Update: An earlier version of this story mistakenly claimed that Presets would not launch in the UK until 2027, when in fact it's available now. The amended story follows.

Two big features from the new Sonos 27 operating system are rolling out this week, but only one is available now in the UK.

Presets is available now in the UK, while Sonos 27voice [sic] will land in the US on Friday and on these shores in early 2027.

Presets gives you the ability to set an entire mood with one press. You can save which music plays in each room, at what volume and on which Sonos speakers. Select that preset, and it will load your settings – so you can set one for a party, one for your morning routine, one for a lazy Sunday, and so on.

Sonos 27voice promises to understand you better, letting you be more conversational so it will know “what song you mean from the vaguest description”. You don’t even have to mention the artist or title, which is handy if you don’t know them.

You can also describe a mood and it will create a playlist to suit it.

But you don’t have to rely on Sonos’s voice assistant. As part of Sonos 27, you can use others, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Siri.

These features are part of the Sonos 27 operating system that launched a few weeks ago. Like iOS, it will update every year, so next year’s will be Sonos 28.

It’s part of Sonos’s push to listen to customers more and deliver on what they want, following the self-immolation that was its 2024 app update.

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We speak to Sonos about its operating system rebrand, its “customer-led” focus and app updates

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Amazon has announced the latest generations of two of its most popular smart speakers: the Echo Dot and the Echo Studio.

The new Dot has the same design and 44mm full-range driver as the five-star Echo Dot (5th Generation), but claims to offer "50 per cent more bass than the last generation" thanks to enhanced audio signal processing technology.

Most of the upgrades, however, come in the shape of the Echo Dot's smart capabilities. The new speaker is powered by 'AZ3', Amazon's custom-designed silicon chip, which teases enhanced processing and faster, more natural conversations with Alexa Plus.

The sixth-generation Dot also adds a fourth microphone, allowing Alexa to hear you more clearly as you move around your room. The Dot packs Amazon's 'Omnisense' sensor tech, whereby the speaker senses its environment to adjust aspects such as room temperature or lighting.

Amazon has also unveiled an updated Echo Studio, and it comes with a twist. Dubbed the 'Echo Studio with Home Camera', the new premium model is touted as Amazon's "best-sounding speaker", boasting a high-excursion 9.5cm woofer for "deep, immersive bass" alongside a trio of 5.7cm full-range drivers.

Dolby Atmos support is onboard for a more immersive audio experience, while 'Advanced Room Adaptation' tech continuously adapts the speaker's tuning to fit your listening space.

As you might have guessed, the latest Echo Studio comes equipped with a built-in camera, designed to work with Alexa Plus, with Amazon's AI assistant now able to respond to visual inputs as opposed to simply hearing spoken commands.

Following an impending update, users will be able to pair the new Echo Studio with a compatible Fire TV device to conduct video calls on the big screen.

The sixth-generation Echo Dot is available now in Graphite, Glacier White, Agave Green, and Coral Pink finishes, priced at £75 / $100. The Echo Studio with Home Camera is also available in a Graphite finish, priced at £240 / $250.

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Read our Amazon Echo Dot Max review

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I remember when Apple announced the HomePod back in 2018, and cards on the table, my first reaction wasn't positive.

Upon seeing the pricey smart speaker, my first thought was, "Who the hell is buying this?"

Admittedly, this was long before I was deeply submerged in the world of AV and hi-fi, reviewing. But I like to think I've always been careful about selecting headphones, and I was urging my parents to invest in 4K TVs as early as I can remember.

But this month, after finally properly using one, I'm prepared to eat humble pie and admit I was wrong.

While I know a HomePod isn't the pinnacle of hi-fi audio engineering, I've been auditioning smart speakers for a very particular task: I want a speaker that I can have in my kitchen to play tunes while I cook, and occasionally yell commands at to set timers and skip tracks.

While an Amazon Echo Dot would suffice for most, I've become accustomed to a certain standard of sound, hence why that option was quickly dismissed.

I traded up to an Echo Show 11, which was definitely an audio upgrade, but the screen felt unnecessary, the interface was laggy, and the recommended recipes it was showing me were nothing short of nonsensical (something about a soup with a savoury marshmallow on top really sent me over the edge).

This led me to the HomePod, not the current HomePod 2, might I add, but the original model, which is now sitting proudly on my kitchen worktop.

Booting the HomePod up for the first time revealed that I could update it to the latest version of audioOS; not a bad start for an eight-year-old product.

Sure, it's unlikely the recently announced Siri AI and Sound Glow features for the HomePod Mini 2 (which are also slated to come to the full-sized HomePod 2) will be added, but I can live without them for what I'm using the speaker for.

What is most important is sound quality, and that's what has really sold me on the HomePod. We raved about its "weighty, authoritative sound" back in our original review, and its deep, tuneful and energetic bass performance sticks out as a particular highlight.

Based on my experience, I can certainly vouch for our original review, as I love how rich, punchy and exciting the HomePod sounds, especially compared to my two previous Amazon speakers.

Midrange and treble are equally well balanced, with a richness and warmth that is indicative of Apple's overall approach to sound tuning, which I can instantly recognise from listening to iPhones, iPads and even the Apple TV 4K. The HomePod also distributes sound very well throughout my kitchen, making it sound much larger than it looks.

Now, it hasn't been 100 per cent smooth sailing. The experience with Spotify hasn't been the smoothest thanks to some occasional dropouts over AirPlay, but I plan on switching back to Apple Music once my last month of Spotify Premium has concluded, which I presume will only improve the HomePod experience.

And outside of that, I can only think of one serious downside, and it's not an issue in the traditional sense. Essentially, I am now a fan of Apple's most neglected product line, which means I have a long line of disappointing Apple Events waiting for me.

That might sound contradictory given I've just referenced the newly announced HomePod Mini 2, but need I remind you that Apple took six years to release this sequel.

The HomePod 2, which I admit I have been eyeing up on Apple's website, is over three years old now, and I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see a successor for another few years.

I've been in this position before with the Apple TV 4K, and I suppose there is a hard truth I need to accept: Apple's AV products will never be in the same spotlight as its darling iPhones, Macs and AirPods.

Maybe with the HomePod Mini 2 being fresh on the market – and coming in a dashing green finish, no less – it's the perfect time to indulge my new HomePod obsession; though I might need to take the first-generation Mini for a spin first to be thorough.

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Jamo’s HYG Series just got a new flagship. The HYG 5 is a wireless speaker that looks a bit like a portlier, friendlier HomePod, but with one added skill: motion controls.

A wave of your palm wakes the HYG 5 and resumes playback from the last source. In standby, the touch interface dims so as not to distract you from the speaker’s sleek aesthetic, while the warm ambient light ring adjusts depending on the room’s brightness.

All well and good. But what’s under the hood?

There are two 2.5-inch full-range drivers angled upwards and outwards to spread the stereo image as wide as possible. On bass duties is a 4-inch down-firing woofer, with two symmetrical flared ports beneath the cabinet and ribbed port walls to limit unwanted vibrations.

The speaker is compatible with Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect and Qobuz Connect, as well as TuneIn and QPlay II, while AirPlay 2 and Google Cast allow for simple casting and multi-room playback.

You can also beam audio to it via Bluetooth 5.0 (though sadly not the newer Bluetooth 6 standard), while those of a wired bent can hook up a turntable or CD player via a stereo RCA line input. The HYG 5 also supports hi-res audio up to 24-bit/96kHz.

You can control the HYG 5 from the Jamo Play app for iOS and Android, and also adjust the EQ to suit your taste and surroundings.

The HYG range takes its name from the Danish word ‘hygge’, which, as anyone who read a Sunday supplement 10 years ago will tell you, means cosiness and comfort, especially in the cold winter months.

Jamo previously announced the HYG Reflect bedside speaker, HYG Flow for outdoors and HYG Flex for taking from room to room.

It has been a busy few months for Jamo. After being sold off in 2024, the brand made a return earlier this year under new ownership, and promptly announced two premium ranges of Concert passive speakers followed by the HYG range. In 2028, it will celebrate 60 years in the hi-fi industry – a milestone that not many brands have reached.

The HYG 5 is out now for £349 / $399 (around AU$670).

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The best multi-room speakers

Multi-room audio: everything you need to know

Imagine the premium wireless multi-room speaker market is a saloon from one of those classic spaghetti westerns. You’ve got Denon’s revamped Home 2 series leaning on the bar, Apple’s HomePod 2 and HomePod Mini playing a round of Three Card Monte, while Sonos’ Era 100 and Era 300 supremos menacingly spin their pistols as they eyeball prospective newcomers with a steely gaze.

Then, the wooden saloon doors swing open, and into the smoky scene steps JBL, armed to the teeth with its new three-strong Cove range. The talented titan has been the fastest gun in the West when it comes to its Award-winning range of portable Bluetooth speakers, but now it wants a slice of the multi-room treasure, starting with the flagship Cove X1 wireless speaker we have on test here.

Given its impressive portable pedigree and former multi-room experience with the now-defunct Link series and stylish Authentics range, JBL seemingly has what it takes to be the quickest draw in this particular shootout. On paper, at least.

Price

The JBL Cove X1 is priced at £430 / $450 / AU$650, making it the most premium member of the Cove range, eclipsing the £200 / $230 / AU$300 RRP of the Cove M1 and £400 / $400 / AU$600 tag of the Cove P1.

At this sort of money, you can scoop up the five-star Sonos Era 300 for £449 / $499 / AU$749 at the time of writing – though discounts will often drop this to around £349 / $399 / AU$649 – or get yourself the excellent HomePod 2 for £349 / $349 / AU$549 if you want a simple smart speaker and remain devoted to all things Apple.

Build & design

If you are familiar with JBL’s extensive portfolio of portable Bluetooth speakers, you’ll know that eye-grabbing colourways and funky style quirks are very much par for the course. Camo finishes, rubberised bumpers, even on-unit lighting for some newer-gen models – these are speakers designed to look as fun as they sound.

The Cove range does things differently. JBL says the new lineup is conceived to slot far more subtly into a domestic setting, hence the more utilitarian styling showcased by the X1 and its companions. Forget bright pinks and bold reds – black or white are the only finish options here.

The Cove X1, then, is not a particularly fun thing to look at, but considering that this is a speaker around the size of a small bread bin, it just about achieves its aim of fading into the background rather than drawing your attention like a fizzing sparkler atop a small cupcake.

At the top of the unit you’ll find a series of touch-capacitive controls, including volume, play/pause and Bluetooth pairing options, as well as a heart-shaped favourites icon for giving you quick access to a preferred playlist or range of soothing ambient sounds.

The small, subtle symbols do help to complement the deliberately understated aesthetic, but the lack of physical feedback does make for a less satisfying experience. Our test unit also lacks an auditory response straight out of the box, but you can adjust this by toggling on ‘Feedback Tone’ via the JBL One app.

Inside, the flagship Cove X1 houses a six-driver array, with 200 watts powering four 30mm tweeters – including one upfiring unit – alongside a pair of 9 x 12cm woofers to produce what JBL describes as an “ultra-wide sound with incredible detail” that, with the help of Constant Sound Field technology, “remains clear across the room”.

Encircling the entire speaker is a wraparound grille to facilitate that more omnidirectional sound, complemented by a smaller top-mounted grille under which sits one of the up-firing tweeters.

Features

The Cove range has been designed to be as user-friendly as possible, especially with regard to its multi-room capabilities, touting a flexible and expandable whole-home audio ecosystem powered by JBL's in-house platform and managed through the JBL One app.

In this regard, the X1 is a success. Our two review samples are easy to set up and get working, with both speakers requiring barely more than the push of a button to get hooked up to the wi-fi and grouped together in a stereo pair. Given how temperamental some wireless speakers (even five-star models from Sonos and Audio Pro) can be when it comes to connecting to the network and forming a cohesive pair or grouping, this is already a big plus.

You're not short on wireless streaming options. As well as being Roon Ready and offering Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity with standard SBC and AAC codecs, the Cove X1 grants support for AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect. Dolby Atmos spatial audio is also on the menu. Wired listening via USB, meanwhile, is only available to US buyers.

For hands-free voice control, Alexa Plus is baked into the X1 and, once you’ve linked the speaker to your Amazon account, ready and willing to do your bidding. Just be aware that Alexa is tied into its own limited ecosystem, so while you can request playback from services such as Amazon Music and Spotify – and ask the usual questions about the weather and the meaning of life – there’s no voice control for Tidal and Qobuz.

To help you get the most out of your multi-room system, JBL’s own 'Constant Sound Field' automatically tunes the speakers to their given environment, while 'AI Sound Boost' further aims to optimise performance based on where and how you listen.

Sound

Just as the Cove X1’s mature aesthetic is at odds with the usually-funky JBL recipe, so too does the new model’s sonic presentation deviate from the one with which we’ve become so accustomed from the likes of the Award-winning Xtreme 5, Charge 6 and Flip 7 Bluetooth portables.

Instead of trading on that musical, fun and expressive nature that has earned JBL a small truckload of Awards for its portable roster, the Cove X1 favours a more subdued sonic presentation, one that leans further into weighty robustness rather than fleet-footed joie de vie.

To an extent, such a presentation plays into the JBL’s hands, and thanks to its considerable power and its omnidirectional driver array, the Cove X1 has no problems filling our test rooms with its big, weighty sound. If you’ve got a reasonably large listening space and need something that will fill it without much fuss, the X1 could be a suitable candidate.

That room-filling sound is reasonably detailed, evidenced by the fullness it brings to the opening cascade of drums on Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter or the soft, rasping vocals of Lana Del Rey’s delivery on Born To Die. The levels of clarity we hear are equally acceptable, with few hints of cloudiness or muddiness acting as an impediment to our musical catalogue.

Sadly, the Cove X1’s surprisingly unexpressive personality robs our tracks of any attention-grabbing spark. The Cove X1 has a direct and upfront presentation, but so much of JBL’s signature punch and dynamism has been replaced by a sound that lacks the potency to set pulses racing or hearts aflame. Hans Zimmer’s Dune soundtrack has a weighty presence, yet the music’s soul sounds subdued by this oddly flat approach.

Dynamic swings don’t land with the intent that we crave, in part owing to the lack of precision that the Cove X1 exhibits whenever things get too technical. Rhythms don’t have the brisk agility that we seek, either, a deficiency that’s made all too clear when we find ourselves desperately willing Eminem’s propulsive The Way I Am to kick into gear.

What really surprises us is how unbalanced the Cove X1 can sound. Top-end notes often exhibit a hardness that distracts us from the rest of the frequencies, while complex arrangements don’t tie together as convincingly as they do when we switch to the Award-winning Sonos Era 300. The Era 300 may have a smaller sound, but there’s no question that it sounds more agile, cohesive and satisfying than its JBL contemporary.

We tinker with the in-app sound settings to see if we can inject more life into our sample speaker, but we realise that this is far more a quality issue than one stemming from unbalanced tonality.

The Era 300 completely outguns the Cove X1’s attempts at spatial audio, too. Ludwig Göransson’s Sirens from The Odyssey soundtrack soars when played through the Sonos, benefitting from an airy and atmospheric presentation that bewitches us as a Siren song should. The Cove X1, by contrast, falls flat, failing to grant the track the enthralling feeling of space and scale as conjured by the superb Sonos.

Verdict

It’s hard not to be disappointed by the JBL Cove X1. Given JBL’s success in the portable Bluetooth market and its propensity to produce products that are both fun to listen to and own, we thought that the X1 had everything it would take to make the likes of Sonos and Denon quake in their respective boots.

Sadly, the Cove X1 misses the mark. Its seamless ease of use and heavy feature set lay some very decent groundwork, but the speaker’s unconvincing sound means it fails to capitalise on what is a very solid foundation. For us, this feels like a major missed opportunity.

Review published: 16th October 2026

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Build 4
• Features 5

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It's officially official: Apple has finally announced the HomePod Mini 2.

We've had so many letdowns with regard to the new Mini, with Apple's recent September launch event omitting the brand's compact smart speaker from its rundown of high-profile announcements, but this time, the news is truly set in stone.

Perhaps the biggest change beneath the surface is the jump from the original model's S5 chip to a new S10 chip which, alongside "advanced computational audio", helps to "analyse music in real time to optimise dynamic range, loudness, and acoustic performance". Theoretically then, the second-gen model should sound better than its predecessor.

The new model should also be smarter than its predecessor thanks to that new chip and updated support for Apple Intelligence, allowing the Mini 2 to be integrated within Apple's 'Home' ecosystem and giving Siri AI voice assistant a smarter, more personable upgrade.

There's a small catch, however. Siri AI will be available via a future software update in major territories such as the US, Australia, Canada and the UK, so you're not getting the speaker's full capabilities straight out of the box. When it does arrive, you can opt in to a more bespoke Siri experience via the Apple Home app.

The Mini 2 can be used as a single speaker, in a stereo pair, or as part of a multi-room set-up. Users can even create a four-speaker surround sound system with Apple TV 4K (4th generation), wherein four HomePod Mini 2 speakers and the new Apple TV 4K recognise one another's position in the room and automatically calibrate to the resultant output to fit the given listening space.

The external form is much the same as before, with a design that's akin to a hockey ball with the upper section cut off and a touch panel placed on top. The difference this time around is 'Sound Glow', whereby the top of the Mini glows and pulses in sync with the music, while the song’s album artwork generates a "colour-matched light experience that’s unique to every song".

According to Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Home Product Marketing: “HomePod Mini 2 brings together Siri AI, gorgeous new colours, and incredible audio. With Siri AI, it understands you better than ever, drawing on personal context and broad world knowledge to make music discovery even richer."

The HomePod Mini 2 is available for pre-order in green, pink, blue, white or black finishes, priced at £149 / $149 / AU$229. That's a considerable price hike from the £99 / $99 / AU$149 RRP of the original Mini, so it's up to Apple to prove that its next-gen sequel is worth the extra cash.

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• Check out our best wireless speakers buying guide

No thanks, I'm cutting down on dairy. Oh, these are speakers are they? Shaped like milk cartons? Go on then.

These are the first Bluetooth speakers from Nothing's budget sub-brand CMF, and as you would expect, they are very affordable indeed. But we'll get to that in a minute.

They're certainly eye catching. The Speaker M (the larger one) and Speaker S (seen below) both come in white, dark grey, orange and turquoise, with swappable front panels and knobs. Both support standardised, 3D-printable custom designs, if you want to add a personal touch.

Both are built to be taken with you – the Speaker S has an "attachment point" for hooking on a strap or carabiner, while the M has a built-in handle.

The M is the more powerful of the two, boasting a 25W woofer and 10W tweeter with an output of 35W RMS across 60Hz-20kHz. This should mean "deeper bass, clearer highs and more separation for vocals and instruments" than the Speaker S's 45mm full-range driver and dual passive radiators, which deliver up to 10W RMS across 70Hz-20kHz.

