Smart speakers are a growing category in both the worlds of audio and the smart home, but knowing which one to get, or if you should choose a smart speaker as opposed to a dedicated wireless speaker, can be tricky for a number of reasons.
Firstly, smart speakers are, by their very nature, rigidly locked into wider ecosystems. Any speaker you test will generally run using either Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri or Google Assistant, and it’s these digital helpers that let you quiz your speaker about today’s weather, check your calendar or even control your music.
Each is then also usually tied to a specific smart home platform, which informs what other equipment it can interact with and control. You won’t be able to use an Amazon Echo Dot to control your Apple TV 4K, for example.
Even if you know which platform you want, not every smart speaker doing the rounds is worth your time, attention and money. Many don’t offer best-in-class audio, with their manufacturers focussing more on their AI-assisted smarts than their sonic capabilities.
This handy guide detailing all the top-scoring products we’ve personally tried and tested should help you avoid investing in a subpar product. Every smart speaker on this list has been sampled by our team of reviewers, both in our listening rooms and home environments, to ensure you can make a smart choice when investing your time and money.
How to choose the best smart speaker for you
Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.
The first thing to consider is compatibility. Many smart speakers are platform agnostic, so they'll work with both Android and iOS devices, but the Apple HomePod Mini isn't much use without an iPhone or Apple OS device to set it up.
Read more
It's also worth thinking about which ecosystem you use most. While most voice assistants do work with other services, they're tightly integrated with those made by their creators, making them much slicker to use. If you frequently use Google's services, for instance – Calendar, Maps, Gmail – maybe a product with Google Home baked in would be best for you. Love shopping at Amazon and have a Prime account? An Amazon Echo might be right up your alley. Or maybe you want more flexibility and a wider choice of streaming features (hi, Sonos).
Finally: sound quality. We're What Hi-Fi?, so the audio quality of a smart speaker still very much matters over the AI tech. This can vary quite a lot between models and manufacturers, and while spending more doesn't always guarantee a better listening experience, you do get the benefit of your investment here. Some of the smaller smart speakers are limited purely because of their dimensions, so be realistic about your budget and what to expect. Find the right balance between great sound for your tunes and a helpful AI assistant, though, and you're on to a winner - like these top choices below.
From cheap budget options to premium sonic experiences, read on for our pick of the best smart speakers.
Right now, smart speakers don't come much more impressive than the Sonos Era 300. Ever since Apple's HomePod 2 landed early in 2023 with the ability to deliver spatial audio, the race has been on to see who could challenge the biggest dog on the block when it came to integrating the much-vaunted tech into their own speaker designs. With the Era 300, Sonos has delivered a smart speaker capable of voice integration alongside revolutionary sound and an embarrassment of cutting-edge features to rival the best that Apple has to offer.
Smart features are courtesy of Amazon Alexa and Sonos's own voice control, the latter of which you can use to control music playback only. There's no Google Assistant integration in the Era speakers sadly, due to a change in Google’s technical requirements for third-party devices.
With its unique, “cinched hourglass” shape, there’s no question that the Era 300 is a bit more of an acquired taste than most of the brand’s rather more conservative designs, but what isn't up for debate is how superbly the five-star Era 300 manages to perform. In short, it is absolutely excellent.
Music-wise, throw whatever you like at the Era 300, chances are it has it covered, filling our testing rooms with cohesive, spacious sound without a hint of a struggle. Big choral numbers feel broad and immersive thanks to spatial audio, but the Era 300 excels seemingly with all genres; hip-hop, classic rock, movie soundtracks, it’s all covered with ease. Yes, it’s expensive and yes, it smacks of a rip-off having to pay 20 quid extra for a wired connector, but the Era 300 has earned the right to be cheeky.
A truly five-star performer, and one of the best smart speakers you could hope to find right now.
