If you don't know where to start, fear not. We have lined up a list of the best smart speakers in various categories to help you decide which one to add to your home. The best overall choice is the Sonos One (Gen 2) due to its price, performance, and interoperability with multiple platforms.
When we talk about the best smart speakers, a lot of people jump to the Amazon devices. The name of the voice assistant has become synonymous with the category, yet Amazon wasn't the first player. The speakers are not the best for every consumer.
Our top pick for the best smart speaker is the one from the pioneer, the Sonos One. It is the perfect size to set on an end table, desk, or bookshelf and can be used with dozens of other Sonos devices as part of a larger speaker network. It has a vibrant, room-filling sound for its size, and it is compatible with Amazon, Apple, and others.
We think the best all-around option is the Amazon Echo. This iteration of the popular smart speaker underwent its most drastic design change ever, taking on a futuristic spherical shape to better spread the sound around the room. It has a smart hub for better home automation controls.
The best option for a smart speaker with a screen is the Nest Hub Max. It's the perfect device for video calls, and it has new features and controls for privacy and the smart home. It makes a great digital photo frame.
Now that the preliminaries are over, we can begin our guide to the best smart speakers.
The sound of the Sonos One is of a high quality. The One punches above its weight class because of its small size. The device can fit in just about any space, from a bookshelf to a fireplace mantel.
The One has a pair of Class-D digital amplifiers, a pair of tweeters, and a mid-woofer. You can create a stereo pair or combine it with other Sonos devices. The device has a far-field microphone array to enable it to hear your commands from across the room, and there is also a physical mute switch for when you don't want it to hear you.
When working with the widest range of content providers and smart voice assistants, the Sonos One is as platform-agnostic as possible. More music services are supported by the Sonos speakers than by Amazon or the other companies. You can control the One and other speakers through the app.
If you have an Apple TV, you can use the speakers to stream audio, but they don't support AirPlay 2, which means you can't use them to stream TV audio. It puts out a strong sound, but it can't compete with larger, more room-filling devices.
The original Echo was introduced to Prime users. Since then, the product has spawned a whole line of Amazon smart speakers, an industry full of competition. The fourth iteration of the Echo has a completely new spherical design and is our pick for the best overall speaker.
The rounded design and front-firing speakers of the Amazon Echo contributes to a richer overall sound. It's eye-catching, but doesn't stand out more than it needs to. Amazon has made the device more sustainable by using recycled materials. The speakers are not as complex as the One, but they have a 3.5mm cable and can be used with other speakers.
As with the phone, the likes of Amazon and Google have made small changes to their products to add new colors and this year, the Echo brought back a fan favorite. I am a big fan of this color scheme and am happy that we are now seeing it come to more speakers like the new Echo Dot.
Some new features have been introduced to the Echo and Dot by Amazon. If you have one of the 4th- generation models, you will enjoy motion detection. If everyone leaves the room or turns on music while you are cleaning the house, your lights will turn off. This feature is available on the 4th-gen Echo Dot.
The new smart speaker from Google is called Nest Audio. The Nest Audio is more than capable of being your primary smart speaker or part of a stereo pair, with a look somewhere between the Nest Mini (2nd Gen) diminutive puck and the shelf-sized Google Home Max. The device is a huge improvement over the original smart speaker. It is available in five soft colors, including chalk, charcoal, sand, and sky.
We were so impressed by the performance of the Nest Audio that we called it the best speaker on the market. It can go toe-to-toe with the latest regular-sized Amazon Echo or even the Sonos One (2nd Gen). It beats those speakers in the next-gen integration of the Google Assistant. It has 50% more bass than the first-generation smart speaker and can get up to 75% louder.
The fabric shell of the Nest Audio is made from 70% post-consumer recycled materials. We look forward to future designs incorporating even more recycled and recyclable materials.
Amazon has a big bet on big sound. Think Apple's HomePod, but bigger, with more room-filling sound, and at half the price.
This product follows hot on the heels of the HD music service launch by Amazon. It has three 2-inch speakers, a 1-inch tweeter, and a large 5.250-inch woofer, making it more than capable of handling high bitrate music formats that have been mastered for 3D music. Everyone will be able to get the full experience with the HD tier that Amazon is now offering at no additional cost to new and existing subscribers.