Both speakers feature an Adaptive Tuning algorithm that continuously analyses playback and optimises the output and EQ in real time to make sure the sound remains balanced.

Or you can dive into the Nothing X app to pick from four equaliser presets (Balanced, More Bass, More Treble and Voice).

Ultra Bass mode adds even more low-end weight (though it's "controlled", CMF insists), while Wide Soundstage makes for a more open sonic landscape.

You can control Ultra Bass from a knob on the device itself, which also handles playback, track navigation and volume. There are also dedicated buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing and Auracast.

You can pair two of the same model to create a stereo sound, or use the Auracast-based Party Mode to sync up to 10 speakers, including those from other brands. (Portable speaker bigwig JBL uses the same tech.)

Both speakers have Bluetooth 6.0, and can pair quickly using NFC, Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair. They can connect to two devices at once so you don't need to re-pair every time you switch between them, and they can also connect over USB-C.

Speaker charging? It can wake automatically when a paired device reconnects to it, thanks to Auto Wake.

Battery life for both is a healthy 18 hours, which is two hours shy of the JBL Charge 6, our pick as best overall in our best Bluetooth speakers guide. And both CMF speakers are IP68 dust- and water-resistant, so will survive a dunk in up to 1.5 metres of water for up to 30 minutes.

They're both out today. The Speaker S is just £49 / $59 / €59 / AU$119 and the Speaker M £99 / $109 / €99 / AU$199. Which is very cheap indeed, though it all comes down to how they perform.

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Do you know the best thing about sales events such as Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day? Hitherto unseen deals.

We tested the JBL Xtreme 5 around its release date in May of this year, and we've barely seen a drop since that time. Then, Prime Day came along and, as we might have expected, gave us the first significant discount on a speaker we lauded as elevating the established Xtreme range to a whole new level.

Now the Xtreme 5 can be picked up for £279 at Amazon, a £50 discount on a speaker that launched at £330 in the summer. This deal won't last, though, so get a move on if you don't want to miss out.

Best Prime Day JBL Bluetooth speaker deal

It's still only been around for around six months, but Xtreme 5 has already gained a stellar reputation as a robust, rugged speaker with a clear, detailed and musical sound, all housed in a durable package and backed by more features than you can shake a sausage at.

An increase in power from its predecessor – the Xtreme 5 offers a claimed 130W when mains-powered and 90W when running off the built-in battery – is immediately obvious, bringing a greater sense of scale and size compared with the Xtreme 4.

Bass weight is impressive without overpowering the rest of the track, and JBL's speaker is so clear it makes the Xtreme 4 sound slightly hazy and cluttered in comparison.

As we wrote in our review: "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."

The Xtreme 5 is a tad chunkier than the fourth-gen model, but it comes with a carry strap that easily attaches to the floating loops. There are also light strips on the front that are perfect for parties, as is the built-in bottle opener.

Features-wise, you get Bluetooth 6 and Auracast, the latter of which allows you to connect multiple compatible speakers together. There's also lossless audio up to 24-bit/48kHz through a wired connection and Playtime Boost, which extends the battery life from 24 hours to 28 hours, albeit with a rather drastic impact on sound quality.

If you want one of the most powerful and best-sounding Bluetooth speakers around, the JBL Xtreme 5 is the speaker for you. It'll handle any outdoor gathering you throw at it, and a £51 saving at Amazon will almost certainly help you beat the impending winter blues.

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German tech brand Loewe has launched its latest Bluetooth speaker, the Leo, billed as a way of getting outstanding sonic performance in a premium portable design.

The Leo delivers 50 watts of total power and dual passive bass radiators, helping to ensure, says Loewe, that “compromising on acoustic fidelity is never a consequence of mobility”.

Adding to those mobile credentials are an IP67 water- and dust-proof certification, 12 hours of battery life, as well as a detachable leather carry-strap and a premium felt case. Auracast is on board, meaning you can connect the Neo to any number of other speakers capable of supporting the increasingly popular wireless sharing technology.

Externally, Loewe’s latest features built-in ambient lighting that can be adjusted manually using the on-unit light strip. The speaker uses a premium aluminium housing with interchangeable speaker grilles, meaning you can switch up your speaker’s look depending on your mood and desired aesthetic.

The speaker also houses top-mounted controls, including a power button, bass and treble boosters, and a light toggle.

The Neo is controllable via Loewe’s accompanying app, from which you can personalise the speaker’s on-unit lighting and tweak your sound via three sonic presets alongside individual bass and treble adjustments.

According to Aslan Khabliev, CEO of Loewe: “For decades, Loewe has been synonymous with design, innovation and individuality. Neo implements that philosophy out into the world, combining exceptional acoustic power, intelligent lighting, and unprecedented customisation in one beautifully crafted product.”

The Loewe Neo will be available for preorder from 20th November in Alu Silver, Alu Black or Champagne finishes, priced at £400 / €400, making it more expensive than the five-star JBL Xtreme 5 (£330 / €350). Note that the Champagne finish will run as a limited edition colourway.

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British audio brand Marshall has launched its latest party-ready Bluetooth speaker, the Bromley 150.

Acting as the newest and most portable addition to the brand’s party-focused speaker line-up, the new unit packs 200 watts of Class D amplification driving a four-driver array to produce “rich mids, detailed highs, and deep bass”.

Those drivers are backed by Marshall’s ‘Stereophonic 360 sound’ technology, which seeks to emulate the immersive feel of a live performance by creating a more omnidirectional sound that remains consistent at any angle.

The Bromley 150 carries the same design language as its 750 and Bromley 450 stablemates, with a mounted control panel accompanied by integrated stage lights which sit behind the grille and move in sync with your music.

The new speaker boasts more than 40 hours of playtime on a single charge, with a 20-minute charge granting 5 hours of playtime. An IP55 certification and a silicone cover offer protection against water and dust ingress, while a retractable carry handle further adds to the (reasonably) compact Bromley 150’s portable credentials.

Like its bigger brothers, the new speaker offers microphone and instrument inputs via its combined XLR/6.3mm jack, so you can use it for impromptu karaoke and jamming sessions alongside day-to-day listening. For pure audio inputs, a 3.5mm auxiliary port is available alongside USB-C.

According to Emma Rydahl, Marshall’s Senior Industrial Designer: “Bromley 150 delivers the same exceptional performance and craftsmanship as the Bromley 450 and 750 in a more compact form. By repositioning the control panel to the side while retaining the tactile controls users love, we’ve freed up the entire front panel for what matters most: powerful sound and immersive stage lighting.”

The Marshall Bromely 150 will be available for general sale on 13th of October in its ‘Black and Brass’ colourway, priced at £400. That’s a good chunk more than the Award-winning JBL Xtreme 5 (£330 / $400).

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What was the moral of The Boy Who Cried Wolf? Keep telling the same old tale and, eventually, people will stop believing you.

We've had so many false dawns with regard to the new HomePod Mini 2 that we were genuinely starting to believe that a sequel would never come. Apple's recent September launch event seemed like the perfect time for some new HomePods, but we had to settle for a folding iPhone and the AirPods 5 with ANC.

We know we've said it before, but this time it really does appear to be the case: Apple looks set to launch the HomePod Mini 2 at some point before the end of 2026. According to MacRumours, Apple has indeed been working on a new HomePod for several years, hence previous reports of iOS software updates including codenames referencing a number of unreleased products.

One of those codenames was 'B525', and as the current HomePod Mini has the code 'B520', that had strongly implied that a second-gen sequel was forthcoming. We all thought that Apple's recent launch event would be the time to do it, but a no-show on the HomePod front now appears to be a minor hiccup rather than a definitive sign that no new models would ever be forthcoming.

Now, the evidence is far more concrete than codes and call signs. According to MacRumours, Apple's own code shows clear product images of the new models in all of their colours, specifically referring to a "‌HomePod Mini‌ 2".

The new ‌HomePod Mini‌ will come in green, pink, blue, white and black finishes, a switch up from the current model's yellow, orange, blue, white and midnight offerings. Apple added a few colourways post-launch to the HomePod Mini, so it could expand the palette of the second-gen speaker later down the line.

Elsewhere, we're still at the point of broad speculation regarding upgrades, but we remain steadfast in our conviction that, thanks to a new chip, upgraded Apple Intelligence and improved Siri performance will be locked and loaded. We might potentially see improved microphones, enhanced audio, better codec support and, as pictures now showcase, those flashy new colourways.

Prices are yet to be leaked, but we're still hoping that Apple doesn't hike the price of the Mini's original £99 / $99 / AU$149 RRP for the sequel. Sadly, chip shortages are hitting audio manufacturers hard, so don't be too shocked if prices rise when the Mini 2 arrives.

We know we've said it before, but this time it really might be true: a HomePod Mini 2 could be just months, maybe weeks, away. Now, where's that HomePod 3 got to?

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Tribit has announced the launch of a new portable Bluetooth speaker, the StormBox Max, which the company says has been “designed to to deliver bigger, richer sound at home or on the go”.

The speaker packs 60W of total output power into its portable design, which measures 20.3 x 10.9 x 10.9 cm (hwd) and weighs 1.2kg.

Sound is delivered by a 30W woofer and four 7.5W silk-dome tweeters, which Tribit says create “powerful, room-filling audio”.

The StormBox Max supports Bluetooth 6.0 with a range of up to 45 metres for AAC and SBC codecs, as well as A2DP, AVRCP, HFP and HSP protocols.

Two speakers can be connected using TWS pairing for separate left and right stereo channels, while those looking to party can turn to the speaker’s Auracast function, which enables 100+ compatible speakers to be connected for synchronised audio on larger scales.

For “everyday versatility”, the speaker also supports hands-free calling.

Users seeking a more personalised listening experience have the option to “take control of sound”, using Tribit’s XBass 2.0, which features a ±5-step knob for adjustable bass. An additional EQ button makes switching between the company’s ‘Signature’ and ‘Outdoor’ sound modes simple, while further customisation is available through the Tribit App.

Battery life shouldn’t cut your listening short – the StormBox Max can provide up to 20 hours of playback, while using default EQ settings at 50 per cent volume.

The speaker charges via USB-C, with a full charge taking four hours. An automatic power-off function switches the speaker off after 15 minutes without an audio input.

The USB-C connection can also be used as a 5V/1A charging output, so you can refuel your devices on the go.

Tribit has taken outdoor listening into consideration, too, with an IP68 dust ingress and waterproof rating, which “makes [the speaker] ideally suited to outdoor adventures”.

The StormBox Max is now available for £100 / $130.

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Hisense has entered the competitive world of Bluetooth speakers with its new 'Boom' range of portable models.

Not to be confused with LG's Xboom line-up or Ultimate Ears' various portable speakers also suffixed by the word "Boom", Hisense's new line-up consists of three models – the FlexBoom, the WeBoom and the VoyageBoom – pitched across a range of sizes and use cases.

First up is the FlexBoom, conceived as a 'grab and go' speaker that packs 40 watts of power to deliver "crisp highs and punchy bass wherever you go".

If you want something bigger, the WeBoom is the step-up model, promising a "rich and powerful sound" from its 70 watts of power driving a pair of built-in dual subwoofers. Rounding off the trio is the VoyageBoom, a 180-watt speaker which packs twin tweeters, dual woofers and a subwoofer.

In terms of battery life, the portable FlexBoom delivers around 20 hours of playback at a time, with a 10-minute quick charge providing up to two hours of listening. The WeBoom and VoyageBoom each grant up to 24 hours of listening on a single charge, with both able to squeeze out an extra two hours of playtime via a 10-minute boost.

Users can connect two FlexBooms or VoyageBooms together to form a stereo pair, or broadcast any member of Hisense's new range to unlimited compatible speakers thanks to Auracast technology.

The WeBoom and VoyageBoom can also be used as a powerbank to charge your phone or tablet on the go, a feature we've seen used to great effect with the likes of the class-leading JBL Charge 6 and Xtreme 5 rivals.

All three members of the new Boom range are IP67 rated, meaning they should be resistant to dust ingress and submersion in water for around 30 minutes at a time. The WeBoom and VoyageBoom also feature on-unit lights which can be controlled via Hisense's ConnectLife app.

According to David Gold, Hisense's Chief Commercial Officer: “We've spent years building products that make movies, music, and shared moments better. With our new speakers, we're extending that experience with options designed for everything from everyday listening and weekends outside to hosting a house of friends."

The Hisense FlexBoom, WeBoom, and VoyageBoom are available now in the US, with UK availability expected soon. Current prices are as follows:

- FlexBoom: $120
- WeBoom: $200
- VoyageBoom: $300

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If you were to conjure up images that define rock’n’roll, then Marshall’s iconic amplifiers are right up there with Jack Daniels whiskey and Slash’s top hat.

The Marshall Kilburn III Bluetooth speaker straddles the line between the brand’s home and portable ranges: not too small, not too big; burly enough to look like one of its signature amps, yet portable enough to be moved around the house with its guitar-inspired carry strap.

Build & design

The Kilburn III’s retro styling has major shelf appeal. The textured vegan leather finish is tactile and feels robust, while the brass top panel with the dials, button controls and knurled power toggle is eye-catching.

The physical dials and red LEDs invite you to get up close and personal with the Kilburn III; you get instant gratification from seeing the volume and bass/treble levels when twiddling the dials, while pausing and skipping tracks using the ‘media jog’ is responsive in use.

We like how the battery bar is clear to see at a quick glance, and we have to stop ourselves from constantly toggling the power switch on and off as it’s so satisfyingly made. For build quality alone, the Kilburn III gets top marks, and we can see many being won over by its attractive design.

Next to its main rival in this field, the five-star burly JBL Xtreme 5 (£330 / $400), the Marshall does look smarter, if less rugged. The JBL’s IP68 rating points to its more outdoorsy nature, while the Marshall’s still-decent IP54 rating means it can withstand splashes of drinks and general dust and dirt – just don’t leave it out in a downpour.

The Kilburn III’s size means it will likely be used as a home speaker most of the time, but you can carry it from room to room and to the garden thanks to the red velvet-lined carry strap. It’s useful, although we wish it was just a little thicker and sturdier in hand to better accommodate the hefty weight of the speaker.

Features

Connecting to Bluetooth is swift and stable, and the accompanying Marshall app gives you access to a five-band EQ, with presets that you can customise. You can even save your favourite EQ profile to the ‘M’ button on the top panel, so you can access it with a single tap.

Bluetooth is restricted to the standard AAC and SBC codecs here, while Auracast sharing is supported. You can plug in a source such as an MP3 player into the speaker’s 3.5mm aux input, but that USB-C port is for charging only, not wired audio playback.

The Kilburn’s battery life is a whopping 50-plus hours (double that of its Xtreme 5 rival), and we barely made a dent in that during our two weeks of testing. You can also use the speaker’s bountiful reserves and USB-C port to charge up your smartphone, which is handy. Marshall even includes a USB-C to USB-C cable in the box, which is becoming increasingly rare in some major brands.

Operating the Marshall speaker is simple – it’s just Bluetooth, after all; no wi-fi or hi-res features to play with here – and the physical controls make it even more straightforward in use. One of the most useful things it has is the placement compensation feature in the app: it adjusts the sound balance depending on where you place the speaker, and there are multiple variables to choose from.

You can tell the app whether the speaker is placed up against the wall, in a corner, free-standing away from a wall, or if the front of the speaker is near the edge – all this is in service of compensating for any unruly boominess in the bass and how the sound reflects against its surrounding surface. This works well in every position we try in our test room, so it’s worth playing with the settings to get the best out of the Kilburn III in your home.

Sound

Inside the Kilburn III are two 5cm full-range speakers – one in the front and one in the back – and one 10cm woofer, along with a rear-firing bass reflex port. Altogether there’s 50W of Class D power on tap, and Marshall promises to deliver “true stereophonic” 360 sound with this stereo arrangement, with no “blind spots”.

And it does so rather well. While you will get the most direct sound from the front of the speaker, the tonal balance remains consistent as we move around it and listen off-axis – even from behind the speaker – with no discernible drop-off in the wide soundstage.

Marshall’s ‘dynamic loudness’ DSP also aims to keep the frequencies in check even when turning the volume up to 10 (sadly, the Kilburn III doesn’t go up to 11), and the speaker easily fills our test room with a bold, energetic sound.

The Kilburn III’s full-bodied presentation doesn’t ever try to be flat or neutral in any way; Marshall’s ‘signature’ sound veers towards the warmer and richer side of the sonic fence, and it’s a sound that is pleasingly easy to listen to. There’s a smoothness to the edges that means things don’t get wince-inducing at the top end when you inevitably turn it up to party levels.

It’s also quite a substantial, meaty sound across the frequencies. This lends satisfying muscle and slam to the distorted guitar riffs in Deftones’ Change (In The House Of Flies), while the dynamic swings and grand, sweeping movements of a Hans Zimmer soundtrack have a good sense of physicality to them.

On the flip side, it means that the leading edges of notes aren’t as crisply drawn as we’d like. There’s a good amount of detail to sink your teeth into, but we wouldn’t mind if the richness was dialled down a little here.

It’s perhaps no surprise that the Kilburn III’s bass-prominent, hard-charging character suits certain genres more than others, with more delicate fare such as The Unthanks’ traditional folk songs or sparse piano pieces needing greater nuance and refinement.

But the Marshall isn’t so blunt an instrument that you can’t listen to some Joni Mitchell through it. Voices can be a little recessed when in the mix with other instruments, but they sound solid and are projected well enough when listening to solo tracks. Joni’s voice on the Blue album comes through with a sweetness and fluidity that’s appealing to listen to, even if the Kilburn III adds some extra fat to the bones.

Feed it the iconic riffs of AC/DC, the obnoxious nu-metal of Limp Bizkit, or the raucous tones of Fontaines DC, and the Marshall speaker is at its happiest. We tone down the bass level a touch and push the mids up in the EQ settings to get the voices more prominent in the mix – just be careful not to upset the rest of the balance too much – but the personality of each distinct band comes through with plenty of punch.

The JBL Xtreme 5 rival remains the one to beat here, and it delivers a clearer, more rhythmically organised sound, with crisper edges and that bit more subtlety. But there’s enough pep, snap and dynamic punch in the Marshall’s lively sound that keeps us listening. Yes, it’s a chunky, flavoured sound, but it doesn’t stop our foot from tapping along to the music whether we play James Blake, Lambrini Girls or Metallica.

Verdict

Like an enthusiastic puppy with a mohawk, the Marshall Kilburn III is an eager, attention-grabbing performer, and while we imagine its sonic flavour won’t be for everyone, a more poised sound would perhaps be out of character with its rock’n’roll heritage.

JBL’s capable rival offers a more balanced and precise sound while still retaining high energy, but we can imagine many being swayed by the Marshall Kilburn III’s visual charms, its tactile physical controls and that rich, room-filling sound.

