Put that pizza down! Bin those takeaway menus, resist the urge to boot up the Dominos app and do something that your ears, and waistline, will thank you for: spend your money on a brilliant Bluetooth speaker instead.

For about the same price as your Saturday night takeout, you could get yourself a JBL Go 5 for just £27 at Amazon this Prime Day, down from its original price of £40. That's a saving of around 33 per cent on the best pocket-sized Bluetooth speaker on the market.

It doesn't taste particularly good (although we haven't actually tried), but it does sound the business.

Best JBL Go 5 Bluetooth speaker deal

It's remarkable how much performance JBL has managed to wring out of the soap-sized Go 5. It's handsome, well-equipped, durable and, for its size, remarkably talented sonically

The Go 5's IP68 rating means that dust and limited submersion in water will leave no lasting damage, and the general robustness of construction here is truly admirable.

The feature set is seriously impressive, and fancy tricks such as JBL's 'AirTouch' pairing, which lets you tap two Go 5s together end-to-end to form a quick stereo pair, go a long way to making the experience of owning JBL's dinky dynamo a lot more fun.

Auracast Bluetooth is on-hand, bringing the Go 5 in line with the current JBL Flip 7, Charge 6 and new Xtreme 5 models by letting you connect multiple compatible JBL speakers together under the same standard.

Battery life is up to roughly eight hours of standard playtime, with two more hours via Playtime Boost.

Playtime Boost will suck out most of the bass from the speaker's presentation, but that aside, the Go 5 sounds remarkably good considering its size and price. Thanks in part to its 45mm driver and that hollow-contour logo, the fifth-gen model is the meatiest, most robust sounding Go that we've yet heard, with a fuller, more powerful reproduction than its fourth-gen predecessor.

As our review stated, the fifth-gen speaker is tuned "to have an innate understanding of how your music should sound. Nothing here is overdone or overly coloured, but it shares its bigger siblings’ ability to go with the flow as we bounce around tracks and genres".

Those talents are only heightened if you take advantage of support for 24-bit/96kHz lossless playback via USB-C, which makes your music sound clearer, crisper and more detailed than when listening via Bluetooth.

If your budget is limited, the Go 5 is our go-to recommendation – ditch the late night curry and pick one up on Amazon.

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Discounts galore! These are the best Amazon Prime Day Bluetooth speaker deals

Danish hi-fi brand Tangent overhauled its Spectrum speaker range only a few months ago, but now it has a new addition: the Tangent Spectrum II X5 Active BT.

These are active speakers, featuring two 50W Class D amplifiers, so you don't need an external amp. The 130mm cellulose‑pulp mid/bass driver and 25mm soft‑dome tweeter combine to deliver a soundstage that is described as “balanced, dynamic and natural”, with precise bass, expressive vocals and refined, transparent highs.

But that’s not the only improvement. The feature set has been beefed up, offering Bluetooth 5.3 with aptX HD for better-quality wireless playback, and a built-in moving magnet phono input for hooking up a turntable. You can use these speakers for your TV audio too, thanks to the HDMI ARC port, while you also get optical, coaxial and hi-res USB Audio inputs, plus a subwoofer output for adding more bass.

As you would expect from Tangent, the aesthetic is best described as clean and minimalist, i.e. very Scandi. They come in black or white, one of which should, no doubt, match your interior style.

The Spectrum II X5 Active BT are out now for £499 (around $660 / AU$940) per pair.

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Google's Gemini-touting smart speaker is officially here – can it compete with Alexa and Siri?

It was Jane Austen who once wrote: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man (or woman) in possession of a good chunk of cash must be in want of a Bluetooth speaker.” Okay, we might have tweaked that quotation just a little, but she would probably have written something similar had Bluetooth been around in the 1800s.

Thankfully, we can’t think of many product categories that enjoy more major discounts during Amazon Prime Day than Bluetooth speakers. Perhaps wireless headphones and wireless earbuds are also in the running, but if you’re in the market for belting bargains, Bluetooth speakers are where it’s at.

We are already seeing major discounts on some of our favourite models during the early Prime Day sales, and we predict that even more drops will come flooding in as things really kick into gear. Don’t worry, we’ll keep updating this page, and our Prime Day hubs, to make sure you don’t miss a thing.

The best early Prime Day Bluetooth speaker deals

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Google's long-awaited new smart speaker is finally here. The Google Home Speaker is being marketed as a new era for the tech giant's roster of AI-powered products.

Highlights include a new app, improved hardware and the inclusion of the Gemini smart assistant to take on the brainpower of Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri.

We first covered the Home at the back-end of 2025, but Google has only just revealed the date when buyers will be able to get their hands on it.

The smart speaker will officially launch on June 25th, while you can pre-order now for £100 / $100 if you've got an itchy trigger finger and want to guarantee a new Home for your home.

Am I set to become one of those keen beans desperate to test out what the Home can do? Pre-ordering might be a step too far, and the need to pay £8 / $10 per month for a Google Home Premium subscription sours the deal somewhat, but I'll readily admit that I'm fascinated by Google's re-entry into one of audio's most fast-moving markets.

The current problem for Google is that it has been badly left behind by the current market. While Amazon and Apple surged ahead by offering a host of products – be they in-house or made by licensed third parties – Google fell badly behind.

Our list of the best Google Assistant speakers has become increasingly thin as time has gone on. The JBL Authentics 300 and Authentics 500 are the most recent speakers to house Google Assistant in one form or another, and they came out almost two years ago.

Alexa, on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength, not only through licensed Apple products such as the Echo Dot (5th Gen) and the Echo Dot Max, but through third-party speakers integrating one of the best smart assistants into their respective feature sets.

Just look at the Sonos Era 300, the Sonos Play, the upcoming Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker or the new Denon Home multi-room range as proof of just how keen major brands are to have Alexa on board.

Google has recognised the need for a big swing to get itself back in the game, and while there's no guarantee of a home run, the integration of fully-fledged Gemini powers does point to a serious shift for the brand.

Whatever your views on AI, Gemini is a seriously powerful tool to pack into a smart speaker, and one that could genuinely tempt users away from the safety of Apple or Amazon.

The flipside of that, of course, is that Google might have focused more on headline-grabbing AI integration than it has on audio quality.

A smart speaker is still a speaker, after all, so that promise of 360-degree audio and a "uniform sound that you can hear from every direction" needs to be delivered upon.

Amazon recently dropped the ball with its mediocre-sounding Echo Dot Max, but Apple's HomePod 2 and HomePod Mini remain five-star sonic powerhouses. Plus, new models will surely arrive at some point, something which Google should have factored into their calculations when producing the new Home Speaker.

I'm fascinated to see whether Google can still compete in the smart speaker arena. This is a corner of the market which has become something of a duopoly between Amazon and Apple, but the revamped Home Speaker, complete with Gemini powers, could turn that two-horse race into a triple-threat standoff.

That monthly subscription price will be off-putting to some, while Google hasn't yet forged a reputation for itself as a purveyor of the finest audio quality around, but who knows? Maybe the Home Speaker is about to change all that.

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At last, Sonos is making some real progress fixing its mobile app. A major refresh is due this week, which should make it a lot more intuitive to use.

If you're late to the party, let us fill you in.

Back in April 2024, Sonos redesigned its app to coincide with the launch of the Ace, its first pair of wireless headphones. It was a disaster – the new app was buggy, and lacked a lot of the old one's features. (It didn't help that the headphones weren't much cop either.)

Since then Sonos has been on a mission to restore the app and win back customer trust. This week's refresh could go some way to doing so.

The improvements are aimed at making the app easier to use. It's "Not a new app, but a new way of navigating Sonos inside the app you already have," CEO Tom Conrad wrote on Reddit.

From spending "hundreds of hours" watching people use the Sonos app, his team found out what the sticking points are: too many content cards, swipe-up gestures to switch speaker orientation, close boxes in place of back buttons, and custom interface elements that feel out of place on an iOS or Android device.

So what takes their place?

We can look forward to more straightforward navigation, with three tabs (Home, System, Search) replacing the hidden gestures and content cards on both iOS and Android. There's a new volume interface, a "core mechanism that is easier to grab and fine tune" along with buttons to press to alter it and a new way of synchronising it across a group of rooms.

You'll get more control over how your players are listed and displayed, and there are dozens of smaller fixes like the ability to swipe to delete a track in a playlist, and a refreshed Now Playing screen.

The update will roll out to beta testers this week (you can sign up here), but they will have to enable it from within the settings menu. Even once it's rolled out wider, it will only be available as an opt-in toggle, so you can turn it off if you don't like it. Sonos will continue to polish it before making it the default.

Conrad says this is the way Sonos will work from now on, as "this is the beginning of a different way of working here at Sonos, where what gets built, and in what order, is shaped by the conversations here and with all our customers."

Maybe it's learned from its mistakes after all.

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Sonos Play vs HomePod 2: which should you buy?

When it comes to multi-room music systems, Sonos has ruled the roost for years now. The Era 300 is perhaps the jewel in its crown – but there could be a new pretender to the throne in the shape of Denon’s Home 400.

Launched as part of a new range of Home 2 wireless speakers, the Denon Home 400 has a lot in common with the Sonos Era 300. Both offer spatial audio, have similar sonic architecture, and can form part of much larger audio ecosystems, so it only felt right to take a closer look at what sets them apart.

While we’re yet to give the Denon Home 400 the full What Hi-Fi? review treatment, we can still compare the two and see where it might hope to outdo the Era 300. Here’s the tale of the tape.

Denon Home 400 vs Sonos Era 300: price

The Denon Home 400 hit the shops recently with a pretty substantial price of £449 / $599 / AU$999.

In the UK that’s exactly how much the five-star Sonos Era 300 would have set you back when it launched just over three years ago, but it’s now available for a much more wallet-friendly £359 / $379 / AU$695 (and we’ve even seen it drop very slightly lower).

That’s a fair chunk of extra cash you’ll need to find for the Denon, so we’ll be expecting big things when it comes to testing it.

Denon Home 400 vs Sonos Era 300: design

There’s no denying Sonos took a bit of a risk with the design of its Era 300, but there’s sonic logic behind its unusual shape.

In order to facilitate its spatial audio skills, Sonos fitted the Era 300 with four tweeters (one forward-firing, two side-firing, one upward-firing) and two horizontally angled woofers – so while it might be divisive, its design is born out of the physical positioning of the drivers.

In every other way the Sonos Era 300 is pretty minimalist. It comes in either black or white and there’s no display, but you do get a set of touch-sensitive controls on top that blend in nicely. The build quality is typically high, too.

Denon’s Home 400 also feels suitably premium as befits its price. It’s a touch bigger but weighs slightly less and has a more familiar shape, while the fabric covering gives it a softer appearance. A set of rubberised buttons down the side offer control over volume and playback, plus a trio of shortcuts for your favourite sources or sound modes.

The Home 400 comes in either charcoal or stone colours (basically black or silvery grey) but overall feels like the nicer of the two on a purely aesthetic basis, with the Sonos perhaps a little too stark for some tastes. At the end of the day, though, it’s purely personal preference.

Denon Home 400 vs Sonos Era 300: features

Both these speakers can form discrete parts of wider multi-room music systems but they’re also equally happy operating on their own, with spatial audio support the main way to differentiate them from a lot of their wireless speaker siblings.

Both speakers have six drivers inside, but the Denon Home 400 has two that point upwards compared to just one inside the Sonos Era 300.

Both also support Dolby Atmos, but the Denon is a little more flexible over where you source your Atmos-powered spatial tunes from. On the Era 300, you’ll need to use Amazon Music or Apple Music, while the Home 400 is happy playing them from Tidal’s catalogue as well.

In terms of wireless connectivity, there’s no separating them. Wi-fi, Bluetooth and AirPlay 2 are all on the menu for streaming from Spotify, Tidal et al, but the Denon is a little more welcoming to wired sources.

There are USB-C and 3.5mm connections on the back of the Home 400, whereas the Sonos only has the former, with a separate adapter required if you want to connect something using an aux cable.

As well as full multi-room use, you can also create stereo pairs with both of these speakers, plus they’re compatible with soundbars from their respective manufacturers and can be used as rear channels in a surround set-up.

If you like telling your speakers what to do, you’ll probably be better served by the Sonos Era 300, which has native support for both Amazon Alexa and Sonos’s own voice assistant.

There’s a microphone onboard the Denon Home 400 (and a mute button on the back) but it doesn’t support voice control out of the box. In fact, the only way to talk to it (at least if you want to get a response) is to use Siri, but that's only if you have an Apple HomePod or HomePod Mini connected on the same network. You can then link them together within the HEOS app and summon Siri via the Home 400. It's a rather bizarre workaround, we admit, and we'll explore more when we have our review sample in for testing.

Denon Home 400 vs Sonos Era 300: sound

We’re yet to get the Denon Home 400 into our testing rooms for a full review, so a definitive verdict on its abilities will have to wait, but after hearing it at the launch of Denon’s full Home 2 range back in March, plus some further dedicated ears-on time for this piece, some initial assessments are possible.

The impact of those two upward-firing drivers is immediately apparent, with a real sense of space between the instruments. The soundstage has a really nice three-dimensional quality to it that makes music sound more lifelike, although, as is often the case with spatial audio, the mixes can sometimes be a little off depending on the particular song being played.

In general, though, first impressions are good. The Home 400 puts on an engaging performance that seems to strike a nice balance between all aspects of the frequency range.

When it comes to the Sonos Era 300, however, there’s no such uncertainty surrounding its performance. In our five-star review first published in March 2023, the Era 300 was described as an “immensely immersive experience”.

Particularly impressive is the sheer scale of the sound it’s capable of producing, which projects more effectively than any similarly sized wireless speaker we’ve tested so far, particularly when you feed it Dolby Atmos tracks (although quite how effective it is varies by song).

On the whole it sounds detailed, dynamic and cohesive, with deep, impactful bass and plenty of rhythmic flair.

Fundamentally the Era 300 has set a high standard for the Denon Home 400 to reach, but there are reasons to believe it could give Sonos a real run for its money.

Denon Home 400 vs Sonos Era 300: early verdict

With smart looks, an extensive list of features and promising early signs of its sonic performance, the Denon’s Home 400 looks like it could be a serious contender. The lack of voice control is slightly surprising, but with Alexa and co. popping up in so many other devices around the average home it doesn’t feel like a huge absence.

Can it beat the Era 300 though? Sonos’s unusually shaped speaker was the first one to convince us that spatial audio was more than just a gimmick, and its standard stereo performance is hugely enjoyable too, so it’s not going to be easy for the Denon to take the crown.

Once we’ve had the opportunity to fully scrutinise the Denon Home 400 and compare it with the Era 300, we’ll be able to pass judgement on which of these wireless speakers is the best – and it could well be a close battle. Stay tuned for the full review.

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Marshall has added to its extensive roster of Bluetooth speakers with the new Stockwell III.

Designed for listeners "who want powerful sound without sacrificing portability", the new speaker makes use of Marshall's 'True Stereophonic 360-degree' sound technology, designed to fill any space with more immersive, expansive audio.

The Stockwell III also features a 'Dynamic Loudness' feature which automatically balances bass, mid and treble frequencies "to preserve detail and clarity" at any volume.

Marshall's latest can stretch to around 40 hours of battery life, while an IP55 dust and waterproof rating add to its portable credentials. You an also use the speaker as a charging bank to give portable devices such as smartphones a quick charge on the go.

To behold, the Stockwell III is very much a Marshall product, designed to look like a mini guitar amp and boasting a leather carry strap, top-mounted control dials and an external grille emblazoned with the Marshall logo.

According to Simon Berbec, Product Manager at Marshall Group: “Since launching Stockwell II in 2019, technology has moved fast, and Stockwell III takes full benefit from this. Extended battery life, more powerful acoustics, and improved water and dust protection are just some of the key enhancements we’ve made."

The Marshall Stockwell III will be available from 25th August in black and brass or cream colourways, priced at £200 / $250.

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We have seen several feature-packed all-in-one hi-fi systems enter the market from traditional manufacturers in recent times. Cambridge Audio, KEF, Sonus Faber, Naim and Ruark Audio, to name but a few, all offer one-box solutions which include source(s), input and speakers built-in. And now we can add Danish speaker manufacturer Dali to that list.

At High End Vienna 2026, it launched Vega, a hi-fi system with a twist, and one that the company has actually been working on for four years. Obviously, we couldn’t resist dropping by the Dali stand for a closer look to see the system in action.

Price

The Dali Vega costs £2599 / $4500 / AU$4499 and launches in October. This makes it more expensive than the Ruark Audio R410 (£1299 / $1699 / AU$2599) or Cambridge Audio Evo One (£1299 / $1499 / AU$2499.

However, it does sit below the £2999 / $3600 / €3300 asking price of the Focal Mu-so Hekla, which will be one of its key rivals.

Design and build

Dali claims Vega has been designed to be “the most versatile and user-friendly audio source in the home”. And it definitely delivers the kind of flexibility and thoughtfulness we haven’t seen in this arena before.

Besides placing Vega horizontally on a tabletop, you can also wall-mount it. Not only that, but you can flip it through ninety degrees so it hangs upright.

It’s a clever idea and offers users an extra solution when room space might be tight, and attaching it to a wall is an option.

Although it does offer HDMI connectivity, Dali is at pains to say this is a wireless sound system and not a soundbar – there’s no Dolby Atmos or upfiring drivers.

What it does have is a 400W digital amp running 8 channels of audio. Under the woven fabric speaker grilles are two 25mm soft dome tweeters and two 4.5in wood-fibre/paper mid/bass cones on the front, and you'll find the same driver configuration on the rear.

At either end of the unit is an anodised aluminium passive radiator, which matches the finish of the speaker. They’re black on the dark oak finish and silver on the light oak silver finish.

You can’t miss the large circular control on the top of Vega. Dail has spent a lot of time trying to make it tactile and nice to use, and when we try it out, it seems smooth to operate.

It uses a military-grade ball-bearing, while the housing of the wheel is metal with a glass top. Tap the glass, and it brings up Vega’s menus, which are located on a small OLED screen positioned next to it.

The writing on the screen switches to match the unit's portrait or landscape orientation, which is a neat touch. Dali explained that this functionality would have been difficult to achieve with a more traditional dot-matrix LCD display.

It does seem a little small, especially when trying to read the speaker’s settings from a distance, but once the speaker is set up, you’ll mainly be interacting with the BluOS app on your smartphone or tablet.

To the left of the control dial is a row of buttons which includes power, mute and input switching. You also get five customisable preset buttons, which you could assign to a radio station or streaming service – you can even map one to a particular input.

Features

As we’ve mentioned, Vega is powered by BluOS, which we've found to be a stable and well-featured streaming platform. Everything else for Vega has been designed in-house by Dali.

This includes a patent-pending Adaptive Stereo Enhancement (ASE) DSP processing that monitors the incoming stereo signal in real-time and adapts it to fill your room in a spacious and immersive manner.

Out of the box, Vega is set up for use on a shelf or tabletop and has three settings to choose from depending on its placement: free space, medium, and close.

Each one of these affects the sound output from the rear of the speaker, which is at its maximum when in free space mode.

You also have not one but two wall mounting options (it comes with a bracket in the box). It can be positioned horizontally or vertically and uses an internal accelerometer to work out its orientation, and it will automatically switch the output of the speakers to match.

So, when it’s mounted vertically, instead of still having left and right channels firing out of the front and rear, the whole left side of Vega becomes the left channel, and the right side becomes the right channel. Very clever.

To accommodate wall mounting, all connections are underneath the system as opposed to on the rear – Vega offers HDMI ARC, an RCA analogue input, an optical digital connection and a USB input for an external drive. There’s also a subwoofer output, should you want to up the bass at a later date.

In addition to the BluOS streaming smarts, Vega’s wireless connectivity also includes Bluetooth aptX HD, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect and AirPlay 2.

Sound

During our demo with Vega, we were shown the effect of having the ASE processing on and off, and although it was tricky to hear too much, thanks to the noise coming from other areas of the exhibition space, you could still hear the sound shrink and become smaller scale when it was turned off.

Turned back on, you could hear the sound open up again and become larger and fuller.

We’ll obviously need to get it into our test rooms for a full sound quality evaluation, but we heard a few seconds of Ray Charles and Natalie Cole’s version of Fever and the double bass and finger clicks seemed to be nicely defined and have decent snap to them.

Vega seems to serve up an open and dynamic sound, although it was difficult to really evaluate the detail and definition that managed to cut through the noise on the stand.

We switched up the pace with the Stereo MC’s Step It Up, and the Dali seemed to have a skip in its step with seemingly decent punch and power. We couldn’t really hear anything stick out of the frequency range, but it was competing with a lot of environmental noise.

Initial verdict

Obviously, we won’t know how the Dali Vega truly fares until we’ve had a chance to put it through its paces in our test rooms, but it’s an eye-catching offering from the brand in the category of all-in-one hi-fi systems.

Not only does it boast interesting tech developed in-house, Dali’s managed to package its wireless sound system with an attractive amount of versatility.

Some might see the wall-mounting as a bit of a gimmick, but we think the extra flexibility has legs and is a novel approach where space in many living rooms is at a premium. If Vega manages to execute it successfully, Dali could be onto something, and we can’t wait to find out.

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It might seem a long way from the concert hall to lounge, but Yamaha has just shortened that journey significantly. Its new wireless stereo speaker system – its first for a decade – uses some of the same technologies as the brand’s high-end models, and even some of the same materials as in its renowned grand piano soundboards.

But the big question is: can it take on the Award-winning KEF LS50 Wireless II?

The Yamaha NX-70A aims to make high-quality sound more accessible, whether it’s playing back one of the best music streaming services or a movie soundtrack straight from your TV.

It uses Yamaha’s Harmonious Diaphragm, which comprises a blend of ZYLON (from its flagship speakers) and spruce wood (used in its grand piano soundboards). This promises “a consistent tone over the entire frequency spectrum”, so that instruments and vocals are reproduced “naturally and with remarkable musicality”.

As with all active speakers, it sees the amplifier and speaker unit working in tandem – Yamaha calls this Synergistic Drive, and it should mean lower distortion.

It can adjust its output to your room size and layout thanks to room optimisation software – Yamaha calls this YPAO (Yamaha Parametric room Acoustic Optimiser). It works much like Sonos Trueplay, but uses a bundled microphone instead of the one on your smartphone.

Streaming support is strong, with Tidal and Spotify (plus their Connect versions), alongside Google Cast and Apple AirPlay 2. It also works with Yamaha MusicCast for multi-room playback, and is Roon Ready for unifying your music library across sources.

