Best Smart Speakers: Since the category’s inception with Amazon’s Echo all those years ago, our crew has reviewed smart speakers: We are convinced that the Sonos One (Gen 2) will be great for most people after hundreds of hours of listening, controlling smart home functions, and generally getting the various voice assistants to do our bidding. Whatever speaker you choose, you might be astonished by what smart speakers are capable of.
We chose the Sonos One because it is not only a terrific smart speaker but also an excellent wireless speaker, even if you don’t use voice commands very often. It easily handles the smart home while simultaneously delivering on audio quality to impress audiophiles. However, there are several fantastic smart speakers worth considering, especially if you have a specific need.
Sonos One (Gen 2): Best Smart Speakers
Sonos One is a powerful smart speaker with built-in voice control. Get rich, room-filling sound with Sonos one, and control it with voice, the Sonos app, Apple Airplay2, and more. Amazon Alexa is built right in so you can play music, check the news, set alarms, get your questions answered, and more, completely hands-free. The compact design fits just about any space. Put it on your kitchen countertop or tuck it away on your office bookshelf. It’s humidity resistant so you can even put it in the bathroom. Pair two Sonos ones together in the same room for stereo separation and more detailed sound. Use a pair as rear home theater surrounds with Playbar, Playbase, or Beam. Connect wirelessly to other Sonos speakers to enjoy brilliant sound in any or every room.
The second-generation version of the Sonos One is even more user-friendly, with an updated design that adds touch controls and incorporates Bluetooth 5.0 for a variety of connection options. Its core features still remain, however, including the ability to choose between Alexa or Google Assistant and to link with other Sonos speakers through Wi-Fi to fill the room with even more sound.
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Amazon Echo Dot with Clock: Best Budget Smart Speaker
Amazon hit a home run with its fourth-generation Amazon Echo Dot. This version is a significant change from prior generations, owing to the obvious spherical shape – one that is surely eye-catching! Aside from the updated style, this edition allows you to tell the time in an instant. There’s another one designed exclusively for children.
Don’t be fooled by its modest stature; despite its little size, its performance packs a powerful punch. While the Echo Dot (4th Gen) with Clock is intended for smaller places such as offices and bedroom nightstands, the level of bass and power it produces is remarkable. You wouldn’t expect something so small to be of good quality!
The Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) with Clock’s most appealing feature is its low pricing. At $60, it’s affordable for almost any budget, which means you can buy numerous units without breaking the bank! And who doesn’t appreciate that?
Amazon Echo (4th Gen): Best Smart Speakers
The built-in smart home hub lets you easily set up and manage dozens of smart devices that use Zigbee. Just power on compatible lights, plugs, sensors, and locks and say, “Alexa, discover my devices.” The hub also works with select Ring Smart Lighting solar lights and bulbs.
Alexa and Echo devices are built with multiple layers of privacy protection. Echo smart speakers have a microphone off button that electronically disconnects the microphones. You also have control over your voice recordings and can view, hear, or delete them at any time. Alexa uses ultrasound motion detection with select features, such as Occupancy Routines. Ultrasound does not emit on your device unless a feature is enabled that uses motion detection to properly function. You can turn motion detection off at any time.
Instantly drop in on other rooms in your home or make an announcement to every room that has a compatible Echo device. Let everyone know dinner is ready, or remind the kids that it’s bedtime. You can also stay in touch with friends and family with hands-free calling.
Set up Guard for free in the Alexa app to get mobile alerts if your Echo device detects the sound of a smoke alarm or glass breaking while you’re away. And subscribe to Guard Plus for even more help protecting your home, like an Emergency Helpline you can call with just your voice and more.
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Google Nest Audio: Best Smart Speaker for Google Assistant
Don’t be fooled by its modest stature; despite its little size, its performance packs a powerful punch. While the Echo Dot (4th Gen) with Clock is intended for smaller places such as offices and bedroom nightstands, the level of bass and power it produces is remarkable. You wouldn’t expect something so small to be of good quality!
The Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) with Clock’s most appealing feature is its low pricing. At $60, it’s affordable for almost any budget, which means you can buy numerous units without breaking the bank! And who doesn’t appreciate that?
You can also pair it with another Google Nest Audio for stereo sound, plus now you can group multiple speakers in other rooms to play your tunes everywhere — while being harmoniously in sync. The best part of the Nest Audio is that you’re not paying a fortune for premium audio with its $100 sticker price. It’s affordable, packs all the intelligence of Google Assistant, and even delivers impressive sound.
Apple HomePod Mini: Best Smart Speaker for Apple Music
Apple certainly learned how tough it can be to complete in the smart speaker space. While its HomePod faced stiff competition when it launched, its sibling in the HomePod Mini fared much better. Part of that reasoning is that the HomePod Mini was cheaper, while still offering excellent audio performance.
Apple users will appreciate the HomePod Mini in the home because Siri can be leveraged on the speaker to accomplish a number of things, such as turning on the lights, unlocking the door, and much more. When it comes to audio, there’s still a lot of power behind its compact design — but what’s impressive is its ability to adapt to whatever it’s playing. For example, if you’re watching a movie on your television and using the HomePod Mini as your audio source, it’ll tune the audio accordingly so that dialogue won’t be drowned out by the sound effects in the background.