Review published: 16th September 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Features 4

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IKEA makes quite a few of its own Bluetooth speakers, and it has just launched another in the shape of the distinctively named Badkruka.

The famed Swedish furniture manufacturer already boasts a host of Bluetooth models in its current speaker arsenal, with the super-cheap ‘Kallsup’ model setting you back a paltry £5. You could buy a plate of meatballs for less than that.

The new Badkruka is larger and a little more premium than the dinky Kallsup, sporting a rather no-frills cuboid form made from plastic and polycarbonate.

Designed for home rather than portable use, the new speaker houses a range of top-mounted physical control buttons, including a Spotify Tap toggle for faster access to your Spotify streaming library. As well as standard Bluetooth, you also get an optical input alongside a 3.5mm auxiliary port. Nice.

Inside, the Badkruka packs 25 watts of total power feeding a single tweeter alongside a complementary woofer to produce what IKEA describes as a “clear, powerful sound” that “meets everyday needs at home”.

You can connect two speakers together to create a stereo pair, or use multi-speaker mode if you want to have a string of Badkrukas tethered together for a more immersive, room-filling audio experience.

The word ‘Badkruka’ in Swedish means someone averse to bathing outdoors (literally a “bath-coward”), so we’re assuming that IKEA’s speaker of the same name doesn’t particularly enjoy being taken for a dip. Best to keep it inside, then.

The IKEA Badkruka Bluetooth speaker is available now in pink or black finishes, priced at €50 / $60. We haven’t seen the Badkruka listed on IKEA’s UK site yet, but we imagine that it will sit at around the £40-50 mark when the time comes.

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LG has announced UK availability and pricing for its 2026 xboom speaker range, which was first unveiled at CES 2026.

The xboom Series takes aim at competitors like JBL, Bose and Sony, with an expansive selection of Bluetooth speakers, spanning from compact outdoor portables to room-filling “party speakers”. LG says that all speakers in the series have been tuned by former Black Eyed Peas member, will.i.am.

UK availability and pricing is as follows:

LG xboom Mini: a compact, ultra-portable speaker with an IP67 water and dust resistance rating. Available now for £40 / $70.

LG xboom Rock: an ultra durable, pocket-sized speaker encased in a shock-resistant, IP67 water-and-dust-proof chassis. Available now for £60 / $80.

LG xboom Blast: a plus-sized speaker which LG claims is “built for long adventures”. With 35 hours of playback, 220 watts of power, four drive units and three passive radiators, LG promises that the xboom Blast will deliver an "expansive soundscape” in any environment. Available now for £450 / $500.

LG xboom Stage 501: a “party ready” speaker, offering up to 25 hours of playback and 220 watts of power for “a bold, room-filling sound” from a five-sided cabinet. Available now for £500 / $500.

Aside from the speakers already released, LG says that the range-topping LG xboom Power 5000 and LG xboom Power 9000 speakers are also set to become available at the start of October, with pricing to be confirmed ahead of release.

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“We know the home, we know audio, we know music” – we speak to Sonos about its operating system rebrand, its "customer-led" focus and app updates

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“We know the home, we know audio, we know music” – those are the particularly bullish words of Sonos's vice president of software, Sid Patel, whom we recently spoke to about Sonos’s new operating system rebrand (we were also given the lowdown on its new Ace Ultra headphones and Beam Ultra soundbar).

In case you’re catching up, last week the company announced Sonos 27, a new overarching name for the company’s audio operating system which covers the entire Sonos ecosystem. It’s promising better integration between Sonos products and various ways to control them, but without completely excluding other brands.

The company plans to update it annually, just like Apple’s iOS, so we’ll see Sonos 28, 29, etc.

But getting back to the quote, we wouldn’t be surprised if those words might have raised an eyebrow or two among current or ex-Sonos customers, especially given the brand’s tricky timeline over the past couple of years.

The last tweaks to its operating system didn’t go down too well. An ill-fated Sonos app update back in 2024 resulted in what was once a robust, rock-solid and intuitive way of interacting with Sonos products turning into a bit of a mess. Not only was it affected by bugs and glitches, but key features were omitted, much to the disdain of numerous Sonos customers.

Such was the fallout from this event that the then Sonos CEO Patrick Spence was forced to step down eight months later, in January 2025. At the time, the Sonos board even went as far as to say it would not take a bonus "unless the company succeeds in improving the quality of the app experience and rebuilding customer trust".

Despite this botched app release happening more than two years ago, it’s probably fair to say there are still many existing and potential Sonos customers who are still sitting on the fence and requiring a bit more reassurance from the brand.

Of course, the proof will be in the experience. If Sonos does what it’s promising and there aren’t any hiccups with either its new software or hardware, then it might be back in the good books of those disappointed by its recent efforts.

But what do you think? Have you been convinced by the statements coming from Sonos?

If you were disappointed by app-gate, have you been convinced to come back into the fold, or are you happy to watch from the sidelines to see what happens before you commit to any new products? Sonos has many music and movie fans in its midst and surely won’t make the same mistake twice?

Let us know by voting in our poll above and commenting below. We’re interested to hear your thoughts!

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Onkyo has announced a trio of new wireless speakers: the GX-AiO 50, the GX-AiO 100, and the GX-AiO 150.

An expansion of Onyko's desktop-friendly 'Creator' range, the three one-box speakers are designed to bring extensive connectivity and versatility to three varying sizes and form factors.

The GX-AiO 50 is the smallest in the range, the GX-AiO 100 sits in the middle, while the GX-AiO 150 is the largest, most premium option.

All three boast a 2.1-channel acoustic architecture which combines dual main drivers with a built-in, independently amplified subwoofer. All three use Class D amplification and Onkyo's own digital signal processing to minimise noise and distortion, resulting in "clear detail" and "deep, dynamic bass".

Physical connections include HDMI ARC alongside a USB-C and optical input, plus a switchable phono input if you want to hook up a turntable. For wireless listening, Bluetooth 5.3 is also available.

Three listening modes are accessible across the range. Eco Mode provides more precise low-volume control for nighttime listening and smaller spaces, whereas Standard Mode is designed for everyday listening. Max Mode, meanwhile, puts each system at its highest output for when you want to get the party started.

Plus, if you want to go even louder, you can connect any GX-AiO system into a stereo pair.

While they come in different sizes and clock in at different price points, all three systems follow a similar design language whereby a central control dial is flanked by two main drive units.

Integrated LED lighting around the control dial and the subwoofer slits has also been added "to create a warm ambient glow without overwhelming the room".

According to Vinny Bonacorsi, Onkyo's Chief Operating Officer: "The new Creator AiO series delivers what today’s younger music lovers want: compact size, simplicity, connectivity and affordability, paired with timeless industrial design. This series represents another bold step forward in Onkyo’s evolution, bringing our passion for music to a new generation.”

The Onkyo Creator GX-AiO series will be available this autumn in a choice of black or white finishes. Prices are as follows:

- GX-AiO 50: $399
- GX-AiO 100: $499
- GX-AiO 150: $599

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Well this is something we haven’t seen from a Bluetooth speaker before: a design that mimics a kettlebell. And from turntable brand Lenco, too. Quite a departure.

The Orbita-360 isn’t aimed specifically at fitness fans, and it doesn’t weigh too much, so we wouldn’t start using it for kettlebell swings. But it is waterproof, so can be used outside, and it fires out sound in 360 degrees.

Inside is a 2.1-channel audio system comprising a 4-inch subwoofer, four full-range drivers and dual passive radiators, delivering 60W RMS (120W maximum). It promises “rich, room-filling audio with impressive bass and clarity.” And because its sound is projected evenly in 360 degrees, everyone in the surroundings should enjoy the same listening experience, no sweet spot required.

It supports Auracast, and so can pair with other compatible speakers to create more immersive wireless sound. And it’s rated IPX6 waterproof, so is protected against “strong water jets” – in other words, it’s safe to use by pools or fountains, and will happily withstand the inevitable downpour during your picnic.

The battery is good for 13 hours of use (that’s one hour less than the Award-winning JBL Flip 7). And it has nine lighting effects (including continuous and beat-synchronised modes) from its built-in LEDs, for adding a bit of razzle-dazzle to your gatherings.

But really it’s the design that sets it apart, of course. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen before, though the materials are more traditional – there’s an aluminium carry handle and a fabric finish (similar to those seen on the Amazon Echo range). The colour choices are also quite vanilla: Diamond Black or Lunar Grey.

Lenco is better known for its affordable turntables, such as the L-85. It has made speakers before, though its current range consists of the kind of hideous karaoke speakers that usually signal that a night out has gone awry.

The Orbita-360 is out now for £230 (around $300 / AU$440).

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JBL has dominated the portable Bluetooth speaker market with its Go, Flip, Charge and Xtreme models, and now it is turning its attention to the wireless multi-room speaker category with the new JBL Cove range.

The Cove range is designed to bring "superior JBL sound to every room", touting a flexible and expandable whole-home audio ecosystem powered by JBL's in-house platform and managed via the JBL One app.

The new series consists of three models available at launch: the compact Cove M1, the battery-powered Cove P1, and the flagship, six-driver-toting Cove X1. Each speaker can be used in its own right, as a stereo pair, or as part of a multi-room setup.

The smaller Cove M1 houses a trio of tweeters alongside a single woofer, while the Cove P1 packs four tweeters and a single woofer. The flagship Cove X1, meanwhile, also houses a quad tweeter array, complemented by a pair of woofers.

Both the Cove X1 and Cove P1 support Dolby Atmos, with the battery-powered Cove P1 boasting 14 hours of playtime on a single charge and an IP56 certification for protection against dust and water.

To help you get the most out of your multi-room system, JBL’s own 'Constant Sound Field' automatically tunes the speakers to their given environment, while 'AI Sound Boost' further aims to optimise performance based on where and how you listen.

You're not short on wireless connectivity, either. Alongside standard Bluetooth, wi-fi access grants support for AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and Qobuz Connect, and all members of the new Cove family are Roon Ready. Spotify Tap provides quick access to Spotify, while built-in Alexa Plus voice control is also available.

The Cove M1 and P1 will also connect with JBL's Bar Series MK2 soundbars (which include the Bar 300MK2 and Bar 1000MK2), and you can use a pair of these Cove speakers as rear surrounds for a home cinema setup. This feature isn't available for the larger Cove X1 model.

According to Carsten Olesen, President of Consumer Audio at Harman: "JBL Cove marks an important step in our ambition to become a leading force in home audio, combining powerful JBL Legendary Sound with the simplicity, flexibility and outstanding value that will help even more people discover how simple it is to have great sound throughout the home.”

Each member of the JBL Cove range will be available in white or black finishes from October 2026. The JBL Cove M1 is priced at £200 / €230 / $230 / AU$299.95, the Cove P1 at £400 / €450 / $400 / AU$599.95, and the Cove X1 at £430 / €500 / $450 / AU$649.95.

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Stereo wireless streaming speakers from Yamaha: two boxes, but the simplicity of an all-in-one system. There's no extended system required, because the speakers contain both amplification and a streaming system (here Yamaha’s MusicCast), so that as a minimum you could just place the speakers, cable them up and start enjoying your hi-fi – with high‑fidelity streaming on offer, an HDMI TV connection, and control from a well-established multiroom-capable app.

And these are most definitely hi-fi, with several of the compromises more generally involved with all-in-one systems going out of the window. There's no lack of stereo separation here, nor any questions over whether a particular manufacturer is able to excel across the hi-fi chain: Yamaha’s MusicCast streaming is well-established, the company makes award-winning amplifiers and AV receivers, and it also has a strong record in loudspeakers going back to the 1950s.

And as musical instrument makers, the Japanese company might even claim a unique insight into the sounds which form our music in the first place.

We were delighted to have the new NX-70A speakers in for review in Sydney, as they were first revealed to the world here in Australia, at the Sydney Hi-Fi Show back in May. Euro-Yamaha had hoped to hold their reveal for the recent High End Vienna, so in Sydney they were slightly anonymised, their product cards redacted, our reportage restricted!

Now at last we can tell all, and listen in earnest, to see how these streaming active speakers neatly straddle the convenience of an all-in-one system with the sonic strengths of genuine stereo hi-fi.

Build & drivers

The Yamaha NX-70A speakers are substantial standmounters, available in black or white, and unusually shaped, with fairly subtle rounded curves and a top plate which rises to be higher at the back (335mm) than the front (315mm). Either side of the rear back spine, a selection of inputs sits among a back plate of lovely shining copper-coloured metal.

The speakers port fairly traditionally to the rear but the cabinets also have grille openings to the rear with more copper-accenting, and most unusually in a curved strip on the top. These we presume to be for passive cooling of the internal electronics: thermal management rather than acoustic design.

Perhaps unusually, that top plate doesn’t have any control buttons, such as a local volume control; it’s clean aside from the grilles at the back, Yamaha’s ‘tuning fork’ logo at the front, and four structural fasteners which secure the top plate to the main cabinet of MDF, enhanced to mitigate vibration, with the front baffle reinforced with a 25mm panel (designed, we’re told, using a laser Doppler Vibrometer). The very front panel layer is an ABS plate, shaped to incorporate a new tweeter waveguide. All this is beautifully integrated, kept clean and attractive up front, with the cool tech stuff going on mainly at the back.

One feature easily overlooked is a small white light and a text display in the black section at the bottom of the left speaker; the display shows the input or song information and other messages. The right speaker has just the white light. The text display might be useful if you’re up close in a desktop situation, but it’s too small (for our old eyes) at a normal listening distance. If you find it intrusive you can set the dimming options to zero, though even this is not quite ‘off’, but then this text panel sometimes shows error messages (e.g. ‘Version Error’ during a firmware update), which might be useful to see.

You get a rather nice half-size remote control included, with a copper-ringed central circle. A set of optional stands is available (A$799.99 in Australia), in the same black and white colour choices as the speakers.

The pricing of the NX-70A ranges them as obvious competitors to, among others, KEF’s established wireless speaker range, and specifically the KEF LS50 Wireless II. But the Yamaha aesthetic is very different, partly by virtue of using separate 30mm tweeters and 13cm woofers (compared with KEF’s single coaxial driver) and also by going for a taller, more conventional if quirky look, compared with the fat curves of the KEFs, which look rather as if inflated to the point of bursting.

Both drivers in the NX-70A use the same material blend, described by Yamaha as their ‘Harmonious Diaphragm’, as used also in the company’s highest hi-fi speakers. This combines wood fibre from spruce (which Yamaha notes is used in its grand piano soundboards) with the synthetic polymer Zylon, a material to which Yamaha switched after its period favouring beryllium, which is an excellent lightweight alkaline earth metal, but sadly a highly toxic one to work with.

By contrast Zylon is more easily manipulated, yet an extremely strong polymer claimed to have an acoustic velocity comparable to beryllium and a tensile strength 1.6 times higher than Kevlar. Its versatility for use in tweeters as well as woofers provides the possibility of a tonally-matched sound across the full frequency range.

Each driver has its own dedicated amplification module (so an active system, rather than merely powered). Yamaha claims to have taken great efforts to optimise these relationships, announcing a new arrangement called Synergistic Drive: “an innovative unified circuit design,” says the literature.

“By connecting the speaker unit directly to the amplifier circuit, the system precisely manages electric current flow, minimising distortion that is fundamentally rooted in conventional amplifier and speaker interactions.”

You might this would be something which could apply to any active design, yet it implies a technology “unique to Yamaha”. Further investigation reveals the use of current feedback around individual drivers, detecting distortion as variations in electrical current and aiming to reduce it in real time. This reduces the negative effects of distortion caused by Eddy currents, says Yamaha, and specifically addresses third harmonic distortion. It reminds us of the feedback in Yamaha’s YST subwoofers.

So Synergistic Drive is Yamaha’s particular take on active speaker design, raised to higher hi-fi levels of priority than on Yamaha’s smaller active speakers and soundbars.

Room correction is another thing possible by having processing, amps and speakers all in one package. Yamaha not only here includes its YPAO (Yamaha Parametric room Acoustic Optimiser) straight out of its AV receivers of renown, but also provides a bundled microphone for the purpose, rather than the common practice of leaving such crucial measurements instead to the vagaries of a smartphone microphone.

Ins, outs, and apps

Physical inputs are fairly limited, which is typical of the smart speaker breed: that back panel hosts one minijack analogue input, one optical digital input, a USB-A slot, and one HDMI eARC/ARC input with CEC.

This last plays back audio from whichever HDMI socket on your TV is marked for HDMI ARC, and makes these speakers ideal for flanking your TV to provide sound for all your entertainment, not merely music. We have no hesitation in recommending the solution of stereo speakers either side of your TV rather than a soundbar in front of it.

Additional socketry provides a subwoofer output, so you can add depth if you need it (only in a larger room, we’d say), and an Ethernet socket if you can give the NX-70A a wired network connection; otherwise MusicCast will help make the Wi-Fi link to your network. This MusicCast app controls everything from input selection to streaming and even multiroom sharing between rooms.

The left and right speakers can connect to each other wirelessly, so there’s no need to run a cable between them. But you can choose to do so using the very coily Ethernet-style cable provided, length three metres, so still allowing good separation between the two boxes. Using the cable provides stability in a busy Wi-Fi environment, and also allows a higher digital connection rate which actually doubles the highest frequencies these speakers can deliver: they go up to 35kHz (-10dB) when using a wired connection, only 21kHz (-10dB) when using Wi-Fi. From this we assumed (and Yamaha confirmed) the wireless connection to use a 48kHz sampling rate with the cable raising this to 96kHz, both at 24-bit.

There is Bluetooth available for direct streaming, but we note its codecs are limited to the lower SBC and AAC codecs, so MusicCast here can provide preferable and higher-quality ways to stream. This is also true of AirPlay 2 streaming, currently limited (by Apple, not Yamaha) to the AAC codec at 256k, even though it’s capable of far more.

You can get higher quality using Tidal or Spotify via their Connect versions, which means just using the service’s native app as the controller, and directing the music to flow straight from the internet to the speakers at whatever quality you’re paying for.

There’s also Google Cast here, good from Android phones and devices.

But if you store music actually on your device, the most reliable way to play is the tab for ‘This iPhone’ (or whatever) at the top of the MusicCast app’s interface. This seems to send the file at full quality, most likely via some UPnP/DLNA in the background. We hear the difference in our listening notes.

Yamaha MusicCast also allows multi-room playback, combining ‘rooms’ within the app so that any MusicCast device can share its inputs with any other MusicCast devices in the home. Given Yamaha’s MusicCast ecosystem of products runs from small wireless speakers to hulking AV receivers, this is potentially a powerful method of home unification.

The NX-70A speakers are also Roon Ready, if you have invested in this music organisation software.

Also under fingertip control in the MusicCast app there is internet radio, a Podcast section, and ‘Server’ access, which instantly found various file shares on our home network, through which we could then navigate through folder structure or artist/album lists slightly laboriously (no permanent library is created). Files loaded via USB are accessed in a similar way.

