https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/06/echo-studio-is-amazons-lower-cost-answer-to-the-homepod/ > Amazon’s kickstarted the smart speaker market with the original Echo, way back in late-2014. Like many of the company’s hardware offerings, it was very much a utilitarian device. The first Echo was smart first and speaker a distant second. > Echo’s how slowly gotten better in the sound department over time, but the arrival Apple’s HomePod and Google’s Home Max have highlighted the lack of real quality speaker in the Echo lineup. Amazon eventually added the Link, Amp, Sub  and Input to integrate Alexa into an existing home stereo system, but until this most recent round of announcements, the company never had a real answer to the HomePod.