EchoMuse firmware v2.19.0
The Dot's own voicing, the Echo 2nd gen, volume steps like stock, and Echoes that find their way back after a network outage. The voicing, the volume steps and the streaming wake word model need controller 2.27.0 or later; with an older controller the Echo keeps working as it did.
New
- The Dot plays with its own voicing (#229). Measured on the Dot's own driver: a correction for its response, three compressor bands as stock has, and a filter on voice replies. It runs whenever the Dot plays through its own speaker; the headphone jack keeps the plain sound.
- The Echo 2nd gen (radar). The firmware tells radar from the Dot 2 and opens radar's own speaker, with its own voicing tuned against a stock radar: more bass and presence at lower volume, as stock has. Radar runs on emOS v0.11, installed by controller 2.27.0's wizard (#687, #1077).
- Volume steps like stock. The buttons step 1 dB through 36 levels, and the ring shows all of them, with three brightnesses for each of the 12 LEDs. The quietest step is just audible. On radar the quietest step is lower and the button tone 6 dB quieter.
- Barge-in over music (#975). The echo canceller's reference is rebuilt from the firmware's own output instead of the speaker loopback, which carried music's highs folded into the speech band. Barge-in over loud, bass-heavy music at 70% went from 1 in 5 to 4 in 5. Echo paths saved by earlier firmware are discarded once.
- Cheaper wake word scoring (#893, #894). With the streaming embedding model installed by controller 2.27.0, the Echo computes only the new audio on each step: about half the scorer's CPU on a FireOS 5 Echo, with the same scores.
Improved
- Bluetooth proxy scans keep running during live Sendspin music such as Spotify Connect or radio; a group with a proxying Echo starts, pauses and skips about 2 s later (#1004).
- The first word of a command run on from the wake word is kept when the Echo detects the wake word itself (#688).
- Talking over a reply cuts it on the Echo straight away (#688).
- Pairing needs a 7 s hold of the action button, and only asks when the Echo is not on the encrypted link; on an encrypted link the hold reaches Home Assistant as a long press (#841).
- All firmware state lives in
/data/local/etc/echomuse, created if missing.
Fixed
- After a network outage an Echo could stay orange until power-cycled. It now tries its last controller every round (#1081).
- Dots with the tsl2584tsv light sensor had no ambient light, and Amazon's other read path for it corrupted kernel memory, behind reported reboots (#90).
- On emOS the firmware could not resolve any name, so a controller given by hostname never connected.
- A WiFi change to a hidden network never joined it (#1068).
- A song cut off by a dropped data link left its stream open, holding the wake word's lower barge-in bar on for days (#1063).
- On emOS a WiFi change could be refused for minutes because the old link was never released (#1013).
Checked
Full UAT with controller 2.27.0 on four Echoes (FireOS 5, emOS 32-bit, emOS 64-bit, Echo 2nd gen), 2026-11-08: pass. Report: https://github.com/wilbowes/EchoMuse/blob/main/docs/uat-results/2.27.0.md
Known issues
- On the Echo Dot, a voice reply can crackle at 90% volume and above.
- A command spoken straight on from the wake word can lose its first word (#1070).
- Both 3.5 mm jack channels can be silent on emOS (#999).
Thanks
@vithurshanselvarajah, @jcsnider, @sascha-hemi and @colin715 (#687), @wazootyman (#1077), @dhess83 (#1081), @vbtheory (#1004), @jmealo (#688), @griley and @ruhlmcu (#90), @dimartin (#1063) and @Paraxdev (#1013).