A built-in Zigbee smart hub and a physical microphone switch are included in the Echo Studio. Amazon recently introduced a new program it calls "Certified for Humans" which aims to help smart device partners make their setup and user experiences much easier for novices. For older smart devices, the Zigbee hub should make setup and interoperability much easier.
You can group the speakers with other speakers in multi-room groups or pair them together for stereo sound. You can pair them with your Fire TV for a richer experience.
There are drawbacks to being a big boy. They weigh in at eight pounds each. They are the most expensive speaker on the market. For what you get, I think they are worth it.
The outdoor speaker that many people have been waiting for, the Sonos Move, appears to have met or exceeded expectations. It brings the great sound quality that Sonos is renowned for and it also brings multi- platform, multi-assistant support.
The Move works just as well with the Google Assistant as it will with other speakers, and it can handle Apple's AirPlay 2 support on the internet. It is one of the first Sonos speakers to be able to stream viaBluetooth, though it is advised to only do this when out of the range of a wireless network.
The portable speaker is strong. It can tolerate a fair amount of outdoor humidity, rain, snow, and sea spray, thanks to the rating it has. It can hold up to extreme heat and cold, as well as UV rays, but it is not as tough to take a tumble as the Ultimate Ears speakers.
The biggest drawbacks of this speaker are its size and price. The Move is more than double the weight of the Ultimate Ears Blast. It is four times more expensive than the Blast and twice as expensive as the indoor-only Sonos One.
Amazon didn't have to do much to update the fourth-generation echo dot The new spherical design was brought down to the Echo Dot line.
Even though all the fourth- generation Dots got the same styling, everything else is the same except for the clock part. Behind the fabric cover on the Dot, there is a niftyLED clock that Amazon brought to this device. It sounds simple, but this little adjustment makes it much more useful as a smart speaker and even better value for the money.
What the display can do is still helpful, even though it can't show you notifications or much text. It can show you the time all the time, which is better than asking for it. The weather can be seen on the display, as well as any timers you have asked to set. It is a simple upgrade that goes a long way.
The look and design of the Nest Mini (2nd Gen) was a time-honored formula. The first generation of design cues for the new Nest Mini are subtle but important.
The fabric mesh covering the product's exterior is made from recycled plastic bottles. The pink and blue colors of the device have been updated to have a more subtle shading, as well as being added to the back of the device to easily mount it to the wall.
The biggest improvements are on the inside. The speakers are more powerful, and can play more bass. The new model of microphone has been added so that the assistant can hear you better. The updated processor of the Nest Mini means that the Google Assistant should handle requests much more quickly, accurately, and securely.
The Nest Mini does not have a display, but it does have basic touch controls on top. When considering this speaker, keep in mind that the touch controls can be a bit unresponsive, so keep that in mind.
While Amazon started its smart display product lineup large with the Echo Show (1st and 2nd Gen) at 10 inches and then started making smaller smart screens, Google/Nest approached the problem from the other end. The first Google Home Hub was a mid-sized form factor, and now Nest has followed that up with a much anticipated Nest Hub Max, which comes in at around 10 inches.
The Nest Hub Max is a great product because it has more than just a touch screen. It has all of the great features that come with it. This device makes a smart picture frame. The Face Match feature lets it recognize individual faces and show them their daily itinerary. There is no better way to watch videos on the internet in the kitchen.
The Nest Hub Max has a smart home integration. The device can be used as a smart home hub and controller, but also as a Nest camera, which you can use to monitor your space. The newer and smaller Nest Hub can now use its cameras and new sensors for sleep tracking, and we expect these features to come to the next Nest Hub Max as well.
The best smart display right now is the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen), which is the ultimate screened Alexa portal. It is the most expensive device you can buy, but it does not justify the cost for many people.
The largest screen, best speaker array, and the best camera in any other Echo Show can be found in this one. The speakers take advantage of the 360-degree base to project a full sound, and the 13MP camera is twice as good as that on the Nest Hub Max. It's the perfect home video calling device because it keeps you in the frame during calls, and it's also a great device for consuming content. The display uses advanced technology to track your movements when enabled, meaning you can always see that cooking video or a show on the internet while you cook.
The built-in camera cover and microphone switch in the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) is built with privacy in mind. Even though the tracking technology can't identify you, or save any image data, you can stop it at any time. If you want to use the device to keep an eye on your home while you are away, you can do that with a Guard Plus subscription.
