All-new Echo (4th Gen) - Charcoal

The Echo 4th Gen Charcoal is the one you buy when the speaker has to be good enough to actually listen to, and when you would rather not also buy a smart home gateway.

• The Echo 4th Gen Charcoal replaces a gateway you were going to buy
• What the built in radios actually reach
• The sound, since it has to earn its shelf space
• The socket on the back and the button on top
• What to pair with it

Ask it for music, the weather, a timer or the news. Tell it to turn the lights off. Call another Echo in the house, or announce to every room at once that dinner is ready. There is a temperature sensor inside, so a routine can start the fan when the room gets warm.

The Echo 4th Gen Charcoal replaces a gateway you were going to buy

This is the part most people miss when they compare it against a cheaper speaker. Zigbee, Matter and Thread radios are inside it, so Zigbee bulbs, plugs and sensors pair directly to the Echo with no separate hub on the shelf and no second app. If you were buying a speaker anyway, it is the cheapest route into a Zigbee system in this shop, because the gateway comes free with the music.

What the built in radios actually reach

Zigbee covers the sensors and bulbs we sell that would otherwise need a gateway. Thread is the low power mesh that Matter runs over, and Matter is the cross brand standard that lets a device from one company answer to a controller from another. Together they are why this speaker is likely to still be useful in five years, when whatever you buy next is far more likely to speak Matter than to speak anybody proprietary protocol.

The sound, since it has to earn its shelf space

An upward firing woofer with two tweeters, with Dolby processing behind them. The important word is upward: the sphere pushes sound at the ceiling rather than at one wall, so it fills the room from wherever you put it instead of having a front you must sit in. That is what separates it from the Dot, which is a fine assistant and a small speaker.

The socket on the back and the button on top

A 3.5 mm socket that works as line in and line out, so the Echo will drive a bigger amplifier or play from a turntable. And one button that turns the microphones off electrically rather than as a setting somebody could change remotely. Charcoal is the colour that disappears into a room, which is usually what you want from a 144 mm sphere.

What to pair with it

Anything Zigbee, straight to the speaker with no gateway: the Zigbee door sensor, the Zigbee motion sensor, or a Zigbee siren. There is a temperature sensor inside the Echo too, so a routine can start a fan when the room warms up.

The same speaker in a colour meant to be noticed is the Echo 4th Gen in red. The Connectivity Standards Alliance explain what Matter is if the standard is new to you.