Amazon’s Echo Link Amp is now available to turn your speakers into an Alexa device

Amazon’s Link Amp is available for purchase today, priced at $299. The Link Amp lets users connect their speakers or headphones with Alexa devices to stream hi-fi music from services like Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, and Tidal. It’s got a built-in 60-watt, two-channel amplifier, plus multiple input and output lines to be compatible with most speakers.

Amazon first announced the Link and Link Amp back in September, signaling the company’s foray into the home audio space with Sonos as its main competitive target. But while Sonos has Alexa-compatible devices, neither the Link nor the Link Amp have microphones, so they need to be connected to another Echo device if you want to use voice commands for music playback. But the point of the Link Amp is to be the link between your Echo devices and more powerful speakers, so you can turn a dumb speaker into a smart one, and create multi-room music groups with them.

It’s a much cheaper option than the $599 Sonos Amp, which also helps loop speakers into an internet-connected, multi-room audio setup (although obviously that’s only useful if you have a Sonos setup already).

The Link and Link Amp are also available in the UK, Germany, Japan, India, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand today.