Because it supports HDMI eARC/ARC and CEC, you can hook it up to your TV and control its volume with your TV remote. And it would look right at home in the concert hall, with its rounded edges and copper accents. This rounded cabinet also helps subdue internal standing waves.

The Yamaha NX-70A is out in July for £2587 (around $3500 / AU$4799).

So can it topple the KEF LS50 Wireless II? Stay tuned for a full review.

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Active vs passive speakers: what's the difference? And which is better?

We’ve always rather liked Tribit’s Stormbox Micro line of Bluetooth speakers. Tribit isn’t an established name in the same vein as Sony or JBL, yet it has produced a couple of charming, affordable portable speakers which, especially the Micro 2, exhibit real talent in the midrange frequencies. Plus, “Stormbox” sounds like it was named by Thor.

The problem with making a good budget Bluetooth speaker is that you’ve got to follow it up while meeting the challenge of newer, more capable rivals.

It’s no secret that JBL is the name ruling the Bluetooth speaker roost, and with the pocket-sized Go 5 recently earning a glowing five-star appraisal, the third-gen Stormbox Micro is going to have to work even harder than its predecessors if it doesn’t want to be out-muscled by the ever-advancing competition.

Price

You can get your hands on a Tribit Stormbox Micro 3 for around £63 / $65 / AU$130 approx, the same price at which the outgoing second-gen model started life.

At this more budget-friendly end of the cost ladder, the five-star JBL Go 5 clocks in at around £40 / $50 / AU$59 at the time of writing, and if you want to go even cheaper, you can get an older Go 4 for as low as £25 / $30 during sales events.

If you seek something a little more premium, the JBL Flip 7 tends to sit at roughly £110 / $150 / AU$170 at the time of writing, but again, it tends to enjoy decent discounts when the time is right.

Build

Build-wise, the Stormbox Micro 3 hasn’t deviated hugely from its five-star predecessor. Its flat, coaster-like design remains generally unchanged, with the top half of the speaker dominated by a woven textured grille and the bottom half clad in rubber to give you plenty of non-slip grip.

Large, bold volume buttons flank a circular play/pause toggle, which can also be used to summon Siri if held down for a few seconds. Those big, bold buttons do give the Tribit a clean and simple interface, but during our tests at least, we do find that they require quite a forceful press to elicit a response.

Backlit buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing, toggling XBoom and managing stereo mode/party mode are neatly housed on the speaker’s thin front-end, and thankfully, don’t require the same levels of brutish force for us to get them to cooperate.

View it from the top-down, and the new Stormbox is a bit chunkier than its outgoing ancestor, though the difference is slight – you’ll still manage to slide it into a backpack, perch it on the side of your bathtub (it’s waterproof, don’t worry!) or hold it in the palm of your hand without too much trouble. Thankfully, portability is still the name of the game here.

That said, we would’ve liked some kind of carry loop for taking the Tribit on your travels, such as you’d find adorning the side of the JBL Go 4 or larger Bose SoundLink Plus, although the Stormbox Micro 3 does have an elastic rubber strap at its base which Tribit bills as being attachable to bikes, bags and the like.

Forget the elastic strap, though, because what that base also has is magnetic powers. Yes, you can stick the Stormbox to pretty much any magnetic metallic surface you can find, and the novelty never wears off as we spend our time roving our office looking for places to stick our test sample. On the side of the fridge, attached to our boardroom whiteboard, stuck to a metal pillar outside… oh, the fun you can have.

Let’s return to the more technical side for a moment. Within, the Tribit boasts 13 watts of power driving a 48mm driver and dual coaxial passive radiators for producing what the brand describes as "crisp clarity and deep, punchy bass". More on that in a moment.

Features

Credit where it's due, Tribit has really bolstered the battery life for its third-gen Stormbox Micro. The Micro 2 gave you a very admirable 12 hours of playtime on a single charge, but that’s been doubled to a whopping 24 hours, a figure which trounces the roughly 10 hours of the JBL Go 5 and the 16 or so hours of the more expensive JBL Flip 7.

A big bonus for the Tribit and, we envisage, a major part of its potential appeal.

Speaking of battery, the Micro 3 also doubles as a powerbank, meaning you can juice up your smartphone on the go via USB-C – akin to the charging feature you’d find on the likes of the chunky JBL Charge 6. To have charging capabilities on a speaker this small is not something we’ve often seen, so kudos to Tribit for implementing it with the Micro 3.

Elsewhere, the third-gen speaker boasts an impressive IP68 water and dustproof rating, keeping it in line with the major class leaders at this price. Splash it with water or give it a quick soak in the sink, and that water-repellent body does a fine job of keeping those precious insides dry and working as they should.

Tribit has also granted support for True Wireless Stereo pairing with its latest Stormbox Micro, but note that this can only be done with two models of the same generation, so you won’t be able to dig out your old Stormbox Micro 2 and form a stereo pair with the new third-gen model.

Many of the above features can be managed and monitored by the Tribit app which, while not the most in-depth platform you’ll ever come across, is clearly laid out and easy to navigate thanks to its bold, uncluttered menus.

A nine-band customisable equaliser is nice to have as well, or you can select one of Tribit’s seven genre-led presets if you want the legwork done for you.

Sound

Judged on its own terms, the Stormbox Micro 3 is a reasonably capable performer. It’s quite a personable little speaker, and the sound that it produces does have some appeal, especially if you feed it tunes that play to its relative strengths.

The midrange where the outgoing Stormbox Micro 2 excelled, and as we listen to a slice of Nick Cave’s Into My Arms, we discern that those particular talents haven’t entirely skipped a generation. Cave’s voice is fairly rich and full, with the Tribit spotlighting the Aussie crooner nicely as his emotive sincerity shines through.

Tribit’s promise of a fulsome lower end also rings reasonably true, evidenced by the depth of the opening bass plucks on Noisettes’ Never Forget You. Depth and grip go hand in hand, giving adequate shape and texture to what can be, in the care of lesser speakers, amorphous rumbly tones.

At this price, the Stormbox Micro 3 has enough organisational ability to stop music falling over itself or feeling as jumbled as a load of socks flying around inside a tumble drier.

Detail levels across the frequency range – piercing highs, sweet mids and deep lows – are decent for a speaker of this size, even if we do notice some occasional hardness in the upper reaches, such as when we play Rosalía’s complex, operatic Berghain.

The Micro 3 is a decent Bluetooth speaker, then, but it’s simply not a class leading one, a fact that is spotlighted when put up against the JBL Go 5. Practically everything that the Stormbox Micro 3 can do, the JBL can do at least as well, and that’s a real issue when it comes to recommending the former.

After all, why would you buy a Tribit at around £63 / $65 / AU$130 when you could pick up an equally talented Go 5 for cheaper at £40 / $50 / AU$59?

The Go 5 may be smaller in size and price, but sonically, it matches the Micro 3, even when playing at the highest volumes or pushed to challenge tricky tunes such as Berghain or Tool’s Forty Six & 2.

In fact, the JBL often outshines the Tribit, with its more adept rhythmic and dynamic handling bringing out the underpinning beats of Muse’s Madness with more confidence and skill than the slightly sluggish Stormbox.

JBL’s diminutive class leader is just as clear and detailed, too, and that’s again a problem when you consider the price disparity between the two. Switching back and forth between both while playing Debussy’s Sarabande, we find that we prefer the more rounded, punchy sound of the outstanding JBL.

We do like the Stormbox, but if we’re being honest, we like the JBL Go 5 quite a lot more.

Verdict

We had high hopes for the Stormbox Micro 3, especially considering that the two speakers which preceded it both earned five-star ratings. This is by no means a bad effort, and still feels in some ways like an improvement over its predecessors thanks to its bolstered feature set and solid sound.

Sadly for Tribit, the world has moved on. The JBL Go 5 is currently our top pick if you’re after an ultra-portable, ultra-budget Bluetooth speaker, and when it costs a good deal less than the Stormbox Micro 3 but sounds noticeably better, it makes Tribit’s effort a much tougher sell.

Review published: 29th May 2026

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Build 4
• Features 4

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Read our review of the JBL Go 5

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Dali has announced its new all-in-one wireless system, the Vega.

Cut from a similar cloth as the likes of the Naim Mu-so 2, Ruark Audio R410 and Cambridge Audio Evo One, the Vega one houses amplification, drive units and music streaming in a single box, with Dali billing its latest model as an "audio system built for those who want the best possible sound without the complexity of a hi-fi setup".

The Vega boasts 400 watts of amplification delivered across eight channels, with drivers including an ultra-light 25mm soft dome tweeter alongside midrange and bass units arranged in a back-to-back configuration to reduce cabinet resonance and deliver "room-filling sound with clarity and detail".

Paper and wood fibre cones, alongside passive bass radiators and low loss surround drivers, also come together to create "a balanced sound with best in class low frequency performance".

To maximise its drivers' performance, the Vega uses 'Adaptive Stereo Enhancement' (ASE) technology, designed to create a wider, more expansive soundstage by automatically adapting to the incoming signal to deliver, says Dali, a panoramic effect that fills your listening space with ease.

Complementing ASE is 'Adaptive Orientation Adjustment' (AOA) tech, helping the speaker to adjust its output in real time for optimised stereo mapping and better spatial accuracy.

That tech should come in particularly handy with the Vega, which has been designed to be placed in a variety of locations in a range of different ways. Not only can you position your all-in-one system horizontally on a given surface, but you can also mount it – either vertically or horizontally – on walls or corners via a set of removable wall brackets.

The new Dali all-in-one system uses the BluOS streaming and multiroom audio system, the same platform used to power the likes of the Cyrus 40 ST music streamer and the NAD C 3050 and Roksan Attessa streaming amps.

The Vega offers HDMI ARC, RCA and optical inputs alongside a sub out, while Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Apple Airplay 2, not to mention standard Bluetooth, are also on the menu for your wireless streaming needs.

Externally, the Vega's body is constructed using a blend of wood, anodised aluminium and woven fabrics to create what Dali describes as a "refined, contemporary look", while a large volume wheel and an array of preset buttons are housed on the main unit.

The Dali Vega will be available this September in a Dark Oak or Natural Oak finish, priced at £2599 / $4500 / AU$4499 – a good deal more than the comparative Ruark Audio R410 (£1299 / $1699 / AU$2599) or Cambridge Audio Evo One (£1299 / $1499 / AU$2499).

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Jamo is wasting no time establishing itself in varies speaker categories following its return under new ownership.

The Danish brand recently announced two premium ranges of Concert passive speakers, and has now launched a trio of lifestyle-friendly Bluetooth speakers.

The Jamo HYG range is inspired by the Danish concept of "hygge", which is all about creating warmth and comfort in the home. The range consists of three products – Flex, Flow and Reflect, with each "developed for the home, garden or your next adventure".

Starting with the top of the range, the HYG Flex is a wireless speaker with a cylindrical silhouette, and promises "powerful, room-filling sound". It features dual angled 25mm tweeters and a 12.7cm woofer, while Auracast connectivity means you can connect compatible Jamo speakers for a stereo pair, or for a multi-room system around the house.

It features Bluetooth streaming and a 3.5mm auxiliary input, and boasts 15 hours if going battery-powered. The Flex also features a built-in ambient light base with adjustable brightness.

Next is the portable HYG Flow, which is designed more for outdoor listening. The compact unit boasts 27 hours of playback, is made with durable materials including a "nano-coated water resistant fabric" and has an IPX7 waterproof rating.

It features Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity with Auracast support, and has a carry handle too. Internally, it has dual full-range 38mm drivers and twin passive radiators that aim to deliver "balanced stereo sound tuned specifically for vocal clarity and long listening sessions", especially for audiobooks and radio stations.

And finally, the HYG Reflect is a bedside clock radio with Bluetooth streaming (but not Auracast) and has ambient lighting, a wireless charging pad, USB-C charging port, and alarm clock features.

All three Jamo HYG products will be available from July, with the Flex costing £239 / $279, the Flow is set to cost £109 / $129, and the Reflect is priced at £129 / $149.

The Flex and Reflect speakers are available in dark grey and light grey finishes, while the portable Flow speaker will be available in additional colours of ​Summer Bloom, Sand Dune, Red Oxide and Sage Green.

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Fyne Audio is branching into new territory with its first active speakers, the Cubitt 5, which aims to connect "a whole new generation of music lovers through audiophile sound."

The Glasgow-based hi-fi brand has been on an admirable run with its ample stable of passive loudspeakers, including Award-winning F501E floorstanders, but now it is turning its attention to a younger, more convenience-hungry audience with the Cubitt 5.

Similar to the KEF Coda W active speakers, the Cubitt 5 features amplification, power and connections housed in bookshelf speakers, with Bluetooth on the menu for easy streaming from your smartphone.

At the heart of the new speakers is Fyne's latest 12.5cm IsoFlare point-source driver, designed to produce "precise stereo imaging and natural, room-filling sound". That IsoFlare unit is complemented by 'FyneFlute' surround technology, which aims to reduce unwanted colouration and improve overall clarity by reducing the extent to which energy is reflected back down the driver cone.

Alongside Bluetooth, the Cubitt 5 boasts a built-in phono stage for connecting turntables, as well as analogue RCA and optical connections. HDMI eARC is on board for plugging in a TV, while a subwoofer out means you can add some extra bass to your setup.

High-resolution files up to 24-bit/96kHz are supported over optical, while the Bluetooth aptX HD codec is supported.

According to Fyne, the Cubitt 5 has been designed to integrate seamlessly into modern living spaces. Each speaker cabinet features Fyne's high-density construction with internal bracing for reduced vibration, alongside a front-firing bass port which allows the speakers to be placed close to a back wall.

According to Fyne Audio's MD Anji Sosna: "The Cubitt 5 is the culmination of two years research and development into how we can best bring a whole new generation of music lovers into enjoying high fidelity music reproduction at home. Most of all, it had to distil Fyne’s extensive audio engineering pedigree and sound quality into truly class-leading performance".

Available in five finishes – Midnight Black, Pearl Titanium, Olive Green, Pebble Grey or Arctic White – the Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 will be on sale from June 2026, priced at £549 / €649 / $749. That makes them a more competitive option than the five-star KEF Coda W (£799 / $1000 / AU$1450) – stay tuned for our full review in the coming weeks.

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Just when you thought JBL couldn’t make its Xtreme portable Bluetooth speaker any more, er, extreme, it goes and blesses us with a fifth-generation model. And this one is not only waterproof and dust-proof – it is now drop-proof too.

The JBL Xtreme 5 can also put on a bit of a show thanks to new colourful, customisable edge lighting, which emits from two strips placed on the front of the speaker.

Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll discover there’s a lot more going on here than just a light show and a newfound sense of invincibility.

Price

The good news for prospective buyers is that the price of the JBL Xtreme 5 hasn’t really changed massively compared with its predecessor. It costs £330 / €350 / $400, while the Award-winning Xtreme 4 started life at £330 / €330 / $380 although it can be found significantly cheaper now, given it launched back in 2024.

It has a close rival in the shape of the five-star Bose SoundLink Max. This, too, originally launched in 2024 for £399 / €400 / $399, but at the time of writing, it can also regularly be found for less than its JBL counterpart.

Design and build

Like a bodybuilder who has bulked up for their first show of the season, the Xtreme has been beefed up by JBL for this latest incarnation.

Placed next to the previous version, the Xtreme 5 comes across as much more of a unit. The changes in proportions are immediately noticeable, and you could almost be forgiven for thinking this was actually a new step-up model.

Compared with the Xtreme 4, the Xtreme 5 is more than 1.5cm taller, just over one centimetre deeper, and nearly five centimetres wider. These figures don’t look like a lot on paper, but see the two together in reality and the difference in stature is obvious.

The 5 is also nearly one kilogram heavier, which you can feel as soon as you pick it up by the carry strap (which you’ll be pleased to know still includes a bottle opener as part of its design).

Speaking of the strap, the floating loops on top of the speaker have more clearance on the new model, making it slightly easier to attach than on its predecessor.

A couple of other design tweaks also enhance the Xtreme 5's broad chest. The built-in stand, which uses rubber bumpers along the front and back edges for stability, has increased in size, while the rubberised ‘fins’, which are dotted around the edges of each end of the speaker, are more robust to offer greater protection should it roll off your picnic bench.

The passive bass radiators at either end of the speaker are also bigger, which means the sense of theatre they offer as they pulse in time with your favourite tunes has a bit more visual impact.

And that’s before your eyes are attracted to those light strips on the front of the Bluetooth speaker. You can change their colour, the pattern they display, or you can turn them off completely.

The control buttons, which used to simply to sit directly on top of the speaker’s ruggedised fabric, have changed position slightly. They are now mounted on a large matte-finished panel on the top of the speaker (together with power, Bluetooth pairing, and Auracast buttons), which we think also adds to its perceived bulk.

Features

But it’s not just at the surface level where changes have been made – there has been a significant overhaul to the driver configuration of the Xtreme 5. Where previous generations used twin tweeters and twin woofers, the new speaker keeps the tweeters but ditches the woofers in favour of a single ‘racetrack’ driver positioned behind the JBL logo.

JBL claims the new driver can better handle the increased power of the new model, a by-product of which is that it can deliver more mid/bass than its predecessor.

The total power output of the Xtreme 5 is a claimed 130W when mains powered, 90W when running off the built-in battery. This compares with figures of 100W and 70W for the Xtreme 4.

The speaker supports Bluetooth 6 and Auracast – the latter allows you to pair two Xtreme 5s together to use in stereo, or to connect multiple compatible JBL speakers together, should you want music blasting throughout your house.

Charging the JBL Xtreme 5 is done through the USB-C connection on the back, and the speaker can power your smartphone or tablet through the same socket. It also supports lossless audio up to 24-bit/48kHz through a wired connection – although for most people that’s a nice to have feature, rather than an essential.

JBL has included a couple of technologies designed to aid sound quality. AI Sound Boost is always on and uses an algorithm to clean up low frequencies and reduce distortion; while Smart EQ analyses what you’re listening to in real time and can adjust the speaker’s delivery to suit, say, if you’re listening to music or a podcast.

In addition to helping you access the six different edge-lighting themes and alter the colours you see displayed, the JBL Portable app also allows you to access a new seven-band equaliser, should you want to tweak the out-of-the-box sound.

You can also form a stereo pair through the app and turn on Playtime Boost, which tweaks the sound so you can extend the battery life by four hours (as standard, you should be good for 24 hours of uninterrupted playtime).

We would steer clear of this particular feature unless you’re really desperate. It dramatically reduces the bass output of the speaker and makes the overall sound leaner and more compressed.

Sound

Avoid that setting, though, and the JBL Xtreme 5 does not disappoint.

Play Ed Sheeran’s Shivers and you can immediately hear that increase in power. As the track bursts into life during those first few seconds, you get a much greater sense of scale and size compared with the Xtreme 4.

You’re not buying a Bluetooth speaker for its stereo imaging, more for its spread of sound, and the JBL takes filling our modestly sized test room in its stride. Take the speaker outdoors and crank it up, though, and things get even more impressive.

The speaker laps up high volume levels and can easily go loud enough to power a summer party or annoy the neighbours, depending on your mood.

There’s plenty of bass weight – even with the Xtreme 5 firing out into the great wilderness, the track’s deep, probing bassline makes its presence felt. Impressively, though, it doesn’t overpower the rest of the track – Sheeran’s expressive vocals still take centre stage.

The other thing that strikes us about the JBL is how much clearer it sounds than its predecessor. It makes the Xtreme 4 sound hazy and cluttered in comparison.

Play Run by Stephen Fretwell, and there’s more separation around the individual elements, so you can hear what each one brings to the music.

You can inspect around the edges of that crisply defined percussion and piano, but the whole presentation remains cohesive, and the track remains confidently knitted together with the lead vocal at the centre. It’s still a hugely musical listen and captures the slow, gentle rhythmic flow and rise and fall of the track.

We switch between battery and mains power, and can hear a small injection of punch and solidity when we tap into that bigger power figure. It’s not a huge jump, though, and we think you’ll be satisfied whichever way you decide to use the speaker.

Verdict

Just when we were starting to wonder how JBL could improve things with yet another generation of Xtreme, it goes and beats what came before.

The Xtreme 5 is a beefier design than previous versions. Not only does it have greater sonic presence, but it also has a newfound sense of clarity, which elevates sound quality to a new level. And that’s bad news for its closest rivals. Bravo, JBL.

Review published: 13th May 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Features 4
• Build 5

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It can be hard to know which Sonos speaker to buy. There’s a healthy number currently on the market, all furnished with varying levels of baked-in Sonos features at a range of prices and sizes.

Many would-be buyers seek a Sonos speaker because they are keen on the US brand’s particular ecosystem. Once they have jumped that particular hurdle, though, it can be hard to know where to go next.

What we have here are two candidates with somewhat different purposes in mind. The Sonos Era 100 is designed as a stationary, home-bound wireless speaker, whereas the Sonos Play bridges the gap between portability and domestic use thanks to its combination of a built-in battery alongside the usual wi-fi and smart-assistant powers.

Quite a lot of overlap, then, but don’t be fooled into thinking that the Play is just a Sonos Era 100 with the stabilisers taken off. Both have their place within the Sonos family – and we’re here to help you figure out what those places are and, more importantly, which one is right for you.

Sonos Era 100 vs Sonos Play: price

The Sonos Era 100 started its life at around £249 / $249 / AU$399, but that was back in 2023.

Around three years later, prices have dropped somewhat, meaning the Era 100 tends to sit at roughly the £199 / $219 / AU$319 mark, and can drop even lower when Sonos is feeling generous and there’s a lovely big sales event going on.

The Sonos Play, meanwhile, is a far newer model, having made its debut only in 2026, for a rather considerable £299 / $299 / AU$499. Prices haven’t dipped much since then, though we would speculate that, as with the Era 100, big sales events could see the Play drop in price by a decent margin. Time will tell.

For now, however, the Era 100 is the cheaper speaker of the two, so takes the win here.

**Winner: Sonos Era 100**

Sonos Era 100 vs Sonos Play: design

What we have here are two quintessentially ‘Sonos’ speakers. In terms of their design and functionality, you wouldn’t need many guesses to figure out that both the Play and the Era 100 are Sonos-made products thanks to their clean, simple aesthetic and somewhat similar designs.

They are not, of course, identical; indeed, there are quite a few major differences to distinguish one from the other.

The main difference comes from the fact that the Sonos Play is conceived, at least in part, as a portable speaker, while the Era 100 is designed purely for indoor, mains-powered use. That means that the Play is a fair bit slimmer than its Era counterpart, is easier to wrap your hand around its frame, and comes with a carry strap at the back.

The Era 100 is similarly clean and minimalist in its layout, although it’s slightly shorter and a lot wider than its portable stablemate. This not being a portable speaker, however, there is no carry handle to be found.

