I took it to be a figure of speech/metaphor for getting the Echo in the "natural" way (being given it by Hydalen) vs. getting it in an artificial way. Particularly since getting the Echo artificially seems to be as much of a hindrance as it is a help. From what I could tell in 4.1, Fordola's Echo can't be turned off or ignored and causes her a lot of pain. It certainly doesn't stay in "sleep mode" until she needs to get critical insights into people's motives like ours does. So maybe Zenos' Echo is the "on steroids" version of whoever he got the Echo from?

I kinda wonder if one of the major differences between being "given" the Echo vs "stealing" it is that Hydalen gets to customize the the "version" of the Echo for whoever she is giving it/waking it up in. Getting it artificially means no customization and that throws everything out of whack.