Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Best Alexa Smart Speaker
Amazon Echo (4th Gen)
- As powerful as the Echo Plus
- Strong bass for the size
- Built-in smart home hub
- High frequencies don’t get quite as much finesse as they could
- Alexa can still be awkward to talk to
Channels
Mono
Physical Connections
3.5mm
Built-In Voice Assistant
Amazon Alexa
The fourth-gen Amazon Echo is currently the best value of a speaker for Alexa users who want to listen to audio in the Amazon ecosystem. Beyond the basic weather reports and Amazon Prime Music playback you might expect, the Echo can access Apple Music, Spotify, or SiriusXM—as well as control various smart home devices (including those that use the Zigbee standard) because of the speaker’s built-in hub. And, for a speaker this size, the Echo delivers respectable bass thump.
If hands-free Alexa control is your top priority in a speaker, this is the one for you—it offers solid audio, the ability to control Zigbee smart home devices, and seamless Amazon integrations. Amazon’s AZ1s Neural Edge chip allows some features to run directly on the speaker rather than on Amazon’s servers, which results in more robust, responsive speech recognition.
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Best Computer Speakers
Creative Pebble Pro
- Good audio performance with wide stereo image
- Angled drivers for better audio delivery
- Built-in RGB lighting
- Support for 3.5mm, Bluetooth, and USB-C playback
- Affordable
- Limited Bluetooth codec support
- Separate adapter needed to plug directly into wall outlet
Channels
2
Physical Connections
USB-C, 3.5mm
Built-In Voice Assistant
None
Creative’s Pebble Pro speakers offer fun lighting effects and surprisingly robust sound with real stereo separation for well under $100. We like the wired and wireless playback options, the youthful design, the clean audio, and physical volume knob for quick adjustments.
The Creative Pebble Pro is an affordable and flexible pair of speakers for your computer that provide far more value than their low price would suggest.
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Best Speaker Under $100
Anker Soundcore Motion 300
- Impressive power for its size
- Waterproof build
- Supports the LDAC codec
- Speakerphone
- Custom EQ in app
- Digital signal processing thins out bass at top volumes
Channels
Stereo
Physical Connections
USB-C
Built-In Voice Assistant
None
The Anker Soundcore Motion 300 is an excellent value. It delivers loud stereo sound from a compact frame, supports the AAC and LDAC codecs, and even includes a decent speakerphone. But what makes it stand out is its comprehensive companion app with an adjustable EQ and other customization options. You don’t have to be particularly careful with it around your pool either, thanks to its fully waterproof IPX7 rating.
If you don’t want to spend a lot on an outdoor-ready Bluetooth speaker, this Anker model performs very well for the price. You can even set up two of them to create stereo sound for less than what most of the other options on this list cost.
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Best Apple Smart Speaker
Apple HomePod (2nd Generation, 2023)
- Rich bass response and clear highs
- Room-sensing audio
- Strong mic clarity
- HomeKit and Matter support
- Temperature and humidity sensors
- Expensive
- No user-customizable EQ
- Matter setup issues in testing
Channels
Stereo
Physical Connections
None
Built-In Voice Assistant
Apple Siri
Apple’s newest HomePod looks just as good as the original and sounds even better. It also has some premium features that help justify its high price, including temperature and humidity sensors, seamless compatibility with the Apple TV 4K, support for both Apple HomeKit and Matter smart home devices, and the ability to adjust its sound signature based on the room its in.
As you might expect, the second-generation HomePod makes the most sense if you already have lots of other Apple products or use HomeKit-compatible smart home devices.
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Best Google Assistant Smart Speaker
Google Nest Audio
- Balanced sound with strong, detailed highs
- Supports Bluetooth and Google Cast
- Google Assistant is more useful than ever
- Bass isn’t particularly powerful
Channels
Mono
Physical Connections
None
Built-In Voice Assistant
Google Assistant
The Nest Audio works with Google Cast—you can therefore stream music from your device of choice via any compatible app or any Chrome tab. You can link two Nest Audio speakers to work as a stereo pair, as well as program one to work as a speakerphone. The speaker is relatively compact and stylish, so it’s easy to use them as a building block for your home sound system.
