Top 9 Best Amazon Alexa Smart Speakers – Updated May 2021 - Android

When it comes to Amazon Alexa smart speakers, there are a ton on the market, making it tough to find the best one. Amazon has one for just about every use-case, and its partners also have a number of great Alexa-enabled smart speakers. This list highlights the best Amazon Alexa smart speakers that are currently [...]

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The post Top 9 Best Amazon Alexa Smart Speakers – Updated May 2021 appeared first on Android Headlines.

When it comes to Amazon Alexa smart speakers, there are a ton on the market, making it tough to find the best one.

Amazon has one for just about every use-case, and its partners also have a number of great Alexa-enabled smart speakers. This list highlights the best Amazon Alexa smart speakers that are currently available. Whether you’re looking for a smart speaker with an incredible audio experience, one that can be used in your bedroom, or one that has a display. There’s something here for everyone.

Top 9 Best Amazon Alexa Smart Speakers

There are quite a few great smart speakers available with Amazon Alexa built-in. However, finding the best one can take some work.

Amazon’s partners also have a number of great options available. Like Sonos, Ultimate Ears, JBL and many more. Now if you are looking for Google Assistant-enabled speakers, you won’t find any here. But you can check out our list of the best Google Assistant speakers. 

We’ve done a lot of research on these smart speakers and have used the majority of them. So when we say this is the best, it’s coming from experience, and not just because we like the name, or the company.

Best overall Amazon Alexa smart speaker

Amazon Echo (4th Generation)

• Price: $99.99
• Buy: Amazon

Amazon’s fourth-generation Echo smart speaker is the best one yet, and perfect for those that are building a smart home. Since it has a Zigbee hub built into the speaker.

With this fourth-generation speaker from Amazon, it has improved the audio and also redesigned the speaker. You’re getting premium audio on the Amazon Echo, so you won’t need to use something like a Sonos or Bose speaker to get great audio.

The redesign on the Amazon Echo means that it is going to be able to better project audio in your home. As well as looking really unique. The Alexa ring is now on the bottom and can light up the table, which looks really nice.

The new Amazon Echo is available for pre-order now, shipping on October 22.

Amazon Echo (4th Generation) - Amazon

Best affordable Amazon Alexa Smart Speaker

Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation)

• Price: $49.99
• Buy: Amazon

The Echo Dot also got a redesigned, and looks very similar to the Echo that is listed above. But of course, smaller. So it has a new spherical shape, which looks really futuristic and a bit like the Nexus Q.

But the Echo Dot still does its job and does it well. It’s a small smart speaker that offers some good audio now. It also has Alexa built-in. So you can ask about the traffic, weather and much more. Not to mention, streaming music. There is support for Spotify, TiDAL, Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music and many more.

At just $49.99, this is a really great option.

The new Amazon Echo Dot is available for pre-order now and will ship on October 22.

Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) - Amazon

Best sound quality Amazon Alexa smart speaker

Sonos One (Gen 2)

• Price: $199
• Buy: Amazon

The Sonos One (Gen 2) is the newest version of its most popular smart speaker. Not only does it work with Amazon Alexa, but it also has support for Google Assistant. Making it a very versatile speaker.

With the Sonos One, you’re going to get a really impressive audio experience, with some deep bass, as well as crystal clear mids and highs. Now since the Sonos One outputs so much sound, there isn’t any room for a battery. So the Sonos One is not a portable speaker, and needs to stay plugged in at all times.

It also works with the new Sonos S2 app, so you can use it to create a full surround-sound system in your living room, and that is definitely worth thinking about before you decide to invest in the Sonos ecosystem. It works better than Alexa does for surround sound too.

Finally, the Sonos One (Gen 2) is an absolutely beautiful looking smart speaker from Sonos. It’s available in all black or all white.

Sonos One - Amazon

Best smart display with Amazon Alexa

Amazon Echo Show 8

• Price: $99
• Buy: Amazon

You might be wondering why there’s a smart display on a list of the best Amazon Alexa smart speakers. Well, that’s because the Echo Show 8 can also work just like a smart speaker. Because it does have a smart speaker inside. But the reason why we have it listed here, as it’s a different form-factor, and something some may prefer over a smart speaker.

The Echo Show 8 was our pick over the 5-inch and 10-inch models, because it’s the perfect size. It’s not super big, and it’s not tiny. But it is big enough to still sit in your kitchen on a counter, or even in your bedroom. Though with it having a camera, that might not be a great idea.

With the Echo Show 8, you have the ability to use Alexa just like you would on a smart speaker. But since it has a display, you get some added visuals with it. This includes being able to actually see the weather when you ask about the weather. You can also do video calls, in addition to voice calls. Since, well it has a screen.

The Echo Show 8 can also bring up the security camera feeds from outside your home, or the video doorbell. Which is a really cool feature to have available.

