-The Echo Dot is the world's best-selling speaker
of all time, according to Amazon,
and that makes me kind of sad.
The Echo Dot sounds bad, like "phone in a plastic cup" bad.
♪ Caught in a landslide ♪
Of course, a smart speaker is not just about sound.
People bought the Echo Dot
because it brought them the skills of Amazon's Alexa
and voice-controlled music for just 50 bucks.
But then last year along came Google's talking Home Mini,
also priced at $50, with much better sound.
The Echo Dot lost its edge.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post,
but I review all tech with the same critical eye.
Now Amazon is back with a new Echo
Dot that looks a lot more like a doughnut
and, they promise, has much better sound.
Oh, really?
Since smart speakers are one of the most gifted gadgets,
I decided to do a scientific test of all three --
the old Echo Dot, the new Echo Dot,
and the Google Home Mini.
I recruited three test bunnies among my Post colleagues --
a creative director, a sound editor, and a comedian.
Here were the rules of our test.
I leveled the audio, I mixed up the order of the speakers,
and I blindfolded the testers.
Thank you very much, volunteers.
I'm gonna be blindfolding each of you,
because you might know that democracy dies in darkness,
but listening quality improves in darkness.
So that's what we're gonna do today.
-I'm definitely gonna write on myself.
-First up, Lady Gaga in a concert recording.
♪ Tell me something, boy ♪
♪ Aren't you tired trying to fill that void? ♪
♪ Or do you need more? ♪
♪ Ain't it hard keeping it so hardcore? ♪
Now, to my ear, the Google Mini does a better job
with the vocals.
My panel didn't necessarily agree.
-It sounded like there was just a little bit more, like,
audio compression in C versus B.
-I could convince myself I was at a concert with B.
-What convinced me of C was Lady Gaga's part.
I mean, I felt like there was a little bit more bass
and a little bit more, like, depth in her voice.
-Now some John Philip Sousa and "The Washington Post" march.
["The Washington Post" march
plays] This time it's the new Echo Dot across the board.
-Yeah, I mean, A was the one that I could
probably envision myself being at a concert.
-I felt like I could identify some of the instruments
more clearly than in the other two examples.
-Next we've got some classic Beyoncé, "Crazy in Love."
♪ Got me looking so crazy right now ♪
♪ Your touch got me looking so crazy right now ♪
♪ Got me hoping you'll page me right now ♪
♪ Your kiss got me hoping you'll save me right now ♪
♪ Looking so crazy in love's ♪
♪ Got me looking, got me looking so crazy in love ♪
Two votes for the Google Mini and one vote for the new Echo
Dot.
-I hope there's a science behind this.
Otherwise I'm crazy.
But for some reason, like, when it came to, like,
higher frequency voices, they're always richer.
That's like where I can hear the difference.
Then, like, with the low-frequency stuff,
it sounds the same to me between A and B.
-It was just peaking, like, really hard, and that was, like,
the big difference, whereas A was like --
it just felt a lot smoother and clearer.
-Last, we tried some heavy metal with Metallica's
"Enter Sandman."
♪ Enter night ♪
♪ Take my hand ♪
♪ We're off to never-never land ♪
Here the new Echo Dot's larger bass wins across the board.
That's nine votes for the new Echo Dot
and three for the Google Mini.
One thing everyone agreed on --
there were absolutely zero votes for the old Echo Dot,
the world's most popular speaker.
-Well, it sounds like a phone in a garbage can.
-If A is not the oldest one,
I'd be afraid for whoever was in, like, the,
"Let's improve upon this by making it crappy."
Like, it's discernibly bad, comparatively.
-Good job, little Alexa doughnut.
Now you're no longer an embarrassment.
Alexa, how does it feel to win?
-Sorry, I'm not sure.