From Apple HomePod to Amazon Echo, we’ve tested the best smart speakers for sound and voice control
From Apple HomePod to Amazon Echo, we’ve tested the best smart speakers for sound and voice control
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Are Google, Bose and Sonos better than the big two? Read our review of the best smart speakers to find out. Copy link. twitter. facebook. whatsapp. When it comes to listening to music, radio or podcasts, there’s no shortage of choices. At one end of the scale, you have great Bluetooth speakers and at the other end, huge audio systems promising unmatched quality. But over the last decade, a new category of speakers has emerged. The hunt for the best smart speaker is on.
The defining element of a smart speaker is voice control, giving you access to a virtual assistant – like Alexa or Siri – to support a wider range of features. That extends well beyond just music, to controlling connected devices, playing games and accessing other services.
“The voice assistant is a key part of the smart speaker, which listens and responds to the tasks that it’s communicated to do – whether that’s playing a favourite song, to telling you what the weather is going to be like,” Georgina Parrot, audio buyer for John Lewis tells me.
But that’s not all a smart speaker can do: it’s a device that offers more connectivity options than other speakers, more ways to play music from more services, as well as providing easy control from your phone. I’ve tried all the latest smart speakers and you can read my reviews in full below, followed by answers to some frequently asked questions. If you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick look at my top five.
The device that started the smart speaker craze was the Amazon Echo. Launched in 2014, the Echo came with Alexa and there have been many smart speakers from Amazon since. Apple is another player, offering Siri on two sizes of HomePod, while other brands licence their “smart” powers from elsewhere, most commonly Alexa, found in speakers from the likes of Sonos or Bose.
