The Echo Studio Is $45 Off Right Now

Amazon's best smart speaker is at its lowest price, matching Black Friday deals.

The Echo Studio is the best-sounding Alexa and the best Echo speaker money can buy you, and right now, you can get this powerful speaker for the lowest price it has been according to price-tracking tools: It's $154.99 (originally $199.99), currently matching Black Friday and Prime Day prices.

Getting the Echo Studio is a commitment to the Alexa voice assistant ecosystem. Make sure you understand the difference between the Google and Amazon voice assistant and their devices before you commit to one or the other. Echos hear and responds better than Google speakers, from my experience, and are easy to troubleshoot. If you have many people at home, you can set up multiple individual accounts for each person. You are also much more likely to find them with solid discounts compared to Google devices. If you do decide to go the Echo route, here's how to create the best Alexa set-up for your home.

The Echo Studio came out in 2019 to great reviews. What sets it apart from other Amazon speakers is its Dolby Atmos-compatible surround sound and spatial audio, which adapts to give you a better sound based on the speaker's surroundings. You can also sync it with certain Fire TV devices and use it as an extra speaker, and ask it to tell you the room's temperature.

The main competitors of the Echo Studio are the Apple HomePod and Google Home Max, which are the high-end smart speakers from Apple and Google, respectively. The Echo Studio goes toe-to-toe with these speakers as far as sound for half the price.

Like the competition, the Echo Studio is not a portable device. It must be plugged in at all times, and it is not waterproof. If you're in the Echo ecosystem and are looking for a great speaker to kick things up a notch, this is the best speaker and the best price you can get right now.