Echo Dot 6th gen vs 5th gen: what the extra $50 really buys you

Amazon simply calls the new model the Echo Dot, but it is the sixth version of the regular Dot. Here’s how the two compare on launch details.

• Launch price: $99.99 and £94.99 for the new Dot, against $49.99 and £54.99 for the fifth gen.
• Chip: AZ3 with an AI accelerator for on-device processing, against the older AZ2.
• Microphones: four on the new model, one more than before, to hear you from across a room.
• Smart home hub: built in on the new Dot, with Zigbee, Matter and Thread support. The fifth gen had no hub.
• Wi-Fi extender: both work as eero extenders. Amazon quotes up to 1,000 square feet of extra coverage for the new one.
• Sound: Amazon claims 50% more bass than the previous Dot, from a new full-range driver.
• Room sensing: the fifth gen had a temperature sensor. The new Dot’s Omnisense system senses temperature and whether someone is in the room.
• Colors: graphite, glacier white, agave green and coral pink, against charcoal, deep sea blue and glacier white.

The biggest change in the new Echo Dot is the built-in hub. It speaks Zigbee, Matter and Thread, the three main wireless standards that smart plugs, bulbs, locks and sensors use, so you can connect thousands of compatible devices without buying a separate hub box.

Not sure whether you need one? Check the boxes or settings pages of the gadgets you already own, or the ones on your wish list. If they say Zigbee or Thread, they need a hub. If they only say Wi-Fi, they talk to your router directly and any Echo, old or new, can already control them through the Alexa app. Matter devices can go either way, depending on whether they run over Wi-Fi or Thread.

That matters because Zigbee and Thread gadgets can’t join your Wi-Fi directly. Until now, you needed a bigger Echo or a dedicated hub to run them. A $99.99 Dot that does the job is a cheap way into that world, and if you were about to buy a hub anyway, the price gap with the old Dot mostly disappears.

Omnisense adds a layer on top. The Dot can notice that a room has cooled down and turn up a connected thermostat, or switch on the lights when it senses you walk in.

Amazon’s launch messaging leans hard on the new Dot working as an eero Wi-Fi extender. But the fifth-gen Dot already had eero built in for customers in the US and Canada when it arrived in October 2022, and reviewers listed it as a highlight back then.

The other catch hasn’t changed either. The extender adds coverage to an existing eero network, so it does nothing for you unless you already use an eero router. Don’t pay double for the new Dot on Wi-Fi alone.

The temperature sensor is a repeat too. The fifth gen could already trigger routines, such as switching on a fan, when a room got warm.

The new Dot is the first to use Amazon’s AZ3 chip, which handles more of your voice processing on the device instead of sending it to a data center and back. Amazon says that makes conversations with Alexa+, its newer AI assistant, feel faster and more natural, and helps filter out background noise.

The fourth microphone helps Alexa hear you as you move around a room. It also helps Voice ID tell household members apart, so asking for music pulls up your playlist rather than your partner’s.

The fifth gen used the AZ2 processor, which also sped up Alexa responses in its day. For quick commands, you may not notice a huge gap. The difference should show more in longer back-and-forth chats with Alexa+.

There’s no new Echo Dot with Clock in this launch. The fifth-gen lineup had one for about $10 more than the plain Dot, with an LED display that showed the time, song titles, the weather and your snooze countdown, which made it a popular bedside alarm.

Amazon’s bedroom pick this time is the Echo Time, a separate $199.99 device. It has no camera, but its 3.2-inch round touchscreen sits above a sleep sensor that tracks your breathing with ultrasound, and aims to wake you at a better point in your sleep cycle, up to an hour before the alarm you set, with no wearable needed. Amazon says sleep sensing is opt-in.

That’s a big price jump for a clock. If all you want is the time on your nightstand plus Alexa, a discounted fifth-gen Dot with Clock is still the budget answer, as long as stores have stock.

Do you need Prime for the new Echo Dot?

No, but you’ll want it for the best features. The Dot works as a regular Alexa speaker out of the box, while Alexa+, the newer assistant the AZ3 chip is built for, comes included with a Prime membership. Without Prime, a big part of the reason to pay $99.99 shrinks.

Here’s a simple way to decide:

• Upgrade if you want to add Zigbee or Thread devices and don’t own a hub, or if Alexa often mishears you from across the room.
• Keep your fifth gen if it mostly plays music, runs timers and controls Wi-Fi plugs. Those tasks don’t need the new hardware.
• Buy the old model on sale if you just want a cheap speaker. The fifth gen was often discounted during sales, and its eero support and temperature sensor still work.
• Look at the Kids version if it’s for a child’s room. The new Amazon Kids Echo Dot costs $109.99 and £104.99 with a year of Kids+ included.

One thing neither Dot fixes: there’s still no audio jack to wire it into a bigger speaker. The fifth gen dropped the 3.5mm port, so you’ll rely on Bluetooth either way.