Firmware Update For The New Amazon Echo Delivers Better Audio Quality

The second-generation Amazon Echo smart speaker has received a new firmware update that fixes an audio issue. The firmware update has finally pumped up the bass of the Echo speaker, which is now able to deliver better sound quality.

The second generation Amazon Echo received mostly positive reviews when it was first released on Oct. 31. However, many users as well as reviewers complained about the lack of bass that the speaker was able to output compared to the first generation Echo speaker. The Verge said on its initial review that the new Echo speaker sounded “thin and flat,” while CNET said that it had “weak bass at high volumes.” Tom’s Guide also said in its review that the new Echo “sounded worse” than the original model.

The new firmware update was released by Amazon on Friday and it should have been installed automatically on all second-generation Echo speakers. Users of the new Echo speaker should hear better bass when listening to music. To know if the new update has already been installed, users must open the Alexa app on their smartphone and look under the settings section. The firmware version number should be listed as “592452420,” according to Engadget.

“Because Alexa’s brains are in the [Amazon Web Services] cloud, we can adjust features or add functionality, very quickly, on behalf of our customers,” director of product management for Alexa experiences and devices Marcello Typrin told Digital Trends. “In this instance, we assessed early feedback regarding audio on the all-new Echo, worked to make adjustments based on that feedback, and were able to quickly implement the change through the cloud and deliver it to customers’ devices.”

Digital Trends tested out the new firmware update and discovered that the acoustics were much better overall. The bass seems to have been given a boost, but it’s still not as robust as the original Echo speaker. That said, the sound quality saw a vast improvement that should please a lot of users of the second generation, but it might not be enough for others

“If you don’t have a Gen 1 [Echo] device you will likely be somewhat happy with this unit with the new firmware. The differences between Gen 1 and Gen 2 are definitely there, but the differences are somewhat small. It’s a reasonable product at this point, but could probably still stand some fine tuning,” an Amazon Echo customer said in his product review.

“Like most others, I am very disappointed in the sound quality for playing music even after the software update. Hopefully, Amazon will provide another software update that significantly improves the sound quality or replace the unit with one that really does have good sound quality,” wrote Chris R. Johnson on the review section of the Echo product page on Amazon’s website.

Since Amazon is able to send out software updates quickly, it’s likely that the company will still deliver improvements to the Echo in the near future. For those who may want better sound quality straight out of the box, Amazon has other Echo speakers to choose from.