Amazon Echo Studio vs Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

The Amazon Echo Studio wins overall thanks to its lower price, stronger owner reception, dual-band Wi-Fi with Bluetooth and, above all, its built-in Zigbee coordinator, Thread border router and Matter bridge. The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is the better television speaker and supports far more platforms, so it wins for home theater and mixed ecosystems.

One is a hub, the other is a soundbar. The Amazon Echo Studio replaces a Zigbee hub and a Thread border router while playing music, but only inside Alexa. The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) has no hub radios at all and instead focuses on TV audio, mounting under a screen and syncing with your TV remote.

Both are serious, but they are tuned differently. The Amazon Echo Studio is a large 3.5 kg speaker with a 3.5 mm line-in, built for room-filling music. The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) spreads a wide soundstage in front of a television and prioritizes dialogue clarity, and it rolls off deep bass unless you add a Sub.

The Sonos Beam (Gen 2), without question. It works with Google Home, Apple HomeKit and Home Assistant and lets you choose Alexa, Google Assistant or Sonos Voice Control. The Amazon Echo Studio is Alexa only, with no Google Home, HomeKit or SmartThings and only partial Home Assistant support.

Buy the Amazon Echo Studio if you are committed to Alexa and want one device that fills a room with music and runs your Zigbee, Thread and Matter devices. The line-in, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and physical mic switch round it out, though the 90-day warranty is short and voice processing is entirely cloud based.

Buy the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) if your television needs better sound, especially if dialogue is hard to follow. It mounts on a wall, connects over Ethernet, expands into a surround system with other Sonos speakers, and supports three voice assistants plus Google Home, HomeKit and Home Assistant, with a 1-year warranty.