Amazon Echo Buds 2: Alexa, this time yes

Amazon's hardware division intends to offer appealing, inexpensive, and particularly designed items that will serve as a doorway to the real deal: the online content ecosystem that they have been constructing for years. As the protagonists of our investigation, products such as the Fire and the well-known Kindle are two classic instances in which new gadgets continue to join.

The Amazon Echo Buds are significantly improved in their second iteration, retaining a low price point and promoting themselves as a terrific alternative for individuals that have Alexa incorporated into their daily lives.

The new Echo Buds' surprises begin even before you turn them on. In our industry, two years is an eternity, and the engineers have managed to cut the size of the chassis by 40%. As a result, the headphones are smaller and more comfortable, and they can now compete with anything in their price range.

Aside from the design modification, the new headphones have a shorter head that is easier to rest in the ear and a ventilation gap to alleviate hearing pressure.

As you may know, noise cancellation necessitates a precise fit of the headphones, therefore it is critical that they are not only comfortable in any anatomy but also keep in place without having to move.

A word of advice at this point: headphones are very personal gadgets, and a form or shape that is quite pleasant for some individuals may be tormented for others. On the other hand, it is critical to consider where we will employ them. Some of the best headphones for home may not be the best for sports, for example. 

Touch is used to control the Amazon Echo Buds 2. Single tap to pause and play, two taps to forward, three taps to return, and push to cancel. The latter is useful for when they speak to us and we want to interact without having to remove our headphones.

Technical characteristics:

• Earpiece: 20.0 x 19.1 x 19.1mm 5.7g
• Charger case: 66.8 x 28.6 x 39.1 mm
• Bluetooth Realtek RTL8763C on-chip with integrated audio codec, NXP digital signal processor
• 5.7mm dynamic driver speakers
• 3 microphones per headset (2 external + 1 internal)
• IPX4 protection (headphones only)
• Proximity, touch, Hall effect, and accelerometer sensors
• Up to 5 hours of music with cancellation activated (up to 15 with case)
• Includes headphones, charger, 4 pairs of adapters, 2 fins, USB cable, and getting started guide

Alexa is a terrific way to communicate with your headphones and applications without touching anything. The integration works well as long as we use simple commands, which is sufficient for this usage scenario.

Of course, they can also be used with assistants like Siri or Google Assistant, but we lose one of the advantages that these Echo Buds have over their competition.

These Amazon Echo Buds 2 provide adequate quality for the price and target audience. Expect a clear and sharp sound in your Spotify, YouTube, or other streaming service lists, rather than high fidelity audio or spatial sound.

The difference over the previous generation is noteworthy, especially when dialing up the volume in a song. The sound is boosted, but it does not vary; there are no strange artifacts or fake equalizations, only flat and natural audio.

Work has been done, and it shows, notably in the mids and bass (which were quite consistent in the earlier generation), and the result is a highly appropriate device for enjoying music, movies, or video games.

There are no major surprises in terms of autonomy, but the maneuverability is limited, and the "box-charger" method is a brilliant solution for everyday use. With the two additional charges, we can enjoy up to 12-14 hours of music in total. By the way, Amazon supplied us with the wireless charging version for review: a convenient feature that works as expected.