In terms of on-unit controls, both offer plenty. The Era 100 offers top-mounted touch-capacitive buttons for accessing music playback and voice control, with a clever volume slider in the form of a ‘trough’ also mounted on the top panel. A switch to turn the microphone on/off is situated at the rear.

The Play doesn’t have that distinctive trough slider, but its rubber top hosts four physical buttons – two for volume, one for muting/unmuting your voice assistant and a play/pause toggle – while the spine houses a Bluetooth pairing button, a microphone on/off toggle and a large power button.

Both offer USB-C connections at their respective rears, either for charging or for a wired connection for sources such as a turntable or music player. Note, however, that you will need a USB-C to 3.5mm aux adapter if you did want to hard-wire a source; this currently costs £19 / $19 via the Sonos website, so it’s not exactly cheap.

The mains-powered Sonos Era 100 is designed to stay put within your home, so it isn’t furnished with an IP rating and we wouldn’t suggest having an open can of Diet Coke put anywhere near it. The Play, conversely, is designed to be rugged and portable, and sports an IP67 rating to keep it protected from dust ingress and submersion in water.

Two similar-looking speakers built for somewhat different tasks, then; but, for its greater versatility and portability, we’re handing the win to the Sonos Play.

**Winner: Sonos Play**

Sonos Era 100 vs Sonos Play: features

These speakers are absolutely feature-packed, so deep breath: here we go.

The Sonos Era 100 is getting a little long in the tooth, but it still has plenty of mod cons to keep in step with the newer Play. Both speakers offer standard Bluetooth streaming or can connect to your home network for a host of wi-fi-enabled playback options, with support for most mainstream streaming services such as Apple Music, Spotify Connect, Amazon Music and Tidal.

Both support hi-res files up to 24-bit/48kHz from Qobuz and Amazon Music and can be controlled by your voice or via the Sonos app, courtesy either of Amazon Alexa or the built-in Sonos Voice Control assistant. Just be aware that some of the major streaming services can't be integrated with your chosen voice assistant, so asking your speaker to "play something from Tidal", for example, can't be done in either case.

Both offer AirPlay 2 and a USB-C line-in options, although we reiterate that you will need a specific adapter and cable for wired connections.

Both are capable of forming a stereo pair, and both can be included as part of a wider Sonos multi-room system. For home cinema fans, you can use your Era 100 as rear surround speakers with the likes of the Sonos Arc, Beam and Ray soundbars.

With the Era 100 and the Play, you can calibrate your speaker's output for the room it is placed in using the Trueplay tuning feature, either by using an iPhone device’s integrated microphones (for iOS users), or else use the speakers own mics to ‘Quick Tune’ if you use an Android device.

Being a slimmer, portable unit, the Play is capable of taking things a step further, quite literally, thanks to its 24-hour battery life and IP67 waterproof rating.

As we wrote in our review, it's “best to think of the Sonos Play in the same way you might regard the established Move 2: a portable speaker that can also plug into the mains and slot into your home wi-fi network and, if you wish, integrate within your Sonos multi-room system.”

The Play's Bluetooth powers are handy for when you’re roaming about and need a quick and easy wireless connection to your device, and you can use Bluetooth to connect twin Plays together either via the app or pressing the play/pause button on your desired device for around two seconds.

By contrast, you can't use Bluetooth to connect two Era 100s together into a stereo pair – that has to be done via wi-fi.

Both are pretty much identical in terms of their streaming features, with the Play and Era 100 boasting versatility to spare. The Play does have the added benefit of a built-in battery making it suitable for outdoor as well as indoor use, though, meaning it just steals a win here.

**Winner: Sonos Play**

Sonos Era 100 vs Sonos Play: sound

The Sonos Play houses a trio of Class H amplifiers powering two angled tweeters and a mid driver, as well as dual force-cancelling passive radiators which aim for deep bass and reduced internal vibrations. Its Era 100 counterpart, meanwhile, boasts twin angled tweeters with custom waveguides and an enlarged woofer, all powered by their own dedicated Class D amplifier.

The results are impressive in both cases, and we’d be surprised if either of these speakers left you feeling let down in the audio department. The smaller Play is capable in many aspects, giving music a feeling of poise and control as it blends ample clarity with plenty of muscle and power.

There is certainly decent clout at the bottom end, and as we say in our review, the speaker’s bass response “sounds taut and punchy, evidenced by the Play firmly handling those opening drum thumps on Michael Jackson’s iconic Billie Jean.”

Yes, it can be a little route-one in how it presents your tunes, but in general, Sonos’s do-it-all candidate has a lot going for it. As our review concludes: “Whether pumping out some Gorillaz in the garden or streaming a slice of Stevie Wonder in the sitting room, its clear, confident and controlled sound is rarely a chore to listen to. We’d like it to flex to accommodate different musical styles, but sonically, this [is] an admirable effort.”

The Era 100, conversely, is the smart choice if sound is your number one priority. The Era’s dedication to performance first continues to shine through, even as its slightly more advanced age.

It’s a wider speaker with more drive units and more power, and the resultant sound is more spacious, more detailed and with greater stretch in the bass than its portable counterpart can muster. Dynamics are more confidently revealed, too, with the Era 100’s stellar blend of openness and dynamism making for a remarkably confident, cinematic experience.

The chunkier speaker’s balance is, in fact, pretty much spot on. As we wrote at the time: “There’s an ease with which Sonos delivers every track we play through it. It never feels dull or distant, nor does it try to attract your attention unduly; this is an overall pleasing sound that is comfortable to listen to for hours.”

The Era 100 plumbs greater sonic depths than the slightly leaner Play, and while that lower-end delivery could easily become overbearing, the Era 100 is adept at giving challenging basslines genuine shape and texture thanks to its dextrous, agile nature.

It may be a little older, but it's certainly no less bold. The Era 100 remains a five-star performer on the audio front, and while the Play makes a decent account of itself, its established stablemate is the one to pick if sound is what matters most.

A clear and deserved win for the fantastic Era 100.

**Winner: Sonos Era 100**

Sonos Era 100 vs Sonos Play: verdict

What we have here are two speakers built with two distinct purposes in mind, although a degree of overlap does muddy the waters somewhat. Allow us, then, to make things simple for you.

If you want a Sonos speaker that straddles the outdoor and the indoor world, the Play is the one to pick. It isn’t quite on the Era 100’s level in terms of sound, but its bulging feature set, portable design and still-decent performance make it a solid pick for anyone who seeks solid sound across a range of different use cases.

If you just want an excellent-sounding wireless smart speaker that is baked into the Sonos ecosystem and prioritises sound above all else, go for the Sonos Era 100. It’s built nicely, still has enough neat tricks to keep even the most feature-hungry consumer happy, and its sound really is excellent.

**Overall winner: Sonos Era 100**

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For What Hi-Fi? readers at least, playing music directly from your smartphone may be the most cardinal of all cardinal sins. To take your music and subject it to being squeezed through your iPhone’s tinny little speakers is, to some at least, the equivalent of cooking a dry-aged steak in a microwave and then slathering it in a small mountain of ketchup.

This, in part, is why the JBL Go 5 exists. The fifth generation of JBL’s very affordable Bluetooth speaker is built to be almost as portable as your smartphone itself, but with boosted sonic capabilities that won’t leave your music sounding as though it’s been put through the metaphorical microwave.

The first JBL Go came out back in 2018, and since then, JBL has been steadily refining the line by adding more features, tweaking the dinky design and refining that all-important sonic output. The Go 4 was the former high water mark, but 2026’s new model is now on the scene – and, from what we’ve heard, this fifth-generation model might be the best Go yet.

Price

You can all breathe a sigh of relief because, while the world’s financial markets may be in turmoil, some things are blessedly immune from inflation. The JBL Go 5 clocks in at the same price as its predecessor, once again costing a wallet-friendly £40 / $50 / AU$59 at the time of writing.

If you want something cheaper, your best bet is probably to plump for a now-discounted JBL Go 4, which can sink as low as £28 / $30.

There are a few comparable speakers knocking around at this near-entry-level price point. The five-star Tribit Stormbox Micro 2 tends to hover around the £45 / $46 mark; and you can now grab its less successful successor, the Stormbox Micro 3 for around £63 / $65.

Build & design

Unlike a former child star losing their chocolate box looks once they hit their troubled adolescence, the Go is just as cute as it has ever been. It’s a tiny bit larger than the fourth-gen Go, but the slight increase in size is perceptible only if you place the two generations next to each other.

Once again, we’re dealing with a very small, square(ish) speaker that is only slightly bigger than a pack of cards or a bar of soap.

Times have changed, however, so there are a few extra aesthetic developments beyond mere size. The Go 5’s front-mounted ‘JBL’ lettering logo has been rather cleverly hollowed out, so there should be less impediment to the sound from the driver reaching your ears.

Plus, JBL has added lighting to the party, which you can customise and switch on/off via the JBL Portable app. Twin strips of white lights run parallel across the top and bottom of the main speaker face, with four stock light themes – ‘Bounce’, ‘Loop’, ‘Switch’ and ‘Freeze’ – from which to choose.

Is it strictly necessary? No, of course not. Is it a fun touch for an ultra-portable speaker aimed at people who don’t want their portable audio taking things too seriously? Yeah, we’d say so.

Elsewhere, it’s much the same as before, and that doesn’t raise many complaints from us. Rubberised edging surrounds practically the entire unit, with large play/pause and volume controls housed at the top of the speaker and the power, Bluetooth pairing and Auracast icons spread vertically down the left hand side, all of which are easy to use and responsive to the touch.

At the bottom, JBL’s signature diagonally slanted ridges have been replaced by a rubberised bulge, but we don’t find that has much of a negative effect on how much the speaker grips to horizontal surfaces.

At the top right of the unit is a handy, non-adjustable carry loop, one that we find remains durable and robust no matter how many times we spin it around on an outstretched finger.

In fact, the entirety of the Go 5 just feels so well made that we’d bet a small chunk of cash that, barring a nuclear apocalypse or the battery running dry, it will last for many years to come. That IP68 rating means that an aggressive outdoor hosing leaves no lasting impression, and as our test sample(s) accompany us from the bottom of a backpack to the end of the garden, they take everything cheerily in their stride.

Features

Considering how small and cheap the Go 5 is, you’re not exactly starved of features. If you have the latest Flip 7 or Charge 6 speakers, many of the same features have been carried over to the fifth-gen Go, and there are even a few new tricks that are exclusive to the smallest member of the portable JBL family.

Check this out for a party piece: the Go 5 is capable of ‘AirTouch’ stereo pairing, and it really is exactly as described. Get two Go speakers together, tap them together end to end and, almost unfailingly, they’ll emit a chime of approval and form a stereo pair. You can also do this in the provided app, but what sort of fun is that?

Stereo pairing is easier than ever to set up and use, and the technology seems to have been improved since we tried it last. Our JBL Go 4 review griped that we would have liked slightly better sound synchronisation between our two speakers when playing in stereo, but we don’t now detect a noticeable delay from one speaker to the other when music is being shared by two speakers.

There’s a lot more packed into the teeny tiny Go 5. Auracast Bluetooth compatibility is back, bringing the Go 5 in line with the current JBL Flip 7, Charge 6 and new Xtreme 5 models and letting you connect multiple compatible JBL speakers together either via the on-unit button or via the JBL Portable app.

Battery life has been bolstered just a little, with the Go 5 squeezing out roughly eight hours of standard playtime, with an additional two hours via Playtime Boost. This is an increase over its predecessor’s seven hours of standard time and maximum of nine with Playtime Boost.

Do be aware that Playtime Boost should be seen as a ‘last resort’ option, as this feature will suck out most of the bass from your speaker’s output and make things sound unbalanced and rather thin. More of a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ kind of a thing if you desperately need to extend your power use.

Sound

JBL’s palm-sized Go 5 promises improved audio with a fuller, deeper bass than its antecedent, thanks in part to its 45mm driver and that hollow-contour logo working in tandem to “level up sound output and performance”.

“Level up” is a rather nice way to put it, and as we flit between the older-generation model and 2026’s fresh-from-the-oven fifth-gen iteration, it’s clear that this is the most sonically capable Go yet.

The Go 4 was a wonderful sonic surprise, but its successor does enough to trump it, treating us to a fuller, meatier reproduction that simply sounds more rich and engaging than its predecessor. There’s unquestionably more depth in the bass, too, though not to the extent that the lower end unnaturally dwarfs the rest of the frequencies and threatens to throw the entire reproduction off balance.

The Go 5 doesn’t try to do too much – instead, it gives us a hearty and surprisingly musical upgrade on anything that our tinny smartphone speakers could hope to muster. Relatively simple tunes, such Muse’s Madness, sound clean, composed and impressively clear through the midrange, while Turnstile’s crunchy rock anthem SLOWDIVE is dispatched with confidence and muscle as we shift things up a gear.

This is a speaker that can fit in the palm of your hand, yet it’s genuinely remarkable just how punchy and effusive the Go 5 is capable of sounding. Ludwig Goransson’s POSTERITY brims with energy when played via the JBL, and while this isn’t a speaker that will grant such a layered composition a huge amount of space, the feeling of rhythmic intent and cinematic drama comes through with real gusto.

Like almost all of the more recent JBL portables we’ve tested, the Go 5 is tuned to have an innate understanding of how your music should sound. Again, nothing here is overdone or overly coloured, but it shares its bigger siblings’ ability to go with the flow as we bounce around tracks and genres.

Is Nick Cave’s Avalanche the most well-organised and cinematic rendition you’ll ever hear? Of course not. Does the Go 5 capture the essential character of what Cave is trying to convey? Absolutely it does. Will bigger speakers offer more textural detail when playing Hans Zimmer’s The Battle? Undoubtedly. Do we ever feel as though the Go 5 is failing to communicate the inherent drama of the piece? No. In all honesty, we don’t.

The good news keeps coming, as the Go 5 steps in line with its latest-gen JBL counterparts by supporting 24-bit/48kHz lossless playback via USB-C. Hold down the speaker’s ‘play’ button as you plug in a USB-C cable and a happy sound will inform you that you’re now in wired playback mode.

We test lossless playback with Tidal playing on a connected iPhone 15, and find that our music sounds a touch clearer, crisper and more detailed when going wired compared with Bluetooth.

Just be aware that JBL doesn't tend to supply an in-box USB-C charging cable any more (as is increasingly standard for most brands, in a bid to minimise electronic waste), but we imagine most users will have a spare one knocking around these days, so that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Verdict

Laurel resting doesn’t seem to be JBL’s thing at the moment, especially when it comes to its strong line of portable Bluetooth speakers.

The Go 5 is the best Go yet, thanks to its handsome feature-set, stylish portable design and, for a speaker of its size and price, excellent audio quality. If you’re still playing your music through your phone’s speakers, it may be time to consider upgrading to one of JBL’s pocket-sized dynamos, because the Go 5 really is the real deal.

Review published: 8th May 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Features 5

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Check out the best Bluetooth speakers we've tested

Right around this time last year, I was packing for a rare holiday abroad, and I thought it would be a great idea to pack a little Bluetooth speaker.

With my Sonos Roam having failed a few months earlier, I had to buy something with my own money.

On a near-zero budget, I of course headed over to our list of best budget Bluetooth speakers and ordered the cheapest option – the JBL Go 4.

My, what a brilliant little speaker it is! Despite the super-low cost of just £30ish and the pocketable dimensions, the Go 4 sounds clean, controlled and surprisingly weighty. It goes much louder than I expected, too.

Needless to say, the Go 4 was a hit on our holiday, and it’s had plenty of use since, particularly in the garden, where it hangs handily off one of the utensil pegs of my barbecue.

I’ve recommended it to lots of people, too, including my dad, who also bought one and thinks it's brilliant.

Quite incredibly, though, I recently found a Bluetooth speaker that makes the JBL look expensive. That speaker is the smallest model in Ikea’s (yes, that Ikea) Vappeby range, and it costs just £10.

A tenner for a Bluetooth speaker from a reputable brand? That’s nuts. So nuts, I just had to buy one.

Unboxing

The Vappeby doesn’t hide its cheapness particularly well.

Thicker and more cube-like than the JBL, it has a hard plastic finish and no branding. A bit “My First Speaker”, but not without charm – the perforated front is neat, and the striped strap is really rather fetching.

And it looks cheap because it is cheap, which is perfectly fair enough.

The little Vappeby is waterproof, too, which is pretty generous for a speaker costing only a tenner, and it charges via USB-C – although it’s worth noting that you don’t get a cable with it, let alone a full charger.

Charging isn’t something you’ll need to do often, at least, because Ikea claims a fully charged Vappeby will play music at 50 per cent volume for 80 hours. Impressive stuff.

Sound quality

The problem, though, is that even just 20 minutes of listening to the Vappeby is too long.

Even the sound effects that play when you power the speaker on or put it into pairing mode are shrill and tinny.

Play some actual music and the rendition is small, thin and congested. Voices are reedy and sibilant, while instruments blur together into a bright, indistinct mix.

I kid you not, listening to music via my iPhone’s built-in speakers is actually preferable overall to listening via the Vappeby.

The little Ikea isn’t a complete bust: it goes fairly loud for a dinky speaker, and even at full volume it still has some headroom left to deliver some dynamic range.

A £30 benchmark

But it’s completely demolished by the Go 4 in every way. JBL’s even smaller speaker is coherent, smooth, relatively bassy, detailed and natural-sounding. It’s actually a joy to listen to, which the Vappeby decidedly is not.

And that’s the problem for the Ikea speaker: it’s a really unpleasant listen.

It might seem that I’m being harsh on a little speaker that costs just £10, but why would you want to spend £10 to make your music sound even worse than it does coming out of your phone?

You wouldn’t, is my guess. So don’t buy the Ikea Vappeby, is my advice. Save a little more and buy the JBL Go 4 instead – you won’t regret it.

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Check out our full JBL Go 4 review

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Tribit has announced the sequel to one of our favourite budget Bluetooth speakers of the last few years.

Acting as the successor to the rugged, compact and sonically talented Stormbox Micro 2, the new Stormbox Micro 3 teases improved sound, a tougher build and a host of upgraded features from a speaker built for "outdoor enthusiasts and everyday listeners alike".

The new model boasts 13 watts of power driving a 48mm driver and dual coaxial passive radiators, delivering what Tribit describes as "crisp clarity and deep, punchy bass". The speaker's 'XBass' feature, meanwhile, aims to enhance low-frequency reproduction for "a fuller, more immersive listening experience".

The StormBox Micro 3 offers up to 24 hours of playtime on a single charge, while a quick 15-minute charge will offer up to three hours of playback in a pinch. Charging goes the other way, too: you can use the Micro 3 to juice up your portable device, such as your smartphone, via USB-C.

A two-in-one mounting system lets users strap the speaker securely to backpacks or bike handlebars for when you're out and about, or snap it magnetically onto cars, lockers or other metallic surfaces.

A built-in microphone is available for hands-free calling and voice assistant control, while 'True Wireless Stereo (TWS)' lets you connect two Stormbox Micro 3 speakers together for a more immersive stereo experience.

Tribit's latest offering boasts an IP68 water and dustproof certification, seeing it keep up with the similarly high-end certifications of JBL's latest raft of Bluetooth speakers, such as the five-star Flip 7. That should mean it's capable of being immersed in water for around 30 minutes without feeling the effects.

To manage your compact Bluetooth companion, you'll want access to the Tribit app, wherein, among other things, you'll find a nine-band EQ for tinkering with your sound to your preferences.

The Tribit Stormbox Micro 2 is available now, priced at £63 / $65 /€65. At that price, it's a bit more expensive than the five-star JBL Go 4 (currently £25 / $40) and a little less than the Award-winning JBL Flip 7 (currently £100 / $110 / AU$170).

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Read our recent Sonos Play review

Best outdoor speakers: portable, wireless, waterproof models tried and tested

Two of JBL’s stalwart Bluetooth speakers are getting a major refresh.

The new JBL Xtreme 5 follows on from the Award-winning Xtreme 4 we tested back in the summer of 2024. The other end of the size (and price) spectrum is covered by the JBL Go 5, the box-fresh successor to the dinky five-star Go 4.

Both Bluetooth speakers tease upgraded sound and a refreshed look as part of their next-generation revamp, as well as new features and improved usability.

The far larger of the two, the boombox-esque JBL Xtreme 5, teases 10 per cent deeper bass and louder sound than the previous generation model, with a revamped acoustic design consisting of dual tweeters and a subwoofer in pursuit of “powerful sound” and minimised distortion.

The palm-sized Go 5, meanwhile, also teases improved audio with deeper bass than its antecedent, in part thanks to a new hollow contour logo which is designed to “level up sound output and performance”.

New features are on the horizon for 2026, too. Both speakers make use of AI-powered ‘SmartEQ Mode’ which automatically optimises your sound settings for music or speech if, say, you’re listening to music and then switch over to a podcast.

The titchy JBL Go 5, meanwhile, makes use of new ‘AirTouch’ tech, which allows for stereo pairing simply by touching two Go 5 speakers together. Now that does sound clever.

As we have seen with the Award-winning Flip 7, the two new additions to JBL's line-up grant USB-C audio for lossless playback up to 24-bit/96kHz.

The JBL Xtreme 5 teases around 24 hours of playtime on a single charge, with an additional four hours courtesy of ‘Playtime Boost’, which is roughly the same as the numbers boasted by the fourth-gen model. The Go 5, conversely, promises around eight hours of playtime with an additional two hours via Playtime Boost, a small increase over its predecessor.

As is the case with pretty much all newer JBL Bluetooth speakers, the fifth-gen arrivals support Auracast Bluetooth tech, essentially allowing you to pair multiple speakers together in stereo or hook up multiple compatible JBL units, either via an on-unit button or through the provided JBL app.

On the outside, the new speakers have enjoyed something of a design refresh, with both now sporting ambient edge lighting which can be customised across multiple modes. In terms of durability, the Xtreme 5 boasts an IP68 water and dustproof rating, as does the Go 5.

According to Carsten Olesen, President of Consumer Audio at Harman: “JBL is known for its portable speakers, and we are always looking for ways to improve and evolve them. First we brought in AI Sound Boost for clearer, louder sound for less distortion in your playback, and now with the introduction of Smart EQ Mode on Xtreme 5, we continue to develop innovative ways to deliver the best possible listening experience.”

The JBL Xtreme 5 will be available in black, blue and camo finishes from April 2026, priced at £330 / €350. The JBL Go 5 will be available in seven colours from April 2026, priced at £40 / €50.

Those are the same sorts of figures for the Xtreme 5 and Go 5 as their outgoing predecessors – nice!

