I have just gained a 3rd Gen dot but the sound seems very bassy compared to my 2nd gen dot. I have turned down the bass and increased the treble but it does not seem to make much difference. I have had the dot replaced and the replacement is better but still quite bassy. Whilst my 66 year old hearing is not what it was I can hear my 2nd gen dot quite well but the 3rd gen dot is difficult almost to the point of being muffled.
Not sure there is too much you can do about this at the moment, I noticed more bass on the 3rd Gen devices but nothing I couldn't dial down on the settings. Although I don't really use my dots above 50% volume normally due to distortion. Does vary depending on the source as well to some degree.
The 2nd gen are somewhat clearer with less bass out of the box, I find the 3rd gen quality pretty good though for mid and treble, maybe best of all the Echo devices. Having just compared Echo dot 3rd gen with Echo Plus 2nd gen you realise just how great the new dots are, the Plus has more bass and better separation of mid and treble but it also costs substantially more.
I am assuming you are referring to music play back and not just the Alexa voice when you ask questions, that is quite muffled and is non adjustable at present, the bass/mid/treble settings have no effect at all, only on music playback.
Probably not much help but can't think of anything else.
It is Alexa's voice mainly that is the problem. It is much clearer on the 2nd Gen dot. It was useful that you said that the voice is muffled as that tells me it is not just my dot or my ears so thanks for that. I reckon the 2nd gen sound is far better in every aspect than the 3rd gen. Maybe that is because my ears are not what they were but I much prefer the 2nd Gen sound.
Alexa's voice is most certainly more muffled on the 3rd Gen, I have already raised this with Amazon and asked if the 'sound' settings in the app can reflect Alexa's voice as well as the music playback. The 2nd Gen is clearer out of the box and easier to hear Alexa by a reasonable margin.
For music playback the 3rd Gen runs rings around the 2nd Gen though, not even in the same league. Hopefully Amazon will allow the settings to also affect Alexa's voice in future updates, this will mean the bass can be reduced and mid/treble boosted to get closer to the 2nd Gen voice reproduction.
On the plus side it could be worse, the Echo Plus 2nd Gen I have makes the Echo Dot 3rd Gen seem like it has no bass at all
Just setting one up ,bought on the strength of a friend's 2nd gen, too much bass not enough treble , the voice being worst, Amazon it's not all about the bass no treble, please update it
Just setting one up ,bought on the strength of a friend's 2nd gen, too much bass not enough treble , the voice being worst, Amazon it's not all about the bass no treble, please update it
What steps have you taken to redress the situation? You are aware that the Alexa app has various options for bass, treble and all the other settings? have you contacted Amazon Support team using the HELP link to get hand by hand help in case you are not aware of the many management and settings options you have?
Seriously - both the Amazon and Google voice control options have many, MANY options that you can control - please check them out and find out which suits your needs as closely as possible.
If you have a specific issue with a specific Amazon issue then perhaps this Customer-2-Customer forum may be able to help you. Sweeping generalizations mean that we can not easily help you :(
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I wonder why someone would follow their own alternative forum profile.
Wow, you sound really rude, CombatWombat. You don't get to dismiss what people are experiencing just because *you* aren't experiencing it. I literally just commented on a different forum with people experiencing the exact same problem. The music is great on my 3rd gen, but Alexa's voice sound incredibly muffled, and it's hard to understand her at all unless I turn the volume way up. I have tried everything I can with the equalizer and I only notice a di
Here's a (1 star) review someone left on Amazon for the 3rd gen. If you spend some time reading through the reviews, other people mention similar issues.
"Very disappointing. Alexis sounded like she was under a thick blanket. After talking with customer service, we tried various things which did not help. They said send it back and they sent another which I received in two days. It seemed a little better but not much. I have two 2nd gen echo dots and they are fine. I found both 3rd gens to have a very muddy bass sound on music and the high end sounds frequently were slightly distorted. Alexis' voice was so muffled that her voice was unintelligible at times. I sent the second one back for a refund and bought a second gen echo which is just fine. I think they got the design wrong on this one. In trying to make it sound fuller for music, they actually made the sound less clear and sharp. I must add that the customer service experience was a very pleasant one."
Glad to hear that I am not the only one with this problem. And glad to find out that the bass/treble settings don't affect the Alexa voice, which was my impression. I have two 2nd gen units and love them. I thought the 3rd gen would be even better, but the audio is a big step backward. I hope Amazon will push out a firmware upgrade to fix this.
My 2nd gen Dot just quit working entirely - power component is toast - and I am heartbroken because my 3rd gen Dot is useless for voice (weather, news, etc.) due to the heavy bass making voice nearly unintelligible. Great for music but pointless for all else.
Yes, I've adjusted settings. It is clearly a hardware/firmware issue with the 3rd gen Dots as I've seen so many other complaints about the same thing. Can't buy 2nd gens on Amazon any longer - searching ebay now.
Huge fail that there's not a 'clear voice' option or setting (my TVs all have it) to supplement music settings.
Definitely agree on the poor sound (with regard to spoken words).
Both of my 3rd gen echo dot voice sound very muffled. Spoken words sound very tick and not clear at all, as if they come from behind a pillow. I've adjusted treble and bass, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.
I am certain I'm not imagining this as there are LOTS of posts reporting this problem - I certainly hope Amazon can push out a firmware/software update to address this. I expect(ed) better from Amazon.
