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When it comes to Alexa-powered smart speakers, Amazon's Echo lineup is one of the most popular options. The original Echo debuted in July 2015, and inspired multiple generations of sibling speakers, including the Echo Dot and Echo Pop: two of the least expensive products in the family. But as far as overall audio quality is concerned, is one of these two Amazon speakers the better choice?
We compared the latest version of the Echo Dot (fifth generation) to the Echo Pop, and, generally speaking, most folks agree that the Echo Dot is preferred for sound quality. It's also worth mentioning that this wasn't by a huge margin; there are unique pros and cons to both smart speakers, but ultimately, the Dot claimed the top spot for a few reasons.
First and foremost, it's the louder speaker of the two, and it pushes much more bass than the Pop. The Dot's globular design also does a better job at projecting audio to multiple parts of a small to medium-sized room. That said, the Dot does tend to sound best at low to medium volumes, and can start to sound distorted when pushed to max levels.
The Dot is better for overall sound quality, but the Pop is a solid runner-up
If we've made it sound like the Echo Pop is an inferior product, that wasn't our intent. The smallest speaker in Amazon's fleet doesn't drive as much bass or volume as the Echo Dot, but its angled driver might make it a better choice for desktop usage (audio will be pointed directly toward your ears when you sit). Casual music listeners may actually prefer the Pop's more balanced signature, compared to the boomier output of the Echo Dot.
One of the only other differences we can think of is that the Dot uses a four-mic array to capture voice commands, while the Pop uses three. Beyond that, both the Dot and Pop share a number of key features, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, Alexa app controls, and the ability to use the speaker as a mesh Wi-Fi node for an Amazon Eero network.
While the Echo Dot is frequently on sale, and often built into a number of smart home bundles (e.g., buy a smart thermostat, get an Echo speaker), the Echo Pop was out of stock at the time of writing. As far as the product being discontinued goes, we haven't heard anything official, but the Echo subreddit seems to think Amazon might be turning the Pop into a kids-only device.