There are two product lines for the Fire tablets and the Kids Edition devices. These come in more playful colors and feature strong parental controls, as well as stronger product warranties. They are more expensive than the regular versions of the products.
You get value and peace of mind with the increased price. One year of Amazon Kids+ is included in the Echo Dot Kids Edition. There are a number of kid-friendly skills available on this Dot. Amazon Kids+ makes it easy for parents to set time limits, content, and purchase restrictions.
It is equally important to protect the device as it is to control what your kids have access to. Let's face it. Kids destroy things. The two-year worry-free guarantee on the Kids Edition of the Echo Dot means that Amazon will replace the device if it breaks.
The first Echo Show for kids was announced by Amazon. We will consider adding the device to this list once we review it.
When it comes to the great outdoors, the lack of portable smart speakers is one of the most significant drawbacks. The Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 3 is one of the most rugged portable speakers on the market. The speaker can be immersed in water up to one meter for 30 minutes, which makes it a good choice for a pool party or picnic. It is shockproof so you don't have to worry if it falls off of the tailgate.
The MEGABOOM 3 is tough and sounds great. It has a loud and clear sound with a deep bass response and a 20-hour battery life to keep the party going outside. When the battery gets low, there is a base charging unit that you can purchase that will allow Megablast to sit on the charging unit and stay in operation, allowing you to top off your power quickly. If you want to amplify the sound, you can pair it with other Ultimate Ears speakers or up to seven other Megablast speakers.
The MEGABOOM 3 has a magic button on the top that lets you play, pause, and skip tracks, and you can also set up a one-touch playlists with Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Deezer.
We have no bad things to say about the Megablast. One thing to keep in mind is that, because it is battery powered, you need to charge it every once in a while, not a concern for stationary, plugged-in speakers. It is expensive, but it is well worth it if you are after loud, booming sound.
Apple was late to the smart speaker game as it often chooses to enter many of the categories it chooses to enter. The first attempt at a smart speaker received mixed reviews. It is viewed as more of a fancy Apple speaker and less of a true competitor to the likes of Amazon and Google. Even though you may not like it, many Apple fans still stand by theirs, and the original HomePod sounded great.
After a few years of relative radio silence, Apple refreshed its smart speaker lineup with the smaller and more affordable HomePod mini. This fits a nice spot in Apple's product lineup because it gave people who may have been turned off by the larger HomePod's price a chance to jump into Apple's walled garden and ignore some of the drawbacks of Siri.
The HomePod mini uses spatial audio to help fill the room it is in with sound. It works perfectly with Apple devices, and is best with another mini for stereo sound. It lacks third-party support for services and devices, which is a disadvantage when it comes to competing against other devices. Apple recently added a few more vibrant colors to the mix, moving away from the boring Space Gray and White colors that have been available since launch.
There are a lot of great speakers out there, but you might want to get a smart speaker to really round out your sound. This is a great time to be a consumer. There are more options that are more affordable. The tricky part is that many of them are platform specific, so if you are all-in on either of them, that may sway you one way or another.
If you want a smart speaker with flexibility, we recommend the Sonos One. It works with both Amazon's voice assistant and the internet giant's assistant.
1. Are you locked into something?
Many of the best smart speakers are made by Amazon, Apple, or Google. They are intertwined with the companies that have software platforms. If you are an owner of an Amazon device, you are not going to be well served by considering a smart speaker.
Beyond platform and OS lock-in, you will also want to consider the third-party apps and connected home devices you want to pair with your smart speakers. Some speakers, like the HomePod mini, don't work with some services. The results of smart home integrations with speakers from companies like Bose are mixed. Before you buy a smart speaker, you should take an inventory of your devices, services, and apps.
2. Do you need to change places?
Many smart speakers are meant to be plugged into an outlet in your home or office. Unless they have a built-in battery, you will not be taking them to the beach or pool. For those use cases, you should look towards companies like Ultimate Ears and the like.
3. How much do you care about privacy and security?
If you're concerned about always having connected microphones and cameras in your home, you'll want to look at devices that have built-in physical controls. The latest smart speakers from Amazon and Google/Nest have features that let you know when they are not watching or listening. Even the basic smart speakers have a button to prevent voice assistants from accidentally hearing something. Amazon, Apple, and Google all give you various degrees of control over your voice recordings and history, with some even offering the ability to remove voice records at a certain time or on-demand.
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