a surprisingly good smart speaker with a swiveling screen that can be used to turn it into the perfect mini-TV or video call platform for you. your children or your grandparents. .

These high prices drop during shopping holidays like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day, so if these sound appealing to you but are a bit steep for your budget, be patient. If there’s one constant at Amazon, it’s that everything ends up going on sale.

Echo Show 10 vs Echo Studio: Which should you buy?

As I mentioned earlier, the decision between these two smart devices should be pretty obvious if you know what you want. The Echo Show 10 does offer a little cooler factor with the motion tracking display, but the value of high-quality audio can’t be overemphasized when it comes to your listening experience on the Echo. Studio. They’re both expensive, they both offer a great Alexa experience, and they both give you privacy if you want it, though the cameraless Echo Studio is probably more appealing in that respect.

A friendly reminder, though, that these aren’t the only Alexa-powered smart speakers. While it might be tempting to go with an Amazon-branded device, the reality is that the market is full of excellent third-party options that work just as well, sometimes even better, than the originals. And with the price of both of these devices rising quite high when it comes to smart speakers, there might be a more budget-friendly option waiting for you.

Buy Amazon Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) if…

• You prefer a screen to facilitate entry

• You make a lot of video calls

• You like multi-tasking

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Buy Amazon Echo Studio if…

• You absolutely need that extra audio quality

• You are familiar with voice commands

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