Test #2: Echo Dots plus the Echo Sub

Finally, adding the Sub gave the Dots more space to focus purely on mids and highs -- the Sub was more than powerful enough to take all low-end duties. While there's no doubt that this was the best-sounding combo, I have a hard time imagining anyone spending $229 to buy two Dots and an Echo Sub. Spending $200 on a single Sonos One doesn't offer stereo separation or loud bass, but it's undoubtedly a more balanced and pleasing speaker to listen to. Anyone who wants to go to the trouble of adding a subwoofer or getting a good stereo pair of speakers will almost certainly rule out the Dot. But for everyone else, a single Dot delivers a significantly more pleasant experience than what Amazon was selling a month ago.

Test #3: Echo Plus, on its own and in stereo

The Echo Plus was another surprise performer. The improvements over older Echo devices are immediately obvious: No longer would I recommend music fans avoid Amazon's speakers. The Plus is far better than the original Google Home as well as any other Echo speaker I've listened to before. Its three-inch woofer delivers prominent bass, especially at higher volumes. I didn't expect to feel bass vibrations on my desk from a relatively compact speaker, but the Plus delivered. Mids and highs were much less muddy than what I heard from both the new Dot and the older Echo Plus. Overall, anyone looking for a smart speaker who wants better audio than you can get from the tiny Dot should give the new Plus a look.

Pairing two Echo Plus speakers together in stereo is an expensive but impressive proposition. I was again taken aback by both the bass performance and overall quality of the experience. In fact, the dual woofers made me wonder if adding the Echo Sub was necessary. Bass heads might disagree, but two Echo Plus speakers provided the oomph I was hoping for as well as additional clarity and stereo separation over the single-speaker setup. While a pair of Sonos One speakers or a single Apple HomePod are probably superior options strictly from a music standpoint, a couple Echo Pluses are a great alternative. Music lovers will find the sound quality to be solid while the built-in smart home hub will be useful for people adding more connected devices to a household.

The grand finale: Two Echo Plus speakers and the Echo Sub

My last step was connecting the Echo Sub to the two Echo Plus speakers I had been testing. This $429 setup is the pinnacle of what you can build with Amazon's own hardware, and while I'm not quite convinced that there's a market for this setup, it does sound pretty great. Again, the Sub lets the two Plus speakers shine in reproducing mids and highs, making the whole sound profile more distinct and less muddy. There's volume to spare and the bass is loud, but everything is well-balanced. It's a high-quality music experience all around, although the Echo Plus still isn't quite as precise as other speakers like the HomePod or Sonos One.