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Looking to fill your rooms with music? Our team of audio experts spent weeks living with the 7 best home wireless speakers. We consulted an audio engineer to develop an exclusive testing plan, and then we proceeded to listen to a huge variety of music. Our teams tested these speakers side-by-side to evaluate sound quality, user-friendliness, maximum volume, quality of wireless connection, and how easily they integrate into a multi-speaker system. Whether you want a speaker for every room of your home or a single melodious machine for your main living area, our in-depth review will help you find the best wireless speaker for your needs and budget.
Editor's Note: Our wireless speaker review was updated on August 1, 2024, to include more specs for our award-winning picks, to report on a name change for one of the Bose models in our test, and to share info on a new version of the Sonos Move.
Since our test period, Bose has changed the name of this product from Home Speaker 500 to Smart Speaker 500, but it appears that there have been no feature or design changes with the new name.
If you're looking for a single speaker that is stylish, sleek, and floods your main living areas with rich sound at the touch of a button, the Bose Home Speaker 500 is the best of the bunch. It eschews most Bose speakers' relatively bass-heavy sound profile for exceptional clarity that beautifully renders every single note. At the same time, it retains enough bass heft to anchor that clarity in a soundscape that makes just about every genre of music sound spectacular. Backing that up with the convenience of Bluetooth, WiFi connectivity, and Alexa, we believe this platform can easily handle all of your musical needs.
Besides the steep price point, our only real grievance with the Home Speaker 500 is that it doesn't nest into a multi-speaker system nearly as easily as the comparable models from Sonos. Although capable of linking up to many of Bose's more recent offerings, this speaker is not compatible with all Bose devices you might already own. Therefore, we recommend checking for compatibility if that's a key consideration in your decision-making. Even if you're lucky enough to have compatible products, we've still found the Bose app isn't anywhere near as intuitive as the Sonos app when managing multiple speakers. If you're searching for a single speaker to fill up your main living space, the Home Speaker 500 is our top recommendation. Still, we'd recommend a different model, like the Sonos Five, if you plan on building a multi-speaker system.
If you're looking for a beastly behemoth to anchor your multi-speaker system, look no further than the Sonos Five. This recently redesigned speaker offered both the loudest sound and best quality in our testing, earning it top marks in fullness, bass power, and overall clarity. We also love that it nests perfectly within the Sonos ecosystem, which in our opinion, is the best and most convenient platform for building and managing a multi-speaker system.
A drawback with Sonos speakers is they don't include Bluetooth connectivity. In most situations, this isn't a big issue. That said, the device won't be useful anywhere there isn't WiFi or if your WiFi goes down (Apple users can work around this with AirPlay). The premium sound also comes with a premium price. Lastly, this new speaker is one of Sonos' first that is not compatible with its older models. The only non-compatible devices are from the very early days of the company, and thus, shouldn't affect most users. However, if you do own older Sonos devices, be sure to check that they're compatible with the latest version of the Five. Overall, if you are willing to pay top dollar for best-in-class sound quality and can make do without a Bluetooth connection, the Five definitely deserves a place in your living room. Those who prefer Bluetooth connectivity might be happier with another multi-speaker option like the Sonos Move.
If you want a speaker to move throughout your house and on the go while still maximizing sound quality, the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II is ideal. The lightest speaker we tested, we were consistently impressed by its excellent sound design, which was never sacrificed at the altar of portability. If you feel the need to push this speaker beyond its singular capabilities, our testing found that the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II's appropriately titled “party mode” allowed seamless pairing with other Bose SoundLink speakers. It can also link with the Bose Home series speakers via Bose SimpleSync. Furthermore, this speaker has an incredible battery life, a testament to this speaker's tremendous portability both within the home and on excursions out.
Although this small speaker is powerful enough to compete in this category, the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II lacks some features. Unlike much of the competition, this speaker does not come enabled with Alexa or Google Home; instead, it operates only with programs such as Google Assistant. Its range of connectivity is also not as diverse, with Bluetooth functioning as the only option to play music wirelessly on the device. This model cannot connect to streaming services via WiFi. Despite the limitations of the form, the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II still provides a solid audio experience, whether at home or on the go. Those shopping for a model with Alexa and Google Home compatibility should consider one of our other top-performing contenders, like the relatively compact Bose Home Speaker 500.
