Amazon’sEcho devicessupport multi-room audio, but you need to use the Alexa app to group them up. This feature lets you play music across multiple Echo devices in your home at the same time. But there are caveats: the feature is only available in a few countries, and it only supports music, specifically, as well as certain devices and services.
Here’s what you need to know and how to set it up.
Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen)
The sound quality is better than it ever has been, with the same capabilities as its bigger, more expensive siblings.
How does multi-room work on Amazon Echo devices?
Multi-room music/audiois one of those buzz phrases that’s been kicking about for years. It’s a phrase that ultimately refers to what you might expect: audio in multiple rooms. Put simply, it’s the ability to listen to music in several rooms. Depending on the system, you’ll be able to play different music in different rooms at the same time, or the same music in all rooms, or just a couple simultaneously.
In Amazon’s version of multi-room audio, you’re able to create groups with two or more Echo devices. You can name that group - for instance, “upstairs” - and then once you’ve created the group, you can simply say, “Alexa, play John Lennon upstairs.” Alexa will not only play tunes from Amazon Music but also other streaming services, depending on your location.
In addition, some versions of the Echo will support stereo pairing, but it really depends on what generation and model of Echo speaker you have. Essentially, you’ll want to use like with like - so the Echo (4th gen) with another Echo (4th gen) - but there are some other options. You can find acompatibility chartright here.
How do you group Alexa devices for multi-room music?
you may register two or more Alexa-enabled devices to one Amazon account. Once you do that, you must put them all on the same Wi-Fi network, and then you can get them set up for multi-room music using the Alexa app, which includes creating a group for them.
When ready, update and open the Amazon Alexa app on your mobile device, and then follow these steps:
Which Echo devices support the feature?
But there might be limitations depending on what you’re trying to combine with what else, but these will be listed in the app when trying to group speakers together.
Which music services support the feature?
You can use Alexa to control multi-room music from Amazon Music, Prime Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Sirius XM, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio. Keep in mind the feature does not support any Bluetooth connections while streaming, such as to external speakers, unless it’s a wired connection to an external speaker (like from the Echo Dot). You also can’t fast-forward or rewind for music playback.
If you’re using Amazon Music, you cannot use multi-room groups if you’re on the Individual Plan or Single Device Plan.
Amazon Echo (4th generation)
The standard Echo is the pick of the range for most people.
Alexa multi-room commands
Here are some examples of things you can say:
This all sounds great, but Alexa has to interpret that you want to play on the group and can sometimes take the group name as part of the song or service you are choosing. Generally speaking, it’s easy to get your default music service to play songs on a group, but you also get full control from the Alexa app.
This means you’re able to go to the playing section of the app, select the content you want and then where you want it to play - you’ll not only have your Echo devices listed, but also your group.
If you’re a Spotify user, groups also roll into Spotify Connect, so you may choose music from the Spotify app directly, then pick the group of speakers you want it to play on.
Does it work with non-music content?
No. Amazon’s multi-room music feature does not work with non-music content, skills or other things, but it will work (after a fashion) with Audible books. We’ve only managed to get this to work from the Alexa app, but this could be something you do to have a book read to kids at bedtime in separate rooms.
