Over on an Amazon customer discussion board I frequent, a pitched war of words has been raging for days over what the Dot and Tap can or cannot do in terms of audio connectivity.

What follows is the transcript of my conversation with Amazon Echo Tech Support.

Does The Dot “Know” When An External Speaker Is Connected?

Q: When I stream audio to the Dot, such as asking Alexa to play a Prime station on the Dot, and I don’t have the Dot connected to any external speaker, will the audio play on the Dot’s own speaker?

A: Yes, but the audio quality through the Dot’s speaker won’t be as good as it is on the full-sized Echo.

Q: When I do the same thing, asking Alexa to play a Prime station on the Dot, but with the Dot connected to an external speaker, does the audio automatically switch to playing through the connected speaker? In other words, does the Dot “know” when an external speaker is connected and route the audio to the speaker in that case?

A: Yes. All audio will be routed to the external speaker when one is connected.

Q: Does that go for Alexa’s responses too, like if I ask for the weather report?

A: Yes. If an external speaker is connected, all audio will come through the connected speaker.

Is Audio Output From The Dot In Stereo?

Q: Does the Dot output its audio in stereo?

A: Hrmm…let me check. [pause] The official spec sheet doesn’t provide those details, but I would think it does, that’s pretty standard.

Q: Someone on an Amazon discussion board said they called in to ask about this, and were told that the Dot definitely does output in stereo.

A: Maybe the other representative was speculating; I don’t think we can officially say one way or the other since it’s not on the spec sheet we’ve been given, but I’m pretty sure it does.

Can Alexa Devices Talk To Each Other, Does The Tap Have Audio Out Capability?

Q: If I have an Echo, Dot and Tap, can those devices talk to each other? For example, if I ask the Dot in my bedroom to start playing David Bowie on the Echo in my living room or on the Tap in the kitchen, will that work?

A: No: Echo, Dot and Tap devices can’t communicate with or connect to each other.

Q: Can the Tap be connected to an external speaker?

A: No. The Tap has the same audio connectivity as the full-size Echo. You can stream audio in to the Tap from another device, but the Tap can’t stream its audio out to another device or speaker.

I’ve ordered both a Tap and a Dot and both are scheduled to arrive on 3/31. Once I’ve had a chance to try them out, I’ll post a hands-on review of each.

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The Amazon Tap is still available for pre-order, but it appears the batch slated to go out on 3/29 has sold out because people ordering one over the past few days are reporting an estimated delivery date in late April / early May after their pre-order is processed. Clearly, this is Amazon’s next must-have device. May seems a long way off, but remember that once a given Amazon device goes out of stock it can be months before it starts shipping again, so if you want to be sure to avoid disappointment get your Tap order in now.

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