New Version Available
Sonos released the successor to the Move, the Move 2. This redesigned speaker reports double the battery life and improved sound. We've yet to test it for ourselves, but we're linking to the new model in this review.
Once you become accustomed to the harmonious tones of a high-end home speaker, it can be a sobering disappointment that said speaker couldn't accompany you into the backyard during nice weather. Enter the Sonos Move. Its internal battery can provide up to 10 hours of wireless listening enjoyment (and the new Move 2 claims up to 24 hours in battery life, which is a claim we haven't yet been able to test). It sounds great and looks handsome when sitting on its charging dock in your living room, and then it can easily be moved into the backyard to provide a harmonious soundtrack for volleyball games and barbeques. It even sports IP56 water/dust resistance, meaning it can shed pool splashes and rain showers without harm. If your WiFi doesn't quite reach into your backyard, this is the only Sonos speaker that offers Bluetooth connectivity that allows you to beam music directly from your phone to the speaker without a WiFi network. It also features built-in Alexa and Google Assistant.
Unfortunately, that beloved portability comes at a higher price. Also, with long battery life comes more bulk. Weighing in at 6.6 pounds, the Sonos Move is noticeably heavy and larger than comparable hard-wired models. Though this is fine for the backyard, you probably won't want to lug it on picnics or to the beach. The Sonos Move is best for individuals who demand quality indoor and outdoor sound. Still, if you want a lightweight speaker for maximum portability, look at the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II.
With great sound quality at an approachable price, the Sony SRS-RA3000 packs a punch with innovative 360 Reality Audio and HiFi streaming capabilities. This speaker offers a wide array of connectivity options, including built-in Google Chromecast capabilities, which we found to work seamlessly and be the best way to play HiFi tracks. In conjunction, the Sony SRS-RA3000 utilizes 360 Reality Audio, a style of playing that projects sound throughout the room, a process that impressively mimics the experience of listening to live musical performances. This speaker technology, paired with the HiFi tracks, allows the Sony SRS-RA3000 to produce a listening experience that truly feels next-gen. Important to note this is not HiFi in the traditional speaker lingo. Rather, these tracks are audio files with lossless compression, providing a fuller and richer sound.
Still, the Sony SRS-RA3000 has some downsides. Most notably, the app system for controlling the speaker is convoluted. The primary app, Sony Music Center, only controls basic speaker settings. Many other functions are only accessible via multiple third-party apps, each requiring separate apps. Even though it boasts an incredible audio experience, we encountered several instances when the bass dominated the output, overpowering some of the softer elements of the music. Our testing also indicated that the sound had a hard time carrying over long distances despite filling the room excellently. Drawbacks aside, those shopping for a speaker to fill a living room with a high-quality auditory field will find the Sony SRS-RA3000 offers an excellent experience. If you want better bass and a more user-friendly app, check out the Sonos Five instead.
The SRS-RA3000 is a great choice, despite its somewhat overpowering bass.
Credit: Laura Casner
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The new Bose Music app and Bose Home Speaker 500 is one of the most user-friendly combinations we have ever tested.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
How We Test Wireless Speakers
We researched over 50 wireless speakers for your home before selecting the most compelling to bring into our testing lab. To ensure unbiased reviews, we never accept free samples from any manufacturers. We then put them through exhaustive, side-by-side sound quality tests. Once we'd found the most (and least) sonorous, we played music through each from every possible source, including over WiFi, via Bluetooth, and through audio cables to identify each speaker's quirks and perks. And for the speakers that support syncing within a multi-speaker system, we used them as such in multiple configurations. We also used each device in numerous homes and various rooms to understand how well the sound carries in different environments. All while paying attention to their sound quality, user-friendly features, maximum sound volume, and connectivity options.
Our testing of wireless speakers is divided into four different metrics:
Sound Quality (40% of overall score weighting)
User Friendliness (20% weighting)
Volume (20% weighting)
Connectivity (20% weighting)
For more on our test process, check out our complete How We Test article.