All these will benefit from the DAC implementation here, using an 8-channel 32-bit ESS DAC, the ES9017S. We were told that “3× channels of differential output are combined and then sent to the tweeter and another 3× to the woofer, creating a more precise representation of the original signal with wider dynamic range and lower noise levels as it’s combining 3× versions of the conversion to capture more detail.” (We’re just gagging to ask ‘so why not 4×?’ but we’ll let it lie.)

Many ways to play, then: let’s fire them up.

Listening sessions

Set-up proved fairly simple whether or not the stands were attached for use in the music room, or simply sat on a firm surface either side of the TV as we used them later with HDMI; for such surfaces they have pre-attached silicone feet. We gave them the Ethernet-style cable connection between the speakers to ensure we heard them at their best.

We also gave them a wired Ethernet connection to our network, and this cable was coming from the right, a bit strained to reach the left speaker which has all the inputs. The speakers are very clearly labelled as to left and right, arriving with huge cardboard covers telling you so, but the first thing we did once inside the MusicCast app was to check if we could switch left speaker with right. And yes we could, so we were able to restore cable neatness, hoorah. (We later found a button on the back which can do the same thing.)

Since our environment already has MusicCast elements in residence, adding the NX-70A was just a case of selecting ‘add device’ then scrolling down a very long list, which shows how many MusicCast-enabled products Yamaha has released. When you get all the way to the NX-70A, it’s not there! An enquiry to the local Yamaha team revealed that Yamaha puts new products at the top, above ‘A’, but doesn’t think also to include them in the right place. This oversight aside, we had the NX-70A connected pretty much instantly, and checked for a firmware update.

We ran background internet radio and AirPlay 2 streams from an iPhone for a good week just to have the speakers soaking through, as it were. This was when we discovered that playing music stored on our phone via AirPlay 2 sounded radically different to playing the same files via the ‘My iPhone’ tab of MusicCast. It’s a great demonstration of what such transmission does to your files. Playing the beginning of Kate Bush’s Aerial Tal via ‘My iPhone’ at 16/44.1, the vocal had a quicksilver edge while the gentle piano beneath was richly toned across the soundstage from left to right; we could hear the pedal being lifted. All that was just gone when playing via AirPlay: softer, blander, less in the way of life and dynamics.

Spotify and Tidal users can do better; selecting these services within MusicCast simply opens the native app and you choose the Yamahas as the target. Because MusicCast has already allocated these to become a ‘Room’, it is this ‘Room’ you’ll see as the target, rather than the Yamahas themselves. This can be confusing, especially if you have two streaming devices in the same room. If you want to see ‘Yamaha NX-70A’ as the target for streaming services, then just name the MusicCast room as ‘Yamaha NX-70A’.

If you want Apple Music at better quality, currently we could only suggest the extended workaround of having an AppleTV 4K playing Apple Music into your TV, and then out via HDMI into the Yamahas.

The ‘Server’ option within the MusicCast app looks for files on your network. We have assorted old NAS drives humming away around the home and MusicCast found them all. Not all such platforms do so.

Even more conveniently we attached an old WD powered hard drive to the USB-A slot, and could thereby play our collection of high-res albums through the Yamahas.

And playing from this USB drive we really found what a high level of hi-fi performance the NX-70As could achieve. The guitar on Audio Alchemy’s Marrakesh at 24-bit/96kHz sounded delightfully clear and clicky-edged, while the bass sounded not so much as if it was emanating from the two speakers but more as if a small bass guitar cabinet was somewhere in the middle of them, so like the real thing was the bass fullness and tone. There’s a double-time section in the middle of this track which showed also the system’s speed, keeping up with the gaps in the machine-gun bass notes: individually punchy, no blur. We used this section to find our ideal speaker positioning, which in our room locked the bass into the best combo of tightness and depth with the ports 22cm out from the rear wall, close enough to suit general use with TVs as well as making stereo lounge use convenient. Nor does their treble fade excessively off-axis, though keep the tweeters at ear height to enjoy best imaging.

There was an almost alarmingly real delivery of the percussion that somehow sits in 3D among Chick Corea’s piano and ensemble on his Australia Concerto No. 2; this wildly dynamic piece burst unrestrained from the Yamahas with all its impressive imaging and ping-pong bursts of sound intact – exactly the kind of spread that would be lost on a smaller all-in-one system or speaker. The Yamahas bring all the hi-fi qualities of proper speakers, without compromise from stuffing electronics inside, we’d say, and quite possibly benefitting from all that Synergistic Drive! With the Chick Corea they sounded simultaneously musical and clinical, laying out the soundstage with both width and depth, everything in its place to make this whole popping piece stand forth in a three-dimensional presentation, among which we could still hear the wide ringing roll-off of a China boy cymbal, or the gaps between separate rolls of the brushes on the snare, the richness of orchestration around Corea’s marvellously close-miked piano (home territory for the Yamahas) which brought this piece to life. They did the same with a super-crisp delivery of Herbie Hancock’s Cantaloupe Island and its still more extreme ping-pong elements; during the piano solo the left channel was silent like a hole in the Matrix.

They can certainly rock, as proven by their smashing out of Yes’ studio version of Heart Of The Sunrise (24/96) with thrillingly tight and real drums to the fore. Alan Parsons came through as DSD 2.8MHz files no problem (it’s good to quad-DSD), all our FLAC and WAV tests played fine (up to 384kHz), and the speakers absolutely excelled when blasting out The Eagles’ Life In The Fast Line at 24-bit/192kHz, again spreading the panned guitars wide while pumping out a bass that was tight and full. They go loud with glee.

YPAO Volume & YPAO Room Calibration

We were by now preferring not to engage the YPAO Volume option (as opposed to the room calibration, see below). This YPAO Volume slider (under the MusicCast app’s sound settings) had been on by default as a kind of loudness EQ “to hear balanced low, mid and high frequencies clearly at all levels”. It may be useful at lower levels, but for anything higher it often seemed to have a mildly deleterious effect when playing at a decent volume; on the Eagles specifically it had softened the bass pedal, taking realism out of the rhythm section, while mildly veiling the wonderful airiness up top that the Yamahas were otherwise delivering.

Happily you can toggle this YPAO Volume on and off easily at the top of the sound settings panels, so it’s easy to try for yourself, and develop a preference.

YPAO room calibration, though, is a different thing, combining a parametric EQ with what Yamaha calls RSC (Reflected Sound Control). Kudos to Yamaha for including a proper puck microphone with the NX-70As, rather than relying on phone speakers to achieve what is an extremely complicated job, attempting to measure room characteristics and then adjust the speaker EQ accordingly.

To do this, you construct the little cardboard stand for the puck, then attempt to balance it where your head might be for listening; you certainly won’t be limited by the length of the cable attached to the puck microphone, as this is long enough to wrap twice around the Moon and back. (Recoiling the YPAO microphone cable to fit back in the plastic bag is the key challenge facing reviewers when returning any so-equipped Yamaha review item.)

With the puck in place, you set the measurements off, and it’s very quick – slightly longer if you’ve attached a subwoofer. Two hisses, two whoops and it’s over. Accept the scan, and you can then toggle YPAO on and off to see if you like the results.

It seemed accurate, identifying and correcting a bass dip which we know to exist in our lounge room, pleasingly less critical of our music room’s response. We tried using the correction in the lounge: sometimes it seemed to clarify the upper bass, sometimes it seemed to mask the clarity of things, like Diana Krall’s vocal on Here Lies Love, softened back significantly, the spread and openness of the mids and highs also crushed, and everything slightly monofied. Of course that’s just us, in our room. Again it’s free to try, so try it.

Meanwhile there are plenty of other tone controls inside the MusicCast settings (with sophisticated Finite Impulse Response EQ filtering, we gather), so plenty more to play with. The app also links to a separate IP browser interface for network tweaks.

They worked well as HDMI TV speakers (or optical if no HDMI ARC); indeed the speakers proved ideal for movie sound, with dynamics and spread and especially dialogue clarity all in a league which no soundbar would match. (Yamaha also kindly adds a dialogue enhancer slider in the app settings, should it be required.) There’s apparently no attempt to respond to Atmos soundtracks with virtual processing; thank heavens for that. Stereo clarity is invariably to be preferred.

We almost forgot to mention the remote control. We had quickly became accustomed to using the MusicCast app for everything, especially as this app is not like some others which disappear or disconnect when momentarily not in use; the MusicCast app returns to being fully active as soon as selected. However, the physical remote can be very handy for quick actions, especially when the phone rings, and feels just that bit more sophisticated in the hand, especially when enjoying just a music session, screen off.

Verdict

Any final issues, however minor? We have to say no. The NX-70A speakers were easy to set-up, easy to address using an established and powerful app, and they sounded great. We even liked the clever packaging.

For their best sonic results just find the purest path to playback (keep Bluetooth and AirPlay for convenience use only), and get banging out your tunes. The Yamahas do not sound in the least bit processed or woofed up in the bass like so very many all-in-one systems, and especially the smaller wireless speakers. These are genuine hi-fi speakers, made active, wireless, and streaming.

Yes, at the price, you might attempt to build a separates system which combines a great streamer with a great amp and great speakers; you would potentially gain flexibility of replacement and repair/replacement. But you would lose all the convenience, the minimising of component count, and we don’t think you’d get a much better sound either. Yamaha is experienced in streaming, in amplification, and in loudspeakers. They’ve done top work in bringing all that together so effectively, so synergistically, in the NX-70A.

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

Our six-year wait for a new HomePod Mini might finally be coming to an end.

According to multiple online sources, including MacRumours and 9to5mac, Apple has been working on a major overhaul of its Home lineup: one that will not only include entirely new product lines, but the return of some of its most popular smart speakers.

That includes, at long last, a sequel to 2020's five-star HomePod Mini.

According to MacRumors, the firm's newly released macOS 26.7 release candidate beta software includes codenames referencing a number of unreleased products. One of those codenames was 'B525', and as the current HomePod Mini has the code 'B520', this would imply a second-gen sequel to the five-star smart speaker.

We also have references to 'HomeAccessory17,2' and 'HomeAccessory17,3', but it isn't currently known what these might be. As they are listed as a pair, it seems unlikely that either one refers to the HomePod 3, so they could be anything from home security cameras to smart doorbells.

Don't despair, HomePod 2 fans. According to 9to5mac, Apple is set to unveil a whopping 10 products during its September launch event, with two of those new products including the HomePod Mini 2 and, thankfully, a sequel to the HomePod 2.

Evidence for the third-gen mainline HomePod does seem a little sketchier, but it would make sense for Apple to update both of its established smart speakers at the same time. Apple has already lifted the lid on its AirPods with a camera via a leaked video, so it does seem that major launches are to arrive next month.

Apple has reportedly been delaying potential unveilings until it has its new Siri and Apple Intelligence features working, so it would make sense that both HomePods are ready to go, pending those improvements to Apple's own AI systems.

We've speculated before that, aside from upgraded Apple Intelligence for improved Siri performance, we might potentially see improved microphones, enhanced audio, better codec support and even some new colourways if one or more HomePods are set to arrive in 2026.

Prices are yet to be leaked, but hope springs eternal that Apple doesn't hike the price of the Mini's original £99 / $99 / AU$149 RRP for the second-gen sequel.

As for a concrete release date, all eyes now turn to Apple's September showcase event, which is expected to happen on the 9th of September.

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If you’ve been eyeing up a convenient, streaming-centric wireless speaker system to blast tunes in your home, Samsung is unlikely to be the first brand you think of. After all, there are established brands and products from the likes of Sonos, KEF’s excellent wireless speaker systems such as the LSX LT II or even wallet-friendly alternatives such as the WiiM Sound. Allow the Samsung Music Studio 7 to make its case for a spot in your home.

And now it’s possible to place one, two or more in your home thanks to a AU$300 discount at Samsung direct as part of its 48-hour-only Secret Sale. This isn’t the first Samsung Secret Sale to ever exist, and in previous examples there have been huge savings on TVs and soundbars (some of which are also available this time around), but it is the first time I’ve seen the new speaker model on sale. If you’re a hi-fi fan on a budget and are looking for a simple, convenient and fuss-free speaker, the Music Studio 7 could be the one.

The Music Studio 7 launched in April this year, alongside the Music Studio 5, after an official unveiling at CES 2026. Samsung hasn’t had a huge stake in the wireless speaker market, it must be said, other than with its slightly disappointing Music Frame. But you can bet we were still keen to see and hear if and how the company could improve upon that previous effort.

Well, my colleague Jez Ford has recently published his Australian review of the Music Studio 7 and, to put it simply, he loves it. And while he admitted its AU$749 RRP could be considered “a low price” given its talents, I’m of the opinion that it’s a little high considering the Award-winning Apple HomePod 2 is available for AU$549 RRP, while the excellent and versatile Sonos Era 300 retails for the same AU$749. That’s big competition.

Which is why a AU$300 saving on the Music Studio 7 makes it much easier to recommend, especially since you’ll get the absolute best performance if you own two and set them up as a stereo pair.

The Music Studio 7 — and smaller Music Studio 5, which is also on sale — benefits from tech developed at the company’s Audio Lab in California — which is also where the company’s award-winning soundbars have been developed. While Samsung hasn’t explicitly said which technologies they are, we reckon some “patented Immersive Waveguide technology” is highly likely. This proprietary tech claims to “deliver uniform directivity, spanning from 1kHz up to an ultra high-frequency of 35kHz”.

It can conceivably be compared to the Sonos Era 300 and Apple HomePod in both size and feature set. While it can function perfectly fine as a standalone unit, its multi-driver setup only reveals its true power when you wirelessly pair two together. It is possible to group up to 10 Samsung audio devices together, though we haven’t had first-hand experience of such a configuration.

It supports Dolby Atmos thanks to dedicated upward-firing and side-firing drivers, along with Samsung’s own Eclipsa Audio spatial audio format, which it developed in collaboration with Google — though we would note that there’s just not a whole lot of Eclipsa Audio content out there right now.

In our Samsung Music Studio 7 review, we found the speaker really did perform at its best with a second unit (which is why the AU$300 saving is so enticing, as it lets you pick up a pair for under AU$900) and when connected via HDMI, with audio coming from a TV source or media-streaming device.

Streaming initially presented a few issues, but we later found that ‘grouping’ the speakers, rather than just ‘pairing’, produced better results. When grouped, both speakers operate in stereo mode individually. When paired, each speaker adopts either a left or right channel configuration. And after switching, we found that turning on the ‘Space Fit Pro’ automatic calibration setting produced a noticeable, positive effect. As Jez notes, it “filled in exactly the midbass we had been missing from vocals and presented all that material with a warmer heart”.

When connected via HDMI, though, and with Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’ album playing, Jez found “the stereo combination had an unerring ability to handle the highest dynamic peaks at the end… without any hint of congestion”.

And as for its spatial audio prowess, we said the Music Studio 7 pair “had a genuinely immersive experience, even hearing stuff from behind, when there was nothing there”.

Of course, you don’t just have to play music through them (despite the name), as the HDMI input means they can be used instead of a TV soundbar. In this mode, we found using a pair “did seem to genuinely push crowd sound around us in the opening live number” in A Star Is Born. It “emerged absolutely massive, the guitar solo clearly panned left, and bass content rather too much, even if loaded up for effect on this opening”.

While you’re certainly not short of options for mains-powered wireless streaming speakers, Samsung’s latest entry is absolutely worth considering as a noteworthy contender against Audio Pro, Sonos and even as a most cost-effective alternative to the likes of KEF, especially if you already own Samsung AV gear.

With a significant discount applied when you use the code SECRETAUG, a duo becomes considerably more attractive.

You’ll need to hurry, though — this 48-hour sale ends this Wednesday (August 19) at 10am AEST.

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We had been anticipating this Music Studio 7 since last year, when we had reviewed a Samsung soundbar which turned out to be one of the last products to emerge from the company’s California Audio Lab under Allan Devantier. The Lab continues; Mr Devantier has moved on to a company intending to revolutionise magnets in loudspeakers by avoiding rare-earth metals and other cunning stuff.

It was Devantier who almost singlehandedly revolutionised Samsung’s soundbar performance after creating the Audio Lab in 2014. For its test facilities he incorporated ideas from the legendary National Research Council of Canada audio rooms created by his guru and collaborator Floyd Toole at Harman, from where Devantier had been headhunted not long prior to Samsung’s purchase of the entire company and all its audio brands.

We had exchanged a few questions with Mr Devantier for the soundbar review, but we had not known he was shortly to leave Samsung; we found out only after publication, when he linked to our review on his LinkedIn account.

“The last interview with me as the Audio R&D Leader at Samsung is part of the review of the HW-QS700F SoundBar that the Audio Lab in Valencia California and I were heavily involved in,” he wrote. “Fitting that they decided to mention my decades-long collaboration with Floyd Toole.”

And then he added: “Be on the look-out for reviews of the Music Studio 7 which features 2 technologies invented at the Audio Lab in Valencia California. I first proposed the concept to management a L O N G time ago. I am so happy we were finally able to bring it to the market. It’s a fitting swan song. Thanks to the entire team at the Valencia [California] Audio lab and especially Felix Kochendörfer, Matthew McDuffee and Yuan Li.”

So we made an early request, and finally we have the Music Studio 7 in for review. Samsung’s publicity for the speaker doesn’t clarify which are the two new invented technologies mentioned by Devantier, though the heavily plugged “patented Immersive Waveguide technology” might be a frontrunner for one of them.

Nor is there any mention in despatches of those three names from Devantier’s Audio Lab. Samsung’s press releases instead emphasise “renowned industrial design studio Erwan & Ronan Bouroullec” from Paris, and indeed we were asked if we would like to interview Erwan Bouroullec.

Not really, we replied; while we're sure M. Bouroullec is très magnifique et accompli and all that, the industrial designers oversee the outside of products, by and large, while we’re far more interested in the inside. They also speak nebulous design language (“I consider sound to be like air and light: fundamental elements of a room's atmosphere”, says Erwan), and several of our previous interviews with industrial designers have been, well, disastrous; we recall a slightly furious debate with a pair working for Bang & Olufsen who had decorated a waterproof loudspeaker with materials that weren’t waterproof, so you couldn’t then get it wet. They thought this very cool; we thought it idiotic, and the antithesis of good design.

But we digress. Mr Devantier whetted our appetite for the Music Studio 7. What has Samsung delivered here?

Build & drivers

In brief, this is a wireless streaming speaker. It has only two physical inputs (optical and HDMI eARC; the USB-A slot is for service only), plus a variety of streaming options. At the price (currently RRP A$749 each in Australia, though we've seen it at A$599 during promotional periods), it might be considered Samsung’s equivalent of Apple’s HomePod, or the Sonos Era 300.