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Best Bluetooth speakers tried and tested for every budget

Sonos is in need of a win at the moment. The US giant isn’t in quite the same desperate need as poor old Tottenham Hotspur are at the time of writing, but it’s hard to escape the fact that the past couple of years have been a little rough for one of audio’s most recognisable names.

The company’s much-covered app update was infamously poorly received, while patchy form on the audio front – from the middling debut of the Ace over-ear headphones to the disappointing Roam 2 Bluetooth speaker – struggled to win us back around.

Now entering this tricky landscape is the Sonos Play. The brand describes the Play as a “compact portable smart speaker”, with the new model blending streaming smarts with voice control, Bluetooth powers and a built-in battery to cover as many bases as possible in a bid to give Sonos that much-needed win.

There’s a lot on the Play’s shoulders, then: the ‘Play’ name is a throwback to Sonos’ older line of superb speakers, so is this the speaker that puts Sonos back on the right track?

Price

The Sonos Play comes with a premium price tag. Still, at £299 / $299 / AU$499, it’s a good chunk cheaper than its larger Move 2 counterpart was at launch (£449 / $449 / AU$799), hovering around the same sort of territory as the Apple HomePod 2 smart speaker (£299 / $299 / AU$479) and its WiiM Sound rival (£299 / $299 / approx AU$499).

If you’re after something that’s focused purely on portability, the Award-winning, Bluetooth-only JBL Charge 6 can be yours for at most £170 / $199 / AU$200, although it doesn’t have the same extensive arsenal of features as the Sonos or its smart speaker counterparts.

Closer to the Play’s price, you can also get the much larger JBL Xtreme 4 Bluetooth portable for around £230 / $299 / AU$329.

Build & design

The Play is something of a middle child for Sonos’ established range of portable and semi-portable wireless speakers.

It’s larger than the Toblerone-esque tubes of the slimline Sonos Roam and Roam 2, and puts us in mind of a scaled-down version of the rather bulky, wide-fronted Sonos Move 2. If you’re not so familiar with the established Sonos range, imagine a decent-sized hardcover book or a scaled-down bathroom bin and you’re most of the way there.

Either way, this is a Sonos product through and through, and in general, that’s a good thing. Sonos is not known for its slipshod approach to product design, and while you might find that it tends to err on the side of rather understated, utilitarian aesthetics when designing its speakers, this is unquestionably a well made product

The speaker is weighty in-hand (1.3kg is hardly feather-light for a portable unit), with the main body comprising a wrap-around grille topped by a rubberised top section, which feeds into another rubber strip running along the backside.

That rubber top hosts four physical buttons – two for volume, one for muting/unmuting your voice assistant and a play/pause toggle – while the spine houses a Bluetooth pairing control, a microphone toggle and a large power button. You’re also furnished with a removable, but sadly not adjustable, “utility loop", which you can hook around your finger for easier carrying.

A small LED display at the front gives you various status indicators, though we’d echo our sentiments from previous Sonos models that having a larger light would make this easier to see from afar.

The Play is designed to be portable, so there’s mettle and grit hiding beneath that rather unassuming facade. The speaker boasts a very solid IP67 rating to keep it protected from dust ingress and submersion in water, with garden hose splashes and a quick dunk in our office sink seeing the Play prove its all-terrain credentials with relative ease.

Two finishes are available – black or white – though we’d mention that, while our black sample shows little signs of the rigours to which we subject it during our tests, we wonder if its pristine all-white counterpart might be more susceptible to showing stains and scuffs after a time. If you plan on taking your speaker on outdoor adventures rather than keeping it cooped up inside or going as far as the back garden, the black option might be the one to pick.

Features

It’s best to think of the Sonos Play in the same way you might regard the established Move 2: a portable speaker that can also plug into the mains and slot into your home wi-fi network and, if you wish, integrate within your Sonos multi-room system.

As such, the Play offers Bluetooth 5.3 for when you’re roaming about and just need a quick and simple wireless connection from your smartphone, with pairing swift and stable during our tests.

It also has a very healthy 24 hours of battery life from a single charge. That’s a decent number, matching the standard lifespan of the JBL Charge 6 and the Sonos Move 2, and easily outstripping the 10 or so hours you’ll get from the smaller Roam 2.

Wi-fi compatibility offers you a more comprehensive streaming suite than most standard Bluetooth speaker rivals, with the Play granting support for the likes of Spotify Connect, Apple Music, Tidal via the Sonos app, as well as AirPlay 2. There’s no playing ball with higher quality Bluetooth codecs such as aptX HD or LDAC here, but the Sonos Play is capable of streaming files up to 24-bit/48kHz from most mainstream streaming services over wi-fi.

This being a Sonos speaker, multi-room capabilities act as a major feather in the Play’s proverbial cap. Grouping the speaker together with compatible Sonos devices, such as other Plays, the larger Move 2 or the slimline Sonos Roam 2, is a simple process – you can use the app to drag devices into your preferred group, a process which we find simple, intuitive and easy to navigate.

That simple process is done via the Sonos app, which, when it works well, is in-depth, easy to use and impressively comprehensive. Our problem is that too many times during our testing, the app suffers from usability glitches, often refusing to perform basic functions without explanation. We attempt to link Absolute Radio to our Sonos account, for instance, and only on the third attempt do we achieve a successful pairing – our first two tries are thwarted by an unhelpful error message. We hope these kinks are smoothed out with a firmware update.

Charging is performed using a supplied charging dock with USB-C cable, but there’s no power adapter in the box, so you’ll need to buy one separately (£19 / $19) from Sonos if you don’t already have one. There’s a USB-C port at the back of the speaker, either for charging or to connect an external audio source like a music player or turntable via a line-in adapter.

On the subject of charging, you can use the Play like a portable power bank by simply plugging a USB-C cable and keeping your smartphone juiced up on the go.

There are further tricks to be found to make usability easier, too. You can connect twin Sonos Plays via the app or simply by using Bluetooth – pressing the play/pause button for around two seconds on your Sonos Play will group it together with the speaker that’s currently playing Bluetooth audio. That’s a handy bonus if you’ve taken a few Plays out on your adventures and need a quick and effective way of getting stereo sound without wi-fi or app access.

Speaking of twins, you even get dual voice assistant support for your Sonos speaker, with Sonos’ own voice assistant sitting alongside Amazon’s ever-clever Alexa AI. You’ll need to set up and confirm permission to use Alexa via the separate Amazon app, but once that’s done, she’s easy to summon with a quick call of “Hello Alexa”.

Sound

Sonos never divulges the power rating of its speakers, but we know that the Play sports three Class H amplifiers powering two angled tweeters and a mid-woofer driver, as well as dual force-cancelling passive radiators which aim for deep bass and minimised vibrations.

The resultant sound is impressive in many respects. The Play covers the sonic basics admirably, and while that might sound like damning with faint praise, it’s no guarantee that a speaker of this size and type can put music together as convincingly and cohesively as our test sample manages.

As we pump out a recording of Ramin Djawadi’s The King’s Arrival from the soundtrack to Game Of Thrones, the Play gives the composition an appropriately regal feel – poised, clear, controlled, and with ample muscle to spare, it’s a powerful and convincing opening salvo.

Unlike Game Of Thrones, which really went downhill as its run came to a close, the Sonos Play doesn’t suffer a disastrous drop off when we switch to something completely different. Massive Attack’s Atlas Air gives the Play a new challenge, with the speaker striking a fine balance between weighty punch and composed control as it tackles the track with a professional, capable precision.

There’s ample bass muscle, but the Play’s clear, controlled character and disciplined signature stops that lower end from spilling out all over the place – instead, it sounds taut and punchy, evidenced by the Play firmly handles those opening drum thumps on Michael Jackson’s iconic Billie Jean.

How does the Play stack up against its key rivals? When placed side by side with Apple’s five-star HomePod 2 and with both speakers playing via AirPlay, it’s clear that the Sonos Play’s clear, punchy yet precise sound contrasts with the airier and more free-flowing temperament of the HomePod 2.

The mains-powered HomePod 2 is also a little more nuanced in how it handles instrumental timbres, granting more subtlety and texture to instruments – rich violin strokes, tumbling drum fills, tinkling pianos – making for a more natural listen than the ever-so-slightly mechanical Play.

We also find that the Sonos can tend to paint music with the same brush. Capable and controlled as it sounds, we do sometimes feel as though the speaker isn’t that flexible in its delivery – whether it’s The King’s Arrival or Elvis Costello’s Veronica, everything tends to sound a little uniform no matter the genre.

Veronica is a thin, zippy recording with a character all of its own, but some of that inherent leanness is lost as the Sonos just slightly imposes its own style on Costello’s bittersweet ditty when we listen over Bluetooth.

The five-star, cheaper JBL Charge 6 may sound harder and less forgiving when also playing via Bluetooth, but it brings out the essence of various musical styles – be it Costello, Chappell Roan or Chris Cornell – with greater expressiveness and insight.

Still, our overall impressions of the Play remain positive. Whether pumping out some Gorillaz in the garden or streaming a slice of Stevie Wonder in the sitting room, its clear, confident and controlled sound is rarely a chore to listen to. We’d like it to bend and flex to accommodate different musical styles and genres more readily, but sonically, this remains an admirable effort.

Verdict

The Sonos Play has a lot going for it. It’s hugely versatile and undeniably talented, while its ability to bridge the gap between home and outdoor use potentially saves the need for buying two separate speakers. In that regard, the Play is more than capable of justifying its reasonably lofty price tag.

If you simply need a dedicated specialist – be it a purely portable pal or a static wireless smart speaker – more sonically talented rivals are available. That said, if you’re seeking a do-it-all speaker that’s as happy slotting into your multi-room set-up as it is being taken down to the seaside, the Play makes a good deal of sense.

Review published: 26th March 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Features 5

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Check out our top tips to get the most out of the new Sonos Play wireless speaker

Sonos Play vs Apple HomePod 2: which wireless speaker is better?

Best Bluetooth speakers 2026: tried and tested for every budget

The new Sonos Play can do a lot. Sonos' latest is so much more than just a pure wireless speaker with Bluetooth – it's made 'smart' courtesy of its twin voice assistants, it can accompany you on your outdoor adventures thanks to its portable design and on-the-go-features, and can slot into your home's multi-room set-up thanks to its network compatibility with the wider Sonos ecosystem.

That bag of tricks is positively bulging, and while that grants the Play admirable versatility, it can make it somewhat overwhelming for new users who want to make the most of their swanky new speaker.

To help you navigate this potentially challenging road, we've listed a few handy tricks and tips so that you can be confident you're getting the most out of your shiny new Sonos Play.

Make your Play a multi-room marvel

Forgive us if we're telling you what you already know, but Sonos is still somewhat synonymous with multi-room functionality. The Play may be as portable (or almost as portable) as the best Bluetooth speakers JBL has to offer, but it's very happy sitting on your desktop, your kitchen or sitting room as it slots happily into a wider Sonos system.

What perhaps need clarifying is just how to create such a set-up and which speakers will play ball with your Play. Thankfully, most newer generation wireless models can be paired up with your speaker, including the Sonos Roam 2 and the Sonos Move 2, so you can scatter a variety of models around your house depending on your needs.

Just go to the app, go to 'Settings', then and then drag speakers on the same network into your chosen grouping by clicking on 'Groups' and then 'Create Group'. Available products should then appear if they're on the same network.

That means you can use the Sonos Play as part of a more established home system. The Play will 'play' ball with the Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 wireless models, or you could use a pair of Plays as surrounds with a Sonos Beam (Gen 2) or Sonos Arc soundbar for an impromptu cinema set-up.

Get to grips with Bluetooth stereo pairing

Even among a pretty extensive catalogue of impressive features, Sonos has made a big deal of the Play's ability to stereo pair quickly via Bluetooth.

You might normally associate stereo pairing with wi-fi-only connections, and you can go down the more traditional route of simply using the app to group two speakers together, but Sonos has a handy trick for when you're out on the go and/or don't have app access.

To pair two Plays together, make sure you have one speaker already paired to your source device, i.e. your smartphone. Once that's done, press the play/pause button for a few seconds on your Sonos Play (you can also use a Sonos Move 2) to group it together with the speaker that’s currently playing via Bluetooth.

You can actually group up to four supported Sonos speakers together to play the same content in sync, but we imagine most users will use the feature for forming a simple stereo set-up. Pressing the play/pause button on the Sonos product that originally formed the group will dissolve the group.

Do note that, while the Sonos Play can be grouped with the smaller Roam or Roam 2 speakers when connected to the same Sonos system over wi-fi at home, off-LAN Bluetooth grouping when away from home is only supported between Sonos Play and Move 2 models, and is not available with the Roam or Roam 2.

Ensure you're familiar with the Sonos app

The Sonos app is the beating heart of any Sonos product, and that's very much the case when it comes to the Play. When a speaker can do so many things, some of which can be rather technical, you're going to struggle to get the most out of it unless you're using the official accompanying platform.

Sonos' app is reasonably self explanatory, although there are some functionalities we'd point you to in order for you to get the most out of your experience.

For a start, make sure you've got all of the requisite streaming services linked to your Sonos account. The Play offers support on its platform for the likes of Spotify Connect, Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and Tidal, and linking them to your Sonos account grants easy access if, say, you want to ask your Play to "start my favourite running playlist on Spotify".

Note, however, that some services can't be linked with Sonos Voice Assistant – sadly, that currently includes Tidal. Speaking of voice assistants, we'd advise disabling the microphone entirely via the switch on the back of your speaker when you're not using voice controls, for the sake of your privacy if nothing else.

We're also aware that there are occasionally teething problems with linking your Play to the app. If that's the case for you, be aware that products relying on a wi-fi connection don't like being moved from network to network, so if your product isn't connecting or being discovered, it may already be tethered to a different provider. That's certainly something we experienced when moving our Play from the office to a domestic setting.

If that's the case, you can try resetting your device by disconnecting your speaker, turning it off, placing it back on its charging base while keeping the play/pause button pressed, then waiting for the LED to start blinking green. Once it goes green, your product should appear and you can add your Sonos to a new network.

Make sure you've got TruePlay switched on

The Sonos Play makes use of 'TruePlay' technology, which, to quote its manufacturer, "measures how sound reflects off walls, furnishings and other surfaces in a room, then fine tunes your Sonos speaker to make sure it sounds great no matter where you've placed it".

In our experience, it's best to have TruePlay turned on, as our test speakers tended to sound better and, as Sonos suggests, more attuned to their surroundings, when making use of the handy tech. To do so, go to the 'Settings' menu in the app, then to 'System', then to 'Sound', and make sure TruePlay is toggled on.

It's also worth playing around with the app's custom equaliser if you want the best sound possible. That's not always the case, but sometimes it's worth tweaking those sliders depending on your environment, especially if you frequently take your Play from place to place or keep switching from indoor to outdoor use.

Make the most of your physical connections

While the Sonos Play does a lot of its work wirelessly, physical connections are also important.

The main unit houses a USB-C charging port, from which you can juice up your speaker directly, or you can use the supplied USB-C-ended charging base upon which the whole speaker cheerfully and securely sits.

Note that while the charging dock with its USB-C cable is supplied, there’s no power adapter in the box (most brands don't include these anymore), so you’ll need to buy one separately for around £19 / $19 from Sonos if you don’t already have one.

If you're after further extras, Sonos also sells a separate adapter that adds an Ethernet port for a more solid wired internet connection, but that itself will set you back an extra £40 / $40. Or, if you want to connect a music source directly (Sonos envisions connecting a turntable on its website), you can purchase a Sonos line-in adapter (USB-C to 3.5mm) for £19 / $19.

Oh, and it's easy to miss the fact that, buried under an avalanche of tricks, functions and skills, the Play offers wired charging for your portable device, again via USB-C.

Similar to the functionalities you'll find on the JBL Charge 6 or Xtreme 4, all you need to do is plug your device in directly via a USB-C to USB-C or USB-C to Lightning cable to connect it directly to your speaker.

A very handy feature, and one of which not all Play owners seem to be aware.

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I've heard Denon's new range of multi-room wireless speakers – and Sonos should be worried

Sonos Play vs Apple HomePod 2: which is right for you?

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Denon has refreshed its Home multi-room system with three new wireless speakers.

The Denon Home 200, 400 and 600 are firmly gunning for the Sonos Era 100, Era 300 and Sonos Five, respectively, and all run on the same HEOS system as the previous Denon Home speakers (as reviewed by our Australian offshoot).

This means you can connect them with other HEOS compatible speakers to create a multi-room setup, should you so choose. All three speakers also support hi-res audio and Dolby Atmos for more immersive sound.

Denon is making a song and dance about the new Home speakers feeling like part of the home. Their designs were chosen with this in mind: each uses seamless woven fabrics, precision anodised aluminium, smooth touch finishes, soft silicon and "simple geometric forms" to help them look like part of the furniture. They're meant to look more like a piece of soft furnishing than a cold, metallic tech product.

The Denon Home 200 is the baby of the bunch. It has three drivers and amps to deliver "natural, room‑filling sound with a spaciousness that feels larger than its size."

It's joined by the Home 400, which doubles the number of drivers and amps to six apiece. It also adds upfiring drivers for a greater sense of dimensionality for more immersive listening (especially when using Dolby Atmos).

The biggest of the three is the Denon Home 600, which has dual opposing 6.5-inch woofers, plus an array of tweeters, midrange and upfiring drivers. It promises "deep, authoritative bass".

All three models have touch controls, wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as USB-C and aux inputs.

The HEOS platform is supported by certain Marantz products too, and it means you can connect this new system with the original Denon Home 150, 250 and 350 speakers. In all, you can connect up to 64 HEOS devices across 32 zones.

HEOS supports hi-res music streaming services too, like Tidal, Amazon Music Unlimited and Qobuz.

All three speakers are available now in both Stone and Charcoal colourways. The Denon Home 200 is £299 / $399 / AU$699, the Home 400 is £449 / $599 / AU$999 and the Home 600 is £599 / $799 / AU$1,499.

It's a welcome return for Denon Home, but it will have its work cut out to dethrone Sonos. We'll be putting the Denon Home speakers through their paces as soon as we can – in the meantime, read our hands-on below.

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Read our first impressions of the Denon Home 2 range

The best wireless speakers you can buy

When you think of multi-room wireless speakers, there's a good chance you think of Sonos. The US brand has been the de facto king of multi-room readiness for a good while now, building a reputation as much on its user-friendly ecosystem as its sonic prowess.

Things might, might, be about to change. Sonos has endured a rocky past few years, with the brand's disastrous app relaunch ultimately leading to the resignation of its then-CEO, Patrick Spence, in 2025.

That tricky period has opened the door to Denon and its revamped Home 2 series of multi-room wireless speakers. Denon's original Home range launched seven years ago, so now seems to be the perfect time for Denon to give its multi-room speaker series a new lease of life.

To get an idea as to whether the revamped range is worthy of taking the multi-room crown, we headed to London for the grand unveiling of the Home 2 series of wireless speakers and to sample the entire range for ourselves.

Denon Home 2 range overview

Denon's new Home 2 range consists of three models: the compact Home 200 (£299 / $399 / €349 / AU$699), the mid-sized Home 400 (£449 / $599 / €499 / AU$999) and the biggest and most expensive of the lot, the flagship Home 600 (£599 / $799 / €699 / AU$1,499).

Denon's watchwords in terms of actual use are focused on flexibility and customer control. The entire range runs on Denon's 'HEOS' multi-room platform, which hosts all the popular streaming services and whereby users can stream sound directly between their speakers, AV receivers and even compatible soundbars.

Via the app, you're able to tinker with your multi-room wireless audio set-up and manage the various components therein, all while accessing services such as Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify in their Connect forms. The Home 2 speaker series promises hi-res audio support up to 24-bit/192kHz alongside DSD128, while Bluetooth and AirPlay 2 are also on the menu.

For wired connectivity, all three speakers also features 3.5mm and USB-C inputs.

All three speakers are compatible with Dolby Atmos-powered spatial audio tracks, either natively or via upsampling. You can even adjust the height and breadth of the speaker's output in the HEOS app when listening to spatial audio tracks, depending on your listening environment and what you want from your speakers' sonic output.

A lot of ways to enjoy Denon's new range of wireless wonders, then, but all the fancy tricks and features in the world mean little if that all-important question isn't met with satisfactory acclaim: how does the Denon Home 2 series actually sound?

We had a preview of the three speakers at the demo to get a first impression...

Denon Home 200

Standing around as tall as the more affordable Sonos Era 100 (originally £249 / $249 / AU$399) and looking rather attractive thanks to a smooth cylindrical form and chic metal base, the Home 200 is billed as a "compact yet powerful" contender.

It features twin 25mm tweeters and a single 10cm woofer. The Home 200 is capable of stereo output thanks to that twin tweeter array handling left and right signals, distinguishing itself from the mono output of its spiritual predecessor, the Home 150. If you like, you can pair two Home 200s together for what Denon describes as "a high-fidelity stereo soundstage".

That trio of drive units is complemented by three built-in amplifiers and 65 watts of total power, and certainly appears capable of helping the compact Home 200 punch above its weight. During our demo, a Tidal stream of Nora Jones' Come Away With Me sounds bold and emotive through the Home 200, with the speaker providing ample body to Jones' vocals and the twangy guitar noodling away beneath.

A Dolby Atmos mix of Ed Sheeran's Shivers, meanwhile, gives the speaker a chance to showcase its rhythmic capabilities, bringing a decent amount of punch and power to the snappy underpinnings of the Ipswich crooner's upbeat arrangement.

The compact Home 200 appears to make a solid impression with its meaty and confident sound. Of course, we would need more dedicated time to assess whether the Home 200 is as dynamically engaging as its Sonos Era 100 or Apple HomePod 2 rivals, or if it is capable of dealing with more complex or layered tunes to really stretch the limits of its abilities.

Still, in the time given, we're struck by how composed and confident the smallest member of the new range sounds, ably filling the hotel demo space with ample helpings of assertive, but rarely shouty, audio goodness.

Denon Home 400

It's time to step things up a gear, with our listening switching to the more sizeable Home 400. A bulkier, larger specimen, the Home 400 packs a six-driver array fed by 90 watts of total power, with each drive unit powered by its own dedicated amplifier.

We're back playing Ed Sheeran's Shivers, discerning that this speaker, thanks to its more omnidirectional driver array and larger size, sounds more open and spacious.

When our demo team make tweaks to the sound via the HEOS app, adjusting the sliders to grant more width and height as appropriate, it's easy to discern the resultant changes in the speakers' sonic output.

The Denon Home 400 has a Spatial Audio width selector thanks to angled up-firing speakers, as well as a height extender when playing Dolby Atmos tracks, and can even be used as a rear channel with a compatible Denon HEOS soundbar.

