Amazon Echo

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Ultimate Geek
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#2157927 11-Jan-2019 09:21

Got my Echo Wall Clock yesterday after ordering it from Amazon.com when it became available and then getting it trans-shipped by YouShop.

nurcopolics

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Master Geek
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#2158397 11-Jan-2019 16:10

Is it good and was shipping expensive?

rogercruse

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#2159515 11-Jan-2019 21:56

nurcopolics: Is it good and was shipping expensive?

Question: is it good??

Answers:

Smaller than I expected

Incredibly easy to set-up - just insert batteries (supplied) and then ask the Alexa device to setup bluetooth device.

Ask Alexa to setup new bluetooth

Question: was shipping expensive??

Answers:

$41 Kiwi dollars on top of the original $30 Yankee dollars to pay Amazon.com .

networkn

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#2159531 11-Jan-2019 23:15

Is there a work around to allow shuffling playlists from Spotify?

Also, is there a way to play to the echo as a bluetooth/network speaker from spotify on my phone?

jarledb

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#2159538 12-Jan-2019 02:27

Playing directly to the Amazon Echo: Just set up pairing with your phone, and you can use it as a regular bluetooth speaker.

From Amazon.com documentation:

Before you begin

Set your mobile device to Bluetooth pairing mode.
Make sure your mobile device is in range of your Echo.

Say, "Pair." Alexa lets you know that Echo is ready to pair.

Note: To exit Bluetooth pairing mode, say, "Cancel."

Open the Bluetooth settings menu on your mobile device, and select your Echo. Alexa tells you if the connection is successful.

To pair in the future, you can say, "Connect." If paired with multiple devices, your Echo connects to the most recently paired device.

You can disconnect your mobile device from Echo. Say, "Disconnect."

It isn't mentioned in the documentation, but you can actually connect to your device by your device name (so the name you have set for your device) in the future, and also ask to disconnect it by name if you want.

So for instance: If your device is called "Gizmo", you just ask it to "Connect Gizmo", and then "Disconnect Gizmo" when you are done.

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richms

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#2160100 13-Jan-2019 12:24

You cant bluetooth to the echo and have it send the audio to a group. It seems to drop the bluetooth connection when taking part in a group playback as well. Ive not played much with them as bluetooth devices since the phone only seems to connect with SBC to them so as a result it sounds like complete trash.

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hardsell

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Wannabe Geek

#2161037 14-Jan-2019 16:31

If this is about what I think it is:

Can't use Bluetooth to an external speaker when playing to a group I believe because of the lag vs being hardwired would then put music out of sync between devices.

I couldn't get my Dot with Bose speaker on BT to allow group play with my Echo Plus, fixed it by plugging Dot into the Bose speaker and all good.

richms:

You cant bluetooth to the echo and have it send the audio to a group. It seems to drop the bluetooth connection when taking part in a group playback as well. Ive not played much with them as bluetooth devices since the phone only seems to connect with SBC to them so as a result it sounds like complete trash.

tracpants

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2161772 15-Jan-2019 21:09

rogercruse:

Question: is it good??

Answers:

Smaller than I expected

Incredibly easy to set-up - just insert batteries (supplied) and then ask the Alexa device to setup bluetooth device.

Ask Alexa to setup new bluetooth

Question: was shipping expensive??

Answers:

$41 Kiwi dollars on top of the original $30 Yankee dollars to pay Amazon.com .

Does it work with your device set to NZ/AU or do you need to be set to US? Tempted to get one, if I can use on NZ/AU.

rogercruse

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#2161785 15-Jan-2019 21:48

tracpants:...Does it work with your device set to NZ/AU or do you need to be set to US? Tempted to get one, if I can use on NZ/AU.

Just checked the echo device that the wall clock is connected to.... there're aren't country settings apart from the device language.

So, to check if this made any difference, I changed the device language from UK to NZ/AU and the wall clock carried on working without issue.

Personally, I feel the Australian voice on the echo sounds awful, so I changed in back to UK... My bad for being born in England.

tracpants

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#2161801 15-Jan-2019 23:04

Cheers, rogercruse. Thanks for having a look!

richms

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#2162349 16-Jan-2019 23:15

hardsell:

If this is about what I think it is:

Can't use Bluetooth to an external speaker when playing to a group I believe because of the lag vs being hardwired would then put music out of sync between devices.

I couldn't get my Dot with Bose speaker on BT to allow group play with my Echo Plus, fixed it by plugging Dot into the Bose speaker and all good.