You can buy just one, which might well be enough for a bedroom or study scenario with streaming. But we found that the HDMI input proves essential to their best performance, and if you’re using them for TV sound, we’re not sure how you’d put just one of these chunky speakers in front of your TV.

So this points towards their use as a stereo pair; they link wirelessly, so you can pop them either side of your TV, making a full music and movie system.

It is an unusual streaming speaker in a number of ways, and we certainly won’t diss the quality of work by Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec (fraternal designers who over nearly 30 years have designed everything from jewellery to architecture), because we like the exterior very much, including the way that a small light behind the front ‘Dot’ moves clockwise as you increase volume and anticlockwise when you reduce it.

“Their goal was to move away from the traditional, aggressive look of high-tech audio gear (which usually features exposed black cones and foam surrounds) and instead turn acoustic physics into modern art,” says Samsung. Job done.

The Bouroullec design input is perhaps more obvious on the smaller Music Studio 5, with its almost triangular base and curious stand-up circular frontage rather like a ‘Napoleon's hat’ tambour mantle clock (so suitably French-influenced!).

The Studio 7, however, is a far more conventional speaker shape, but again with no drivers visible at all. It presents as a minimalist rectangular box with nicely-radiused corners; the height-to-width measurements are 268 x 184mm, a pleasing 16:11 ratio though rather lower than the golden one, so that they appear slightly squat.

We were shocked at the packaging in which they arrived. There almost wasn’t any; the cardboard box was only slightly larger than the speaker, leaving the front baffle protected by a mere centimetre of sculptured cardboard padding, covered by a thin sheet of cardboard.

No damage? No damage, indeed nothing that can be damaged, because that larger circle on the front is not an exposed driver: it’s solid as a rock, a flush-mounted waveguide, presumably, moulded directly into the front matte-finished baffle. The baffle looks impervious but is actually a tightly punched grille that is both audibly transparent and visually so, if you hold a torch up to it. We tried breathing through it; no problem.

Our torch revealed a tweeter at the bottom behind the flat section; indeed this is described elsewhere as a Super Tweeter which “can capture ultra-high frequencies up to 35kHz” (though we assume it’s actually delivering rather than ‘capturing’, unless it’s listening for bats).

Also at the front, behind that Dot, our torch revealed a deeply-coned woofer, about four inches in diameter when measured across its wide roll surrounds; these and the cone profile indicate this is a long-throw design designed to move a lot of air for its size.

The centre of this driver lies directly behind the ‘Dot’, though what you actually see through the ‘Dot’ seems as solid to an inquiring tap as is the depression around it; we could not ascertain how it integrates directly into the baffle structure.

We think it fires from a tuned acoustic chamber, projecting sound forward. But it was confirmed by Samsung that the ‘Dot’ structure in front of this driver is NOT the aforementioned “patented Immersive Waveguide technology”. That is actually used on the supertweeter below: “Samsung's proprietary 'Immersive Waveguide (Patented)' delivers uniform directivity, spanning from 1kHz up to an ultra high-frequency of 35kHz,” they confirmed. The waveguide shapes and directs the sound waves – like a lens on a camera, but for sound instead of focusing light, as Samsung neatly puts it. One of its key goals is the delivery of a wide sweet spot for listening.

But the ‘Dot’ above is not mere industrial design. Samsung adds that the ‘Dot’ is meant to “visually represent the physical ‘origin of sound’ while quietly doing the heavy lifting of audio dispersion behind a calm, minimal facade.”

It is also apparently signature stuff from Erwan Bouroullec: “From the Pico and Punto coverings for Mutina to Cappellini's Cloud bookcase and the Maap lamp for Flos, he has explored the expressive potential of the dot and its repetition for years,” reported Archiproducts when the Music Studios were announced.

All this from a little circle; oh, the brilliance of industrial design.

But what we really wanted to know was where all the rest of the drivers are, and what they’re doing.

The Music Studio 7 is advertised as a Dolby Atmos-compatible speaker, and a graphic on Samsung’s product page shows sound emerging not only from the speaker frontage but also flooding sideways from each side, and upwards from the top. In one of the graphics, these sound beams then magically veer towards the listening position, though we presume they are really intended to bounce off ceilings and possibly side-walls (Samsung’s images are marked as AI and for illustrative purposes only).

Such side-bouncing can be a problem in Australian architecture because often the listening rooms are wide and simply don’t have side walls, being either open-plan or open to outdoor spaces. But as we’ll find, the Music 7 did manage this task well.

They can receive Dolby Atmos signals via Tidal Connect or Amazon's top music tier, or via any number of sources piped via HDMI.

The Music Studio 7s are also marked as able to play Eclipsa Audio, an open-source spatial audio format developed by Google and Samsung; this ability has also been integrated into some recent Samsung TVs. There seem no movies or commercial video yet available in Eclipsa, though there is some YouTube content and "select Samsung TV Plus content", and we note that Miami’s Classic Master USA mastering facility is also doing Eclipsa music masters. It’s early days, but if Eclipsa does eventually take off properly, the Music Studio 7 is ready to handle it.

As for the rest of the drivers, Samsung’s literature talks about “five advanced speakers delivering true surround sound”, stating that each Studio 7 alone delivers 3.1.1-channel sound.

Yet there are clearly seven drivers here. Using our torch-technique we peered beneath the side and top surfaces, seemingly aluminium, again punctured through with a fine grille pattern.

On top there is a single driver angled slightly forward, presumably bouncing off the ceiling; the angle looks like it would bounce off a normal ceiling height to serve a listening position some three metres distant. The driver is a little 40mm diameter cone with a large and prominent 20mm dustcap; we considered whether this might actually be a coaxially-situated tweeter dome, but Samsung confirms it as a single driver.

On each side of the Studio 7 there is a similar 40mm driver in the bottom section of each side, apparently firing directly sideways rather than angled to attempt the side bounce.

So that’s five drivers already, yet the top section of each side hosts a large curved-rectangle (racetrack) driver, some 95mm x 60mm, which must therefore be passive.

The centre driver behind the Dot seems to be considered the ‘subwoofer’ (it fired when we sent through an LFE signal only), augmented by the passive racetracks.

So there’s genuine LCR plus height plus bass, and the 3.1.1 claim is justified, though it’s not a direct signal they’re playing. Samsung shared with us engineers’ comments explaining that phase control signals based on the left, right and top channels are added to the front channel, to prevent the directivity of each channel from spreading unnecessarily.

We have no idea about either the amplification type, the DACs used or the materials from which the drivers are made.

Streaming and other tricks

Streaming is supported in a number of ways. With Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect, you simply use those native apps and select the Studio 7 as the output, sending music direct from the internet to the speakers at the best quality for which you are paying.

Other music can be streamed via AirPlay 2 or Google Cast; Apple currently throttles AirPlay 2 to a fairly meagre 256k AAC (despite endless ongoing rumours this may soon be raised), whereas Google Cast can go to CD quality and above, generally to 24-bit/96kHz depending on implementation, making it the preferable system here.

There is also Roon, the paid music organisational software which supposedly delivers best possible quality from a file-based music collection and from some streaming services to devices around the home. (Samsung benefits here by owning Harman, which now owns Roon!)

If you use a Samsung smartphone, DLNA casting is also integrated directly into the Samsung Music app, and should yield full-quality file replay, depending on your settings.

And there’s Bluetooth, version 6.0, but including only the basic SBC codec plus Samsung's own Galaxy-ecosystem SSC codec. So Bluetooth might be best kept for occasional convenience only, rather than regular use. There's no provision here for the new Bluetooth LE using the LC3 codec or Auracast broadcasting.

With the rear USB-A slot turning out to be for service only, the only physical inputs are the optical digital and HDMI eARC; both are likely considered as inputs for your TV audio, though only the HDMI connection will bring Dolby Atmos across from your TV.

The TV connection can do rather more if you’re pairing the Studio 7, or preferably two of them, with an actual Samsung TV – though we would say, after testing, that they’re good to go with any TV brand/model that offers HDMI ARC or eARC; don’t reject them just because you don’t have a Samsung TV.

But if you do have a suitably recent and compatible Samsung TV, then you can connect that wirelessly to the Studio 7s using Samsung’s Q-Symphony technology, which then integrates the TV’s own speakers into the overall sound, for better or for worse; it wasn’t something we could check. Indeed you can apparently connect four (or five?) speakers and the TV using Q-Symphony, Samsung then claiming a 15.0.5-channel layout (which we’re not going to begin trying to work out!).

There’s also talk of wireless Dolby Atmos being possible from a compatible TV, but there’s enough compression on Atmos signals already; we’d very much recommend using a cable.

Pairing two Studio 7s without Q-Symphony was our main listening configuration, and we think it probably a purer path than adding in the TV drivers. Allan Devantier once confirmed to us that audio purists (“like us”, he said, including himself) should not consider using Q-Symphony with its soundbars, advice surely doubly true here with the even more hi-fi Studio 7s.

With the speakers linked together and set up either side of our TV, how did this affect their driver use? It seemed, with both stereo and Atmos material, that both Studio 7s then shut down their inner facing side tweeter, though the passive side radiator kept pumping. This makes sense; in our scenario the inner tweeters were now firing uselessly behind the screen of the 75-inch Samsung TV, so turning them off and rebalancing the output is an excellent idea.

Both outer drivers, both top drivers and both forward tweeters continue firing with both stereo and Atmos material. From playing Atmos test channels through them, the front Super Tweeters, once the speakers were paired, seemed to take on both a share of the centre signal and their respective left or right signal as well, while the side speakers were also taking a share of left and right signals while handling all surround information. So clearly some cunning algorithms are overseeing job-sharing for the drivers to achieve the best effect.

There are a few technologies on top of this. Samsung’s ‘Sound’ app has a slider to invoke ‘SpaceFit Sound Pro’, which it says adapts the sound to the room, though at first we couldn’t imagine how, as there are no test tones, no microphone waving process involved, and Samsung has no mike position out in the room. But after reading up we gather it uses far-field microphone arrays within the speakers to measure (continuously) how the audio bounces off your walls, ceiling, and furniture, then using EQ to compensate accordingly. We try it out below.

There’s also Active Voice Amplifier (AVA) Pro, which adjusts voices to overcome specific background noises, and ‘Auto Volume’ which both keeps different sources at similar levels, and works within sources to avoid spikes. The first is useful input matching; the second likely involves dynamic range compression, so is again ‘not for the purist’.

Plus there are a few listening modes and on-the-fly EQ adjustments available, which we’ll encounter during our listening.

The speakers are listed as allowing Alexa control, but we think the day for Alexa control of audio gear has passed, at least in Australia. More interestingly when we opened Samsung’s SmartThings app (we were looking for a way to DLNA-cast to the speakers), it immediately found and registered the speakers within SmartThings in addition to the ‘Sound’ app we’d used to set them up, yet SmartThings seemed to maintain our ‘Sound’ settings, even clearly pointing us back to that app as a more convenient and dedicated method of control. Good work.

Listening sessions

Set-up was as simple as any wireless speaker we’ve reviewed, and easier than many of them. Although weighty enough at 5.6kg each, the composite back panel includes a handgrip which makes them easy to carry around, and little possibility of damage given all the drivers are hidden away.

The power cord plugs upward underneath from the back, and in nice attention to detail, the black speaker has a black mains cable and the white speaker a white one! Samsung had sent us two Music 7s – one black (LS70H), one white (LS71H).

Getting the first unit online required no hunting for pairing buttons on the back: the speaker was instantly visible in Samsung’s Sound app as soon as we powered it up. There was even a sticker on the top telling us to hold down two buttons for a built-in demo – it sounded great, and should impress people in-store!

There are five rectangular press buttons on top: + and – for volume, then a music note in the middle (play/pause/next track, but also can be set to Spotify Tap, launching Spotify Connect without need for the app), and finally a circle on the left (multifunction) and a circle with a line through it on the right (mic on/off).

Hang on, what microphone? Turns out this is the one used for ‘SpaceFit Sound Pro’ and AVA Pro. These are continuous functions, requiring continuous microphone monitoring of the room. If you’re nervous about privacy, this button allows you to turn the mike off. We see this more often on products where there’s a voice assistant, and we often do turn it off, since this doesn’t much affect other functionality. But as we’ll see, we ended up very much wanting the SpaceFit on, and mike muting would disable this useful function.

Once we’d got the first speaker online, we whipped out a phone and started throwing tunes, initially via AirPlay. Out flowed Olivia Dean sounding lively, friendly and punchy, good bass support. But we were later to hear this playing through the same speaker, transformed. How? Read on.

Paired up

We really wanted to use these speakers as a stereo pair. It’s easy, almost encouraged indeed, to link them together within the Samsung Sound app (above). Once done you can access their settings together in the app, including a ‘Device Control’ option which we set to be our left speaker, as that would receive the HDMI cable.

We then opened up Spotify and later Deezer to throw some tunes to the paired stereo set. We expected to find them offered as a pair, and under the ‘Connect’ list it listed the left speaker, showing an icon of two linked speakers.

But it also listed each individual speaker alone as a Google Cast option (third screengrab above), which is a bit confusing.

We chose the two speaker option and started to play. It didn’t begin well. Stevie Wonder’s Superstitious emerged just all broken apart, bass faux, horns thin like sandpaper at short range, softening only as we sat back further away.

Carpenters, it’s hard to go wrong with Carpenters, but here there was no depth to it, no silence behind the soundstaging, and none of your classic warmth. Judy Blue Eyes from CS&N: soft and dull, though with a full bass.

We punched the sound mode to ‘AI Adaptive Sound’, tried ‘Standard’, preferred being back on ‘Music’. ‘Standard’ is in fact the purer choice, playing the stereo through left, right and centre direct, while ‘Music’ additionally fed the sound to the height driver. But this extra spread seemed non-destructive in sonic terms, and we preferred it, though things were still often sounding thin.

We experimented with speaker positioning, not forgetting that there’s that ‘Space Fit Pro’ option still to try. Pushing the speakers back to within 20cm of the wall certainly strengthened the bass, and things picked up with Long Train Runnin’ from The Doobie Brothers, supercrunchy guitar opening, now a fuller bass, but still becoming sufficiently unpleasant to play much higher than the lower side of enjoyable critical listening. We wondered if there might even be a timing mismatch between the speakers.

But we thought – perhaps we’re feeding it less than optimal source material. The casting, the streaming, the network: too many variables, even if Spotify Connect or Deezer via Google Cast should play well enough.

So we took it straight to the good stuff, supplied via the HDMI cable. Since these are Dolby Atmos speakers, we loaded Dolby Atmos music discs into a Blu-ray player, which was attached via HDMI to a Samsung TV which was attached via HDMI to the black Studio 7, so that it emerged playing across them both.

The first disc in the tray was the recently-released Atmos mix of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’. And this was immediately magnificent. No longer any need to restrain volume levels: we could nudge it stop after stop using the TV remote, and what a wide and wonderful world of sound opened up. Buckley’s vocal was held completely pure and isolated at the front, with swirling perfection all around, the bass now entirely unfettered in its ability to dive deeper towards what we might consider subwoofer territory for any other speaker this size.

The stereo combination had an unerring ability to handle the highest dynamic peaks at the end of Grace without any hint of congestion, banging out the climax like a well-resourced power amp and speaker combination, yet also having the low-level detail to allow a thrillingly delicate handling of the quick-silver sliding guitar that opens Last Goodbye, and to overlay upon that an astoundingly weighty and real kick drum. Judging as a fine hi-fi system, we might have said the bass could perhaps have a tad more definition, but heck, these are AU$749 speakers.

Leaning back in the chair, allowing the mind to wander and accept the cues being thrown out by the Music 7s, we had a genuinely immersive experience, even hearing stuff from behind, when there was nothing there. If they’re doing sidebouncing stuff, they’re lucky it was winter so there was a side wall at all. But the effect was not only effective, but unobtrusive, non-artificial. And normally we have to work with a system like this to get the effect happening: here it just happened.

They were equally hi-fi if a little less successful in the room-spreading stuff with the Atmos mix of Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust’. Then we loaded the ultimate Dolby Atmos music disc: The Flaming Lips’ ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’. Track 10, All We Have Is Now, starts in the surround channels: Wayne’s vocal back right, electric piano back left. And Wayne really did come from a semi-rear right position, and elements panned wide on both sides, even if most of the rest was still coming from the front. The Lip’s effusive bass content poured out, and the full picture was musically enjoyable, very impressive from two speakers at this price, if not as magnificently open and wide as a full Atmos system can deliver. Very impressive stuff.

And of course this bodes well for movie Atmos soundtracks. From Blu-ray we played ‘A Star is Born’, which we’ve heard many times on large systems. The Atmos soundtrack did seem to genuinely push crowd sound around us in the opening live number Black Eyes, which emerged absolutely massive, the guitar solo clearly panned left, and bass content rather too much, even if loaded up for effect on this opening. We were encouraged to try the AI Adaptive mode again: it may be the go for movies, adding enthusiasm and size.

We also looked to notch back the bass delivery: there are two options: straight bass and treble EQ sliders, or a separate control for woofer. Taking either bass slider down to -3 sorted out the excess, and it’s easy to tweak on the fly since these controls are available reasonably easily within the Sound app – just three taps from the home screen to get to the Woofer slider, once you’ve learnt the way. Having to drop the bass on speakers this size is remarkable, and shows how effective Samsung’s team has made the combination of solid and effective speaker design in concert with algorithmic control of driver travel and the like, something which played a key part in the success of those first Californian-designed soundbars. Something similar is surely again in evidence here.

Back then, in 2017, we had interviewed Mr Devantier and he told us about “distortion-cancelling technology” developed by the team's Pascal Brunet, a software-based amplifier-distortion cancellation. And later, when we thought to Google those names which Mr Devantier had thrown out on his LinkedIn post, we found that two of them, Yuan Li and Felix Kochendörfer, had co-authored with Pascal Brunet in 2022 a paper revealing results of using trained time-delayed neural networks to create an AI control algorithm for driver behaviour, instead of the previous model-based control. There was also consideration of Long Short-term Memory and a fascinating Nonlinear Autoregressive Network with exogenous inputs (‘NARX’), but the neural networks won out in the end.

Presumably something similar is used here, an AI-style feedback system inverting errant loudspeaker driver behaviour at higher volumes; indeed this is most likely what Samsung calls 'AI Dynamic Bass Control'. This is not an effect to switch on and off with a slider in the app; it’s the inherent control system behind at least that big Dot-fronted woofer. The effect is a bit like Bjørn Erik Edvardsen’s soft clipping used in NAD amps in the 1980s: you can push beyond the natural limits, pulling back just before distortion occurs, thereby achieving maximum air-shifting and a remarkable sense of power even from relatively small enclosures and drivers. Remember that all the active bass here is coming from a single driver in each Studio 7, the driver behind that Dot, with only passive radiators in support. It’s an amazing result.