The Home 400 is more open and provides a greater sense of space between instruments, but just occasionally, we discern vocals can sound a little recessed, be it on Shiver or via a Dolby Atmos mix of The Doors' Riders On The Storm, although that may be due to tinkering with the digital signal processing to achieve those fancy spatial effects.

Still, it will be interesting to pit the speaker’s spatial audio talents against rivals such as the Sonos Era 300.

Instruments, voices and sonic effects seem to be more carefully placed across a more three-dimensional soundstage, granting a more atmospheric feel to The Doors' infamously moody classic. We would need a longer, more dedicated listen to make final judgements, but our first impressions are broadly positive with the Home 2's middle speaker.

Denon Home 600

At £599 / $799 / €699 / AU$1,499, the Home 600 is the most expensive of the speaker trio by some distance.

The Home 600 sounds the most cohesive and wide ranging in our demo, in part thanks to its eight-driver array and 170 watts of total power. Each driver has its own dedicated amplifier, with twin 6.35cm upwards firing units to give a great sense of scale and dimensionality to the sizeable speaker.

Like its siblings, you can stereo pair the flagship unit with another Home 600, though given its larger size, that does feel a bit like sonic overkill. Plus, you'll be paying around £1200 / $1600 / €1400 / AU$3,000 for the privilege.

This is a speaker that appears to go big on power and scale. Riders On The Storm comes across as atmospheric and imposing as Jim Morrison sings ominously that "there's a killer on the road", yet rarely do we feel that the iconic frontman's moody delivery is being lost amid this grander, more cinematic canvas.

We give Shiver another listen to get a proper full-range comparison, and thanks to its larger sonic scale and size, we discern more space between instruments and textures, underpinned by a fairly punchy and propulsive lower-end that seems to keep itself reasonably in-check.

We sense solid variations in dynamics, too, though we'd love to put the Home 600 up against its competitors at this price to discover its true sonic mettle.

During our demo listen, Chris Stapleton's Death Row gives the Home 600 a further chance to flex its musical muscles, with the speakers' pleasing blend of punch and spaciousness adding a more cinematic feeling to the track than its smaller sublings can muster.

It's an enjoyable rendition of Death Row, though do we hear just a touch of hardness in that twanging, southern-fried guitar the more we listen? This is a large unit playing loudly in a small room, so perhaps a little leeway can be afforded to the Home 600.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, more testing time in our own controlled listening rooms might well be needed before we can make any concrete assessments.

Does Denon have Sonos sweating?

On the face of it, there's huge potential appeal to Denon's revamped range of multi-room wireless speakers.

The three new members of the new Denon Home 2 series appear to be nicely made, well-designed and crammed full of features to facilitate their readiness as flexible wireless speakers built for modern home listening. The HEOS platform could potentially give Sonos – a company which has built a reputation on user accessibility and multi-room streaming – a few restless nights.

Sonic prowess have to follow what appear to be some impressive on-paper credentials, but if Denon can deliver its lofty promise of "superior audio performance", it could emerge as a viable alternative to Sonos's established range.

We've heard hints of the new range's audio performance in our brief preview demo, but naturally will need our own review samples and days of rigorous testing to reach final verdicts. For now, we remain cautiously optimistic that Denon might pose a serious contender in the multi-room wireless speaker market.

Your move, Sonos.

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Onkyo, Ruark and Philips are all vying for desktop speaker supremacy – so which pair should you pick?

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To mark its centenary last year, Philips announced that it will be reviving its classic Moving Sound range of products from the 1980s – think bold yellow colours, burly boomboxes, and slimline on-ear headphones to plug into your portable cassette player.

At Philips' headquarters in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, I was shown an early preview of the upcoming reimagined modern range, which features portable Bluetooth speakers (the modern boomboxes), updated on-ear headphones with wireless connectivity and a brand-new pair of true wireless earbuds.

Philips has now confirmed the final product names, specifications and prices of its modern Moving Sound range.

The two portable Bluetooth speakers are called The Tube (MS80) and The Roller (MS60), and they both feature Bluetooth 6.0, Auracast sharing technology, IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, and 24 hours of battery life.

The Tube is the bigger and more powerful of the two speakers, boasting 140W of power driving two 12.7cm woofers and two 19mm tweeters, while dual passive radiators promise deep, dynamic bass.

There are large physical control buttons and a colour display that shows off an animated cassette graphic – a clear nod to its '80s roots. The Tube measures 51 x 20 x 16.5cm and has a carry handle and shoulder strap to make it easy to transport, and is priced at €350.

The Roller (MS60), meanwhile, is an iconic '80s name and design that has been modernised for the today's listeners. It's a smaller portable speaker at 38 x 20 x 12cm, and features a built-in carry handle.

It features a "true stereo acoustic architecture" with 60W of power driving a dedicated woofer, tweeter and passive radiator, while Moving Sound Bass+ technology promises powerful bass response. The Roller is priced at €180, with other pricing yet to be announced.

Like The Tube, this portable Bluetooth speaker also features a colourful screen that displays the cassette animation and both models can be used as a power bank to charge your smartphone on the go. You can control both speakers using the Philips Entertainment App, too.

Next up is The Ringo Duo (MS1) headphones that sport a lightweight, on-ear design and are yours for just €35. This classic on-ear headphone design has been updated with wireless Bluetooth connectivity, while also allowing you to listen in wired USB-C mode.

They feature 40mm drivers, and have a built-in AI microphone for clearer calls that also aim to reduce background noise. Designed for ultimate portability and comfort, the Ringo Duo headphones have an adjustable headband and come with three sets of detachable ear cushions. 26 hours of battery life is promised, too.

Of course, we didn't have wireless earbuds in the '80s, but Philips' revived Moving Sound range wouldn't be complete without a set of true wireless earbuds. According to Philips, The Buds (MS3) "bring the collection fully into the modern age while maintaining the playful spirit of the original design language."

The Buds feature hybrid active noise cancellation, spatial audio, multi-point connectivity and Auracast support. Six microphones ensure "excellent" ANC ability, while three AI mics are used to ensure clear voice calls even in busy surroundings.

We are promised a total battery life of 42 hours (with ANC off) with the charging case, while a 10-minute charge will give you two hours of playback. The earbuds are IP54-rated, while various controls can be personalised using the Philips Headphones App.

The rather large, round charging case comes with a display screen, much like JBL's Tour Pro 2 smart display case, and it can also display the same cassette animation seen on the portable speakers. The Buds are competitively priced at €80. Other prices are TBC.

All products in Philips' new Moving Sound range are available in yellow or black finishes with neon pink accents to capture that retro '80s aesthetic.

All four models will be available in Q2 of 2026 and aim to deliver the "bold spirit of the original 1980s Philips designs with a fresh mix of colour, style and modern performance."

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Marshall is bringing big party speaker vibes to a smaller but still powerful form

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Marshall's first party speaker, the jumbo-sized Bromley 750, clearly made its intended impact last year, as a more compact sibling has now been unveiled.

The Marshall Bromley 450 speaker aims to deliver the "same party-starting energy wherever you go", with the same burly design, integrated lighting and 'True Stereophonic' 360-degree sound as its bigger brother.

The smaller speaker packs 400 watts of Class D amplification in total, and features two 16.5cm woofers, four 5cm full-range drivers, and two 20.3cm passive radiators. With multiple drivers, Marshall promises the music "always feels close" no matter where the Bromley 450 speaker is placed.

Measuring 36 x 26.1 x 49.2cm and weighing 12.2kg, the Bromley 450 is still on the larger side, but it's not as beastly as its 750 sibling (65.2 x 41.3 x 35.5cm and double the weight at 24kg).

Battery life between the two models is the same at over 40 hours, which Marshall claims will let you "play 800 songs back-to-back". The battery is replaceable and rechargeable, too.

For playing music, you can stream via Bluetooth or use a wired connection. The speaker sports Bluetooth 5.3 with Auracast sharing technology and supports the standard SBC and AAC codecs, along with LC3. Physical audio connections include a 3.5mm auxiliary input and output, as well as RCA and USB-C inputs.

Designed to be used in the living room, at a festival or in your backyard, the Bromley 450's durable construction has a water-based PU leather wrap and a higher IP55 rating than its brother to protect it from dirt and splashes.

A built-in handle lets you carry the speaker around to wherever the party is, although note that this model doesn't come with wheels.

There are tactile controls for selecting source, changing volume, adjusting tone controls and choosing various light modes. Like its bigger brother, the Bromley 450 also features two XLR/6.3mm combo jacks for mic and instrument inputs for DJ and karaoke sessions, and it comes in Marshall's signature black-and-brass finish.

Malcolm Kennedy, Director of Audio & Acoustics at Marshall Group, says: “With Bromley 450, our goal was to take everything we loved about the Bromley 750 and bring it into a more compact form. It delivers the same signature sound: fast, powerful bass, clean mids, and detailed highs. Thanks to our unique 360° True Stereophonic design it can always be the centre of the party, preserving the depth and atmosphere of your favourite music."

The Bromley 450 costs £550 / $800 / AU$1079 and is available to buy directly from Marshall today, while availability at select retailers will start from 31st March. By comparison, the bigger Bromley 750 is yours for a heftier £900 / $1300 / AU$1799.

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WiiM Sound vs Apple HomePod 2: which wireless speaker deserves a place in your home?

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It’s hard to look at the WiiM Sound and Apple HomePod 2 side by side and not feel a strong urge to compare them.

The HomePod 2 turned up in 2023 and, while a new version feels overdue, this one is still taking home What Hi-Fi? Awards and setting the sonic standard for other smart speakers to aim for.

The WiiM Sound, on the other hand, is brand new. It’s WiiM’s first attempt at a smart speaker, and while the brand’s attempts at affordable hi-fi separates have produced mixed sonic results, it is unquestionably a company that is capable of impressive things when the stars align. You're rarely short on features, that's the sure.

WiiM has made a bit of a name for itself over the past couple of years with its competitively priced streamers and streaming amps, but will its first standalone speaker put the HomePod 2 in its place?

WiiM Sound vs Apple HomePod 2: Price

With the WiiM Sound coming in at £299 / $299 / AU$499 and the Apple HomePod 2 setting you back £299 / $299 / AU$479, there’s nothing between these two speakers price-wise (give or take a few dollars down under).

That gives us nothing to go on in terms of budget, but it is perhaps worth bearing in mind that the HomePod 2 is now three years old and still costs exactly the same, whereas the WiiM Sound has only just gone on sale.

Apple products also very rarely see significant discounts and tend to fall in price only when they have been succeeded by something newer and shinier. WiiM, on the other hand, tends to be rather generous with its discounts whenever sales events come along.

For now, though, this one’s a dead heat.

**Winner: Draw**

WiiM Sound vs Apple HomePod 2: features

Apple products often require you to trust the wisdom of the company’s designers in the face of what might seem like some slightly irritating limitations – and that’s perhaps more true of the HomePod 2 than anything else in its current line-up.

There are plenty of impressive features here: Siri is brilliantly implemented and consistently responsive; it automatically adjusts its sonic behaviour in real time depending on various acoustic conditions; you can ‘hand off’ music from your iPhone simply by tapping it on the HomePod; and there is also support for Spatial Audio.

The problem is, you really won’t get the most out of a HomePod 2 unless you are a committed Apple customer. This is first and foremost a voice-controlled speaker, but you can’t ask Siri to play music from Spotify, Tidal or any streaming service other than Apple Music.

Yes, you can use AirPlay to do so, but that slightly defeats the object of buying a so-called smart speaker.

You’ll also need to use Apple Music if you want to listen to anything in Spatial Audio, and while the HomePod does support Dolby Atmos movie soundtracks, it will do so only if connected to an Apple TV 4K. If that is the case, you can pair two HomePods together and have yourself a very aesthetically pleasing Atmos setup of sorts.

In comparison, the WiiM Home doesn’t care what brand of smartphone you have in your pocket.

There are no onboard microphones, although the remote does have one and allows you to use Alexa, which has no such limitations on which streaming service you can use. All the major ones are supported, including the Connect versions of Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz, while Google Cast, Bluetooth 5.3 and DLNA are available too. You also get a 3.5mm socket if you would rather go wired.

As with the HomePod, you can pair two WiiM Sound speakers together (and even add the WiiM Sub if you have a suitable WiiM streamer or amp), and there are various tools within the WiiM Home app that allow you to tweak the sound and optimise it for its particular surroundings.

In terms of hi-res audio, the WiiM Home is happy to play files up to 24-bit/192kHz, but the HomePod is a little fussier. When streaming directly from Apple Music you’ll get 24-bit/48kHz, but anything over that is not supported. How much you would notice the difference is up for debate, but it doesn’t feel like a huge loss on a speaker like this.

This one feels a bit like the Android vs iOS debate in speaker form. The WiiM Sound is certainly the more flexible of the two speakers, but even with its limitations the HomePod 2 still offers a whole host of nifty features, including all of the smart home gubbins.

It’s very close, but the WiiM Sound takes it by a nose.

**Winner: WiiM Sound**

WiiM Sound vs Apple HomePod 2: Build and design

Put these two speakers side by side and you could almost be forgiven for thinking they emerged from the same factory.

Both have a very similar space-age biscuit-barrel aesthetic, but the squarer WiiM Sound is slightly taller than the HomePod 2 and ever-so-slightly fatter, albeit only by a few millimetres. The HomePod is about 200g lighter as a result, but unless you’re the piece of furniture that it’s going to be sitting on that’s not something you’ll need to worry about.

Both are also covered in tightly woven fabric and have touch-sensitive panels on top for controlling playback and volume. On the HomePod this can also be used to summon Siri and silence alarms, but the majority of your interaction with it will be via voice.

The main difference between the two is the 1.8-inch touchscreen on the front of the WiiM Sound, which is sharp, colourful and highly customisable. It will show the artwork for whatever you’ve got playing, but there are also various clock faces and dynamic wallpapers you can choose to display on it, plus it gives you an easy way to choose sources and adjust certain settings.

(If you want one that looks even more like the HomePod, there is also a screen-less and remote-free version called the WiiM Sound Lite that costs £229 / $229 / AU$399.)

If you were to crack both speakers open things would look more different (although we wouldn’t recommend it). The HomePod has a woofer at the top and five tweeters at the bottom arranged for 360-degree sound; the WiiM Sound uses two silk-dome tweeters and a 10cm paper-cone woofer in a forward-facing configuration.

The truth is there’s very little in this. There’s something to be said for how clean the HomePod looks – the way the power cable connects is certainly more elegant – but its minimalism does mean there’s no aux-in or LAN port, as there is on the underside of the WiiM Sound. And the WiiM has a screen, so that's enough to claw back a point or two in its favour.

You could give it to the HomePod for being a leader rather than a follower, but it’s probably fairer to call it a draw.

**Winner: Draw**

WiiM Sound vs Apple HomePod 2: Sound

We were pleasantly surprised at how good the original HomePod sounded, and its successor brought nothing but improvements.

“Tighter, more solid, and better organised both spatially and rhythmically, it’s altogether more engaging, exciting and enjoyable to listen to,” noted our five-star review.

That translates to a speaker with boundless energy, infectious enthusiasm, and excellent tonal balance. It produces vastly more bass than you might expect from a speaker of its size, and it’s almost always well controlled, losing a little bit of conviction only when faced with the very deepest note in James Blake’s notoriously challenging Limit to Your Love.

With the Dolby Atmos version of The 1 by Taylor Swift, there’s real warmth and clarity to the vocals, while the harmony in the chorus is a brilliant advert for what Spatial Audio can do, giving the whole composition an ethereal feel.

If we’re being picky, a forward-firing speaker will project further into a room, but the HomePod 2’s more open, fuller-bodied approach probably suits the environments it’s likely to find itself in better anyway.

That said, the more traditionally configured WiiM Sound couldn’t completely fill our test room either. And that’s not the only issue we have with its performance.

While the WiiM Sound’s presentation is pleasingly smooth and easy to listen to, it can run into problems when asked to play more complex tracks. Our review found that things got rather muddled with Starburster by Fontaines D.C., with a lack of precision slightly scuppering the song’s sense of rhythm.

Vocals are up-front and clear, but after a while you notice that the treble is smoothed out a fair bit, and the bottom end isn’t as powerful as we’d like. Basslines that should be taut and funky can sound a little tubby and lightweight, something we don't find with the pleasingly agile and nimble bass reproduction of the HomePod 2.

The same songs played on the HomePod 2 are better defined, more detailed, and more rhythmically precise, while its more powerful sound means basslines are properly deep, tautly pulled, and bound along with agility and precision.

There’s also better dynamic contrast, greater authority in its projection, and the soundstage is more spacious.

Overall, the HomePod 2 is both more commanding and subtle, resulting in a performance that’s just more exciting and engaging all round but still nice and nuanced. It’s an easy win for Apple here.

**Winner: Apple HomePod 2**

WiiM Sound vs Apple HomePod 2: Verdict

We can usually forgive minor imperfections when it comes to design or features, and we’ll even overlook a slightly higher price tag if the performance justifies it. If there’s one thing we won’t compromise on, though, it’s sound quality; and that’s why the Apple HomePod 2 takes this one.

It’s rare for a product to ace all categories, and the HomePod’s biggest weakness is definitely Apple’s stubborn refusal to allow voice control with all streaming services – particularly when you consider there are no such limitations on an iPhone.

With its lively, natural sound and typically high-quality construction, the HomePod 2 is the better use of £299 / $299 / AU$479. Just don’t buy one if you own an Android phone.

**Overall winner: Apple HomePod 2**

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Sonos has long been the multi-room king, but in recent years its position has become a little shaky. Not only is it under threat from cheaper alternatives like the Amazon Echo range, but also from similarly well-specified rivals like the Apple HomePod 2.

So when Sonos announced a new speaker that's exactly the same price as Apple's finest, our interest piqued.

Here we're comparing the Sonos Play with the Apple HomePod 2 to see how they compare – we've tested both, so this is a full head to head following our rigorous reviews treatment. Let's see which comes out on top.

Sonos Play vs Apple HomePod 2: price

This one is a dead heat, in the UK and US at least. The Sonos Play costs £299 / $299 / AU$499, while the HomePod 2 is £299 / $299 / AU$479.

The HomePod 2 might have been around since 2023, but it hasn't seen much of a price reduction during its three-year lifetime. Apart from the occasional small discount during big sales events, it's held firm at its RRP. Sonos too isn't known for its big discounts, so expect to pay full whack for both speakers.

** Winner: Draw **

Sonos Play vs Apple HomePod 2: build & design

Despite some similarities, the Play and HomePod 2 are quite different propositions. The Play is a portable speaker with a rechargeable battery (which lasts for 24 hours), and is designed to be taken outside as well as serving as part of your home multi-room set-up, whereas the HomePod 2 is very much a stay-at-home smart speaker.

Unsurprisingly, the Play is smaller and lighter than the HomePod 2, measuring 19.2 x 11.3 x 7.7cm and weighing 1.3kg (compared to the HomePod 2's 16.8 x 14.2 x 14.2cm and 2.3kg). Though it is worth noting that while the Play is more compact, it is a little taller than Apple's speaker.

The Play also has a removable utility loop, which hooks onto your finger for easy carrying (though sadly it's not adjustable). And for when you're at home, it comes with a charging base to keep it juiced up (the HomePod 2 plugs into the mains with a removable cable if you want to use a longer one).

The Play is also more resistant to the elements, with a water-and dust-proof rating of IP67. The HomePod 2 has no official IP rating, and so should be kept away from water in any scenario (no bathroom listening for you).

The HomePod 2 has Apple's typically high build quality. It feels solid and well made, and looks pretty stylish in both its white and black guises (those are the same finishes as the Sonos Play).

Both speakers have a mesh grille, but on the HomePod this extends all the way around it in 360 degrees. The Play has a break at the back which houses a Bluetooth pairing control, a microphone toggle and a large power button.

Both speakers have their controls on the top, but have very different control methods. The HomePod responds to tap sequences anywhere on its control surface – one tap to play/pause, a double tap to skip to the next track and so on. It's similar to the control method on a pair of earbuds. The Play's controls on the other hand are more traditional, with designated buttons that are textured to make them more tactile.

** Winner: Draw **

Sonos Play vs Apple HomePod 2: features

These are both smart speakers, so connectivity is the name of the game.

Typically for an Apple product, the HomePod connects seamlessly for Apple users, but much less so if you're out of the Cupertino ecosystem. It won't play music via Siri on Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music or even BBC radio, for example – instead you have to play these services on your phone and send the music to the speaker via AirPlay 2. That seems like seems an unnecessary extra step.

The Sonos Play, by contrast, supports Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect for playing direct through the speaker, as well as Qobuz and many more through its app. Voice control is supported vis Sonos' own voice assistant and Amazon Alexa, but you won't be able to control Tidal via voice control. Most other services are voice-control supported, though.

Both speakers support a maximum file resolution of 24-bit/48kHz, but while both have Bluetooth, only the Play lets you play music from your phone using Bluetooth. The HomePod 2 uses Bluetooth only for the initial set-up and some communication functions, but that's it.

You can also pair up to four Play or Sonos Move 2 speakers together while out and about to create a more impactful sound, and a handy Bluetooth pairing option lets you hook up multiple speakers without needing to be connected to the wi-fi.

Inside the HomePod is a 10cm high-excursion woofer and five horn-loaded tweeters. The Sonos Play has three class-H amplifiers, two angled tweeters and one mid-woofer, along with passive radiators to allow deeper bass.

Both speakers adjust their sound output depending on their surroundings. Apple's tech is mighty impressive, but it's matched by Sonos's 'TruePlay' technology, which we've also experienced on other speakers.

They both support spatial audio too, though the HomePod is limited to Apple Music and Dolby Atmos via an Apple TV 4K, while the Sonos Play supports both Apple Music and Amazon Music.

The HomePod works great for Apple users, but for its greater versatility and wider range of bases covered, this round goes to the Sonos.

** Winner: Sonos Play **

Sonos Play vs Apple HomePod 2: sound

The Sonos Play has the same configuration of amplifiers / tweeters / midwoofer as the Sonos Move 2, but Sonos has confirmed that the components themselves are different. So rather than sounding identical to the four-star Move 2, it's a different beast altogether.

During our test, we found it covers the sonic basics admirably.

"As we pump out a recording of Ramin Djawadi's The King's Arrival from the soundtrack to Game of Thrones, the Play gives the composition an appropriately regal feel – poised, clear, controlled, and with ample muscle to spare, it's a powerful and convincing opening salvo," we wrote in our Sonos Play review.

The bass proves taut and punchy, lending it the precision of a professional. Though throughout our listening, we did find that tracks tend to sound a bit samey, regardless of genre. Rather than revealing the music as the artist intended, it tends to impose its own will on it just a tad.