If you’re looking for a speaker that features dedicated, hands-free Google Assistant functionality, the affordable Nest Audio gets our vote. Its voice recognition is solid, as Google Assistant excels at natural language recognition. The audio sounds crisp and clear, plus it can get fairly loud (even if it doesn’t pack a ton of deep bass).
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Best Boombox
Sony ULT Field 7
- Exceptionally powerful audio with thunderous bass
- Dustproof and waterproof design
- Guitar and mic inputs for karaoke
- Built-in LED lights
- Expensive
- Lackluster companion app
Channels
Stereo
Physical Connections
1/4-inch, 3.5mm, USB
Built-In Voice Assistant
None
Sony’s ULT Field 7 is a semi-rugged outdoor powerhouse. This boombox pushes crisp highs, deep bass, and includes a built-in LED light show to adding some color to your nighttime gatherings. Advanced features include multiple wired and wireless inputs, including lossless Bluetooth codecs for high-quality playback. Add in the guitar and mic inputs and IP67 rating for protection against dust and water, and you have a flexible Bluetooth speaker that goes anywhere and does almost anything.
Whether you want to fill your home, backyard, or local park with some bass thump, the ULT Field 7 has the power and high-end features to get it done.
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Best for Spatial Audio
Sonos Era 300
- Room-filling sound with strong bass depth and bright highs
- Supports Dolby Atmos
- Works with Alexa and Sonos voice commands
- Terrific companion app with room analysis and adjustable EQ
- Wide support for music streaming services
- Expensive
- No Google Assistant or Cast support
Channels
Dolby Atmos (4 tweeters, 2 woofers)
Physical Connections
USB-C
Built-In Voice Assistant
Amazon Alexa, Sonos Voice Control
Sonos’ latest high-end standalone speaker, the Era 300, features a unique pinched-capsule design and six drivers that project a huge sound field—it even supports Dolby Atmos spatial audio. Additionally, Amazon Alexa support means you can control it with your voice.
The Era 300 fits right in with other Sonos products as part of a whole-home sound system, and you can pair it with a second identical model for more powerful stereo or surround sound. It’s a centerpiece speaker for any living room where you want immersive audio.
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Best Portable Speaker for iPhone Users
Beats Pill (2024)
- Bright sound with rich bass
- Attractive design
- Dustproof and waterproof
- Flexible USB-C port
- Apple and Google Find My support
- Seamless iOS compatibility
Channels
Stereo
Physical Connections
USB-C
The Beats Pill produces bright sound with rich bass and has an attractive design with a dustproof and waterproof enclosure that comes in multiple colors. iPhone owners will enjoy built-in software controls and advanced tools like USB-C wired playback push high-quality audio that’s crisp and full of bass. Moreover, it supports both the Apple and Google Find My Device networks so you can find it if it’s lost.
Anyone who wants a good-sounding speaker packaged in an appealing design with strong battery life and flexible playback options should pick Beats’ latest Pill.
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Best Party Speaker
Sony ULT Tower 10
- Incredibly loud
- House-shaking bass
- Multiple wired inputs
- Includes wireless mic
- Supports AAC and LDAC codecs
- Expensive
- Exceptionally large and heavy
- Not waterproof
Channels
2
Physical Connections
3.5mm, Optical, USB, 1/4-inch
Built-In Voice Assistant
None
The Sony ULT Tower 10 is a massive speaker that pushes extreme bass and incredible volume levels for filling large spaces—whether indoors or out—with a massive wall of sound. A litany of advanced features include mic and guitar inputs, a customizable light show with a dedicated app, multiple wired and wireless connection options, and support for high-quality Bluetooth playback. It’s the biggest, loudest speaker PCMag has tested.
The Tower is well named. It is the ultimate backyard party machine thanks to its wide variety of features and incredible volume. If you’re throwing a big party that needs big music, this is the speaker for you.
