Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock

I purchased an M1 Macbook Pro at the end of 2022, and ever since have been juggling a mess of dongles and adapters to give me the connectivity I need. This puts an end to all of that -- with just one cable!The Sonnet Echo 20 has given me all the connectivity I need and more in a relatively small, well-built package.Several of the dongles I've purchased in the past year have required some kind of driver to get working properly, which Apple makes a pain to set up. This dock doesn't require any drivers. I plugged it in for the first time, and it just worked.I have a 1440p 49" ultrawide monitor, and this thing handles it great! Other USB hubs I've bought will only send a maximum of 1080p signal to my monitor, yet they claim to be able to handle 4K @ 60fps. This dock has no problems sending a true 1440p signal to my monitor and did so without having to go into display settings to fiddle around with the resolution.I am a music producer and have been running my audio interface through this dock for a while, and I've experienced no noticeable added latency or drop in audio quality.I also have a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB installed into the M.2 slot, and it has been working flawlessly.Overall, this is a great dock. It works out of the box with no additional setup required, is built to last, and has been a pleasure to use. I plan to continue using it for years to come.

I love this dock. I tried a couple of different ones and this one just works. It allows me to plug my M2 macbook pro into my UA Apollo thunderbolt, NI Komplete Kontrol Keyboard, several hardrives, multiple monitors all with one included TB4 cable. It even powers the Komplete Kontrol keyboard via the single USB C cable and it powers the Macbook too so truly one cable is all you need to plug in. It makes it so easy to take the computer with me without dismantling the entire studio. The SD card slot is fast, and I have so many inputs that are not in use. I haven't even installed a hard drive in this beast and i still think it crushes the direct competition for a much cheaper price.

The dock works decently well and it is less expensive than its major competitor, the Caldigit TS4. I am running it with an M3 MacBook Pro and there are clearly issues with HDMI connectivity. I am connecting to two 1080p monitors, one via the dock HDMI port and one via a USB-C to HDMI adaptor connected to the dock. The monitor connected to the HDMI port will often not be detected as a display so only one of my monitors is usable. Turning the computer off, monitor off, dock off, or unplugging the HDMI cables do not fix this issue. I am simply not able to connect that monitor until it randomly starts working again. There appear to be HDMI handshake problems that even 'Detect Displays' in display settings cannot fix.I have worked around this issue by connecting both monitors via usb-c to HDMI adaptors, which is an annoying way to solve this issue. I don't recommend this product.

Pros:• Number of USB ports. You will be hard pressed to find a dock with as many USB A and C ports as this one has.• SSD slot. Great for backups or added storage.• Size. As with most Thunderbolt docks, this is large and heavy. You will not want to travel with it. But that is where your manufacturer’s power supply and a cheap USB-C hub come it.Cons:• No MicroSD card slot. You can use the SD card slot with an adapter, but most people are using MicroSD cards these days for everything except for photos.• Price. At $300 MRP, this is in the upper-mid range for quality docks. I do think the SSD capability and number of USB (C and A) makes it worth the price.I have had USB-C-powered laptops (a 2019 and a 2023 HP Spectre x360 13.3” models) for 3-1/2 years. In that time, I have used several cheaper USB-C hubs. While these can be great for business trips, I wanted something more powerful to have at my office desk allowing me to leave my normal charger at home.And so, I spent a couple of months talking with respected IT friends and doing my research for the best Thunderbolt dock for my needs. I wanted at least one (possibly two) HDMI 2.1 ports. One or two Thunderbolt USB-C outputs. Three or more USB-A 10Gbps ports. Headset combo jack.The Echo 20 SuperDock more than met those needs. I have my Samsung 32” 4K monitor plugged into the HDMI 2.1 port. A KYY 15.6” 1080p portable monitor plugged into one of the USB-C Thunderbolt ports. A Logitech Unifying USB receiver is plugged into one of the rear USB-A ports. My headset for Zoom meetings and audio recording is plugged into the headphone jack.Many Thunderbolt docks sacrifice the number of Thunderbolt USB-C ports in exchange for adding another DisplayPort or HDMI port. I prefer more Thunderbolt ports and fewer HDMI or DisplayPorts because that allows more flexibility. It is easy enough to use a USB-C-to-HDMI or a USB-C-to-DisplayPort adapter or cable. And many newer monitors are coming with USB-C video input. My Samsung 32” can do either USB-C or HDMI 2.1 input so I chose HDMI so that it isn’t using up a Thunderbolt port unnecessarily. My KYY portable monitor can use either HDMI or USB-C so I chose one of the Thunderbolt ports as that will provide it with both video and power resulting in fewer cables on my desk.I now just take my laptop back and forth from the office rather than also needing to remember a charger, mouse, and cheap hub. And I don’t have to fumble around with lots of cables. Just plug in the Thunderbolt cable from the dock to my laptop’s USB-C power port and I and up and running.And the ability to have an SSD installed in the dock means I am more likely to remember to backup my files more regularly. I installed a WD Black 1TB SN770 NVME into the slot in the dock, mounted the drive on my computer (YOU MUST DO THIS BEFORE THE SSD WILL SHOW UP ON YOUR COMPUTER), and then configured SyncBackPro to backup the desired folders onto the dock. I no longer need to plug an external drive into a USB port in order to do a backup. As long as I am connected to the dock, I just run the backup profile group.Some people have complained about not having drivers for Windows 11. You do not need any special drivers. Any drivers for the dock are included in Windows. If you are having issues with a specific device, it is not an issue with the Sonnet Echo but rather an issue with your device.