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Hi,
I have just gained a 3rd Gen dot but the sound seems very bassy compared to my 2nd gen dot. I have turned down the bass and increased the treble but it does not seem to make much difference. I have had the dot replaced and the replacement is better but still quite bassy. Whilst my 66 year old hearing is not what it was I can hear my 2nd gen dot quite well but the 3rd gen dot is difficult almost to the point of being muffled.
Any help would be appreciated.
Pauli1952
Hi,
Not sure there is too much you can do about this at the moment, I noticed more bass on the 3rd Gen devices but nothing I couldn't dial down on the settings. Although I don't really use my dots above 50% volume normally due to distortion. Does vary depending on the source as well to some degree.
The 2nd gen are somewhat clearer with less bass out of the box, I find the 3rd gen quality pretty good though for mid and treble, maybe best of all the Echo devices. Having just compared Echo dot 3rd gen with Echo Plus 2nd gen you realise just how great the new dots are, the Plus has more bass and better separation of mid and treble but it also costs substantially more.
I am assuming you are referring to music play back and not just the Alexa voice when you ask questions, that is quite muffled and is non adjustable at present, the bass/mid/treble settings have no effect at all, only on music playback.
Probably not much help but can't think of anything else.
Hi TechTech,
Thanks for your reply.
It is Alexa's voice mainly that is the problem. It is much clearer on the 2nd Gen dot. It was useful that you said that the voice is muffled as that tells me it is not just my dot or my ears so thanks for that. I reckon the 2nd gen sound is far better in every aspect than the 3rd gen. Maybe that is because my ears are not what they were but I much prefer the 2nd Gen sound.
Hi Pauli,
Alexa's voice is most certainly more muffled on the 3rd Gen, I have already raised this with Amazon and asked if the 'sound' settings in the app can reflect Alexa's voice as well as the music playback. The 2nd Gen is clearer out of the box and easier to hear Alexa by a reasonable margin.
For music playback the 3rd Gen runs rings around the 2nd Gen though, not even in the same league. Hopefully Amazon will allow the settings to also affect Alexa's voice in future updates, this will mean the bass can be reduced and mid/treble boosted to get closer to the 2nd Gen voice reproduction.
On the plus side it could be worse, the Echo Plus 2nd Gen I have makes the Echo Dot 3rd Gen seem like it has no bass at all
See what Amazon come up with on future updates.
TT
Just setting one up ,bought on the strength of a friend's 2nd gen, too much bass not enough treble , the voice being worst, Amazon it's not all about the bass no treble, please update it
What steps have you taken to redress the situation? You are aware that the Alexa app has various options for bass, treble and all the other settings? have you contacted Amazon Support team using the HELP link to get hand by hand help in case you are not aware of the many management and settings options you have?
Seriously - both the Amazon and Google voice control options have many, MANY options that you can control - please check them out and find out which suits your needs as closely as possible.
If you have a specific issue with a specific Amazon issue then perhaps this Customer-2-Customer forum may be able to help you. Sweeping generalizations mean that we can not easily help you :(
I wonder why someone would follow their own alternative forum profile.
Wow, you sound really rude, CombatWombat. You don't get to dismiss what people are experiencing just because *you* aren't experiencing it. I literally just commented on a different forum with people experiencing the exact same problem. The music is great on my 3rd gen, but Alexa's voice sound incredibly muffled, and it's hard to understand her at all unless I turn the volume way up. I have tried everything I can with the equalizer and I only notice a di
(sorry, dropped my phone lol)
Only notice a difference in the music. It does NOTHING for her voice. My 2nd gens are crisp and clear compared to this one.
So people are not imagining this problem. Lots of people have posted about it.
Here's a (1 star) review someone left on Amazon for the 3rd gen. If you spend some time reading through the reviews, other people mention similar issues.
"Very disappointing. Alexis sounded like she was under a thick blanket. After talking with customer service, we tried various things which did not help. They said send it back and they sent another which I received in two days. It seemed a little better but not much. I have two 2nd gen echo dots and they are fine. I found both 3rd gens to have a very muddy bass sound on music and the high end sounds frequently were slightly distorted. Alexis' voice was so muffled that her voice was unintelligible at times. I sent the second one back for a refund and bought a second gen echo which is just fine. I think they got the design wrong on this one. In trying to make it sound fuller for music, they actually made the sound less clear and sharp.
I must add that the customer service experience was a very pleasant one."
Glad to hear that I am not the only one with this problem. And glad to find out that the bass/treble settings don't affect the Alexa voice, which was my impression. I have two 2nd gen units and love them. I thought the 3rd gen would be even better, but the audio is a big step backward. I hope Amazon will push out a firmware upgrade to fix this.
My 2nd gen Dot just quit working entirely - power component is toast - and I am heartbroken because my 3rd gen Dot is useless for voice (weather, news, etc.) due to the heavy bass making voice nearly unintelligible. Great for music but pointless for all else.
Yes, I've adjusted settings. It is clearly a hardware/firmware issue with the 3rd gen Dots as I've seen so many other complaints about the same thing. Can't buy 2nd gens on Amazon any longer - searching ebay now.
Huge fail that there's not a 'clear voice' option or setting (my TVs all have it) to supplement music settings.
Have you tried moving it somewhere else
Definitely agree on the poor sound (with regard to spoken words).
Both of my 3rd gen echo dot voice sound very muffled. Spoken words sound very tick and not clear at all, as if they come from behind a pillow. I've adjusted treble and bass, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.
I am certain I'm not imagining this as there are LOTS of posts reporting this problem - I certainly hope Amazon can push out a firmware/software update to address this. I expect(ed) better from Amazon.