Speaking of home theater experiences, you can achieve that by pairing two HomePod Mini speakers together. In fact, you’d be surprised by how well it sounds compared to a traditional soundbar.
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Sonos Beam (Gen 2): Best Smart Speaker for TV
Even the best televisions often have poor sound quality due to their small built-in speakers, making soundbars an appealing option for many. However, there are numerous soundbars available, and not all of them are as intelligent as the modern home theater requires. That’s where this fantastic Sonos Beam iteration shines.
A compact and well-styled bar, it can easily fit under the smallest of TVs on either a console or on the wall using the optional bracket. Like every Sonos product, it has the impressive sound quality for its size and can become part of a much larger multiroom audio system. The Gen 2 model is further improved with the addition of Dolby Atmos, an important part of home entertainment audio these days. The Sonos app lets you stream from virtually every music service on the planet and it does an excellent job managing your private music collection, too.
However, the Beam was picked for this roundup because of its smart speaker capabilities. It can serve as the hub for a variety of home automation instructions because it can run either Google Assistant or Alexa as its voice assistant. It can convert spoken orders for Google Assistant or Alexa into TV control signals. “Alexa, turn on Bedroom TV,” for example, will accomplish this. Other requests, such as “Alexa, crank up the volume on Bedroom TV,” function just as well, as do equivalent orders for Google Assistant. You can also use an app to control the speaker or utilize it with Apple AirPlay 2.
Bose Portable Home Speaker: Best Portable Smart Speaker
The Bose Portable Smart Speaker is our most versatile smart speaker. It’s a home speaker, a portable speaker, and a voice control speaker, all in one. Around the house, You can move it from room to room — and out of the house, You can take it with you wherever you go. Everywhere your Wi-Fi can reach, you can control the speaker with your voice and use it as an Amazon Alexa speaker or your Google Assistant speaker. You will have access to all the popular music, internet radio stations, podcasts, and more from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, and more.
However, outside the Wi-Fi range, you can control the speaker with your mobile phone or tablet via Bluetooth and listen to anything your device can play. The portable home speaker is designed to distribute audio in every direction at the same time, so whether you put it in the middle of the party or the corner of the room, The sound will come from all around you. And each part of the speaker Works in total harmony to deliver deep, clear, lifelike sound, no matter where you play it, no matter what you listen to.
The Bose portable smart speaker is also engineered with multi-room functionality. That means you can connect it to any other Bose smart speaker or soundbar you’ve got (like the Bose Home speaker 500) for a seamless audio experience throughout your home. Listen to different songs in different rooms, or one song in every room at the same time — and get everybody singing along.
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Marshall Woburn II: Best Smart Speaker for room-filling sound
Delivering a sound that resonates with the presence and power of live music, Woburn II is a carefully crafted machine, designed to Attain the trademark Marshall tone. The largest speaker from Marshall, Woburn II Features a robust sound and hits high trebles cleanly, handles low bass with ease, and has a clear, lifelike mid-range. Two 1” tweeter and dual 5.25” woofers are individually powered by class D amps for a total of 110 watts of power. Bluetooth 5.0 with Qualcomm aptx lets you wirelessly play your music in glorious, stereo sound.
However, Classic Marshall Details such as a textured vinyl covering, salt & pepper fret, and the iconic script logo adorn Woburn ii’s sturdy wooden frame. Located on the front of the speaker is a brass plate, proudly etched with the establishment date of 1962 -a subtle nod to the branded heritage and over 50 years of loud. Just use the Marshall Bluetooth app or the analog controls on your speaker’s top panel to perfect your sound according to the room you are in.
Amazon Echo Studio: Best Smart Speaker for 3D Sound
You will stream your favorite song, artist, album, genre, or playlist via Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, and other platforms. An Amazon Music Unrestricted subscription gives you unlimited access to millions of songs in Ultra HD and a rapidly growing selection of spatial audio, in addition to over 75 million songs in high definition.
Use your voice to set timers, add items to lists, and create calendar events and reminders. You can also check the news, weather, or traffic. Ask for sports scores, movie showtimes, restaurant hours, or information. Connect to and manage your smart home with the built-in hub. Just power on compatible products and say, “Alexa, discover my devices.” Alexa will automatically detect and set them up so you can control lights, plugs, and more with your voice. This simple setup process works with dozens of compatible devices that use Zigbee. Echo Studio also supports every work with Alexa device.
When you wirelessly connect Echo Studio with Fire TV Cube (1st Gen or 2nd Gen), Fire TV Stick 4K, or Fire TV (3rd Gen), you’ll feel scenes come to life. You can also play and control music across multiple Echo devices with multi-room music. Or pair it with a second Echo Studio or Echo Sub for an even bigger, richer sound.
Alexa and Echo devices are built with multiple layers of privacy protection. For example, Echo Studio has a microphone off button that electronically disconnects the microphones.
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