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Best Bookshelf Speakers
Audioengine A1-MR
- Rich, natural, and detailed audio with no digital signal processing
- Multiroom playback via app
- Wired aux input and subwoofer output
- App doesn’t have an EQ
- Not for those seeking powerful bass
- Drivers aren’t angled upward for ideal playback
Channels
Stereo
Physical Connections
3.5mm, Subwoofer Out
Built-In Voice Assistant
None
A true bookshelf speaker set allows you to create a sweet spot for listening in your living room. This system from Audioengine uses Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth, but still has all the wired connections you need for stereo gear. Each A1-MR speaker employs a 2.75-inch, aramid fiber-woven glass composite woofer (with rubber surrounds) and a 0.75-inch silk dome tweeter (with a neodymium magnet) driven by a class-D amplifier that delivers 30 watts of peak power per channel and 15 watts RMS. Like all Audioengine speakers, they also look good.
The Wi-Fi-based A1-MR speakers pair with an app, which makes them ideal for people who want to build a multi-room system (or simply control audio from their phones). The system also works with several music streaming services, such as Amazon Music, Spotify, and Tidal. As for wired audio sources, the 3.5mm input allows for computer connections, while another cable terminates in an RCA jack for stereo gear. And, if you decide you need more deep bass, there’s also a subwoofer/LFE output.
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Buying Guide: The Best Bluetooth and Wireless Speakers for 2024
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Speaker: Which Is Better?
Bluetooth is the most common wireless music streaming standard, but it isn’t the only one. Bluetooth works point-to-point: You pair a transmitter (your phone or computer) with a receiver (your speaker) to play music. It’s direct, (mostly) easy to set up, and lets you stream fairly high-quality music.
Bluetooth generally can’t facilitate multiroom setups by itself, though you can configure some speakers in stereo pairs with the help of an app. Others can create a wireless mesh network among multiple speakers for multiroom audio. The result isn’t quite as high-fidelity or as powerful as Wi-Fi multiroom audio, however.
Wi-Fi audio includes standards like Apple AirPlay and Google Cast, along with various manufacturers’ Wi-Fi streaming platforms. Wi-Fi can handle more bandwidth than Bluetooth, so it supports higher-fidelity audio. It can also integrate into your home network, so you can easily play audio from any device on your network without pairing anything.
The trade-off is that Wi-Fi music systems require a Wi-Fi network; you can’t use them as a portable speaker with your smartphone like you can with Bluetooth models (though many offer Bluetooth pairing as a backup). The different Wi-Fi standards also mean various services might not be available to stream over a given speaker, though this is less of a problem than it has been in the past because of AirPlay, Google Cast, and Sonos’ lengthy lists of supported third-party services.
Which Is the Best Multiroom Audio System?
If you want sound throughout your home, you need more than one speaker. Instead of juggling Bluetooth pairing with each one or physically carrying a speaker from room to room, a multiroom sound system is the way to go. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to manage multiple speakers at once and control playback from one or more sound sources.
Sonos Era 300 (Credit: Tim Gideon)
Sonos speakers tap into the Sonos app to let you access any or all speakers connected to your home network and play music from dozens of different streaming sources as well as local storage.
AirPlay is the Apple-friendly multiroom sound solution. There aren’t any first-party AirPlay speakers besides the Apple HomePod and HomePod Mini, but many other Wi-Fi speakers, including Sonos products, support AirPlay. They let you easily stream from your Apple device at better quality than Bluetooth, but if you’re an Android user, you won’t find much utility in them.
Google Cast is Google’s answer to AirPlay and works similarly. Google Home/Nest devices support Google Cast, as do many Wi-Fi speakers and soundbars. You can incorporate any Google Cast speaker into your Google Home setup and create room-based groupings in the same app as your Google Assistant speakers and smart home devices (if you use Google Home for that).
You can also group and arrange most recent Amazon Alexa/Echo speakers. Like Chromecast, setting up multiroom Echo audio happens through the same app as your voice assistant and smart home devices, only it’s all Alexa instead of Google.
Finally, a few Bluetooth speakers support linking, chaining, and mesh networks. These usually aren’t as complex or robust as Wi-Fi multiroom systems, but they can be a worthy alternative to using your home network to stream music.
What Are the Different Types of Speakers?
Besides the type of wireless connection, you need to think about what style of speaker you want. Smaller, battery-powered speakers (usually Bluetooth) are useful because you can take them anywhere, but they don’t get particularly loud. Larger speakers generally offer fuller sound and richer bass, but they are typically more expensive and less portable.
