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.
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.