Why You Should Trust Us
We consulted with audio recordist Palmer Taylor in designing the sound quality testing procedure for this review. Palmer has completed numerous audio recording projects, mostly focusing on location audio. Since 2005 he has worked with a long list of impressive clientele, including Google, National Geographic, and Animal Planet. Serving as authors and testers for this review, Steven Tata and Max Mutter have led TechGearLab's audio reviews since early 2016. As a result, they've used and tested nearly 200 of the most compelling consumer audio products on the market.
Analysis and Test Results
The ubiquity of music streaming services has turned our smartphones into the main device where folks access their music. Many use earbuds or headphones, but home wireless speakers now make it easy and seamless to fill your home with music beamed through your phone.
We scored these speakers according to four weighted metrics: overall sound quality, volume, general user-friendliness, and how simple they are to connect to the mobile devices through which many people consume media.
What's the Best Value?
For those willing to shell out a little more cash for premium sound, we think the Bose Home Speaker 500 and the Sonos Five offer the best performance for use as single and multi-speaker systems, respectively. If you're looking for something more wallet-friendly, we think the Amazon Echo Studio offers great value and exceptional clarity on a budget.
Sound Quality
The most important aspect of any speaker is how it sounds, so sound quality is the most heavily weighted metric in our scores. Sound quality is inherently subjective, but after testing numerous audio products, we've realized that bass and treble quality, dynamic range (the volume difference between loud and soft notes), and overall clarity are what most people respond to when evaluating whether something sounds good. Thus, our testing focuses on listening to a wide range of music on our speakers, one right after another, and judging those four qualities. All told we found all of these speakers to sound good, and we honestly think most people would be pleased with even the lowest-scoring model. However, you can get exceptional sound if you pay a little extra for one of the high-scoring models.
If you want premium sound and don't mind digging deeper into your pockets, you can't go wrong with either the Bose Home 500 or the Sonos Five. Both earn top scores in our sound quality metric. These speakers deliver superb clarity and deep, rumbling bass. The Five is larger and pricier than the Bose 500 and, in our opinion, produces a bit more bass power and a slightly fuller sound. Still, neither model will have any trouble filling your main living area with exceptional-sounding tunes.
The Sonos Five delivers top-notch sound.
Credit: Laura Casner
For those looking for an exceptional product, but less pricy, both the Amazon Echo Studio and the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II are very easy to recommend. With slightly better sound quality and a more affordable price, the Amazon Echo Studio really blew us away with its innovative 3D Audio and excellent sound design. The Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II, although pricier, sacrifices a minor drop in sound quality for the incredible ease and convenience of portability which the Amazon Echo Studio very much does not possess.
Coming in only slightly lower, the Sony SRS-RA3000 offers the finest audio experience in the rapidly growing field of HiFi music, offering an enviable sound quality markedly cheaper than its top-shelf competition. Coupled with the ability to play lossless HiFi audio tracks, audiophiles should check out the dynamic sound experience the Sony SRS-RA3000 has to offer.
With room-filling sound, the Sony SRS-RA3000 works well in nearly any interior location.
Credit: Laura Casner
We find Sonos and Bose to offer some of the most accessible top-tier sound quality on the market. Still, that's not to say there aren't other brands in this space that are worth listening to. For example, while the Marshall Stanmore II lacks the near-perfect balance of bass and clarity that the top models possess, its guitar amp pedigree grants a certain brashness that particularly flatters classic rock. Moreover, the Amazon Echo Studio and the Sony SRS-RA3000 both offered top-quality sound, each with its own audio innovations, 3D Audio, and ambient room-filling sound.
The Bose Home series allows you to program 6 music streaming presets, providing access to your favorite pandora or Amazon Music stations at the push of a single button.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
User Friendliness
While home wireless speakers are overall simple devices, certain features can make them more user-friendly than others. This is particularly true if you want to link multiple speakers together. A separate remote control can also help you connect the speaker to a smart device like Alexa or Google Home. That way, you don't have to yell, “Alexa, volume up,” twelve times when your favorite jam starts playing. We tested user-friendliness by using, tinkering, adjusting, and playing with our speakers side-by-side while paying close attention to how easy it was to complete basic and more advanced tasks.
Smart Home Compatibility
Generally speaking, any speaker equipped with a physical line input has the potential to connect to a smart home device. However, you may need to occasionally wake the speaker up to ensure it's still on when you talk to your smart home device.