Amazon Echo Show 8 - Amazon

Best portable speaker with Amazon Alexa

Ultimate Ears MEGABLAST

• Price: $137
• Buy: Amazon

When it comes to portable speakers that are also smart speakers, the pickings are pretty slim. So there wasn’t a lot of competition here, but that doesn’t mean that the Ultimate Ears MEGABLAST is a bad speaker. Quite the contrary. It’s a really good smart speaker actually.

The Ultimate Ears MEGABLAST continues with what made the BOOM and MEGABOOM speakers very popular. Offering up loud, but good sounding audio, in a 360-degree speaker. Making it easy to fill the entire room with sound. The Ultimate Ears MEGABLAST can do all of that, and also has Alexa included. Which makes it a contender for the best Amazon Alexa speaker overall.

The Ultimate Ears MEGABLAST does not offer up always-listening Alexa. So you are going to need to press the button to turn it on and then talk to Alexa. When it’s off, it’s not listening, but when it’s on it is listening. The reason for this is that always-listening is going to use up a lot of juice. This is why a lot of Amazon Alexa smart speakers are not portable. And always need to be plugged in.

Ultimate Ears MEGABLAST is available in a number of colors, and if you can’t find one you don’t like, just wait a couple of months. Ultimate Ears normally releases new colors every few months. As well as some new designs from artists that it commissions.

Ultimate Ears MEGABLAST - Amazon

Best sound bar with Amazon Alexa

Sonos Beam

• Price: $399
• Buy: Amazon

The Sonos Beam is one of the few sound bars with Amazon Alexa built-in. It’s actually a pretty compact sound bar by a lot of standards. But just because it’s small, doesn’t mean that the sound is bad. It’s actually quite impressive.

Sonos Beam offers the same level of sound as the PLAY:5 speaker that the company sells. It can also be grouped with two Sonos One smart speakers or really any other speakers that Sonos sells. Since it does still support multi-room audio, and in our experience, it does it better than Amazon does through Alexa.

Alexa is included inside the Beam. So you can ask for the weather, traffic, news headlines and even tell Alexa to turn off your lights from your sound bar. Which is pretty unique. Now the Beam does work via HDMI CEC, which does control your TV. So you can actually tell your Sonos Beam to turn off your TV, as well as adjust the volume and such.

The Sonos Beam is one of the more expensive products on this list, but if you are serious about audio quality, and are looking for something with Amazon Alexa built-in, this is going to be the one to get.

Sonos Beam - Amazon

Best for the hallway/bathroom

Amazon Echo Flex

• Price: $19.99
• Buy: Amazon

Amazon’s Echo Flex is a pretty small smart speaker from the company, and one that is meant to just plug in, and leave it. Making it great to use in the bathroom or even a hallway. This is a really good option for those that want to have Alexa in every room in their home, without spending a ton of cash.

Echo Flex is good to put into the bathroom because it doesn’t have a camera. So you won’t have to worry about it watching you do stuff in the bathroom. Though it does still have a microphone. It’s also good for your kids’ bedroom, as it can serve as a nightlight and also read stories to your kids before they go to bed.

The Echo Flex comes in at less than half the price of the Echo Dot, which makes it a pretty great option for adding Alexa into more rooms in your home.

Amazon Echo Flex - Amazon

Best Amazon Alexa smart speaker for your bedroom

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock

• Price: $44.99
• Buy: Amazon

The Amazon Echo Dot with Clock is the perfect Echo for the bedroom for one main reason: it has a clock. Otherwise this is the exact same as the Echo Dot that is listed earlier on this list. The only difference is that it has an LED clock on the front.

Adding that clock to the front was a really big deal actually. As it means that it can replace the clock that’s next to your bed now. And you’ll be able to see the time when you wake up in the middle of the night now.

It’s easy to read and doesn’t do much else other than show you the time. You can still play music, ask Alexa for the weather and much more though.

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock - Amazon

Best for your existing stereo system

Amazon Echo Input

• Price: $34.99
• Buy: Amazon

Those that are audiophiles likely already have a pretty expensive stereo setup in their home and none of the speakers on this list will be able to replace it. Amazon knows this, not to mention those systems are usually very expensive. So, Amazon made the Echo Input.

This is a tiny Echo device, that is shaped like the Echo Dot, but much thinner, and it essentially just plugs into your stereo and gives you Alexa support. You can connect via a 3.5mm cable or Bluetooth. But in our opinion, the 3.5mm cable is going to be the better bet. As Bluetooth can cause lag when using Alexa.

Now with the Echo Input, you’re going to be able to ask Alexa to play Big Sean from Amazon Music Unlimited on your stereo system. It’s a very small and inexpensive product that will make your legacy speakers and stereo, smart.

Amazon Echo Input - Amazon

The post Top 9 Best Amazon Alexa Smart Speakers – Updated May 2021 appeared first on Android Headlines.