If the driver tech/bass control is the speciality of Ms Li and Mr Kochendörfer at the Samsung Audio Lab in California, what of the other name, Matthew McDuffee, the Lab’s Principal Audio Engineer? We find him coauthoring papers on implementation of simultaneous deconvolution, which relates to in-room speaker system equalisation. That fits in with the goals of 'SpaceFit Sound Pro', which we are about to encounter below.

Putting all this together, we might place our bet that the two new technologies from the Lab, which Allan Devantier mentioned in concert with those three names, are AI Dynamic Bass Control, and SpaceFit Sound Pro. So perhaps not that ‘Immersive Waveguide’ acoustic lens after all, given that waveguides have been around since the 1990s since Geddes differentiated them from horns in 1989 (and they’re all ‘immersive’, really, by dint of operating in a 3D world).

So, technical discussion aside, we were loving everything coming through HDMI. But was all the streaming stereo stuff still sounding not so impressive? The relative quantities of the two media types would not weigh well for the Studio 7 in that case.

We played from other sources, including stereo from the Blu-ray player (Atmos discs have high-res stereo too), and this maintained the quality, at the expense of course of much of the immersion. Back on streaming, we played from Apple Music and our own phone collection via AirPlay 2 (the Apple app usefully provided a volume control, see below); it was OK, but male vocals seemed a bit thin, lacking in mid-bass, and the bass itself less rounded than we’d hope for the material playing.

On a whim, we unpaired the two speakers and sent the same tunes to a single Studio 7. Smaller, similar. When we went back to pair the speakers again, we found we could ‘group’ them, rather than ‘pair’ them, so that both speakers played in stereo. This actually gave a rather nicer bass response, though it caused some issues with stereo staging, since the inward speakers were now firing sound behind the television and creating all kinds of slightly phasey interactions as the left moved right and the right moved left. Having said that, for a real party, this is how we’d run them.

Through all this, we had been trying all the sonic tweaks available – happily not a crazy number of them compared with some competitors, which is a credit to Samsung.

We kept on with 'Music' mode for music, sometimes AI mode for movies. Initially we didn’t get any useful result from ‘Space Fit Pro’, and we had left it off.

Later, however, we realised that its effects take a while to appear: it’s not a simple switch flick to hear the difference. Once it had taken a minute to adjust, flicking the switch to remove it most certainly revealed the difference. It had filled in exactly the midbass we had been missing from vocals and presented all that material with a warmer heart. We are impressed, then; well done Mr McDuffee! We recommend you at least try this.

There are also Channel Level adjustments to push the side and top channels higher (or lower) as you might like. This option is also handy for hearing exactly what is going on from the various drivers.

Advanced Sound Settings include bass enhancement (not generally required), and ‘virtual’ on top of AI (not generally pleasant).

We moved our streaming sessions to using music apps playing on an AppleTV media player through the TV, and comparing them with streaming from the phone. Spotify: not much difference, since Connect was already playing direct; it was just slightly smoother via the AppleTV. Deezer seemed clearer this way, perhaps higher-res or less squeezed coming from the media player through HDMI that it had been from the phone, even though we had thought that was via data-friendly Google Cast.

We then rather tardily realised that the Samsung TV itself can host these apps, removing a link in the chain. We loaded Deezer as an app on the TV, and just played from there. Just as good! It’s a reminder that our televisions can now be used as hubs for music playback via their digital outputs, as well as for mere TV and movie fare (and here also extended smart-home operations via Samsung’s SmartThings).

While the better paths for playback certainly edged up the streaming quality, the main thing which overcame our initial uncertainty with the sound was that ‘Space Fit Pro’ correction; we are much impressed with that, especially with on-the-fly adjustments for bass easily to hand. But the ultimate playback experience came with high-quality files and very particularly with real Atmos material, whether music or movies. For the money, this is an astounding big and relatively hi-fi sound compared with the normal compressed sound of most rivals. It’s well superior, in some cases.

Right at the end, we went back to one speaker, and plonked it right in front of the TV, part blocking the screen. We re-ran Black Eyes from 'A Star Is Born', and its single-box drivers still managed to spread the crowd into an almost immersive presentation, although the left-right cues were inevitably reduced; the guitar solo, for example, panned less left than with speakers either side of the TV.

But we also played Olivia Dean again, and instead of AirPlaying from our phone, we ran it in Atmos from Apple Music on our AppleTV 4K through the TV into the Music 7 by HDMI. And this was the transformation we mentioned earlier: from friendly and punchy to clear, wide and wonderfully hi-fi – the lesson being that while the Music Studio 7 (or two of them) can do great things with compressed streaming signals, the better the source signal you give them, the better they sound. Which sounds like a ‘duh’, yet we fear very few people do take the trouble.

General issues

Problems? We’d really like a remote control; it would much improve the music listening experience when streaming from the phone. If you’re Google-Casting your music across from your phone, as we were from Deezer, then the TV remote no longer controls the Samsung volume; indeed if you try to use it, it may instantly return you to the HDMI input and cut off your music.

While Spotify and Apple include volume sliders in their apps, these can be quite coarse, and the volume buttons on the side of the phone (an iPhone, sorry Samsung) were extremely coarse: each tap jumped 10 full steps of the resolution available within the Samsung Sound app’s slider. And of course most of the time we were choosing music in the Deezer app, with no volume control at all, so we had to keep popping back to the Samsung Sound app, or else make do with the coarse control via our phone buttons. Or, of course, walk over and press the buttons on the speakers themselves.

We’d suggest investing in a programmable remote to overcome this, but does the Studio 7 even have an IR receiver built in? We think not.

Oh, and by default the speakers talk to you, in a synthesised female voice which interrupts every time you change a sound mode, talking over your music, and sometimes quite loud. Awful. Can you turn this off? Yes, thank heavens, under the ‘Voice Guide’ option in the Sound app.

As a final thought, we’d love to hear how the Studio 7 would sound without all the grilles. Grilles like this are not 100% audibly transparent, and very solid grilles cover every driver here. Without these things, might sound be more open and airy? (Though the speaker would then also fall into pieces and probably destroy its acoustic design.) We just wonder.

Verdict

Returning to the industrial designers Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec, Ronan was once quoted in an Institut Français Exhibition feature saying: “I find perfection extremely boring… The charm is the balance between the perfect and the imperfect.”

He should mention this to his brother Erwan, because the industrial design work on the Music Studio 7 has no imperfections we can see to weigh against its apparent perfection. The Samsung Audio Lab team has taken everything they’ve learned about soundbars since 2014 – rigid grille construction, speaker distortion cancelling, room acoustics – and applied it to a pair of rock-solid streaming speakers which we suspect that few companies other than Samsung could bring to market at such a low price. They’re a tribute to the Lab, to Devantier and his team.

No doubt they’ll find some way to tweak them up for a Mk.2 in a year or two, just as they’ll upgrade those neural networks controlling the big woofer and improve the sound processing. But aside from wanting a remote control, we wouldn’t change a thing here: the Music Studio 7 is a near-perfect product in a perhaps perfect form.

Devantier says he proposed this concept to management “a L O N G time ago”. Hopefully they’re quicker to recognise its success and will commission more along the same principles. This could be Year Dot for a new breed of Samsung hi-fi.

• See all our Australian reviews from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines

For a consumer audio brand, trying to stand out in the ever-crowded portable Bluetooth speaker market must be as gruelling as it is for a rookie influencer to gain flocks of TikTok followers in the fashion and beauty space.

After all, it’s a lucrative pie that every speaker manufacturer, new and old, seemingly wants a slice of. Harman Kardon has been munching on it for longer than most, and yet it clearly feels it still needs to offer something extra to attract the attention of music lovers.

Build & design

Experts in etymology may well guess that, for the Luna 2 Bluetooth speaker, that ‘extra something’ relates to the Latin root of ‘Luna’ – ‘to shine’. Specifically, this Harman Kardon model offers a light show alongside an audio one, via an ambient light ring at its base.

We’ve previously encountered such approaches to catch the eye, primarily through speakers with bold, multicoloured ‘party’ lights that can turn living rooms into miniature discotheques. But Harman Kardon’s is a classier affair.

Rather than streams of garishly bright light pumping out of LEDs with the intensity of a ‘cocktail bar’ neon sign, the Luna 2’s ring light serves as a subtler, elegant enhancement to its already aesthetically pleasing design. It moves in accordance with the music and also visualises volume adjustments, though the effect is rather muted in bright daylight, and you can turn it off altogether if you prefer.

Even with the light ring deactivated, the pill-shaped, pencil case-sized Luna 2 is one of the more stylish speakers in its category, available in Classic Black, Warm Sand or, as pictured, a cool Ice Mint.

Thoughtful design elements include shiny accents around the anodised aluminium grille; a sloped, grippy rubber enclosure that keeps the profile compact and makes it easy to hold. The positioning of the USB-C charging socket on the side of the speaker, as opposed to the customary rear placement, makes it easy to plug in a cable if your speaker is placed near a back wall.

A USB-C cable isn’t supplied with the Luna 2 – an eco-conscious decision by Harman Kardon – but you’ll likely have one in your household already.

Despite not appearing as rugged as some portable speakers, like those from JBL and Bose, its IP67 dust/water-resistance rating means it can weather the elements – reassuring if your Sunday afternoon picnic or weekend camping trip turns soggy. Uncharacteristically, the British weather behaved itself during our testing period, but the speaker did survive us briefly running it under the tap.

Features

Completing the design are six soft-press buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing (two devices can connect simultaneously), volume up/down, light on/off, and Auracast.

Auracast is an increasingly prevalent feature of wireless speakers nowadays, allowing compatible speakers to synchronise their playback. You can even sync the Luna 2’s lighting with that of multiple light-enhanced Auracast-enabled speakers, though we didn’t have another to hand to test this feature.

AirTouch is the name Harman Kardon has given to its stereo pairing functionality, where two Luna 2s will automatically configure for true stereo sound when moved within close proximity of each other.

This can also be managed in the Harman Kardon One app, where you can also change the speed, colour theme and brightness of the light ring; select one of four audio EQ modes (the default Signature Sound is the clear winner) or create your own; and see battery status.

The claimed 12-hour battery life holds up well in real-world use, with five straight hours of playback on mid-to-high volume draining the battery by just less than 40 per cent. That spec is rather miserly in today’s market, though; the JBL Charge 6 offers double that playtime from a single charge.

Sound

That What Hi-Fi? Award winner from JBL is the Luna 2’s natural rival, and performance-wise sets a high bar for portable Bluetooth speakers under £200.

The Luna 2 makes a solid first impression as we get our testing underway with Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club, which plays to the Luna 2’s biggest talent – midrange insight.

Roan’s strong pop soprano is faithfully delivered, well projected, and soars through the soundstage with plenty of space around it. It isn’t every day we come across such an expressive and articulate vocal delivery from a speaker of the Luna 2’s size and price.

There’s weight and dynamic variation to the piano underneath, and a sense of musical flow as the keys act as the track’s melodic backbone. And thanks to a well-tuned 62mm x 82mm woofer and passive radiator, which sit beside a 20mm tweeter, the Luna 2 produces a tight, prominent bass that allows the synth beat to make itself duly known.

That the open, spacious soundstage has clear instrument separation and precise imaging helps the presentation sound more lucid than most at this level, too.

Unfortunately, the Luna 2 conforms to its name where higher frequencies are concerned. Its treble is a little bright and edgy, even after tens of hours of use.

We play Wet Leg’s catch these fists, and while the intense shimmering cymbals aren’t really a fair fight for any budget Bluetooth speaker, they are more listenable through the Charge 6, which offers greater treble subtlety and refinement.

The JBL rival is bigger sounding and fuller in the bass, too, but what makes it the more enticing speaker is its greater dynamic punch and rhythmic cohesion. The Harman Kardon isn’t flat or ponderous sounding by any means, it just doesn’t pin down a rhythm with the adept timing and effortless flow of the benchmark-setting Charge 6.

Verdict

Harman Kardon’s latest effort may not shine above the best-in-class competition, then. But the Luna 2 does produce one of the most articulate and vocally impressive performers this sort of money can buy, and does so from a portable design that isn’t just necessarily practical but also promises to soundtrack your al fresco adventures in elegant style.

Review published: 13th August 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Features 4
• Build 5

MORE:

Read our review of the JBL Charge 6

Also consider the JBL FLip 7

Best Bluetooth speakers tried and tested for every budget

What do you miss most about the 1980s?

You don’t have to have actually been around during that heady period to know just what the decade gave us, from classic action cinema to New Wave tunes and the rise of hip-hop. Maybe you miss the Yuppies, the shoulder pads and the big hair, or maybe the cosy family sitcoms accompanied by a piping hot chicken Kiev.

Or maybe you miss the tech. More specifically, you miss the audio trends of the decade, from stacked hi-fi systems to portable cassette players, boomboxes and foam-capped on-ear headphones. Those were the days.

If you do find yourself hankering for that bygone era, Philips might have just the thing. To mark its centenary last year, the Dutch manufacturer announced it would be reviving its classic Moving Sound range of products from the 1980s, with the new ‘The Roller’ emulating the radio-and-cassette design of the original model, now repurposed as a Bluetooth speaker.

Modern streaming and sleek, feature-laden designs are all well and good, but Philips is looking to put the fun back into audio – and what’s so wrong with that?

Price

The Roller (MS60) will set you back £169 in the UK and $229 when it launches in the USA later this year. This, for UK buyers, is the same launch price as the five-star JBL Charge 6 (£170 / $199 / AU$200). The Charge 6 has seen a few price drops in the intervening months, however, and at the time of writing you can pick one up for £129 in the UK and $160 in the US.

If you want something that’s about the same size but costs a good deal more and comes with our firm recommendation, the JBL Xtreme 5 can currently be yours for £300 / $300.

Build

The 1980s never really went away, at least not for Philips.

The Roller’s design takes direct influence from Philips’ combined radio and cassette player of the same name (the D8007 and its D8008 sequel to be specific), whereby a central body is flanked by integrated circular speakers built into the casework, topped by a rigid carry handle.

Naturally, changes have been made to see The Roller keep up with the demands of the 21st century. The cassette deck and radio display housed at the centre of the original have been replaced by a crisp, clear LCD colour screen, while an array of control buttons is found directly above. Around the back, charging and physical audio playback are handled by a USB-C port, and we’re pretty sure they didn’t have those in 1987.

Despite its relative portability, The Roller is not a particularly small speaker – it’s about the size of an elongated shoebox. While its price puts it in more direct competition with the JBL Charge 6, Philips’ colourful throwback is closer to JBL’s burly Xtreme 5 in terms of its size. In essence, it’s a Bluetooth boombox with a retro design and a modern feature set.

It is, however, a little lighter, weighing in at a more reasonable 2.3kg when compared with the 2.9kg of the current-gen Xtreme, and while it isn’t lightweight, it’s not a chore to lug from place to place if you’ve been to the gym a few times this year.

It’s well-made, too. While some may baulk at its novel aesthetics, The Roller feels far more substantial and robust than a mere toy. The speaker’s IP67 rating will keep it properly protected from dust ingress, water splashes and even some light liquid submersion, and as we run our hands across its exterior, tapping and probing as we go, we’re struck by how substantial and well-made everything feels.

There are no rubberised bumpers or shock absorbers to speak of, so we wouldn’t feel confident dropping our test speaker from any great height, but the overall quality of construction is impressive given The Roller’s fun-focused aesthetic and reasonable price. The plastic body and metal speaker grilles are of an admirably weighty standard, while a quick spray with a garden hose proves that those waterproofing credentials check out.

Whether we’re actively using it or just admiring its show-off retro aesthetics, we very much enjoy our time with The Roller. It looks particularly fresh and funky when sporting its bright yellow finish (you can go for black if you’re more conservative), and while there’s a touch of the Fisher-Price here, we don’t mind. The Roller is supposed to be fun, and that’s just what it is.

The various controls are chunky and respond with a satisfying click, and we particularly enjoy the customisation options available for the colour display. It’s not often that a Bluetooth speaker comes with an actual display screen, but with Philips’ retro offering, your display will show the song you’re playing and the speaker’s current battery life. You can even add novel animated widgets – like a spinning virtual cassette deck – in a nod to The Roller’s heritage.

The good times don’t stop there. The Roller comes with customisable lighting effects which can be cycled through or switched on/off either via the app or using the on-unit buttons. Are they strictly necessary? No. Are they a nice touch that adds a dollop of fun to an already exciting recipe, like a few colourful sprinkles dusted over an already-eye-catching sundae? We think so.

Features

Despite its retro appearance, Philips’ The Roller has been kitted out with a number of modern-day features.

The Roller boasts Bluetooth 6.0, and while there isn’t any hi-res codec support to speak of – you’ll have to make do with standard SBC – Auracast is available, meaning you can connect it to any number of Auracast-enabled speakers at once. That includes most of JBL’s current-gen offerings and other members of Philips’ Moving Sound range.

Thanks to its rear-mounted USB-C port, The Roller can double as a portable power bank for charging your phone or similar portable device. You can also use the USB-C port for direct listening, but only via USB-A to USB-C rather than USB-C to USB-C, which seems odd considering we can’t imagine many listeners using their laptop, say, as a source for a portable speaker. No matter how you listen, audio processing is capped at 16-bit/48kHz.

Battery life is decent for a speaker of this size and type. The Roller will grant you around 24 hours of playtime from a single charge, which is the same as the standard runtime offered by the rival JBL Charge 6 and the larger Xtreme 5.

Glance at the array of rectangular controls at the top of Philips’ 1980s-inspired speaker and you’ll notice a bright pink button etched with the letters ‘M/S’. Give it a press and you’ll activate The Roller’s ‘Moving Sound’ mode, which adjusts the digital signal processing by shifting the bass to a higher frequency and reducing its deepest low-end output, increasing the resultant dynamic headroom and allowing sound to travel more convincingly in outdoor environments.

In our experience, activating the mode has its trade-offs. It’s undoubtedly better for outdoor listening by granting a more forward, muscular and entertaining presentation, but you do lose a little clarity and refinement as part of the deal. A matter of taste and context, then.

Beyond the physical buttons, controlling your speaker is performed via the Philips app. It’s a useful platform for making certain tweaks to your experience, such as selecting the widget you want displayed on the display screen or adjusting the pattern of the speaker’s light modes, but we’re disappointed to see that no customisable equaliser, or indeed any sound profile presets, are included.

Sound

With our mature adult hat on, we’ll get our po-faced caveat out of the way and reveal that, perhaps unsurprisingly, you can buy more sonically sophisticated Bluetooth speakers at this level.

The five-star Charge 6 doesn’t go as loud as The Roller, but the JBL class-leader puts music together in a more convincing manner. It’s clearer, more detailed and far more musically nuanced, with a layered, cohesive performance that can make The Philips speaker seem somewhat unrefined by comparison. For outright sound quality, the Charge 6 remains the one to pick.

