Amazon Echo Dot Max

Better audio than the Echo Dot, and ideal if you want to beef up your Amazon- powered smart home

- By MIKE PROSPERO

PRICE £83 (£100 inc VAT) from amazon.co.uk

The Amazon Echo is officially dead. That is to say, after 11 years and several redesigns, the standard Echo model has finally been discontinued. In its place comes the Echo Dot Max – a new variant that looks and feels like a hybrid of the current Echo Dot and Studio models.

I like the design, especially the bold new Amethyst (purple) colour that joins the more sombre Graphite and Glacier White options. Aside from that, the Dot Max resembles a smaller version of the Echo Studio, with the same LED ring around the front controls and a mute button in the centre. It also has a prominent fabric pattern around the outside, rather than the more subtle texture of the old Echo, and the old audio jack has been removed from the back.

Size-wise, the Echo Dot Max is only a little bigger than an ordinary Echo Dot, with a diameter of 109mm versus the Dot’s 100mm. However, Amazon has used the extra space to build in a much more powerful audio system: in place of the Dot’s single 1.73in speaker, the Echo Dot Max has separate 0.8in tweeter and 2.5in woofer units that Amazon claims will deliver room-filling sound, complete with support for lossless audio.