The Play has its work cut out against the HomePod 2. Apple's smart speaker is a multi-Award winner, and a lot of that is down to its sound quality.

In our HomePod 2 review, we found that the speaker gives Apple Music's Dolby Atmos version of The 1 by Taylor Swift plenty of clarity and warmth in the vocals. "Swift’s voice is at once airy and focused, and the breathy quality of the delivery is really nicely resolved," we wrote.

It does a fine job with the track's other elements, too. "There’s ample weight and texture to the bassline and a satisfying snap to the rhythmic clapping, with both drawing the ear just as much as they should, complementing the vocals but never overshadowing them."

There's not a hint of the usual sibilance and brightness that most speakers give SBTRKT’s Trials Of The Past, yet it still maintains the excitement levels. Its bass has more weight and presence than you would expect from a speaker this size.

True, the lowest of low frequencies on James Blake's Limit To Your Love do prompt a little wobble in the bass performance, but the HomePod still does well with such a challenging track. "This is no lump of detached bass, but rather a seamlessly integrated and dexterous bottom end, without which the track’s more energetic second half wouldn’t have nearly the impact that it does," we wrote.

The HomePod 2's boundless energy translates to all genres, and it always showcases the music, rather than the speaker itself. Which is exactly how it should be.

Placed side by side, with both speakers playing over AirPlay 2, the HomePod 2 sounds airier and more free flowing than the Play. It's also a little more nuanced in how it handles instrumental timbres, "granting more subtlety and texture to instruments – rich violin strokes, tumbling drum fills, tinkling pianos – making for a more natural listen than the ever-so-slightly mechanical Play," we wrote in our Sonos Play review.

It's not a bad performance by the Play by any means, but we're more inclined to recommend the natural, fluid and spacious presentation of the HomePod 2.

** Winner: Apple HomePod 2 **

Sonos Play vs Apple HomePod 2: verdict

There are plenty of similarities between the two speakers, but plenty of differences also.

The HomePod is very much a home smart speaker, built for those already ensconced in – or willing to jump wholeheartedly into – the Apple ecosystem. Whereas the Sonos Play is platform agnostic, and with a portable design for taking with you to the park, the beach, or even just out to the garden.

The Play is by far the more versatile of the two, and wins or draws every round except for sound. Sadly, for us – and undoubtedly for many of you – that will be the most important round there is.

If you prize sound quality above all else, the HomePod 2 is the better speaker. But if you can't stand Apple, or want a speaker that's just as happy being part of your home multi-room system as soundtracking your picnic, the Play is a fine choice.

** Overall winner: Apple HomePod 2 **

MORE:

Read our Sonos Play review

And our Apple HomePod 2 review

Apple HomePod 2 vs Sonos Era 300: which is better?

Check out the best AirPlay speakers around

Which Sonos speaker should you buy? Find out here

Sonos has a new portable speaker. And, like the Move 2 and Roam 2, the Play has wi-fi as well as Bluetooth, so it’s equally at home playing music on the go or as part of your home multi-room setup.

It sits between the smaller, cheaper Roam 2 and the bigger, more expensive Move 2. It's a fair bit cheaper than the Move 2, but that's not the only difference between them, as we’ll see based on our early comparison of the two.

Sonos Play vs Move 2: price

As we say, there's quite a price difference between the two speakers. The Play costs £299 / $299 / AU$499 – pre-orders are live now, with shipping starting on 31st March. That’s a good amount cheaper than the Move 2, which costs half as much again, retailing at £449 / $449 / AU$799.

While the Move 2’s price has dropped by around £100 during big sales since its launch in 2023, the rest of the time it has held firm. Which makes this round an easy win for the Play.

** Winner: Sonos Play **

Sonos Play vs Move 2: build & design

The Sonos Move 2 might be a portable speaker, but it’s anything but small. Standing 24.1 x 16 x 12.7cm, it’s about the size of a typical food-waste caddy, but at 3kg, significantly heavier (unless the caddy is extremely full, that is).

Thankfully, there’s a recessed handle on the back to help you lift it with one hand.

The Move 2 is built to Sonos’s usual high standards, and looks in keeping with the other speakers in the brand’s line-up. It’s one of the few speakers in the range that doesn't come only in white or black; there's an olive green colourway too. That option is not available with the Play.

But the Play is better equipped to deal with the elements, being rated IP67 compared with the Move 2’s IP56.

The Play has the same button layout as the Move 2, but its controls are textured so you can feel when you have found them with your fingers. The Move 2’s controls are purely touch sensitive.

The Play is a fair bit smaller than the Move 2, measuring 19.2 x 11.3 x 7.7cm. And, at 1.3kg, it's a lot lighter. It also comes with a “removable utility loop” which you can hook around your finger to make it easier to carry.

For its greater resistance to the elements, more portable nature and textured buttons, we're giving this round to the Sonos Play. But it will be interesting to see how it stands up under the scrutiny of a review.

** Winner: Sonos Play **

Sonos Play vs Move 2: features

Both the Move 2 and Play are similar propositions – portable speakers that can also plug into the mains and join your home wi-fi network to serve as part of your Sonos multi-room system. So it's hardly surprising that they share a lot of the same features.

Bluetooth and wi-fi are on board, though being newer, the Play supports Bluetooth 5.3 compared with the Move 2’s 5.0. Both pack 24 hours of battery life, and customise the sound to your environment using Automatic TruePlay. Their mics also feature advanced beam-forming and multichannel echo cancellation for easy voice controls and TruePlay adjustments.

Both have charging bases for home use, so you can keep the battery topped up ready for your travels. And when you are out and about, you can pair up to four Play and/or Move 2 speakers via Bluetooth for a bigger sound (a bit like JBL PartyBoost/Connect+/Auracast).

Both speakers work with all manner of streaming services and wireless technologies, including Spotify Connect, Apple Music, Tidal and AirPlay 2.

Both also have stereo sound, though their arrays are a little different. The Play sports three class-H amplifiers, while the Move 2 has three class-D amps. Both have two angled tweeters and one midwoofer, though the components themselves differ. The Move 2 also lacks the Play's dual force-cancelling passive radiators (which make for deep bass while minimising vibrations).

Neither supports higher quality codecs such as aptX HD or LDAC, but they can stream in up to 24-bit/48kHz quality from a compatible streaming service.

Both speakers have only a USB-C port in terms of physical connections, but you can use this to connect an external audio source such as a music player or turntable using a line-in adapter. Sonos also sells an adapter that adds an ethernet port for a more solid wired internet connection; this adapter works with both speakers, but of course costs extra.

One thing to note regarding the Move 2: you need to set it up using the app and connect to your wi-fi network before it will work over Bluetooth. So don’t buy it on your way to a festival and expect it to soundtrack your tent adventures. This isn’t the case with the Play – it works over Bluetooth straight out of the box.

** Winner: Sonos Play **

Sonos Play vs Move 2: sound

We’ll have to wait until our review is complete before we can pass judgement on the Play’s sound quality. The Move 2 scored four stars in our review – a good score, but not a great one. Its sound was one of the main reasons it missed out on a fifth star.

Don't get us wrong, it has plenty to recommend it. Its sound spreads wide and has plenty of heft, all while remaining “nicely balanced, clean and detailed, and easy to listen to”, we wrote in our Sonos Move 2 review.

“Play Coi Leray’s Players and the speaker handles the playful, funky tune admirably with clean, precise edges and a punchy beat – it gets your toes tapping and fingers snapping,” we added.

Taylor Swift’s Exile has a pleasing degree of solidity to the piano notes, while Bon Iver’s voice has depth and grit. But it is outperformed by rival Bluetooth speakers, which also manage to be cheaper.

Compared with the best in class, the Move 2 is a bit heavy on the bass. It's still a solid four-star performance, but no more than that, sadly. For a prestige brand such as Sonos, that will be a disappointment.

We’ll update this once we have reviewed the Sonos Play.

** Winner: TBC **

Sonos Play vs Move 2: early verdict

The Play looks like a great proposition. It has already addressed two of our three main criticisms of the Move 2, being both smaller and more affordable. It's also built to be more resistant to the elements, and has textured buttons that should be more tactile.

The big question is: how does it sound? On that we must reserve judgement until we have put it through our usual thorough review treatment. If it can even match the four-star Move 2's sonic performance, it should fare well given its improvements in other areas. And if it can improve on that sound performance? That fifth star could well be within reach…

We will update this article once we have reviewed the Sonos Play.

MORE:

Sonos Move 2 vs Move: which is better?

Which Sonos speaker should you buy? Find out here

The best multi-room systems around

Check out the best Sonos alternatives

Sonos has announced a new portable wireless speaker. The Sonos Play sits between the Roam 2 and Move 2, and is the same price as the Apple HomePod 2. But its portability is a major selling point – it even has a removable utility loop on the back to make it easy to carry.

The Play packs 24 hours of battery life, and is rated IP67 for protection against dust and full immersion in water. It also has a built-in power bank to charge your phone on the go, much like the five-star JBL Charge 6.

Its name harks back the Sonos Play range of speakers (Play:1, Play:3 etc) from years gone by. Which suggests Sonos wants to get back to its roots following a rough couple of years which saw a disastrous app update and the launch of its disappointing Ace wireless headphones.

Like Sonos' other portable speakers, the Play has Bluetooth which lets you pair up to four Play or Move 2 speakers together without the need for wi-fi. Though wi-fi is also onboard, so it can work as part of your networked home system too.

Like the burly Move 2, the Play comes with a charging base, and has Sonos' TruePlay room calibration tech for optimising the sound to your surroundings. It also supports the usual roster of streaming services including Apple AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect.

Sonos has also announced a new Era speaker. Like other 'SL' models, the Era 100 SL is identical so its namesake except for the fact it lacks a microphone. That means no voice controls, but also a lower price tag.

The Era 100 earned five stars in our review, and the SL model should offer the same winning sound.

Like all Sonos speakers, both the Play and Era 100 SL were tuned with input from the Sonos Soundboard, which is described as comprising "leaders across music, film, and more". We're promised a sound that's true to the artist's intent.

The new Sonos Play costs £299 / $299 / AU$499, and the Era 100 SL £169 / $189 / AU$289 (the standard Era 100 currently costs £199 / $199 / AU$319). Pre-orders are open now, with shipping starting on 31st March.

MORE:

Which Sonos speaker should you buy? Find out here

The best multi-room systems around

Check out the best Sonos alternatives

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, in which case Apple must be the most flattered tech brand in the world. Not only have the popular AirPods resulted in countless copycats, but its HomePod speaker has also inspired the first speaker product from one of the audio world’s rising upstarts.

The WiiM Sound is the brand’s first wireless smart speaker, and is hoping to build upon its strong streaming foundation to make a splash in this arena.

Price

The WiiM Sound has gone straight for Apple’s jugular with its round smart wireless speaker. We normally see WiiM undercut its competition when it comes to price (which makes it a more attractive proposition), but the WiiM Sound costs £299 / $299 / AU$499 – the very same price as the HomePod 2 (£299 / $299 / AU$479).

This puts it pricier than some other wireless speaker rivals, such as the Sonos Era 100, which currently retails for £199 / $219 / AU$319.

Features

If the Apple HomePod 2 is designed purely for iOS users and only sports AirPlay 2, the WiiM Sound is the exact opposite. It is platform agnostic, and can be controlled using the user-friendly and well-organised WiiM Home app.

You can play music through the Sound in a number of ways, from Bluetooth and Google Cast to various music streaming services.

The speaker supports all the popular options, as well as the Connect versions of Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz. Internet radio – including BBC radio stations – is also supported, and you can save your favourite stations, playlists and albums across these services as presets and access them in a pinch from the WiiM Home app and on the speaker’s front-facing touchscreen display.

It even has DLNA compatibility, which allows it to stream hi-res tracks (up to 24-bit/192kHz) stored on connected NAS devices, such as our Naim Uniti Core server. No matter which streaming method or service we tried during testing, it all worked without a hitch. AirPlay is the only omission here, as has been the case with all recent WiiM products.

Along with wi-fi, the speaker offers an Ethernet port for a more stable connection to your home network. This is situated on the underside of the speaker, along with the power port and the only physical audio connection, which is a single 3.5mm aux input. Into this, we were able to connect our Astell & Kern SR35 music player and even the Cyrus CDi CD player (using an RCA to 3.5mm cable) during our testing.

We found that the Sound’s sonic character remained consistent throughout every input and streaming method we used, with hi-res FLAC tracks naturally sounding a little more refined than low-res radio stations.

If you invest in two Sounds, you can pair them up for stereo sound and assign left and right channels to flank your TV or laptop, as well as group them with other WiiM products you may have around the house. We were given two WiiM Sound speaker samples for our review, and stereo pairing was easily done – the two units worked together harmoniously.

There’s even scope to add on a WiiM Sub, or use the Sounds as centre or surround speakers with a WiiM Ultra streamer or Amp Pro/Amp Ultra streaming amplifier as part of a home cinema surround system.

You can link up and group multiple WiiM devices in the WiiM Home app, which has a host of features including AI RoomFit calibration, which uses your smartphone’s mic to optimise the speaker’s sound to your space. This is an easy process that takes only a minute or two, and is worth doing, especially if you think the Sound isn’t placed in an optimum position. You can even hear the difference made by toggling the calibrated sound on and off.

In our treated test room, we found this calibration reduced the speaker’s bass output a touch and made the midrange sound one-dimensional, so we preferred keeping it turned off. Alternatively, you can try any of the multiple EQ presets available to you, or fine-tune the sound using the 10-band equaliser.

With no microphone built inside, the WiiM Sound isn’t primarily designed for voice control like its Apple and Sonos rivals, but the included remote control has a button to activate voice control so you can use the Sound with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.

Build & design

Unlike the Apple HomePod that sports a 360-degree acoustic architecture inside, the WiiM Sound features two silk dome tweeters and a 4-inch/10cm paper-cone woofer for a forward-facing sound with a claimed 100W of total output.

There’s no confusion about which way to point the speaker, either, thanks to the small 1.8-inch window display that you’ll want to be able to glance at all times.

The WiiM Sound is a solidly made, substantial-feeling speaker, with a squared-off round design that’s a little wider and taller than its HomePod 2 rival. It’s available in a black or white finish, and is clad in a closely-woven texture. The top panel has touch-capacitative controls for playback and volume, and the icons pleasingly light up when your hand goes near the panel. Overall, it looks and feels smart.

It’s not difficult to make direct comparisons with the similarly designed HomePod 2, but what makes the WiiM Sound stand out is that interactive circular touchscreen display through which you can access many of the speaker’s features.

It’s a small porthole, but it gives you quick access to presets, playback options, source selection, EQ settings and more. Any text is too small to see from a distance, but close-up – as you would have to be to use the touchscreen display – it’s clear and sharp.

There are loads of customisable options for this window display, including various designs for the clock faces, dynamic wallpapers and album artwork – all of which are displayed with deep, punchy colours.

If you don’t fancy this display screen, WiiM makes a model without it called the WiiM Sound Lite, which is yours for £229 / $229 / AU$399.

No matter how you use the WiiM Sound speaker – the on-unit controls, the touchscreen, the app or the slim remote control – we found it to be an easy-to-use unit that responds to every command instantly.

Sound

We kick off our listening with test track classic Breezeblocks by Alt-J, and are met with a pleasingly smooth presentation. The song floats along in a manner that’s very easy to listen to, with voices in particular having a spotlight shone on them. The vocals are upfront and clear in the mix, and the fluid way in which they are delivered is one of the Sound’s high points.

The WiiM’s smooth tone works in its favour when we push the volume up, although it does struggle to completely fill our 3 x 4 x 7m (hwd) test room.

The speaker’s sound is clean, although we find that the soundstage can be a little congested and wish that detail levels were higher. Switch gear to Fontaines D.C.’s high-octane Starburster, and the resulting sound can get rather messy, as the WiiM Sound can’t quite organise the various instruments and layers in an orderly way, leading the presentation to be rather muddled and undynamic. We find that there is a lack of precision to the stop and start of notes, which affects a song’s sense of momentum and rhythm.

Play Massive Attack’s Paradise Circus, and we find that the bite and shine to the keyboard, hi-hat and snare drum are a little subdued, even as Hope Sandoval’s voice comes through breathy, delicate and well integrated. As we play song after song, we realise that the speaker’s treble is smoothed out a fair bit. While this lends itself well to the Sound’s easy-listening character, it does mean that songs that require that crisp sense of attack and drive to really hold our attention are left a little shortchanged.

The bass output from this speaker isn’t quite as powerful as we’d hope, either, with the funky, taut bassline in Act Like You Know by Fat Larry’s Band sounding a little tubby, lightweight and lacking definition.

The Sound’s low frequencies tend to bop along in a nimble manner – lending the plucked strings in In The Cold Cold Night by The White Stripes and the piano in Debussy’s Clair de Lune a sense of merry fluidity – but we find ourselves wanting a greater sense of grip and solidity to the overall sound.

We switch over to playing the same songs on the Apple HomePod 2, and the resulting sound is better defined, more detailed and more rhythmically precise. The HomePod 2’s sound is more powerful, helped by its ability to really dig deep into the lower frequencies. Basslines are properly deep, tautly pulled and bound along with agility and precision, while instruments have more texture and nuance to them. The soundstage is more spacious and is projected into our test room with greater authority and better dynamic contrast, too.

In comparison, the WiiM Sound isn't as commanding or as subtle as the more engaging and exciting HomePod 2. The WiiM’s loosely defined edges and narrowed dynamic scope are put into focus even further when compared with the same-priced Apple rival, but even on its own, we feel that the Sound speaker isn’t living up to its potential.

Verdict

As with all other WiiM products we’ve tested, the Sound speaker impresses with its breadth of streaming features, easy-to-use interface and smart design. We imagine many will be charmed by these elements in daily use, and rightly so.

Sound quality remains its Achilles heel, however, and while the WiiM Sound is pleasant enough for casual listening, we think it needs to go back to the drawing board for a serious re-tuning if it wants to truly take on the class-leaders.

Review published: 9th March 2026

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Features 5
• Build 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Apple HomePod 2

Also consider the Sonos Era 100

Best wireless speakers: top choices tried and tested by our expert team

Believe it or not, Bluetooth speakers haven’t been around for ever. Go back 13 or 14 years, and the market was just starting pick up steam.

One of the brands that helped to drive it and continues to push it along is JBL.

The tech giant had already impressed us with its iPod speaker docks (who remembers the JBL OnBeat Xtreme?!) when the first JBL Flip landed in our test rooms.

This diminutive Bluetooth speaker struck an immediate chord with its eye-catching cylindrical design and ear-catching sound quality.

Our original JBL Flip review was full of praise. We said, “A sensational blend of portability and performance makes the JBL Flip a belting Bluetooth speaker.”

And it wasn’t a one-hit wonder. We are now onto the seventh generation of Flip, so I thought it might be interesting to dust down the original, to see just how far this Bluetooth speaker has come.

And flippin’ heck, it’s been fun.

Design

Placing the original next to the Flip 7, I’m impressed with how similar they actually look – even if they feel quite different when you hold them in your hand.

That cylindrical shape has really been the speaker’s defining feature over the years, and it’s pretty obvious the Flip 7 is still cut from the same cloth.

It might appear a little dated, but I think the original Flip still looks smart for the time, although it is perhaps a bit more functional than fun – especially when compared with the jazzier appearance of the more modern model.

The Flip 7 has grown in size and stature compared with the original, but not by much. More notable is the contrast between the materials used and the design language.

The original now feels a little cheap in comparison, but you have to remember that, at the time, this is how many of its key rivals stacked up at this level too.

JBL made the switch to using more ruggedised materials with the Flip 3, and that’s when I think the Flip really found its identity.

That iteration also happened to see the introduction of bass radiators at either end of the speaker, which really helped with sound quality. But more on these differences later.

The build quality of the Flip 7 is really impressive. It feels solid, sturdy and capable of dealing with life’s bumps and bruises without any complaints. It knows exactly the type of person it’s trying to appeal to.

It also leans even more heavily into being properly portable, thanks to its neatly integrated and switchable carry loop which can be switched out for a carabiner. It’s design touches such as this which really cement this Bluetooth speaker as one you can throw in a bag and forget about.

By contrast, the original Flip came with an old-school neoprene carry case to protect it from dinks and scratches.

Features

The original Flip certainly feels more vulnerable to the elements, where the Flip 7 appears to be built to withstand everything a backpacking holiday can throw at it.

Its lofty IP68 rating means it is dustproof and can handle long-term submersion at certain depths. I haven’t seen many Bluetooth speakers that can play music and float at the same time – it’s certainly something the original Flip wouldn’t survive.

13 years is a long time in tech, and as you would probably expect, there have been further advancements in terms of the features which JBL now offers with the Flip.

The most obvious is a jump in battery life – I was surprised to be reminded that the original Flip was good for only around five hours of play time.

In contrast, the Flip 7 offers not only 14 hours per charge, but it also has a USB-C connector on the back, which isn’t just for charging the speaker; it can also be used for wired audio.

The original came with a power adapter for charging and had a 3.5mm auxiliary input.

You could actually make and take phone calls on the old speaker (the controls were located on the left side of the speaker, or the top if you had it positioned upright). I always found this a strange feature to offer on a budget Bluetooth speaker, and it was actually removed for the fifth generation Flip.

By contrast, on the Flip 7, JBL does a nice job of blending the playback controls into the surface of the speaker, while you have additional controls for pairing, power and Auracast, which JBL uses to enable you to pair compatible speakers together, something you couldn't do with the original.

Sound

The way the two JBL logos are positioned on the original Flip encourages you to use it either horizontally or upright.

In our original review, we did actually note that JBL sounded best standing up, “we found the angle of attack for the listener to be better with the speaker on the vertical – this way it’s angled slightly up towards your ears.”

Putting it through its paces 13 years later, the Flip does sound clearer with better separation when standing upright. Horizontally the speaker injects a tiny bit more weight, but the mix of different elements when listening to Dry Your Eyes by The Streets sounds messier and cloudier.

It’s still a fun, engaging listen, though, with an expressive midrange and crisp highs – these areas are where this speaker’s strengths most certainly lie.

It’s not the weightiest of sounds and I can still hear the slight thinness at the top end that we noted in our review first time around, but it’s not too distracting.

I switch to the JBL Flip 7, and the difference is immediate and seriously impressive; it’s not that much bigger in terms of physical size, but the sound is on a completely different scale.

The difference in bass weight blew me away, with the Flip 7 just sounding so much more substantial and powerful. It makes the original sound seriously lacking in that department.

