Turn up the Bass! Amazon Echo Devices Get Equalizer Feature
Alexa EQ Feature on Amazon Echo Show
Amazon Echo smart speakers now have an equalizer (EQ) feature allowing users to adjust the bass, treble and mid-range sound. The feature appears to be available on all Echo devices (with the possible exception of the Tap) including both smart speakers and smart displays such as Echo Show and Echo Spot. In a blog post today, Amazon Senior Evangelist Mike Maas commented:
“Now customers can personalize the tone of the audio playing on their speakers, AV receivers, and sound bars by simply saying, ‘Alexa, crank up the bass,’ ‘Alexa, turn up treble,’ or ‘Alexa, set TV mode.’ For developers working with entertainment devices and audio-visual playback, the equalizer and sound mode control features extend the capabilities of voice control with Alexa and are available today through the Smart Home Skill API and AVS API.“
The EQ feature is not limited to Amazon devices as indicated by Mr. Maas. Recently released products from Polk and Sonos already include the feature. Other device makers will need to add the AVS controls to provide EQ capabilities for their smart speakers.
Music Listening Top Smart Speaker Feature
Voicebot found that music listening was the top monthly and daily use case in our 2018 Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report. That was followed by radio listening in fifth place. Improved audio control through EQ is a simple way to make the most popular use cases more enjoyable for smart speaker owners.
Amazon has not introduced a high end smart speaker and has instead left that segment to partners such as Sonos and Harman Kardon. Google Home Max competes in the audiophile category and includes an equalizer feature, but the capability is not available in the lower-priced Google Home and Mini. Alexa EQ features are available today in the U.S. No word yet on when this feature will roll out internationally.
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