The Echo Pop is the newest smart speaker to combine Amazon’s Echo line, but how does it contrast to the similarly small Echo Dot?
We’ve reviewed both of these Alexa-powered speakers and positioned them head-to-head in this guide to help you establish which model is right for you.
Keep reading to learn more about how these two speakers differ when it comes to price, design, features and sound quality.
Pricing and availability
The Echo Pop is the latest entry-level smart speaker in Amazon’s Echo line-up, launching in May 2023 for £44.99.
The Echo Dot, meanwhile, is currently in its 5th generation. The current-gen speaker launched in October 2022 with an RRP of £54.99.
Design
When it comes to their designs, both the Echo Pop and the Echo Dot come in similar sizes and have a modern, rounded shape designed to fit in with your home decor.
However, where the Echo Dot is spherical with a flat base, the Echo Pop has a flat edge when the sound comes out, making it more of a semi-circle. The Echo Dot also includes touch controls that allow you to pause a song, end a call or snooze your alarm by tapping on the top of the speaker.
The Echo Pop comes in a bolder range of colours, including Charcoal, Glacier White, Lavender Bloom and Midnight Teal. The Echo Dot, on the other hand, sticks with the more muted Charcoal, Deep Sea Blue and Glacier White finishes.
Finally, you can select to include an LCD clock display with the Echo Dot by opting for the Echo Dot with Clock. However, this isn’t included with the basic Echo Dot or the Echo Pop.
Features
The star of the show on both smart speakers is undoubtedly Alexa.
You can ask the smart assistant to play music, answer questions, read the news and traffic updates, tell you about the weather and control just about any compatible smart home device, from smart plugs to smart lights.
There are also tens of thousands of Alexa skills you can access to customise your encounter advance.
We actually found the Echo Pop to be the better speaker for Alexa responses thanks to its larger speaker producing her voice loud and clear.
Both the Pop and the Dot are powered by the latest AZ2 Neural Edge processor, allowing for faster responses and some on-device processing.
One neat perk to the Echo Dot that you won’t find on the Pop is the temperature sensor. This allows you to set routines with your smart devices that are triggered by the temperature indoors, such as switching on a smart fan when the temperature rises above a set level.
Sound quality
Finally, there’s the sound quality to consider.
Both the Echo Dot and the Echo Pop allow you to play your favourite tracks via Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and other popular music streaming services. Both speakers also uphold playback via Bluetooth.
However, despite the fact the Echo Pop packs a larger speaker, the Echo Dot offers superior sound quality in our opinion.
The Echo Pop is loud enough to fill a regular-sized room but lacks the range of the Echo Dot, including the warmth and bass produced by the Dot. High-end tracks can also sound harsh and muddled, making the Echo Dot the stronger choice of the two for music fans.
Verdict
The Echo Pop is a stylish option for anyone in the market for a cheap Alexa speaker to smarten up their home.
However, the Echo Dot (5th generation) remains our pick of the two thanks to its better sound quality, tap controls and built-in temperature sensor.