Playing Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy and the bassline struggles to make any impact when listening through the original – it feels as though you’re getting more of a faint outline, whereas the Flip 7 hits you with weight and solidity and doesn’t let up.

That thinness of the original has been filled in. It feels as though the DSP is making more of a concerted effort to deliver a much more even balance.

I can also push the latest iteration much harder. The original starts to distort and beg for mercy at higher volumes, whereas I can practically hear the Flip 7 goading me on, asking if that’s all I’ve got? I’m reminded that it punches well above its weight, size and price.

The Flip 7 still has the framework and foundations of the original – it still sounds entertaining, lively and fun, but it's obviously so much more grown up now.

Verdict

After spending time with both, I can’t help but be impressed with how far the Flip has come. Some products struggle for longevity, but it’s testament to the JBL team that the speaker has evolved into something so capable and desirable at that level.

After testing the original, we said “Listen to the JBL Flip and there’s a good chance you’ll fall head over heels for it”. That phrase rings as true now as it did back in 2013.

MORE:

Check out our pick of the best Bluetooth speakers you can buy

Read our full JBL Flip 7 review

And our original JBL Flip review

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025: JBL is still the portable king, while Apple and Audio Pro cement their wireless speaker credentials

Update 3rd March: We have updated this story with a quote from Sonos.

Looks like there’s a new portable Sonos speaker on the way. The Sonos Play looks like a smaller version of the Move 2 and, like that model, it packs Bluetooth and AirPlay 2, according to a now-deleted page on the Canadian Best Buy site (The Verge reports).

The device has a loop on the back for carrying it around, a 24-hour battery life and IP67 water resistance, according to the listing. It also has AUX input, USB-C port for charging and a wireless charging base.

Its price is listed as $399.99 CAD (around £220 / $290 / AU$415), which would position it between the bigger Sonos Move 2 (£449 / $449 / AU$799) and smaller, cheaper Roam 2 (£179 / $179 / AU$299).

According to a Reddit post, the description on the Best Buy site read: “Take quality sound wherever you go with the Sonos Play Bluetooth wireless speaker. Its compact design fits easily in your hand, while automatic Trueplay tuning optimizes audio for any environment. Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth let you stream high‑quality audio from different devices and sources. Up to 24 hours of battery life avoids the need for frequent recharging.”

The release date is given as 31st March, which suggests we should see an announcement soon. Sonos confirmed as much to us in a statement:

"We're excited by the interest in what's next from Sonos," a spokesperson told us. "While we don't comment on leaks or speculation, we look forward to sharing more soon about our newest addition designed to deliver the premium sound experience Sonos is known for."

The Play name is a throwback to Sonos speakers of old – the old lineup of Sonos Play:1, Play:3 and Play:5 (which was replaced by the Sonos Five) will have fond places in many users’ hearts. The name suggests Sonos is looking to get back to its roots as a multi-room champ following a rough couple of years that saw its CEO step down amid customer anger following a botched app update, and its first wireless headphones (the Ace) score a disappointing three stars.

MORE:

Which Sonos speaker should you buy?

Sonos TruePlay: what is it? How do you use it?

Sonos Era 300 vs Apple HomePod 2: which smart speaker is better?

News recently emerged that OpenAI – the company behind ChatGPT – is working on a smart speaker.

The Information reported that Jony Ive, Apple's former design guru, is part of the 200-strong team behind a range of devices, which could also include glasses and lamps (both smart, of course).

Unsurprisingly, for a company fueled by AI, the focus is thought to be on proactively 'nudging' users to do things based on their behaviour. For your own benefit, of course.

Naturally, this involves watching what they're doing by the use of a camera and digging into their schedules to – for example – suggest you get an early night before an early flight.

But let's put aside the whole can of worms that is AI for now. The one thing we're wondering, and something of a prerequisite for a smart speaker in our opinion – will it sound any good?

Trigger warning: tech bro love-in below

Jony Ive worked wonders at Apple, there's no denying that. He was responsible for the iPod, the iPhone, AirPods, and, er, the iPod Hi-Fi, an iPod dock which is best forgotten about.

But he likely had little to do with the sound quality of Apple's products (which have been a bit of a mixed bag, though recent devices like the HomePod 2 and AirPods Pro 3 have earned five stars).

So maybe Amazon's Echo range of smart speakers will be a closer comparison? OpenAI's speaker is predicted to cost around $200-$300, which pits it against the $250 Echo Show 10 (3rd gen).

Amazon's Echo speakers are generally pretty good, but it's the cheaper models that score higher in our test rooms. See our reviews of the Echo Show 5 and Echo Dot (4th Gen and 5th Gen) for proof.

Those are also the speakers with staying power – all three are still on sale, while the third-gen Echo Show 10 has gone the way of the Amazon Fire Phone.

These cheaper Amazon speakers do sound pretty good – otherwise they wouldn't score four or five stars. But that's always caveated by the phrase 'for the money'.

If OpenAI is going to ask possibly three times the price of the Echo Show 5 for a smart speaker, it's going to have to sound three times as good. And that's a tall order for a company with no track record of making audio devices.

Sounds like an afterthought

My worry is this will be a speaker that goes heavy on the AI with sound quality left as an afterthought. Whereas I think it should be the other way around.

Designing an audio device around AI is like building a car around the heated seats. Yes, it can be nice to have a toasty behind, but it's not the reason people pick one car over another. They want it to actually drive well.

I have two Echo speakers in my house, and while I do use the voice controls, it's mostly to play either BBC 6 Music or a playlist on Apple Music. If I could remove the screen on my Echo Show in the kitchen, I would. It's just another way for Amazon to serve me adverts.

So come on, OpenAI. You've got seemingly unlimited funds, advanced tech and one of the world's best industrial designers all going for you. Let's not have another iPod Hi-Fi.

MORE:

That was then... Apple iPod Hi-Fi review

More what not to do: our Amazon Echo Dot Max review

This is more like it: best smart speakers

We’re big fans of the Audio Pro C20 W.

So much so that one of our staff writers wrote an entire article about how much they hoped the Award-winning speaker would get its first-ever discount on Black Friday.

Patience, it seems, is a virtue. We never got that Black Friday discount, but we do finally have our target deal price: £399 at Peter Tyson.

We tested this Swiss Army Knife of a speaker at £450 last year, so that’s a tidy £50 saving and great value, given just how much the C20 W is capable of.

This ‘W’ model is the successor of the Audio Pro C20, which itself was an Award winner thanks to its multifaceted skill selection.

The C20 W builds on this with a number of small, meaningful tweaks to improve things further.

This includes a rethink of the sound system, which has the same drivers as the C20 but adds improved input stages for uniform sensitivity and a better dynamic range, changes to the speaker’s acoustical design, and a tuning overhaul.

We are big fans of these changes. “The C20 W offers an expansive, open soundstage, granting a pleasing airiness to the likes of Ramin Djawadi’s choral Across The Oceans Of Time or Massive Attack’s Paradise Circus,” our Audio Pro C20 W review reads.

“Those qualities of refinement and clarity walk hand in hand with a gift for overall organisation and cohesion. Even when things become challenging or overly dense, the C20 W has the poise and refinement to avoid ever sounding cluttered or slipshod.”

Bass has plenty of heft without overshadowing the rest of the frequency range, and the whole performance is a touch richer and clearer than it is with its predecessor.

When it comes to physical connections, the C20 W has it all. A set of RCA inputs, a moving-magnet phono stage, an optical input for digital sources and an HDMI ARC are all included, and there is a sub-out option for adding a subwoofer.

Wireless support is just as impressive, with AirPlay 2 and Google Cast for wireless playback up to 24-bit/96kHz as well as Bluetooth 5.0. Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect are also on the menu, as well as Audio Pro’s own multi-room offering for connecting a variety of speakers in your personal abode.

Essentially, this means you can use the C20 W as a soundbar for your TV, as a Bluetooth speaker paired with your phone, or as part of a multi-room setup. Whatever use you require from a speaker, it's very likely that the C20 W offers it.

If you’re after a multi-room offering, there is no better at this price level. The Audio Pro C20 W builds on an already Award-winning recipe to take its wireless speaker to new heights – and the price is at a new low at £399 at Peter Tyson.

MORE:

Read our review of the Sonos Era 300

Also consider the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro Edition

Best Bluetooth speakers tried and tested for every budget

In case you were wondering, those are massive headphones rather than a tiny woman. Except they're not. Because the JLab Blue XL Speaker Headphones is actually a Bluetooth speaker in the shape of a pair of novelty oversized over-ear headphones.

But yes, you can wear them, should you so desire. Behold.

So what the devil is going on?

Well, JLab made this speaker at the end of last year as part of its sponsorship of the Birmingham Bowl, a post-season NCAA-sanctioned college American football match, which last year was between the Georgia Southern Eagles and Appalachian State Mountaineers. Georgia Southern won, and were gifted multiple speakers which the players promptly wore like massive headphones.

Again, behold.

And now you can buy it, in the US at least, where it costs $100 (around £74 / AU$140). The JLab site calls it "30W celebration Speaker Headphones with dual 2.5” drivers and 20+ hours of playtime".

Bluetooth 5.4 should provide a stable connection, and while we can't comment on the sound quality, we can confidently say it will get some very odd looks, especially if you wear it as a pair of headphones.

MORE:

These look tiny now: best over-ear headphones

Can it compete with the best Bluetooth speakers?

Read our JLab Go Pop+ review

This could be a big year for Sonos. The US firm has just announced its first product since the Arc Ultra soundbar in late 2024, and while the Amp Multi might not be as mainstream a proposition as the brand's wireless speakers or soundbars, it does mark the start of a new era for the firm.

Not only is the product the first launched under the stewardship of new CEO Tom Conrad, but it also heralds the start of a busy year for the brand, whose hardware launches will ramp up in the second half of its fiscal year, it told Bloomberg.

Given that its fiscal year ends in September, we could see a flurry of product announcements over the next eight months.

So which products will launch? Here are our predictions and what we would like to see.

Sonos Ace 2

The Ace headphones were a disappointment. Given the quality of Sonos’s wireless speakers and soundbars, we had high hopes for its first pair of wireless over-ears. Unfortunately they were part of the firm's annus horribilis of 2024, during which its botched app update angered customers and led to the replacement of its CEO.

The Ace launched without all its intended features (although TrueCinema has since arrived). The features it did have were a bit buggy in parts. And in a field crowded with five-star rivals, the sound quality was distinctly underwhelming – hence our three-star review score.

But we’re optimists. We know Sonos can do better. And we have no doubt that it will.

The Sonos Ace 2 needs to improve sound quality drastically to compete with the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Sennheiser HDB 630. And if the headphones can launch with a full set of features, even better.

Over its two decades in business, Sonos has built a compelling multi-room ecosystem into which a pair of wireless headphones could slot seamlessly. Here's hoping the Ace 2 is that pair.

Sonos Beam Gen 3

The Beam Gen 2 launched back in 2021, but it's still going strong – at the tail end of last year, it won its fifth consecutive What Hi-Fi? Award. Quite a run.

But five years is a long time in soundbar terms – some companies update their models annually. Though when you have a soundbar of the Beam Gen 2's quality, a yearly update is hardly warranted.

Since its launch, we have seen the Sonos Arc Ultra break new ground in the premium soundbar space, earning five stars and a What Hi-Fi? Award in the process. So hopefully Sonos could apply some of these learnings to its more wallet-friendly Beam range.

How could Sonos improve on the Beam Gen 2? We're hoping for more HDMI ports for connecting games consoles and the like directly to the soundbar. Don't hold your breath, though: it's likely that Sonos will stick with just the one in order to keep costs down.

Fingers crossed for up-firing drivers to provide a genuine Dolby Atmos effect, rather than the virtual processing applied to the current model (though the Gen 2's sound is still phenomenal for the price). And we'd like DTS:X support for a greater range of immersive content and Bluetooth to go with its wi-fi connection, please.

Sony HT-A3000 vs Sonos Beam Gen 2: which should you buy?

Sonos Five Gen 2

A moment please, for the Sonos Five. In all the hoopla surrounding the Era 300 and 100, Sonos’s largest wireless speaker has been somewhat forgotten. That hasn’t been helped by its name. It was originally called the ZonePlayer S5 (back when Sonos’s naming conventions were different), before being rechristened the Play:5, and then launched in a subsequent generation, in 2020, as the Sonos Five. Confusing much?

The Five earned four stars from us. In our Sonos Five review, we praised its “bold, expansive sound” and potential for multi-room greatness, though we had some reservations over its overly bassy sound and rounded-off treble.

The time is nigh for a sequel. Improvements to sound are a must, and it could even follow the Era 300 in adding spatial audio (though this would step on the Era 300's toes somewhat). Bluetooth would also be a no-brainer, and since Sonos brought it to the Era speakers, it really has no excuse not to do so here.

A home cinema setup

Sonos already has home cinema products in the form of the Ray, Beam Gen 2, Arc and Arc Ultra soundbars; but what about some separates to go with these?

You can use other Sonos wireless speakers as part of a surround sound setup, of course, but seconding an Era 300 or even 100 to such duties seems like overkill. (As does using the Sub Mini – which is actually pricier than the Beam Gen 2 most of the time.) We would rather see some cheaper dedicated satellite speakers, that are intended for that task alone.

Sonos can do cheap. Remember its Symfonisk tie-in with Ikea?

We would also like to see a smart, streamlined AV amplifier, similar to the Sonos Amp but purely for home cinema. The chances of this one are probably low – but that won't stop us wishing.

Streaming box

This one is even less likely, as in March last year it was reported that Sonos had “shelved” its plans for an Apple TV-like streaming box. Hardly surprising – when you have been burned entering a new market (wireless headphones) just months earlier, and are still working on undoing the harm you did to your mobile app the previous year, it makes sense to put new projects on ice and focus on fixing the mess you created.

But still. The Apple TV 4K stands alone in terms of premium TV streamers, and could do with some real competition. Admittedly Sonos has no experience in visual entertainment, but given its track record of quality home entertainment products, we do have high hopes that this will see the light of day at some point.

MORE:

Which Sonos speaker should you buy? Find out here

Check out the best Sonos alternatives

I switched from the Sony WH-1000XM5 to the Sonos Ace and was surprised

Ruark has always had an eye for design, but the British brand is going all out on the style front with its highly exclusive twist on the R810 wireless speaker system.

Designed to emulate the look of the classic radiograms of old, the new R810 MiE has been crafted to celebrate Ruark's 40th anniversary, setting itself apart from the standard iteration with its pledge to take the company's "craftsmanship to new heights".

The MiE edition comes in two exclusive new finishes – Penta-Chord Walnut and Leaf-Line Oak – while each piece will be distinct from its counterparts thanks to its unique array of hand-crafted components.

Not that there will be many counterparts to be found. Only 50 will end up in circulation, giving the celebratory model an alluringly exclusive cachet. To signify that exclusivity, each unit will feature an engraved wooden plaque on the rear panel as a proof of authenticity.

All of the usual fittings and functionalities as found in the standard R810 return for the MiE. The 40th anniversary edition houses twin 28mm silk dome tweeters alongside dual 10cm woofers and a single long-throw subwoofer, powered by 180 watts of Class AB amplification.

The same wireless features are on board, including streaming from AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect and aptX Bluetooth, as well as physical connections courtesy of HDMI eARC, optical and RCA phono inputs.

You'll also get access to FM, DAB/DAB+ tuners and internet radio, plus high resolution audio support up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM.

A four-inch TFT colour display screen is mounted on the front, with Ruark's signature 'RotoDial' controller sitting atop the system.

According to Alan O'Rourke, Ruark's managing director: “We’ve long envisioned bringing some production back to the UK. While volume production isn’t viable, our MiE project focuses on unmatched quality through hands-on craftsmanship, free from time constraints, making MiE truly special.”

The Ruark R810 MiE is available now, priced at £6495, a significant advance on the originally asking price of £3000 / $4499 / AU$6000 for the standard R810 unit.

MORE:

Read our five-star Ruark Audio R410 review

Ruark Audio R410 vs Naim Mu-so 2: which premium all-in-one music system is better?

Best hi-fi systems: CD, vinyl and streaming systems

Majority has launched a new line of portable Bluetooth speakers, which offer a range of features and are more affordable than many of the class-leading, five-star JBL Bluetooth speakers.

The Majority Move range consists of four Bluetooth speakers, starting with the palm-sized M1 and going up to the larger M4, which resembles a small boombox.

The whole range is equipped with Bluetooth 6.0, the latest iteration of the technology, but only the standard SBC codec is supported, so they don’t support high-resolution audio playback – which isn’t unusual at such budget prices. The M2, M3 and M4 all feature LED lighting, too.

The smallest speaker of the range, the Move M1, aims to deliver “clear, balanced sound in a discreet footprint” with 12W of power output, and features hands-free calling, up to 70 hours of playback and fast-charging via USB-C.

This compact speaker is priced at £30 and resembles the JBL Go 4 in terms of size and the inclusion of a strap, which allows for attaching it to a coat or backpack. It has a waterproof rating of IPX5, meaning it’s resistant against rain, sweat and splashes.

Next in the range is the Move M2, which offers a “fuller, confident sound”, according to Majority.

Offering up to 30 hours of battery life, the M2 speaker has a higher IPX7 rating, meaning it can withstand exposure to water up to 1m for up to 30 minutes.

In addition to wireless playback via Bluetooth, you can also use a wired connection for sources such as a laptop or smartphone, with the M2 featuring USB-C and 3.5mm auxiliary inputs. Unusually for Bluetooth speakers, Majority includes a Micro SD slot here, so you can store digital music files directly on to the speaker.

The portable Move M2 resembles the Award-winning JBL Flip 6, and even has the same 30W of claimed power output. However, the M2 is priced at £50, so it’s considerably cheaper than the Flip 6, which is currently £90.

The USB-C and auxiliary wired inputs and the inclusion of Micro SD card playback are also present in the larger two models in the range, the Move M3 and Move M4. Both speakers also have 30 hours of battery life and IPX7 rating, the same as the M2.

These two differ, however, in terms of price, size and output.

According to Majority, the M3 boasts 40W of output power and is designed to fill rooms and outdoor spaces with “dynamic, engaging sound”. The M3 costs £80, and it has the same output as the five-star JBL Charge 5 (currently £100).

Last but not least is the largest of the range, the Move M4. It has the biggest power output at a claimed 70W, which Majority says should be “ideal for larger spaces” and offer “bigger volume and deeper bass” compared with the rest of its portable siblings. The M4 is priced at £120.

Like you’ll find with several JBL Bluetooth speakers, the Move range features a stereo pairing mode that allows you to pair two of the same speakers, such as one M2 and another M2, together to create a stereo listening experience.

All four Majority Move portable Bluetooth speakers are available to buy in the UK now, with US distribution and prices set to be announced later in the year. It will be interesting to see how these affordable models fare against such strong current competition from the likes of JBL, Bose and more.

MORE:

Check out our list of the best Bluetooth speakers

Marshall's dinky streaming hub brings wireless multi-room and vinyl support to its rock'n'roll Bluetooth speakers

What is JBL PartyBoost? Is it the same as Connect+ and Auracast?

JBL makes some of the best Bluetooth speakers around, but one of its best features isn't that well known. There are a couple of good reasons for that: PartyBoost only launched a few years ago, replacing a very similar feature; and you need more than one compatible speaker in order to use PartyBoost.

JBL hasn't helped itself here. It's changed its wireless pairing technology every few years, leading to much confusion and a lot of compatibility issues. You would think if you had bought speakers exclusively from JBL for the last decade they would all work together, but you would be wrong.

PartyBoost replaced Connect+, but is now being replaced by a non-proprietary technology called Auracast on newer JBL speakers. This means that certain generations of JBL speakers won't work with older or newer models.

Confused? We don't blame you.

But don't worry, we'll tell you everything you need to know about PartyBoost, Connect+ and Auracast, and explain which speakers work with which.

JBL PartyBoost

What is JBL PartyBoost?

PartyBoost is a way of wirelessly pairing multiple JBL speakers together to enhance the sound. Once paired, you can either listen in Stereo mode or Party mode.

Stereo mode uses two speakers, each of which acts as either the left or right channel. Party mode can pair up to 100 speakers, all of which play the same audio for maximum volume and effect.

However, Stereo mode only works with two of the same compatible devices. So you can use stereo mode when you pair a Flip 6 with another Flip 6, but not if you pair a Flip 6 with a Flip 5. Nothing's ever easy.

PartyBoost has two advantages over the Connect+ technology it replaced: a stronger connection and wider range, so you can spread your speakers over a larger area and still connect them together wirelessly.

Which JBL speakers have PartyBoost?

Some of JBL's most popular speakers have PartyBoost, though it is being phased out in favour of Auracast.

• Flip 6
• Flip 5
• Charge 5 (but not the Charge 5 Wi-Fi)
• Pulse 4
• Boombox 3 (but not Boombox 3 Wi-Fi)
• Boombox 2
• Xtreme 4 (which has Auracast as well)
• Xtreme 3

How to pair using JBL PartyBoost

Press the Bluetooth button on the speaker to put it in pairing mode, then tap on the speaker's name in your device's list of Bluetooth devices.

Open the JBL Portable app on your device, and you'll see the speaker you're connected to. Press the connect button on each speaker you want to connect, and they will appear within the JBL Portable app.

Just select Stereo mode or Party mode, and hit play. Voila, your speakers will respond accordingly.

To disconnect PartyBoost, just press the connect button again on the relevant speaker(s).

JBL Connect+

What is JBL Connect+?

Connect+ is JBL's earlier technology for connecting its speakers together wirelessly. Though it wasn't its first – Connect+ followed JBL's Connect tech, though that's too old to feature here.

Which JBL speakers have Connect+?

Being an older technology, Connect+ features on older JBL speakers, some of which are still on sale despite being succeeded by newer models. You might find the others secondhand or refurbished.

• Charge 4
• Pulse 3
• Xtreme 2
• Boombox

How to pair using JBL Connect+

You can pair JBL Connect+ speakers together without using an app.

Connect your phone to your speaker by pressing the Bluetooth button on your speaker and tapping on its name within your phone's list of Bluetooth devices.

Play music, and press the connect button on all the other speakers you want to hook up using Connect+. They should all connect within 30 seconds.

However, you can also use the JBL Portable app when pairing to give you a greater degree of control over the speakers. This was previously known as JBL Connect, but it still retains the ability to use Connect+.

Auracast

What is Auracast?

Auracast is the wireless pairing technology found in the newest JBL speakers. Unlike PartyBoost and Connect+, Auracast is a little different, because it's wasn't created by JBL. Rather, it's a third-party technology that's also used by other manufacturers.

That means you can pair your JBL speakers with those made by other manufacturers (as long as they have Auracast, that is). Which you can't do with Connect+ or PartyBoost.