When we remove our businessman’s bowler and don the backwards baseball cap of youth, however, we’re far more inclined to take The Roller for what it is: a brash, bold–looking speaker that makes a similarly brash, bold sound. Thanks to its 60 watts of RMS power feeding a pair of 25mm tweeters alongside twin 9cm woofers, Philips’ substantial Roller really is capable of putting the “boom” into boombox.

With the volume dialled up towards the higher reaches of social acceptability (sorry, neighbours), the opening bars of System Of A Down’s Highway Song nearly take our ears off. Power and punch are not in short supply, and while that extends across the entire frequency range, there’s a particularly large helping of muscular bass to really give the tune some kick.

Hard rock and hip-hop appear to be where The Roller is the most comfortable, and again, that isn’t much of a surprise given its fun-focused, boombox-esque nature. Turnstile’s SLOWDIVE sounds big, bold and suitably crunchy – enough to get heads banging – while Black Veil Brides’ epic Saviour II and Eminem’s hard-edged The Way I Am are given similarly powerful treatment.

Those qualities remain no matter how or where we use our bright yellow test speaker. Thanks to its assertive presentation – and that handy ‘Moving Sound’ mode – The Roller’s rich, full-bodied reproduction carries confidently when we take the speaker outside for some fun in the sun.

Big dynamic swings are generally communicated with the appropriate heft, as evidenced by the crashing thumps peppered across Rosalía’s ever-dramatic Berghain, even if The Roller can struggle fully to tease out the subtler shifts bubbling away in the background.

On the subject of The Roller’s blind spots, detail levels are adequate but not outstanding, with subtler nuances generally lost at the expense of that irrepressibly ‘have at ’em’ approach. Listen to subtler fare, such as alt-J’s Every Other Freckle or Agnes Obel’s The Curse, and the JBL Charge 6 will handle such delicate tunes with a lighter, more skilful touch.

Such relative weaknesses aren’t quite enough to temper our affections for Philips’ fun-focused ‘80s-inspired Bluetooth boombox. Subtlety and nuance may tend to fall somewhat by the wayside, but in terms of pure fun factor, The Roller really knocks it out of the park.

Verdict

If you’re serious about getting the best-sounding Bluetooth speaker at this price, buy the JBL Charge 6. It’s smaller and not as enjoyable to look at, but musically, it’s in a league of its own.

If you want something that’s a bit off the beaten track, though, The Roller is a cheerful charmer. Its funky design will likely appeal to younger listeners who want something quirky and unique, as well as audio veterans who still hanker to have their '80s boombox held proudly upon their shoulders.

All told, Philips has done a marvellous job in putting the fun back into portable audio.

Review published: 11th August 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the JBL Charge 6

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Best Bluetooth speakers tried and tested for every budget

Some albums are considered tough to listen to, but Zaireeka by The Flaming Lips might just be the most challenging of the lot.

While Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music assaults your ears with jagged shards of noise, and Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica often sounds like a work of musical absurdity, Zaireeka is a logistical challenge first and a sonic one second.

Originally released in 1997, Zaireeka is the kind of exercise in wilful experimentation that only a band as eccentric as The Flaming Lips could get away with: it comes split across four discs that you must listen to simultaneously to hear the songs fully.

At the time, and for many years afterwards, wrangling four separate hi-fi systems into the same room in order to listen to Zaireeka as intended just wasn’t practical for most people.

When I bought my copy as a skint but pretentious student in 2005, I had no idea how I was going to play it. I considered it more of a musical investment for the future.

As the popularity of iPods and speaker docks grew, listening to Zaireeka became more feasible, but I still only ever owned one of each at a time. And while the advent of multi-room music systems removed most of the technological barriers, logistical and financial ones still remained.

When the Sonos Play was launched earlier this year I decided the time had finally come. Could four of these wireless speakers allow me to realise a 20-year-old dream and listen to Zaireeka for the first time?

Not suitable for children

So why the Sonos Play? Technically any four Sonos speakers would do the job because they all allow you to play a different track on each one simultaneously. But while using the top-of-the-range Era 300 might seem like the obvious choice for my little sonic experiment, the Play made most sense for more practical reasons.

Before The Flaming Lips recorded Zaireeka, the band conducted a proof-of-concept experiment that involved playing up to 50 unique cassette tapes on the stereos of as many parked cars, giving them complete freedom over the positioning of each giant four-wheeled speaker. I needed the same flexibility just on a much smaller scale, so the battery-powered Play meant I wouldn’t be limited by my plug sockets when placing each one.

The Play is also compact enough that I can easily accommodate four of them in what an estate agent would euphemistically call my ‘cosy’ living room, but with three Class H amps, two tweeters, a mid-woofer driver, and dual passive radiators inside each one, they still punch above their weight (which, at 1.3kg, is fairly heavy for a portable speaker).

The most difficult part of the setup process was getting Sonos’s Mac app to recognise my laptop’s music library, which includes MP3 versions of Zaireeka’s four discs, but with the help of a very useful YouTube video I eventually had it ready to go.

(The album is on Spotify but unless you have four separate accounts, plus four separate devices to log into them on, you’ll only be able to play one ‘disc’ at a time.)

Zaireeka’s artwork includes a warning: “This recording contains frequencies not normally heard on commercial recordings and on rare occasion has caused the listener to become disoriented. These extremely high and low frequencies can cause a person to become disoriented, confused or nauseated. DO NOT listen repeatedly at high volume. Make sure infants are out of listening range. Zaireeka should not be listened to while driving.”

Having removed all newborns from the vicinity and made sure I was at home rather than behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta, I placed a speaker at each corner of my living-room rug and parked myself in the middle.

Sonos’s smartphone app isn’t the most intuitive but it didn’t take long to get the first track of each disc cued-up on a different speaker, and the volume on each one set to the same level.

Ideally you want to start them all at exactly the same time, but the app only offers that function for grouped speakers that are playing the same song, so I staggered the start points slightly, hit play on each one from the Your System screen, and a couple of seconds later my quartet of wireless speakers burst into life.

A hi-fi seance

There is no ‘correct’ way to listen to Zaireeka, no ‘correct’ way to organise the speakers, and no ‘correct’ place to position yourself among them, but it quickly became clear that disc one was where most of what could be considered lead vocals and drums would be coming from, so I decided to rearrange the speakers slightly.

I positioned one at each of the four main points of a compass and sat facing ‘musical north’. To the uninitiated it would've looked like I was taking part in some sort of hi-fi seance, but it gave the whole thing a focal point that seemed to work pretty well for a first listen.

Over the next 45 minutes Zaireeka envelops me in an ever-changing sonic cocoon. Ghostly vocals swell from all sides during Okay I'll Admit That I Really Don't Understand; on Riding to Work in the Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now) the bass moves from one speaker to another like a game of pass the parcel; at the start of Thirty-Five Thousand Feet of Despair a rocket takes flight and I feel like I might ascend into the sky with it; a quartet of organs tessellate beautifully towards the end of The Train Runs Over the Camel, But Is Derailed by the Gnat; and at one point during A Machine In India I’m completely engulfed by the sound of a buzzing swarm of insects.

When track six, How Will We Know? (Futuristic Crashendos), comes around, I finally understand what that warning on the front cover was all about. The song includes sounds so high-pitched that I almost start to wonder whether the noise is actually coming from inside my brain. I’ve never heard anything like it on any other record, probably because it’s genuinely unpleasant.

The final track is the closest thing on Zaireeka to a conventional song, but in every other sense it’s still pretty bonkers. A spoken-word vocal tells an odd little story about pet dogs and giant plastic insects, before it bursts into a whole chorus of Wayne Coynes singing the song’s title, The Big Ol’ Bug Is the New Baby Now, from all four speakers at once.

The slight differences in timing give it the feeling of a mass crowd singalong, before the album ends by trapping you in the middle of a pack of ferociously barking dogs.

Hard of hearing

Over the following few days I listened to Zaireeka about half a dozen more times, experimenting with different speaker layouts and listening positions, including placing them at different heights and moving around the room as it played. One time I didn’t synchronise the discs particularly well and some parts sounded a bit wonky, but these choices and variations are all part of the reason this album exists in the first place.

In the liner notes Wayne Coyne says his intention was to make songs that would sound different every time you played them. “I wanted to abandon song structure but not abandon the song,” he writes – and Zaireeka succeeds in doing that pretty well.

The tracks on it are more abstract than the band’s most famous songs; there’s nothing here as immediate as Do You Realize? or Race for the Prize. But I haven’t paid attention to an album like I did with this one in a long time. Everything about it requires some element of active participation rather than just passive consumption.

It’s still not exactly easy to listen to. My quartet of Play speakers removed most of the previous obstacles, but if I hadn’t been able to borrow them from Sonos in order to write this feature, a financial one would still remain. To buy them would have cost me £1136 in total – that's a lot of money for playing just one album.

But this is a one-off musical proposition that I waited over two decades to experience. Sure, some of the tracks from the record can be heard as standard stereo mixes on The Soft Bulletin Companion, but that completely misses the point.

Listening to Zaireeka is supposed to be more difficult than the other albums in your collection – and that’s exactly what makes it so uniquely unforgettable.

MORE:

I went to a listening session held in total darkness, and I'll never hear this classic album the same way again

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Interview with The Flaming Lips: the band that filled a record with blood

A new Sonos product is just weeks away. CEO Tom Conrad announced the September launch in the firm's third quarter earnings call. And while he stopped short of revealing the device itself, he did hint that it will be focussed around AI.

Noting that "conversational computing and predictive intelligence are moving into the home," he bigged up Sonos' 20 years' experience in solving the issues this brings, which he defined as "sound, form, systemness, and intelligence."

(If anyone knows what "systemness" is, we'd love to know.)

Unsurprisingly, he said Sonos is uniquely well placed to take advantage of the AI boom thanks to its ecosystem of multi-room-enabled speakers, which encompasses soundbars, home speakers and portable models.

While all AI models will soon offer the same abilities, he thinks what will differentiate systems is "what surrounds the [AI] model in a real home: the hardware that can converse with quality across every room, the system that already knows the shape of a home and the way a family lives in it, the connectivity to reach the speakers, services, and devices that turn a request into coordinated action.

"That’s the operating environment for AI in the home, and Sonos has spent twenty years building it."

So, we can hazard a guess that we'll see a new speaker, but the biggest changes will likely be on the inside, pivoting the Sonos platform to encompass more AI abilities.

Sonos' most recent launch was the Play earlier this year, a portable speaker that earned four stars. It recently launched its new mobile app in beta, in an attempt to win back customers frustrated at the notorious botched app launch of 2024.

That disastrous move introduced bugs while removing certain existing features, and ultimately led to the then-CEO stepping down. Since then, Sonos has been on a major charm offensive to win back customers' trust, even cancelling its rumoured set-top box in order to prioritise fixing existing problems.

A move to AI does bring big opportunities for Sonos, but also a fair amount of risk. Will customers weary of having been put through the wringer over the last couple of years really want a whole new direction and focus for the platform? Or will they just want a bit of stability following all the chaos?

It all depends on what exactly Sonos is offering.

We'll bring you any rumours concerning the launch in the run-up to September.

MORE:

Sonos Play vs Move 2: what are the differences?

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And the best Sonos alternatives for the naysayers

The LS Luxe is the latest active wireless speaker system to emerge from KEF’s hi-fi oven. And, from what we have heard from our testing, it’s undoubtedly one of the finest.

KEF had previously laid down a benchmark with the outstanding LS50 Wireless II in the early 2020s. The Luxe builds upon that Award-winning legacy in some style. For us, it’s five stars all around.

That is provided you get the best out of the LS Luxe, of course. This is an outstanding system with serious ability, and while KEF’s latest is capable of putting up with less-than ideal sources, stands and situations, you’ll want to pamper it as much as possible if you want to see just how stellar your five-star system can be.

With that in mind, this is how you coax the maximum performance from the mighty KEF LS Luxe.

Get a pair of S-Luxe speaker stands

The £3500 / $4000 / AU$6375 asking price for the LS Luxe is not mere pocket change, so we understand that would-be buyers might be put off at the prospect of having to part with a further £800 / $800 for a pair of dedicated S-Luxe stands. The LS Luxe is an unfussy, fairly forgiving wireless speaker system, so surely your own stands will do?

To some extent, they will. We spent a good chunk of time listening to the Luxe sitting atop our own Custom Design FS104 Signature stands, and there is no question that the resultant performance remained an enjoyable one. This is a talented system, after all.

Clarity, punch, dynamism and control remained in ample supply, and we don’t doubt that we could quite happily have lived with the Luxe perched upon our in-house plinths.

The thing is, KEF’s latest system is so good, you’ll want to get the best out of it. To do that, you’ll want the S-Luxe stands. £800 / $800 is not a small sum, but the dedicated plinths allow the Luxe to soar to new heights across practically every area of sonic performance, all while matching the speakers’ aesthetics and providing stability by screwing into each cabinet’s base.

Yes, you could put standard petrol in a Ferrari, but it’s a Ferrari. It needs premium, dude. Premium!

Use the app to fine-tune your listening

For getting the most out of your shiny new KEF system, you will need to download the accompanying KEF Connect app.

Naturally, this is the place from which you’ll find the streaming services you want, do a bit of EQ tinkering and check your general settings. But the depth of tweakery on offer allows you to really get into the nitty-gritty of optimising your system’s performance.

For a start, we’d strongly urge you to check out the app’s calibration settings.

KEF’s ‘Room EQ’ digital signal processing helps you fine-tune your sound to your listening space. It’s worth spending a bit of time with the app’s calibration parameters, wherein you can adjust your Luxe’s sonic output depending on factors such as room size, the distance you have placed your speakers from your wall, and how damped your listening space is.

You can also choose the level of depth you want to go into when tinkering with your settings, with a ‘Basic’ mode for more casual changes sitting alongside an ‘Expert’ mode for listeners who want to dig into the minutiae of their experience.

Either way, you should notice a big difference.

Use the interconnect cable

We know it’s not particularly attractive to look at, but if you want to get the best sound from the LS Luxe, the provided interconnect cable is a must.

The Luxe is capable of accepting PCM files up to 24-bit/384kHz, but if you are using a wireless connection between your speakers, this is downsampled to 24-bit/96kHz. Connecting the master and slave speakers using the included cable, however, pushes playback up to 24-bit/192kHz.

It’s totally worth it in our book. Wires have always been a more efficient means of transmission than wireless methods, and the sonic dividends you’ll reap from having that interconnect are significant. Everything sounds crisper, cleaner and more defined, with more punch and authority than a wireless connection can provide.

And the cable is literally included in the box. Aesthetics aside, you’ve got nothing to lose. And, if you also end up picking up a pair of S-Luxe plinths, they are designed so that you can hide your cables away at the rear of each stand.

Get the right look for your space

This isn’t a design that will suit everyone.

The speakers themselves, designed by Ross Lovegrove, continue the distinctive aesthetic language of Lovegrove’s previous collaborations, with smooth, edgeless cabinets that have elicited mixed responses in our offices. Some of us like their looks; others are less keen; some have found that the aesthetic has grown on them over time.

The point is, the LS Luxe is designed to be an artistic statement, as well as a musical one. With that in mind, you’ll want to make sure that the speakers will fit in with your listening space. You could find that they stick out like a sore thumb if you try to place them in your panelled reading room or Victorian boudoir. Whatever a boudoir is.

Our advice? Find a physical retailer and go to see the LS Luxe for yourself. Partly to figure out if the design will fit with your space, partly because you may be able to hear them for yourself, and partly because you’ll be able to appreciate the different finishes on offer.

From what we have seen, the shiny, luxurious texture of our silvery ‘Dusk Titanium’ test sample is very different from the matte finish of the ‘Mineral White’ option or the rather foreboding visage of the ‘Eclipse Black’ colourway.

These things make a big difference, especially as this is going to be a purchase that you may well be planning to keep for years or even decades.

Experiment with positioning

Thanks in part to its signature Uni-Q driver array, the LS Luxe is impressively unfussy about placement. The Uni-Q array has always been a winner when it comes to producing a supremely well-integrated, consistent sound that times brilliantly – and with the LS Luxe, it's the same old story.

Naturally, we experimented with positioning when testing KEF’s latest; and you should too.

Not all listening spaces are born equal, however, and while we found that our test sample performed around its best with the speakers firing straight ahead on their dedicated stands sitting roughly 30cm from the back wall of our smaller 3m x 4m x 7m listening room, that won’t be the case for everyone.

It’s always worth seeing what works for you in your listening room to optimise the performance you receive, even with a system as unfussy as this one. Moving a little closer or further to or from your back wall will affect the resultant bass output, while you might find that you prefer the way the speakers sound when they are angled slightly towards you.

We advise you not to use the Luxe on a desktop unless you really have to. The speakers will perform admirably when plonked on a desk or table, but you’re simply not going to get close to revealing the limits of their considerable abilities.

To us, it just seems like a bit of a waste.

MORE:

Read our KEF LSX II LT review

And our KEF Coda W review

Our guide to the best speakers we have tested and recommend across all budgets and types

Rejoice, Sonos fans! After months, even years, of turmoil and trouble, Sonos is making serious steps towards fixing the app that, after a disastrous redesign in 2024, threatened the company's future and forced its then-CEO to step down.

Now, Sonos is doing everything it can to repair the damage. We reported in June that CEO Tom Conrad had written on Reddit detailing some of the changes set to come to the platform, promising that the Sonos team had spent "hundreds of hours" watching people use the app to find its weak spots.

Now, Sonos is ready to put it all into practice, making the new version available in public beta form for Android and iOS users. Any customer with app version 87 can switch on 'Enable Improved Navigation' in their Settings to access the Beta as Sonos collects feedback over the next few months.

That new beta iteration touts some promising upgrades, including improved navigation, more intuitive system tab controls and an overhauled volume tuning system, as well as what Sonos terms 'Quality-of-life fixes' across Now Playing, playlists and iPad views.

The new changes are currently rolling out in their beta form as part of an opt-in public test phase, with changes set broadly to become the default once feedback has been gathered. This could be in the autumn, but no definitive date has been given.

Has Sonos learned from the mistakes of its past? You can switch to the updated version of the app in your settings and judge for yourself.

MORE:

Which Sonos speaker should you buy?

Check out our recent Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review

Sonos Play vs HomePod 2: which should you buy?

Bose has been conspicuously absent from the premium wireless multi-room speaker space of late.

Denon has recently unveiled its revamped Home 2 series of versatile smart speakers, Apple has plenty of iOS fans enjoying the talents of its HomePod 2 and HomePod Mini, and Sonos continues to cling to its multi-room supremacy courtesy of the established Era 100 and Era 300. Bose, conversely, has tended to focus on the portable end of the market in the past couple of years – until now.

Most of the above contenders are locked into their brand’s own dedicated ecosystem, and most have been designed to co-operate with their extended family of connected siblings. Brands these days aren’t just offering you products – they’re pledging a way of life.