The Sonos Move has Google Home and Alexa capabilities built-in.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
All Bose and Sonos speakers we tested (minus the Bose Revolve+ II, which only offers Siri and Google assistants) offer Alexa and Google Home compatibility to work seamlessly with any associated smart devices. Additionally, the Bose Home series, the Sonos Move, and the Sony SRS-RA3000 feature Alexa and Google Home capabilities built right in.
The Sony SRS-RA3000 comes with both Alexa and Google Home pre-installed.
Credit: Laura Casner
The Marshall Stanmore II has Alexa built-in. You can also plug an Alexa-enabled device into the original Marshall Stanmore to turn it into a smart speaker. For the premium Alexa experience, however, the Amazon Echo Studio has been engineered from the ground up for that purpose, with several Alexa-related tactile inputs and full control through the Alexa app. For the more private music listener, the Amazon Echo Studio also comes equipped with an option to disable ambient listening without disabling the device.
Multi-Speaker Systems: Bose vs. Sonos
While a few different manufacturers offer speakers that can be synced together into a single system, Bose and Sonos both offer more multi-speaker options than most. In our opinion, these brands have been the most successful at creating pleasant user experiences.
The Sonos App makes finding music and managing multiple speakers incredibly easy.
We think Sonos offers the easiest way to build a multi-speaker system. The Sonos app offers an intuitive and streamlined way to manage multiple speakers and to do more advanced things like connecting a soundbar to speakers to create a true, 5.1 surround sound system. Additionally, most Sonos speakers are compatible, so you rarely risk getting a new speaker and realizing it won't play nice with your current speakers.
The Bose Music App is quite easy to use, but only works with Bose's latest models.
Bose has definitely stepped up their app game recently. However, even with these improvements, we still find managing multiple-speaker systems on the Sonos app considerably easier. Additionally, Bose has multiple families of speakers, and generally, speakers from one family can only work in conjunction with other speakers from that same family. For example, many speakers we tested a few years ago don't work with the newest family of speakers that have come out. That being said, all of the Bose products in this review are compatible with Bose Simplesync, which allows seamless pairing and multi-device audio play. However, older Bose speakers, even those from only a few years ago, may not have these capabilities.
Sonos Compatibility Restrictions
In May 2020, Sonos released new speakers incompatible with some of its oldest products. These newer speakers (including the Five) can only run with the latest S2 app, and some of the company's older products don't have enough processing power to keep up with the said app. These older products generally were not the most popular, so this change hopefully won't affect too many customers. If you do own one of these products, Sonos is offering a trade-in program where you can send in your older products and get a 30% discount on their upgraded versions. Additionally, all products made from here on out will only work with the S2 app and thus will not connect with the oldest, non-S2 compatible products. Bottom line, if you own one of these older products, you'll either have to upgrade or not use any of the company's newest products (or create two separate Sonos systems in your home, but having two groups of speakers that can't talk to one another kind of negates a lot of what makes Sonos great).
Single-Speaker Systems
Viewed through the lens of single-speaker systems, we give Bose the edge in user-friendliness. This is mainly because of the simplicity and versatility of all Bose speakers' Bluetooth connections. This capability is somewhat of a glaring absence in most Sonos speakers. Additionally, most Bose speakers offer remote controls, which can be super useful for quick volume adjustments. Creating an account or downloading an app is not required to make the most of their functionality.
The Marshall Stanmore includes on speaker bass and treble adjustments, a rarity for these types of speakers.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Sonos is a small step below Bose in terms of user-friendliness for single-speaker use. As mentioned, its primary disadvantage is the lack of Bluetooth, which forces you to connect only through WiFi or a cable. We really like this app for its ease of managing a multi-speaker system, but the lack of Bluetooth capabilities still felt limiting. You can't just quickly connect to any device without first downloading the app and logging into various accounts (Pandora, Spotify, etc.). This also makes it very difficult to make a Sonos speaker the main audio output for your device (i.e., even with the Sonos app on your computer, you can't play YouTube or Netflix through the speaker). If you have an Apple device, you can get around all these issues by using AirPlay, but Android and Windows users are mostly out of luck.
