Amazon has announced the Echo Link and Echo Link Amp for audiophiles who want to add Alexa music streaming to their high-end audio equipment. The Echo Link provides multiple audio in and out connections, including coaxial, RCA, and optical. It also has a subwoofer out connection and an Ethernet port for its connectivity. On the front is a headphone out jack and a large volume dial. The Echo Link Amp features the same ports but adds a pair of left and right speaker connections that are used with the built-in 60W two-channel amplifier. The Echo Link will be $199.99 when it’s released and the Echo Link Amp will be $299.99. Neither one is available to pre-order yet, but you can sign up to be notified when they’re available.
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What would be the use case for this? It’s got no display, so you can’t see what’s playing or what the settings are. I’m assuming you’ll need a phone to control it. It’s only 2 channel, so you couldn’t use this for a surround or inexpensive A/V setup. The price doesn’t include the speakers. I haven’t looked into buying a receiver in years, but I can’t imagine this is priced competitively.
What kind of “audiophile” would care to stream sub 320kbps lossey MP3s on their high-end audio equipment? Seems like a pretty backwards concept… even if Amazon is trying to make a shiny piece of equipment look more enticing for hi-fi people.
Maybe it works with FLAC, but most streaming protocols like Bluetooth aren’t high quality. I’m assuming it loads the music from a file server so maybe that’s not an issue, but this is a lot of money for something that does very little.
All it is, from what I can tell, is a BT receiver. Great if you have an older, non-BT stereo. I’m sure I am over simplifying it, however, I see no need in one as I already have https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VVL4WHL/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which is less expensive and sounds fantastic…and connects to Alexa.
I assume this is wifi, not just Bluetooth. If you have a TV connected to your audio system, you might as well just use a FireTV to do this. Heck, but a separate one just for this purpose. It will be cheaper.