Amazon’s new Echo Input brings voice activation to your audio setup

CES 2019 saw the announcement of Amazon’s Alexa support in everything from TVs to toilets, marking a new stride in the smart home revolution. This revolution is well on its way in India, with Amazon announcing the sale of its Echo Input, a device capable of turning any speaker into a smart speaker.

The Echo Input adds Alexa support to your existing audio system, making it voice activated. Once set up, the Echo Input works like an Echo Dot without a speaker. You can use your voice to stream music, check the news, adjust volume and so much more. The Echo Input can stream music from Amazon Prime Music, Saavn, Gaana, Hungama Music. The Echo Input basically, brings Alexa to your dumb speaker or audio system, instantly converting it into a smart one.

The Echo Input will be available in black or white and houses a quartet of far-field microphones. All you have to do is say “Alexa” from across the room, and the Input will respond. The Input features a Micro-USB jack for powering it up, a 3.5mm aux jack, in case your audio system doesn’t have Bluetooth support (If it doesn’t, time to get an upgrade) and two buttons one to mute the mic and the other to activate the speaker without using your voice. The four in-built microphones utilise beam-forming technology and enhanced noise cancellation.

The Echo Input will cost around Rs 3,000, but there are a couple of Amazon bundles you can take advantage off to get the Echo Put for free or at half the rate. You can get an Echo Input free on the Bose Soundlink Revolve (Rs 24,500) or UE Boom 3 (Rs 13,000) portable speaker. The Echo Input is also available at half rate when bundled with the JBL Go 2 portable speaker.