Amazon Echo Dot Vs. Pop: which one has the best audio quality?

We compared the latest version of the Echo Dot (fifth generation) to the Echo Pop, and, generally speaking, most people agree that the Echo Dot offers better sound quality. It’s also worth mentioning that this wasn’t a huge margin; Both smart speakers have unique pros and cons, but ultimately, the Dot took home the top spot for a few reasons.

First and foremost, it’s the more powerful of the two speakers, and it delivers much more bass than the Pop. The Dot’s spherical design also helps project audio more evenly across multiple parts of a small- to medium-sized room. That said, the Dot tends to sound best at low to mid volumes and can start to sound distorted when pushed to maximum level.

If we’ve made the Echo Pop seem like an inferior product, that wasn’t our intention. The smallest speaker in Amazon’s fleet doesn’t generate as much bass or volume as the Echo Dot, but its angled speaker might make it a better choice for desktop use (audio will be directed directly to your ears when you’re seated). Casual music listeners may actually prefer the more balanced signature of the Pop, compared to the more powerful output of the Echo Dot.

One of the only other differences we can think of is that the Dot uses an array of four mics to capture voice commands, while the Pop uses three. Beyond that, the Dot and Pop share several key features, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, Alexa app controls, and the ability to serve as mesh Wi-Fi nodes in an Amazon Eero network.

While the Echo Dot is frequently on sale and often bundled with smart home products (e.g., buy a smart thermostat, get an Echo speaker), the Echo Pop was out of stock at the time of writing. As for the discontinued product, we haven’t heard anything official, but the Echo subreddit suggests Amazon could turn the Pop into a kids-only device.