Besides single speakers, you can also find stereo setups designed for desktop computers and home theater speaker systems like soundbars. These are obviously not portable at all, but if you want a centerpiece sound system for your living room or office they’re likely your best choice.
Sony ULT Tower 10 party speaker (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Which Portable Speaker Sounds the Best?
For a speaker to be portable, it needs to be both small and light enough to easily carry around as well as run on a built-in battery. Of course, “small” and “light” are relative; tiny speakers with carabiners let you clip them to your backpack and take them on hikes, while much bigger and heavier models might be reasonable to only take from room to room in your home. Most Bluetooth speakers are portable, but that’s not a rule by any means. Of course, larger speakers tend to sound better than smaller speakers, but they also aren’t as easy to carry around.
Since Wi-Fi speakers rely on a separate network to enable multi-speaker and multi-room audio playback, they’re rarely portable. After all, portability doesn’t matter if you need an active connection to your home’s hotspot. There are exceptions, though, and Wi-Fi speakers can still be portable if they have batteries, and ideally can create an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network with your phone.
Which Speaker Is Best for Outdoors?
Some rugged speakers can handle splashes, dunks, drops, and gunk. If you try that with others on this list, however, you will end up with an expensive brick. Look for speakers with IP ratings and guarantees of water and shock resistance if you want to carry them around to the beach, the lake, the slopes, or the trail. Our guide to IP ratings explains what those numbers mean, so you can determine whether your speaker can handle a dunk in the pool or only some light splashing.
For more, see our list of the best outdoor speakers.
What Is the Best Bluetooth Speaker for Sound Quality?
Unless portability is at the top of your priority list, sound quality is paramount. Plenty of speakers don’t offer much in the way of features but produce top-notch audio. Big bass isn’t for everyone, but unless your speaker is downright tiny, it should be able to reproduce low frequencies accurately without distortion at high volumes. Clarity is more important than sheer power, and a balanced, clean sound should be your goal. If you want a sound system that can drive a whole party instead of just fill a small room, keep the size of the speaker in mind; generally, the bigger a speaker is, the louder it can get without compromising on sound.
Recommended by Our Editors
Recent versions of Bluetooth (5.0 and up) can transmit high-quality audio, though Wi-Fi still holds an edge purely due to the available bandwidth. If you want to listen to lossless music on services like Tidal, you should probably go with the latter.
If you want to get the most out of your Bluetooth speaker, keep an eye on what Bluetooth codecs it supports. Our guide to Bluetooth codecs goes into more detail but, basically, SBC is the most common and lowest-quality codec for music. If you value audio quality, look for one that supports higher-quality codecs such as AAC or LDAC. We detail this information in each of our reviews.
Do You Need a Smart Speaker?
Voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant let you tell your speaker what to play, but they also provide weather forecasts, sports scores, unit conversions, and even language translations. They generally support third-party skills that let you do anything from ordering pizza to playing trivia games, too. If you have other smart home devices, you might even be able to control them with your voice.
Left to right: Amazon Echo (4th Gen), Apple HomePod mini (Credit: Tim Gideon)
Voice assistant speakers have one universal requirement: Wi-Fi. Without a consistent internet connection, they can’t find your music, answer your questions, or control your smart home devices. These speakers can still be portable and even offer Bluetooth connectivity when you’re away from your network, but those features aren’t a guarantee. The most prominent first-party voice assistant speakers like the Amazon Echo and the Google Nest don’t have batteries and are primarily meant for in-home use.
For more, see our picks for the best smart speakers.
Which Is the Best Bluetooth Speaker for the Price?
Tons of speakers are available at nearly every budget level. Don’t assume, however, that the most money always buys the best overall product. Generally speaking, higher-end models do sound better, but sometimes they lack the features you might expect for the price. The trick is to get the best sound, along with the features you want, at a price you can afford. And, of course, if you want to know about all of those things, you can read our reviews of each speaker.
The easiest way to get the best price is to shop around online. You can often find discounts if you do a little bargain hunting. Don’t be afraid to look for similar speakers to the ones on this list, either; a number of the options here have worthwhile predecessors that you can now find for much less. We’ve also rounded up our favorite Bluetooth speakers for under $100.
For more, see all our latest speaker reviews, And if you want to cut the cord without waking the neighbors, check out our favorite wireless headphones.
