Amazon Echo Show (2nd Generation)

The Amazon Echo Show (2nd Generation) has good overall sound quality. Bass has good impact but is tubby, somewhat prominent and deep bass is lacking. Midrange is fairly even but a bit hazy, grainy and echoey. Treble is fairly extended but is somewhat smeared and upper treble is a somewhat subdued. The overall sound is a bit congested, and while it does a so-so job of recovering room ambience, that ambience is a bit obscured by the echoey quality of the bass and midrange. Provides a decent volume level in a medium sized room. The sound field has decent height and width considering its size.

Versatility is excellent. It's a stereo speaker, with multi-room support but lacks stereo pairing capability with another Amazon Echo Show. Wireless: WiFi supports dual-band and this unit has Bluetooth and can be paired with another Bluetooth speaker but lacks speakerphone functionality. Communications: Has support for calling, texting and messaging - called "Drop In". Digital Assistant Muting: Has a dedicated button to disable the digital assistant by muting its microphones and video camera. Audio Connections: Lacks analog audio inputs and outputs. Audio Tailoring: Has Bass, Mid and Treble user tone controls. OS Support: Android, iOS and Fire OS. Other connections and features: Lacks USB port but has an informative touch screen display and has an integral ZigBee Smart Home Hub. Display: Has a touchscreen information display. Streaming by voice command: Supports streaming by verbal command of an excellent number of services such as Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Tune-In, and iHeart Radio. Voice ID: Supports voice identity - a feature which allows the account holder with their "voice print" to access personal information.

Overall ease of use of the Amazon Echo Show (2nd Generation) is very good. Wireless setup: When unit is plugged in it verbally states its ready for setup, requires signing in to Amazon account all on device - no app download required for setup. Steps are intuitive and require selecting wireless network and enter network password. User is presented with a video tutorial. Bluetooth: Bluetooth is unavailable until WiFi setup is complete. Setup instructions are not provided during unit setup but are available deep in app help section. Two methods are specified: 1) Pairing setup by voice command 2) Pairing setup started via settings menu. Requires more steps than the usual. However, they are straight forward and intuitive. Console controls: Volume controls are prominent +/- with graphical indicators of volume level which are non-persistent and easily repeatable via verbal commands and easy to actuate. Also, generates a tone with respect to the level selected with discrete volume changes with the physical controls. Audio mute: Has on screen touch control to play/pause that is well marked, well placed, but non-persistent indication on unit when muting is engaged. Microphone/Video mute: Ambiguously marked, well placed, clear indication when it is engaged. Source selections: App can switch between wireless sources but can't switch to Bluetooth source which requires exiting the app to manually reconnect to paired Bluetooth source or Bluetooth can be connected by a verbal command to previously paired device. App remote: The volume control symbol leads to a volume slider which lacks index markings so not easily repeatable, but easy to actuate. Mute: (Play/Pause) well marked, well placed, with clear indication when it is engaged. Voice transport controls: Natural language control of transport (Play/Pause/Skip/Mute), volume controls and source selection was easy and intuitive.