There is correction for latency in the alexa app when doing group playback. Many speakers will DSP the 3.5mm input so have lag that needs to be corrected.

I suspect that the bluetooth radio is used to keep the echos in sync with each other, since when they are in different buildings they show as offline when I try to group them.

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chimera

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#2166164 23-Jan-2019 12:45

richms:

hardsell:

If this is about what I think it is:

Can't use Bluetooth to an external speaker when playing to a group I believe because of the lag vs being hardwired would then put music out of sync between devices.

I couldn't get my Dot with Bose speaker on BT to allow group play with my Echo Plus, fixed it by plugging Dot into the Bose speaker and all good.

There is correction for latency in the alexa app when doing group playback. Many speakers will DSP the 3.5mm input so have lag that needs to be corrected.

I suspect that the bluetooth radio is used to keep the echos in sync with each other, since when they are in different buildings they show as offline when I try to group them.

On the subject of Alexa audio...

At present for my home audio I have speakers situated all around my house with volume controls on the wall in each location. I have all the speaker wires running back to the cupboard in my office, into a "speaker splitter box" which then goes back to my AMP. I then have a TOSLink cable running from the optical input of my amp to the output of an Apple Airport Express. When I play audio, I simply open for example Spotify on my iPhone, then direct audio to "More Devices (Airplay & Bluetooth)" then select my "Home Audio "(which is effectively the airport express) This works pretty well (I used to have an analog cable running out of the Airport Express to RCA inputs, however replacing with TOSLink cable and using optical and retaining full digital improved the quality of sound SIGNIFICANTLY)

The issue I have is if I step too far away from the Wireless AP with my iPhone, I can get signal dropouts and therefore loss of or missing audio. I figured using an Echo DOT instead and streaming via it would avoid the need for my phone, so as a test last night, I hooked up one of my Echo Dot's to the AMP. But of course, the Dot only has analog output (including latest 3rd gen model) so while it works and is more convenient, the quality is... well, analog, and sounds considerably worse than digital. So...

After a bit of searching, I found that Amazon have an "Alexa Echo Link" available, primarily for this sort of purpose. Most importantly, it supports optical out (amongst others).

https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Link-Stream-stereo-system/dp/B0798DVZCY

I'm tempted to buy one, but it doesn't seem to have the greatest of reviews.

Wondering if anyone else has one and can comment?

I'd buy the non-AMP one, and just use my own AMP to boost sound.

Thoughts?

nurcopolics

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Master Geek
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#2166709 24-Jan-2019 09:45

scottr:
nurcopolics: Amazon echo subwoofer available at jb HiFi
Amazing sound and so cheap!!!

Good luck with getting one, I've had a pre order in for a sandstone plus gen 2 and subwoofer since mid Nov and neither have been provided to jb hifi by amazon. The gen 2 has a date in 'the new year' while the sub has no eta at all.

Bit frustrating really, you can also see noel leeming have pulled those products from their site.

There's availability in aus, they're just not giving any to nz. Have a friend going to aus in a couple of weeks, if there's no movement by then then the order will be cancelled and they'll be coming over in a suitcase instead.

Only $199 from Amazon au. Very impressed with the sound. Everything is wireless and just amazing as a product. A Must have if you use your echos for music...

No woofers available at jbhifi au

freitasm

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#2166712 24-Jan-2019 09:51

@rogercruse:

Got my Echo Wall Clock yesterday after ordering it from Amazon.com when it became available and then getting it trans-shipped by YouShop.

How is it going? Amazon halted sales yesterday due to connection problems...

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rogercruse

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#2166723 24-Jan-2019 10:04

freitasm:

@rogercruse:

Got my Echo Wall Clock yesterday after ordering it from Amazon.com when it became available and then getting it trans-shipped by YouShop.

How is it going? Amazon halted sales yesterday due to connection problems...

My Echo Wall Clock is working fine.

Got it on the wall in the kitchen and connected to my Echo Show (gen2) device. So I can set timers for pasta, rice, potatoes, etc and I can see my running timers on the Echo Show and on the Wall Clock.

Clearly, it would be cheaper to purchase if I didn't need to trans-ship using YouShop, but my previous wall clock while being much bigger wasn't the most accurate of devices and was a bugger to change twice a year as the hanging nail wasn't too prominent and there was always the danger of the clock crashing to the ground after being changed!

Still waiting for the Echo Auto device to become available so I can have Alexa in the car.

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