Controlling everything through the app means you're always streaming music over your WiFi network by default, offering some distinct advantages over using a direct speaker-to-phone Bluetooth connection. For instance, your music will never be interrupted when your phone dings with an alert, and WiFi will generally provide a slightly higher quality stream than Bluetooth would. Sonos does not include remote controls for any of its speakers, again requiring you to rely on the app.
The Amazon Echo Studio provides Amazon's best combination of Alexa and speaker system to date.
Credit: Laura Casner
Volume
Maximum volume probably won't be a serious consideration for the majority of speaker shoppers. Unless you live in a palatial mansion, all of the models we tested will easily be able to fill any single room in your home with sound. However, suppose you're throwing a house party and filling that space with many sound-absorbing humans. In that case, you might notice a difference between the relative maximum volumes of different models. Our volume testing involved objectively measuring each speaker's maximum volume with a decibel meter and subjectively evaluating how much sound quality deteriorated at higher volumes and how loud each model made our 600-square-foot testing room feel.
The Sonos Five is the loudest of the speakers we tested. Its large size and powerful drivers allowed it to get uncomfortably loud in our testing room without sacrificing any sound quality. Clustered below, the Bose Home Speaker 500, the Sonos Move, and the Marshall Stanmore II all received comparable scores in our volume testing. All of these speakers easily filled our large testing room with sound, even when many sound-absorbing bodies were present. We highly doubt any of these speakers will leave anyone wanting for volume.
The Five provides impressive, room-filling sound.
Credit: Laura Casner
Despite its relatively short stature, we found the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II to be quite loud. This model provides more than enough volume to keep an apartment or living room full of guests entertained.
The portable Bose SoundLink Revolve+ II never fails to fill the room or outside area with great sound.
Credit: Laura Casner
Connectivity
The more ways you can connect to a speaker, the more versatile it is. Obviously, for wireless speakers, a Bluetooth or WiFi connection is paramount. However, it can often be nice to have a physical line input for smart home devices whose software may not play nice with the speaker or for those days when mysterious atmospheric conditions mess with your wireless networks. Having an app that can communicate with your speaker also allows for more customization of settings.
The Bose Home speakers offer the most connection options. There is a standard Bluetooth connection, and you can stream music through your WiFi network via the Bose Music apps. Unfortunately, we noticed the app is finicky at times. We recommend defaulting to the standard Bluetooth connection unless you're managing a multi-speaker system. Regardless, all of Bose's home wireless speakers have a 3.5mm auxiliary input. The Bose Home series also supports Apple AirPlay.
The Sonos Move is the first speaker from the company to offer a Bluetooth connection, as indicated here by its blue status light.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Most of Sonos connectivity is based on the Sonos app, which acts as a remote control for streaming music from the likes of Pandora, Spotify, or Amazon Music directly to the speakers through a WiFi or ethernet connection. Those with Apple devices can also beam music or other audio directly to the speaker. Sonos speakers, however, lack a Bluetooth connection, so Android and Windows users will have trouble doing things like watching Netflix while sending the audio to their Sonos system. The Move is one notable exception and is the first Sonos speaker with Bluetooth capability.
Although more niche plugins are lacking, Chrome Cast functionality is a major plus for the Sony SRS-RA3000.
Credit: Laura Casner
Our connectivity metric had two dark horses, neither of which was prefixed with the name Sonos or Bose. The Sony SRS-RA3000 and the Marshall Stanmore II both received the highest marks for their connectivity prowess, vastly outperforming the lesser scorers in the metric. We especially loved the Sony SRS-RA3000's ability to seamlessly play HiFi tracks via Google Chromecast.
The stylish Marshall Stanmore II offers a plethora of connectivity options: Bluetooth, WiFi, 3.5mm AUX input; it even has Alexa built-in.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Conclusion
A great home speaker, or better yet, a group of great home speakers, can add ambiance and entertainment to your main living space, imbue friendly gatherings with joy and frivolity, and make getting ready for work in the morning just a bit more bearable. We hope our testing results have helped you find the perfect speaker for your needs and budget, so you can let the music seep into your soul.
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Max Mutter, Michelle Powell, Steven Tata, and Conrad Salonites