That’s certainly the impression we get from Bose and its new Lifestyle range. The US brand launched the Ultra Speaker wireless speaker alongside a Dolby Atmos soundbar and a new subwoofer, teasing a “reimagined approach to home audio" from a new range of products clearly designed to work alongside one another and tie you into a particular ecosystem.

That begs a very important question: what is Bose’s Lifestyle Ultra Speaker offering that the likes of Sonos and Apple don’t already have covered?

Price

The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker’s price differs depending on the finish. The speaker currently sits at £300 / $299 / AU$550 if you go for the standard Black or White Smoke colourways, but if you want to push the boat out and go for Driftwood Sand, that’ll be a hefty increase to £349 / $349.

You can pick up the Award-winning Sonos Era 300 for £359 / $359 / AU$649, offering stern competition for Bose straight out of the gate. You can also get yourself a still-excellent HomePod 2 for £299 / $299 / AU$479 if you’re into the Apple way of life.

Build & design

Bose’s new wireless speaker might be closer to the Sonos Era 300 price-wise, but in terms of its size and shape, it’s more akin to the form of the cheaper and smaller Era 100.

If that shorthand comparison doesn’t help you out much, then imagine a speaker that stands about as tall as an average notebook, with a curved, fabric-covered front panel. It’s a compact and neat design, and while the hourglass configuration of the larger Era 300 may catch more admiring (or quizzical) glances, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker fulfils its brief as a subtle sentinel capable of blending into your audio or cinema set-up.

Bose tends to make its products to a high standard, and the Ultra Speaker is no exception – this is a product that feels built to last.

At the top of the unit are a series of touch-capacitive controls, including volume, a play/pause toggle and a Bluetooth pairing button. We understand that some users feel that touch controls grant a sleeker, more premium appeal, but we find the buttons’ lack of feedback here – be it physical or auditory – undermines the experience somewhat.

Knowing that the speaker has actually registered an action with an accompanying small sound or click would be much more useful than simply having to guess, especially with tricky tasks such as trying to perform a connection reset. You get a chime when toggling the microphone on and off, but that’s about it.

Taking care of sonic duties are a trio of drivers – a 25mm tweeter and a 7.6cm mid/bass driver alongside a 3.8cm up-firing driver – designed to disperse sound evenly around your listening space. Bose doesn't disclose the specific power rating, but we do know that the drivers are powered by Class D amplification.

Like its soundbar and subwoofer siblings, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker uses Bose’s ‘CleanBass’ technology, which combines a rear-firing bass port with digital signal processing to deliver “deep, tight bass”. We’ll get to that later on.

Features

The Ultra Speaker is built, at least in part, to play ball with the rest of the members of its new Lifestyle product family. The speaker can be used on its own or in a pair for stereo playback, or you can add them as surround channels when used with the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar. Do be aware that the speakers aren’t backwards compatible with any of Bose’s older soundbars.

Stereo pairing is a nice asset to have, if you can get it to work. While getting our two test samples to play ball with each other works reasonably well most of the time, the resultant sound is often so out of sync that it becomes unlistenable. We’re not the only ones to have experienced this issue, so let’s hope that Bose will come to the rescue via a firmware update soon.

Stereo pairing bugs aside, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker has ample streaming connectivity. Connecting to your wi-fi network gives you access to streaming features such as Google Cast, Apple AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect, as well as the Alexa Plus voice assistant which you can connect via the app. Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect aren’t available at launch, but we're told both will be arriving via a firmware update down the line. It’s worth noting that there’s no ethernet port for a wired connection to your home network.

If you want a multi-room set-up, the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is accommodating in this regard. You can use the Bose app to create a stereo system or integrate other Lifestyle products, such as the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, into a neat home cinema system, or use the likes of AirPlay or Google Cast to integrate other compatible devices into your set-up.

You can stream using Bluetooth 5.3, too, with the standard AAC and SBC codecs supported. There’s no sign of higher-quality aptX or LDAC codecs here, which might be disappointing for some. An auxiliary 3.5mm input is available around the back of the unit if you want a physical connection to your audio source.

If you’re wondering how you control your new Bose speaker, then yes, there’s an app for that. You could go all Medieval and use the on-unit controls, but if you want to really get the most out of the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, you’ll need the official Bose app.

We might have had issues when it comes to the stereo pairing process, but the Bose app is a good one. It’s a logical, uncluttered and orderly platform that we find very easy to navigate thanks to its big, bold menus and helpful set-up guides.

Sound

We’ll get a quick caveat of our assessment of the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speakers’ sonic capabilities out of the way by confessing that we have to do a bit of tinkering before we get it sounding how we want. The balance you pick will often depend on the characteristics of your listening space and your personal preferences, but we feel the need to increase the bass levels in the EQ settings in order to compensate for what would otherwise be a rather thin reproduction.

Bolstering the lower end does grant, to our ears, a more balanced feel to the speaker’s sound, allowing our test sample to more capably reveal its particular talents.

The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker’s reproduction is clear and composed, with a sound that rarely grates the ear. Notes are well-defined upon arrival, even if the Bose can sound like it overemphasises those all-important leading edges just a tad.

Instruments are crisp and sharp as they land, but the Ultra Speaker could conceivably add more body to that initial bite. The rival Sonos Era 300 is far better in this regard, reproducing instrumental textures – swooning strings, twinkling pianos – with a more natural weightiness that simply outshines the comparative thinness of its Bose rival.

The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is capable of granting tracks a sense of dimensionality thanks to its upward-firing driver. The Bose speaker doesn’t officially support Dolby Atmos, with its ‘TrueSpatial’ technology taking care of spatial processing. This analyses the dimensions of the room in which the speaker is positioned and then optimises your audio to suit your listening space for a more immersive soundstage.

You can adjust the height channel in the app, and you’ll certainly notice the change as you move the in-app slider from 0-10, depending on how much height effect you want from the speaker.

When working to full effect, the resultant soundstage is admirably wide-reaching for a speaker of this size and type, but again, it’s simply outshone by the stunningly cinematic reproduction of the Dolby Atmos-powered Era 300, which renders spatial audio in a more convincing, wide-reaching and immersive manner.

The Era 300 is more convincing in other areas, too. Via Bluetooth or AirPlay, Sonos’ speaker excels across small and large scale dynamic shifts, putting the Bose rival’s somewhat flattened presentation in the shade.

Listen to the first minute of Lana Del Rey’s First Light and you’ll hear what we mean. The introduction of punchy drums and powerful brass land with more authority and power via the Era 300, contrasting starkly with the track’s quiet, enigmatic opening. The track propels itself forward with more vigour via the Sonos, with a purposeful momentum that we don’t find when switching back to the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker.

All isn’t entirely lost for Bose. The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker keeps its taut lower-end reproduction nicely in check, even if we have to boost it a bit to hear it properly, with ‘CleanBass’ tech working nicely with that rear port to deliver upon Bose’s promise of decent low-frequency control.

Bass is reasonably well-integrated with the rest of the frequencies, and rarely do we feel as though those lower registers sound disjointed or overly separated from the rest of our music.

Verdict

The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker does not come cheap. Bose has positioned it as a committedly premium wireless smart speaker, and that’s put it up against some serious competition.

Sadly, Bose’s otherwise game contender doesn’t do enough to justify its considerable outlay, especially when there are more convincing alternatives available at this level. If you’re after a speaker that gives you great spatial audio, an impressive spread of features and better sound overall, we recommend that you pick the five-star Sonos Era 300 instead.

Review published: 13th July 2026

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Build 4
• Features 5

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Best wireless speakers: tried and tested by our expert team

We've already looked at the impact that Apple, especially the iPod, had on the audio world over the past 50 years, ushering in portable music listening and speaker docks that eventually led to the wireless/Bluetooth speakers of today.

But when looking back at the history of hi-fi – especially as we're celebrating 50 years of What Hi-Fi? this year – it's usually the 'glory' days of hi-fi, i.e. the '70s and '80s, that we pore over, ogling vintage turntables, the first few CD players, affordable speakers and hefty stereo amplifiers.

What we don't do often enough is to look at the more recent history of the 2000s; it may feel recent, but there is so much technology peppered through the mid-00s that just doesn't exist anymore.

Case in point: iPod docks. It's easy to forget just how rife the things were after the introduction of the Apple iPod. iPod speaker docks and systems came in a variety of shapes and styles, from cheap and cheerful to premium and approaching hi-fi quality. There was something about that post-Y2K era, in the dawn of a new millennium, that allowed audio brands to experiment and be creative with their speaker dock designs.

You had simple, discreet (all Apple-white, of course) models rubbing shoulders with beefy one-box speakers that experimented with all kinds of curves and unique silhouettes, while a surprisingly tall iPod dock speaker existed alongside a valve-based system.

The iPod dock is now extinct, and the original 30-pin connector with it, but it paved the way for the modern Bluetooth/wireless speakers that we use to stream music from our smartphone every day. Here, we've paid tribute to the five iPod speaker docks that stood out to us in that short-lived but exciting era.

1. Bose SoundDock (2004)

£249
4 stars

The original Bose SoundDock was one of the very first speaker systems dedicated to the iPod. Launched in 2004, it catered to all varieties of the iPod with the 30-pin connector in a compact unit, with a credit card-sized remote letting you control playback and volume. It was a slick system. The cons against it were the slightly loose cradle fit, and no aux-in for non-iPod MP3 players.

We praised its impressive musical credentials, calling it "terrific" thanks to its solid, full-bodied sound, with clear, natural vocal delivery. It had none of the thinness blighting poorer-quality rivals; a lively, punchy rhythm, good bass and detail levels completed the set.

This being the 2000s, we did call the white-and-grey, SoundDock "ultra-stylish" and it was the "most sophisticated" iPod dock around.

That was, until...

2. Monitor Audio i-deck (2005)

£250
5 stars

Monitor Audio launched the i-deck in 2005 and swiftly nabbed five stars and a Product of the Year win at that year's What Hi-Fi? Awards. It was the first iPod speaker dock system that truly impressed us in terms of sound quality. We said "it gives you the looks, flexibility and sound quality of a good hi-fi micro system" and praised its "tremendous" sound quality that went loud with composure and offered a healthy-size soundstage.

"Tunes race along with infectious energy and plenty of enjoyment," we said as the i-deck won yet another group test. A drop by £50 in 2006 further cemented its status as a great sound-per-pound value buy, even as new models from Altec Lansing, Jamo and Apple's own iPod Hi-Fi tried to get in on the action.

The i-deck featured swappable bezels to fit the different styles of iPods around at the time, and even came with a 3.5mm mini-jack input to plug in other MP3 players. It's not the most compact system as it involves three boxes, but the beauty is that you can upgrade those speakers for a better pair too.

We also have to give props to Monitor Audio for making one of the most eye-catching designs – the 'tulip' shaped i-deck 100 from 2011 (£200, 5 stars) – which looks more sci-fi than its earlier efforts.

3. JBL OnBeat Xtreme (2012)

£400
5 stars

JBL is ubiquitous with the best Bluetooth speakers these days, so it should be no surprise that the brand had a whole range of iPod dock speakers. In fact, in November 2012, JBL was the very first brand to launch iPod docks with the new Lightning connector – the OnBeat Micro and Venue LT – when Apple ditched its long-lived 30-pin connection.

Before then, the JBL OnBeat Xtreme snagged the best iPod speaker dock Award in 2012. The OnBeat Xtreme could play music from your portable player in two ways: docking it, or be wirelessly streaming over Bluetooth. It brought non-Apple players into the fold, expanding its versatility and becoming a viable replacement for ageing hi-fi microsystems.

The 'crossed-arms' design was eye-catching, with a solid, appealing build quality for the relatively high price. It sounded great – a fun presentation, ample low-frequency heft (impressive, given the relatively small drivers), and plenty of detail in the clear highs and sweet midrange.

There’s certainly no shortage of low-frequency heft here – impressive, given the OnBeat’s relatively small drivers. Instruments get plenty of breathing space and dynamically it's plenty enjoyable. It can go loud enough to be at neighbour-baiting levels, although the midrange could harden up at this point.

The OnBeat Xtreme was so good it not only was the What Hi-Fi? team's office speaker in the old Teddington office for a good few years, but it also beat a legendary icon...

4. Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin (2007)

£400
5 stars

This is the big one. If it wasn't for the iPod, we wouldn't have the now-iconic blimp-shaped Zeppelin speaker dock. When we first reviewed it in the February 2008 issue, it didn't appear in our usual "First Tests" section at the start of the magazine – it appeared in our dedicated "Temptation" section that was reserved for pricier, "most desirable" high-end models.

That's how much of a novelty the premium, luxuriously built Zeppelin was in comparison to the other humdrum iPod docks of the day. It gave permission for other brands to aim higher – the JBL OnBeat Xtreme (above) and NAD Viso 1 both launched at £500 after the B&W.

The distinctive curved, elongated shape isn't just for style points; it helps minimise the cabinet around each driver unit, which improves dispersion. The drivers underneath were ones used by B&W loudspeakers: a 13cm Kevlar bass driver powered by a 50W digital amp is flanked on either side by 9cm midrange drivers and 25mm metal dome tweeters, each powered by 25W amps.

The resultant sound exceeded all our expectations. "You'll be amazed at the Zeppelin's pace, scale, weight, rhythmic ability and timing," we enthused in our five-star review. Its sense of attack and energy was "thrilling", with our only complaint being that it didn't image as well as rivals with widely spaced speakers.

It was also a tactile joy to use, and its combination of style, build quality and sound left us "smitten".

The Zeppelin gave birth the smaller, less expensive Zeppelin Mini a couple of years later, while you can buy a fully hi-res wireless version of the Zeppelin Pro Edition these days.

5. Fatman iTube Carbon v2.0 (2008)

£350
5 stars

If you don't remember Fatman Audio, you're not alone. The brand specialised in combining iPod docks with valve-based systems, and rather successfully, too. The year after the Zeppelin launched to rave reviews, the Fatman iTube Carbon v2.0 got put in a Group Test with the iconic speaker dock in the September 2008 issue... and won.

The iTube Carbon was far from a discreet-looking iPod dock. "Alongside the Zeppelin's sleek, Manhattan-skyscraper aesthetics it does look like a bit of a shanty town," we said, and not everyone was enamoured of a multi-box system that required separate speakers. You could buy the system sans speakers for £100 and provide your own pair, though.

Despite the inelegance, the Fatman was praised for being the best-sounding iPod speaker dock – it had an "endlessly listenable sound". The warm, eloquent valve characteristics gave songs like Steely Dan's Any Major Dude Will Tell You low-end weight and substance, while percussion and vocals were polished and bright enough. The Carbon "integrates and separates the differing elements confidently" and "excels when it comes to stereo focus and imaging" – the benefit of having separate speakers.

The first iteration of this unit was marred by build and reliability issues, even as we praised the the rich musical insight and "stunning" sound for this price; this v2.0 model addressed our concerns and smartened up the cosmetics considerably, and featured a 3.5mm socket alongside RCA stereo inputs.

Versatile, great-sounding and a unique valve-dock design – the Fatman may not be as fondly remembered as more famous iPod docks, but its spark burned bright at the height of the iPod dock's popularity.

Apple's stronghold over the audio world with the iPod and its 30-pin connector faded when it switched to the smaller Lightning connector. Adoption for the new connector was slow, as having to completely re-haul current audio products proved a pain for many brands.

The introduction of wireless AirPlay and rising popularity of Bluetooth around the same time carved a path towards today's wireless speakers that ditch the dock and feature streaming via Bluetooth, AirPlay, Google Cast and more – proving you don't have to be dependent on the whims of one (giant) tech brand.

But if it were not for the iPod, we wouldn't have such daring, creative, fun and, yes, silly designs that were affordable, compact, and made music available for all.

Below, you'll find a gallery of the variety of iPod docks and speaker systems we tested in the 2000s/2010s, straight from the pages of our What Hi-Fi? magazine archive. You can click on the arrow sign in the bottom-left corner to read the full-size text on each image.

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Canadian manufacturer, PSB Speakers, has launched two new all-in-one wireless speakers as part of its iQ series. The range includes the iQ1, priced at £899 / €999 / $999, and the iQ2, available for £1299 / €1399 / $1499. At this price point, the speaker systems fall into competitive territory, rivalling the five-star KEF LSX II and Award-winning LSX II LT.

Both the iQ1 and iQ2 use the established BluOS streaming platform to give users access to popular music streaming services such as Amazon Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Tidal, as well as internet radio stations such as TuneIn, while also allowing hi-res streaming from connected hard drives.

Other streaming methods include Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and Bluetooth aptX HD. In both models, the internal DAC can natively handle hi-res files up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM.

Wired connections for both models include a pair of RCA stereo inputs, HDMI eARC for connecting to a TV, optical, USB-A and USB-C audio inputs, and a subwoofer output. The speakers also feature a built-in moving-magnet phono stage for connecting a turntable directly.

PSB says the iQ1 and iQ2 systems have been designed to “fit comfortably into everyday spaces”, with humble dimensions of just 14.5 x 24.6 x 19.2cm per speaker.

Both speakers feature fully active designs and DSP crossovers, with tuned bass ports providing “deeper, more powerful bass”.

Their similarities don’t end there. The iQ1 and iQ2 have identical total power outputs of 270 watts via Class D amplification, and they even share the same drivers, employing a 1.9cm aluminium-dome tweeter paired with a 10cm propylene mid/bass driver.

Each speaker has a 90-watt amplifier dedicated to each woofer, but they differ in the way they drive their tweeters; the iQ1’s tweeters share a two-channel amplifier, delivering 45 watts to each unit, while the iQ2’s tweeters are fed by independent 45W amplifiers.

They also differ in how the left and right speakers connect: the iQ1 uses a wired speaker cable; the iQ2 employs a low-latency wireless link.

The iQ series can be controlled using the BluOS Controller app, which is compatible with Android, iOS, macOS and Windows, or via a touch panel on the primary speaker.

Both iQ speaker systems are available now, and the iQ1 comes in in black or white vinyl finishes. The more premium iQ2 comes in black, white, ember red, boreal green, granite grey, and sandstone beige, while a walnut veneer finish costs an extra £100 / €100 / $100.

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Tangent’s new Spectrum II X5 Active BT speakers promise a “balanced, dynamic and natural soundstage”

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 4 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 4 Bluetooth speaker deal

It's remarkable how much performance JBL has managed to wring out of the soap-sized Go 4. It's handsome, well-equipped, durable and, for its size, remarkably talented sonically

The Go 4's IP67 rating means that dust and limited submersion in water will leave no lasting damage, and the general robustness of construction here is truly admirable.

Battery life is up to roughly 7 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".

If your budget is limited, the Go 4 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.

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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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Best Bluetooth speakers: the finest portable sound around

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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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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Our guide to the best Bluetooth speakers for every budget

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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