Bass & Treble - does anyone know the truth?

[Snafs]

Having Googled this, there seem to be conflicting opinions about the full size Echo having Bass and Treble settings.
Some people saying it may seem to respond to the command, but does nothing.
Others, swearing blind that, the commands do work and do change the sound.

Perhaps this is imagination?
Perhaps this is down to a software revision?
Perhaps it once worked but now does not, or visa versa?

Does anyone really know the truth ?

[Dorianwalk]

Not sure that this is "the truth", but there's this:
http://lovemyecho.com/2015/10/07/the-secret-undocumented-audio-equalizer-in-amazon-echo/

You might try your own experiment.

[Snafs]

Thanks yes.
That link goes to one of the pages I myself found on the subject.
Together with another page where there were arguments.

With music changing all the time, and nothing to see setting wise, it's hard to know.
And I will admit, I did not wish to screw anything up, as those articles also mentioned there was no way to get the settings back to default again.

I wonder if it's worth asking Amazon, but I guess they would deny it, otherwise they would tout it as yet another great feature.
Personally, I think it would be easier to just, in the Alexa App, have equaliser settings as we are all used to.
Voice, Jazz, Rock etc that have been a kind of standard for literally a couple of decades now.

Or all the things to make work, one might think that would be one of the more simple ones.
Depending on the chip that drives the amp/speakers of course I guess.

[mike27oct]

The link above at Love My Echo is interesting, although academic.  The default audio output of the Echo is "flat" frequency output (i.e. balanced sound) and if an Echo is out away from all walls and placed more in the open in a room (as it should be) there would be no reinforcement of bass frequencies unless placed in a corner, because corner placement does favor bass frequencies from speakers placed there.

I say it's academic, because the Echo speakers (and audio amp) are just too small to be capable of "real bass" output.  What people often perceive as bass, when it comes to small speakers/amps like ones in the Echo, is the range of high-bass through low-midrange frequencies.  If one wants to hear anything remotely closer to actual bass from an Alexa device, it is from the  audio out of a Dot into a quality amp playing through quality speakers, and even the bass heard that way likely starts from mid-bass, upward.  Hearing very low bass via the Alexa devices is impossible because Amazon is not sending those low frequencies to be sure, due to their restricted bandwidth.  They are sending an "acceptable signal" without the lowest lows (as found on CDs,) and without the highest highs (as on a CD).  Amazon is sending basically an FM quality signal at best.  Anyone who thinks the devices are capable of super high fidelity is mistaken.  The audio sent is quality enough for a "very good table radio" (which sounds better if run through the Dot audio out).  If one wants to hear better fidelity, turn off the Amazon device and play a CD through a quality stereo amp and quality speakers.  When it comes to audio out, the Echo devices are all about convenience and not about sound quality above FM radio heard on a good stereo.

My Dot playing through my stereo sounds better than the Echo; mostly because "size matters".  Even so, the Echo plays music more often than the Dot/stereo does, because most of the time we opt for convenience over higher audio quality when it comes to listening to the background music from an Alexa device.

[Snafs]

Honestly, if I was to be picky
I would just love a bit more treble/crispness/brightness to the Echo sound quality.

It's plenty warm and bassy enough, but for me it's lacking any crispness for say cymbols or any cutting edge sounds.

I guess you would call it mellow

It may just be me, as even on a BIG Amp I use to have, I used to turn the bass down 1 notch and the treble up 1 notch, just to lift the sound up and give a nice crispness.

[mike27oct]

As we age, the "second" thing that begins to fail is our ears' detection of higher frequencies.

[Snafs]

I'll ignore that remark!   lol

I was actually talking about when I was (a few) years younger and had a proper HiFi seperate system with wooden speakers.
Even then (Age 19 ish) I loved my speakers as they had bullet tweeters (I did the 1 notch less bass, 1 notch more treble back then) as I love in music when you hit the really high crisp notes.

Bit like a Pepsi ice cold from the fridge it hurts to drink

I guess I've never been a booming bass person.

I have, over the years got the speakers down from the attic, and shocked how amazing they sound, as almost everyone there days has tiny junk speakers compared to the "old days" including me!

The days of HiFi Seperates and large floor standing speakers, once the pride and job of many a living room as for most, a thin of the past now (other than enthusiasts of course)