Because Auracast works via Bluetooth LE, it has a wider reach and is less of a battery drain than other technologies. And it can pair an unlimited number of devices, whereas Connect+ and PartyBoost are limited to 100. Though if you're pairing more than that, you might want to warn the neighbours.

You can find out more about the technology in our What is Auracast? guide.

Which JBL speakers have Auracast?

Auracast is restricted to newer JBL speakers. As well as the below, it features on the four-star JBL Tour Pro 3 wireless earbuds.

• Xtreme 4 (which has PartyBoost as well)
• Charge 6
• Flip 7
• Go 4
• Clip 5
• Grip
• Boombox 4
• Tuner 3
• PartyBox Stage 320
• PartyBox Club 120
• PartyBox Ultimate
• PartyBox 720
• PartyBox 520
• PartyBox Encore 2
• PartyBox Encore Essential 2

How to pair using Auracast

Connecting your JBL speakers via Auracast is much the same as with Connect+ or PartyBoost. Connect your device to the first speaker as you would with any Bluetooth device, then press the Auracast button on the speaker itself. You will hear an 'Auracast On' tone to indicate it's activated.

Next, press the Auracast button on any other speakers you want to connect. Make sure they're all within range and set to broadcast mode.

And that's all there is to it – your speakers will connect and play the same music as the first.

To disconnect, just press the Auracast button again. If you press it on the first speaker you connected, music will stop playing on all the speakers.

FAQ

MORE:

Which JBL speaker should you buy? Find out here

Check out JBL Charge 6 vs JBL Charge 5: which is better?

And the JBL Xtreme 4 vs JBL Xtreme 3

Audio Pro has launched the upgraded ‘W’ editions its Drumfire series of wireless speakers: the full-size Drumfire II W and the smaller Drumfire D-2 W.

As we saw with the launch of the five-star Audio Pro C20 W edition last year, which benefitted from an improved app and a tweaked sonic signature, the new iterations of the Drumfire models aim to take the established speakers to the next level in terms of both performance and usability.

The larger of two newbies, the Drumfire II W, promises a “pure, bold sound with super crisp details”, boasting 200 watts of Class D amplification powering twin textile-dome tweeters working alongside a pair of 13.7cm woofers.

Wireless connectivity is extensive, with the Drumfire II W offering Audio Pro multi-room listening alongside Google Cast, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect, while physical connections include a set of RCA inputs alongside a subwoofer output.

As with the rest of the ‘W’ range, Audio Pro has also revamped its app for a “vastly improved experience” – we certainly enjoyed the “fresh layout and easy navigation for controlling all aspects of the speaker” when testing out the C20 W.

Accompanying the Drumfire II W is the D-2 W, a smaller unit which can be mounted on its larger sibling for even more sonic oomph, although it can be used as a standalone speaker in its own right.

The Drumfire D-2 W offers 100 watts of Class D amplification, housing twin textile-dome tweeters alongside dual 11cm woofers, combining to deliver what Audio Pro describes as “pure hi-fi acoustics with deep, controlled bass and crispy highs”.

Like its larger contemporary, the new speaker offers Audio Pro multi-room listening in tandem with Google Cast, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect, all with that improved app experience.

According to Nils Ankarcrona, Audio Pro's CEO: “The Drumfire II W launch is the last of our W-generation launches, and makes it possible for us to offer our entire range in this new improved W-generation; a generation offering improved sound, a new app and refined design.”

The Drumfire D-2 W is available now in a choice of white, grey or black finishes, priced at £350 / €400 / $400. The Drumfire II W, meanwhile, is available for £600 / €700 / $700, in the same colours.

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These are the best wireless speakers you can buy

Read our Audio Pro C20 W review

Update 09/01/26: This story has been edited to remove the claim that Bose offered customers no compensation at the time of the original announcement. In fact, Bose did offer SoundTouch customers a 25 per cent discount code, and affected customers can use Bose's standard trade-in program. Bose failed to communicate these points to us when we contacted it for comment on the original story.

Bose's SoundTouch speakers aren't going to be quite as bricked as originally planned.

In October, Bose announced it would end cloud support for the SoundTouch range, and shut down the mobile app. This prompted outrage from customers, who would see their speakers lose all smart functionality, and only work over Bluetooth, or plugged in via AUX or HDMI.

But now the US firm has listened to its customers and managed to keep some smart features working.

In a letter to customers, it announced that it will keep the SoundTouch app running with most of its features still available just without the cloud. Cloud support will now end on 6th May, rather than the original date of 18th February.

Bose is also releasing its SoundTouch API documentation so anyone with the right knowhow can create their own features.

On 6th May, the SoundTouch app will update "to a version that supports key functions without relying on the cloud," Bose wrote. Just open the app and it will update itself automatically.

After this date, the app will still allow you to set up and configure your system, control playback and group multiple speakers together. But you will lose access to presets, and the ability to browse and play music streaming services directly from the SoundTouch app.

You also won't receive security updates. Bose recommends you only use your SoundTouch speakers on a secure, private network.

To keep streaming to your SoundTouch speaker after 6th May, stream direct from the music app in question and send the audio from your device to your speaker via AirPlay, Bluetooth or AUX. You can still stream direct to the speaker via Spotify Connect through the Spotify app.

Bose says it will release more information in the coming months. In the meantime, you can read more on the dedicated support page.

So there you have it, good news of a sort. Or slightly less bad news, maybe.

SoundTouch devices are quite old now, having launched in 2013, but it was still an outrage that Bose would remove most of the features. One reader contacted us up in arms that they had spent £2000 on SoundTouch speakers shortly before the original announcement. Hopefully today's news leaves them slightly less cheesed off than before.

MORE:

The best multi-room systems around

The best Sonos alternatives

And multi-room audio: everything you need to know

The iconic Harman Kardon SoundSticks have gone through a handful of iterations over the years, with the desktop speaker system adding new features such as Bluetooth connectivity along the way.

The most recent fourth-generation appeared in 2020 with a refreshed look, and now, 25 years after it first launched (don’t forget this system was originally co-developed with Apple!) Harman Kardon has added Wi-Fi streaming to its list of abilities.

This means you now have access to Apple AirPlay, Google Chromecast, Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect and Roon Ready, in addition to Bluetooth 6.

You can also group and connect multiple compatible wireless speakers using its built-in Auracast functionality.

The Soundsticks 5 Wi-Fi has been given a bit of an aesthetic refresh too: “Its new clear white dome and polished metal centre plate bring a pure aesthetic that feels both futuristic and timeless.”

Each speaker features three 1.6-inch mid-range drivers and a 1-inch tweeter with bass performance delivered by a dedicated, separate 5.25-inch subwoofer

Looking for a lightshow from your desktop speakers? 6 preset ambient lighting themes and fully customisable brightness and colour are all available via the Harman Kardon ONE app.

Another member of the Harman Kardon family to get the Wi-Fi treatment is the latest generation of its Aura Studio 5 speaker. The Aura Studio 5 Wi-Fi is a three-way wireless speaker that uses a 5.25-inch woofer, six 1.5-inch drivers and two one-inch tweeters.

It boasts identical streaming features to the SoundSticks 5 Wi-Fi and also includes self-tuning for your room and the ability to use two Aura Studios in a stereo pair or chain, multiple speakers together via Auracast.

Both the Harman Kardon Soundsticks 5 Wi-Fi and Aura Studio 5 Wi-Fi will be available from March 2026 at harmankardon.co.uk for £350/€380.

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There's a new fish in the wireless-speaker pond. Motorola has entered the arena (to mix our metaphors) with its new portable wireless speaker, the Moto Sound Flow, and it has enlisted the help of Bose to help it compete in what is already a rather crowded market.

Boasting ‘Sound by Bose’ audio tuning, the new model promises to deliver “rich, balanced audio” via its 30 watts of power feeding a dedicated tweeter, woofer and dual passive radiators.

Alongside standard Bluetooth streaming, the new speaker offers wi-fi connectivity and support for the likes of AirPlay, Google Cast and Spotify Connect.

It's not short on features, either. To go with its 12-hour battery life, the speaker houses ‘Room Shift’ technology which automatically switches your audio to your closest Moto Sound Flow, while Dynamic stereo pairing allows you to connect twin models together to create “an immersive experience that follows [the listener] wherever they go”.

Thanks to its four in-built microphones, the new speaker also offers hands-free calling.

Touch controls are mounted at the top of the unit for adjusting volume and setting the microphone to on/off, while an IP67 rating means that Motorola's debutante should be happy handling the rigours of the Great Outdoors.

The Moto Sound Flow is available in two finishes – Carbon or Warm Taupe – priced at £180 (further prices pending).

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Alongside its 2026 TV lineup, Samsung has announced two new wireless speakers at CES 2026. The Samsung Music Studio 7 and 5 both have minimalist designs and plenty of features, but only the 7 supports hi-res audio.

The 5 – which is the smaller of the two, pictured above – looks similar to the Ikea Nattbad Bluetooth speaker which launched over the summer. It has a 4-inch woofer and dual tweeters with a built-in waveguide providing "clear, balanced sound" and AI Dynamic Bass Control for deeper, distortion-free low frequencies.

As well as Bluetooth connectivity, it has wi-fi casting, support for streaming services and voice controls.

The Music Studio 7 supports hi-res audio up to 24-bit/96kHz, and also offers Bluetooth. It promises a more immersive sound thanks to its 3.1.1-channel "spatial audio" – though there's no mention of what “spatial audio” means in this context outside of some top-firing drivers.

It has the same AI Dynamic Bass Control as its smaller sibling, as well as Audio Lab Pattern Control Technology to reduce signal overlap for “cleaner directionality”. Its ‘super tweeter’ can extend the frequency range up to 35kHz for more detail in the higher frequencies.

Both the Music Studio 7 and 5 can pair with other units or Samsung TVs via the brand's Q-Symphony tech.

Samsung hasn't announced pricing or availability yet, but we'll bring you those details when we have them.

Correction: This piece was updated on 7th January to correct that both speakers can connect via Bluetooth and Q-Symphony, something that wasn't mentioned in the original press release.

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LG's Xboom line of Bluetooth speakers is expanding, taking the fight to rivals such as JBL, Sony and Bose with a raft of new models designed to carve out a chunk of one of the market's most competitive categories.

Launching at CES 2026 are the Blast, the Mini, the Rock and the Stage 501, all of which have, like many of their predecessors, been tuned by former Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am.

First up is the Blast, a plus-sized speaker which LG claims is "built for long adventures" thanks to its 35 hours of playback. The new unit offers 220 watts of power output alongside four drive units (two 13cm woofers and two 20mm tweeters) and a trio of passive radiators, teasing "an expansive soundscape" that excels in any environment.

If you want something a little more compact, LG has also announced the arrival of the Xboom Mini. The smaller, squarer model promises up to 10 hours of playback on a single charge, with LG teasing a "clear, well-defined sound" which belies its compact dimensions.

It should be tough and tenacious, too, with an IP67 water and dust resistance ensuring protection from water and dust ingress when you're out and about. A built-in tripod mount means you can position it as you like, while on-unit controls handle tasks such as adjusting volume and playback.

The Mini isn't the toughest member of the expanding Xboom family, however. Built, says LG, for "rugged adventures", the Xboom Rock is tested to seven military standards and also offers an IP67 certification, meaning it should be able to handle even the harshest environments.

Offering 6 watts of power combined with LG's 'Sound Field Enhance' technology, LG promises a "clear, impactful sound" alongside an expansive soundstage, even in open spaces. As well as boasting 10 hours of playback, the Rock also offers Auracast audio sharing across multiple compatible speakers, a feature you also get with the Mini above.

If room-filling sound and late night karaoke sessions are more your thing, the Xboom Stage 501 might be for you. The party-ready speaker offers up to 25 hours of playback, delivering up to 220 watts of power when plugged in to deliver "a bold, room-filling sound" from its five-sided cabinet.

The new LG Bluetooth speakers will be available later in 2026, with official dates and prices to be confirmed. We'll let you know as soon as we get them.

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Recently, I’ve found myself in the grip of, no, not a tyre fitter’s hand, like the brilliant band Budgie once proclaimed, but a Bluetooth speaker with a name that seems incredibly apt for several reasons: the JBL Grip.

When unveiling this new addition to JBL’s hugely successful portable Bluetooth speaker lineup this year, the brand said that the Grip’s biggest selling point was its compact dimensions and upright positioning, which make for easy one-handed use.

And whilst this explains its given name, the Grip’s performance does just as much as the convenient design to lure you into its thrall.

I got my hands on the JBL Grip a few weeks ago and have since been thoroughly enjoying the step up from my Anker Soundcore Bluetooth speaker, which I bought for £30 back in 2021.

Considering the JBL Grip is brand new and costs £90 and the Soundcore was first released in 2014, I’m of course expecting a step up in performance – but my experience with the new speaker has been even more enjoyable than I initially expected.

One of the things I noticed from the off was the extra detail and improved clarity when using the Grip. Whilst playing The dB’s Black and White, it became clear I’d gotten so used to the Soundcore that I’d begun to assume that this is just what some songs are supposed to sound like through a Bluetooth speaker.

But after playing through the Grip, I realised just how much detail was being lost.

Instruments I couldn’t hear or that were getting lost in the Soundcore’s comparatively muddled presentation were now there for me to pick out at will. It was almost like hearing a different song, one that felt so much more complete.

Another thing that has impressed me is the depth and quality of the bass, along with the handling of dynamics.

When playing Friction & K-Tee’s remix of Jonny L’s Back to Your Roots, the Grip rumbles away nicely on my dining room table, while the medley of kicks, snares and hi-hats sound crisp and clear.

There is a vibrancy that makes my old Anker seem dull in comparison, while tracks that almost felt like homogenous entities have become journeys with clearly defined stops.

For a speaker that measures just 6.5cm wide and fits into your hand, the Grip is also surprisingly loud.

I’ve mostly had the volume around 40% - occasionally taking it over halfway for songs I feel warrant a good cranking – when listening at home, and it’s been more than loud enough to hear individual track elements clearly. I’ve very briefly taken the volume to max level and the audio didn’t appear to distort too much either.

I like the JBL Portable app you use with this Bluetooth speaker, too. After a quick download from the App Store and subsequent update, I changed the Grip’s light to a vibrant red that I think looks rather dashing. There are other light colours and patterns available, but this one stood out most for me.

The app also provides a selection of EQ presets and an option to tweak the equalisation yourself.

I’ve mostly used JBL’s signature setting so far, which gives the Grip a nicely balanced sound. The energetic preset I briefly tried was a little overenthusiastic in the bass department for my liking, although I’m sure it has its fans.

The only thing the Grip seems to be slightly lacking so far, compared to my Soundcore anyway, is battery life.

Once the Soundcore has a full charge, it feels like it just goes on and on. It’s advertised as having 24 hours of battery life and I’ve charged it so few times in the time I’ve owned it that I’m pretty sure this is on the money.

The JBL, on the other hand, supposedly offers 12 hours of battery life, although there is Playtime Boost setting in the app that extends this to 14 hours while simultaneously boosting playback volume. I toggled this on for a brief period and appreciated how the volume boost didn’t seem to throw the EQ out of sync.

The app lets you know how much charge the speaker has left and after turning on Playtime Boost once the battery dropped to around 10%, it certainly seemed as if the Grip’s playtime was extended.

While we’ve not had a chance to officially review the JBL Grip yet, the brand’s current run of five-star Bluetooth speakers – such as the Flip 7, Charge 6, Xtreme 4, Go 4 – shows that the Grip is in good company.

Regardless of what star rating the Grip ends up with, my first impressions are that it’s an excellent portable speaker for its size and price, particularly if, like me, you’re upgrading from an older, cheaper speaker.

I’ve already belted out a few Christmas songs through it and I’m looking forward to ramping this up even further over the festive break.

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You don't have to buy a JBL Bluetooth speaker, you know. Much as we herald them as some of the best Bluetooth speakers of their size, type and class, it's nice to have alternatives to cater to different tastes. Let it never be said that we favour one given brand to the exclusion of all others.

The Pure Classic Aura is something a bit different. Shaped like a radio, portable like a Bluetooth speaker and with the funky ambient lighting of a modern gaming soundbar, its unique roster of talents make it a charming alternative to the JBL stable, especially now that the price has dropped from £119 to just £89 at Amazon. Did we mention those ambient lights..?

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Around £90 generally gets you a portable Bluetooth speaker that has been designed to be chucked in a bag or on a backseat to accompany you on your travels, such as the Award-winning JBL Flip 7 or the eminently likeable Bose SoundLink Flex.

The Pure Classic Aura, however, is designed to be plonked onto your desk or kitchen worktop, even if its lightweight build and removable rubber carry strap mean you can move it easily between rooms and/or residences. An IPX2 rating, meanwhile, means it should survive being briefly sprayed with water if you're a bit careless with your kitchen tap.

Its party piece is the collection of small circular LEDs on the rear panel that shine a variety of colours (both static and dynamic), creating an attractive halo of coloured light behind the speaker that work best when it's placed near a rear wall.

Bluetooth 5.3 support is on the menu, which offers the only means of connection aside from a 3.5mm auxiliary input, while a built-in battery pack offers 30 hours of playback on a single charge.

Pure didn't forget to make a speaker that sounds the part. Thanks to its 40-watt output, the Classic Aura is happy to go loud when you push the volume dial, serving up an impressively wide, open soundstage with pleasing detailed and nuance, particularly through. Dynamics are nicely handled, too, with the classy speaker conveying shifts in intensity and volume when required.

All in all, the Classic Aura has serious substance to go with all of that style. Check it out and its new deal price at Amazon.

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Elac has launched its first portable Bluetooth speaker, the NAVA100, which features a 7.6cm full-range driver and dual passive radiators, and promises to “deliver powerful bass and natural clarity”.

According to the German speaker manufacturer, the NAVA100 blends Elac’s 100-year heritage with contemporary design, aiming to deliver “rich, dynamic audio” from a compact speaker.

Elac’s new speaker features Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, while two NAVA100 units can be paired together for “seamless, immersive wireless stereo playback”.

In terms of battery life, the NAVA100 offers up to a maximum of 15 hours, but this will drop to around 6 if listening at full volume.

This is significantly lower than the 24 hours provided by the JBL Charge 6, our What Hi-Fi? Award winner for best portable wireless speaker for £150 to £200. But we will of course reserve judgement until we've tested it ourselves.

The Elac NAVA100 features a USB-C input that allows for a full recharge in just 2 hours.

Built with a precision-formed aluminium exterior, the portable Bluetooth speaker weighs just 1.4 kg and measures 15 x 7.8 x 12.8cm.

There are two finish options to choose from: Classic Elac Black or the Adsum x ELAC Cream Edition, a collaboration with the New-York-based clothing brand Adsum.

The NAVA100 is available now in the UK and US, with both finishes priced at £199 / $229. It will eventually be launched in Australia with the price there TBC.

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If you've followed What Hi-Fi? for a while now, you might be sick of hearing us recommend JBL's expansive roster of Bluetooth speakers. Whenever a deal rolls around, we're usually pretty quick to point it out, urging you to snap up a fantastic Flip 7 or a charming Charge 6 as a matter of urgency. Hey, it's not our fault they're great speakers.

That doesn't mean we're not keen to give rivals their due. The Sony ULT Field 1 might not have been untouchable at its full price of £119, but now that it's fallen to £69 at Amazon and Sevenoaks in the runup to Christmas, it could be the perfect stocking stuffer for those buyers seeking something just a little different this festive period.

JBL might have the market monopoly, but the ULT Field 1 has enough up its sleeve to make it worthy of an audition, if it matches your particular set of criteria.

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The Sony ULT Field 1 is actually a really interesting beast. It often gets forgotten amidst a wave of five-star JBLs, such as the Flip 6 and the Award-winning Flip 7, but the Field 1 is something of a wildcard that, if it's up your street, can actually represent a very attractive proposition on paper.

There are two ways of listening to Sony's slimline speaker: with the bass-boosting 'Power Sound' profile switched on or off. If you switch it on, you'll get a punchy, powerful sound anchored by a considerably weighty lower-end reproduction which goes beyond what you might expect from a unit of this size.

Switch it off and the ULT Field 1 becomes leaner, tauter and nimbler, making tracks feels sharper, freer and capable of clipping along with a sprightly sense of propulsion and rhythmic drive. Neither profile is perfect, but the Sony is notable for teasing out detail than its JBL Flip 6 rival, and that's not something to be sniffed out.

The Field 1 scores highly in other areas, too. Battery life is a respectable 12 hours if you're reasonable with your listening volume, while an IP67 is more than enough to keep the Sony speaker protected from the sand and the sea. Hands-free calling is also available, while stereo pairing is on hand for getting twin Field 1s firing together.

As an intriguing, super-discounted alternative to the class-leaders, the Sony ULT Field 1 is worth an audition. Check it out at Amazon or Sevenoaks.

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WiiM has launched a cut-down version of its Sound smart speaker. The WiiM Sound Lite is exactly the same as the full-fat Sound, but without the screen and remote. It costs £229 / $229 / AU$399 / €269, which is £70 / $70 / AU$100 / €80 less than the Sound.

WiiM promises its "signature hi-res audio and open-platform streaming", so its sound quality and abilities should be identical to the Sound. But without a remote or 1.8-inch touchscreen, you'll have to control it using the WiiM Home App, which also lets you gives you an EQ, presets, alarms and device groups.

The WiiM Sound Lite is compatible with the WiiM Voice Remote 2, but it doesn't come with it. The remote costs £39 / $39 (around AU$78).

The original Sound, also released earlier this year, is a direct rival to the Apple HomePod 2, with similar abilities. Like the Sound, the Sound Lite offers 24-bit/192kHz hi-res playback and 100W peak output from a 4-inch long-throw woofer and dual 1-inch silk-dome tweeters.

AI RoomFit uses your phone to optimise the Sound Lite's audio to your room, and you can pair multiple Sound / Sound Lites together for stereo sound, or it can act as the centre channel in a 5.1 home cinema setup.

As well as Wi-Fi 6E, the Sound Lite has Bluetooth 5.3 and Ethernet connectivity, along with compatibility for Google Cast, Spotify / Tidal / Qobuz Connect, Alexa Cast, DLNA, Roon, and Logitech Media Server.

You can also create a multi-room system using other WiiM devices like the Sound, streamers such as the WiiM Ultra, Pro Plus, Amp Pro streaming amp, and Sub Pro subwoofer.

The Sound Lite goes on sale in early January. At this price, it undercuts the HomePod 2 by the same amount as it does its screened stablemate, the Sound, so if the performance is there, it could be very tempting indeed. We'll have a full review of the WiiM Sound as soon as possible.

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