Read the full five-star review: Sonos Era 300
Released alongside the superb Era 300, the Era 100 keeps up with its bigger, more expensive brother by delivering a host of streaming playback features within another excellent-sounding speaker. Most of the same smart capabilities are on display here, too, including Sonos's voice control and access to Amazon Alexa (but no Google Assistant here).
If you’re not keen on forking out the somewhat whopping £449 / $449 / AU$749 asking price for the Era 300, the Era 100 is a fine option as a smart home speaker. Just like its heftier counterpart, the 100 delivers a big, open sound, a lovely sense of rhythmic drive and all the detail and precision you could hope for at this price point. The app is excellent to use, the number of streaming features is, frankly, vast, and everything is as well-made and reliable as you’d expect.
Again, Sonos rarely delivers what you’d call ‘budget’ options in the best wifi and smart speakers categories, and we’re still not delighted to be forking out extra for a wired connection, but if you’re still happy to spend a decent amount of cash without making as much of a dent in your funds as the 300, the Era 100 is a five-star banker.
Read the full five-star review: Sonos Era 100
If you love Apple tech and want a great-sounding smart speaker with room-filling audio, the HomePod 2 is almost certainly the best option we’ve tested. Apple's five-star model is the larger option in the Californian brand's current line-up, sitting above the smaller HomePod Mini in terms of weight and size. It's also one of the finest Apple products around today.
The HomePod 2's main draw is its ability to scan and optimise its audio settings for the room and position it's in on the fly, something which worked superbly during our own tests. Picking it from a place in free space and moving it close to a wall, our testers could hear it changing its settings in real-time - mainly by reducing unwanted or unnecessary bass.
We were particularly impressed with how well the HomePod 2 dealt with SBTRKT’s Trials Of The Past in Apple Lossless, a very taxing track that most of the affordable smart speakers in this list struggle to deal with. Listening to it on the HomePod, though, was blissfully free of the sibilance we often encounter during tests.
Once set up, the in-built mics and smart features all worked perfectly. Siri universally heard and enacted our voice commands, even while music was playing and we were talking to the speaker from across the room. We were also hugely impressed by the built-in temperature and humidity sensors which can be used to create custom automations in your smart home.
From top to bottom, the HomePod 2 is the smart speaker to beat for dedicated Apple acolytes.
Read our full Apple HomePod 2 review
If the HomePod 2 is too big for your living space but you still want a smart speaker to integrate into your Apple ecosystem, the HomePod Mini is your next best bet. At just 8.4cm tall and 9.8cm wide, it’s quite a bit smaller than the similarly spherical Amazon Echo, even managing the rather diminutive Echo Dot to dwarf it. Get its swirling orb of coloured light up and running (when Siri is listening or processing) though, and you realise you've got a classy little performer on your hands.
Siri is your voice assistant, and after a short period of learning it'll respond to the phrase “Hey Siri, play something I'll like” not by streaming your most played track of the last few weeks, but by playing something that you probably haven't heard before but which has been curated to fit in with your current listening habits and tastes. It’s a really powerful way to discover new music, and Alexa is nowhere near as good at it.
It goes loud, too. From the moment we start playing music, it’s clear that the HomePod Mini comfortably outperforms its size and price, quite frankly embarrassing its direct competition with the sophistication and maturity of its sound.
Read the full review: Apple HomePod Mini
Amazon's smart speaker range has become big business in the last decade or so, with Alexa becoming almost synonymous with the whole concept of integrated, domestic AI. The latest addition to this wildly popular series of affordable smart speakers is the Echo Dot (5th Generation), a tempting performer that practically gives itself away thanks to its meagre asking price and five-star quality.
Not that the Dot feels cheap. Whereas once Alexa was a one-note performer capable of answering basic questions about the weather and or what the capital of France is, now she's as filled to the brim with skills and knowledge as Keanu Reeves after he's been uploaded with various handy computer programs (although she doesn't, as of yet, "know Kung fu"). The Dot's cybernetic assistant is more helpful than ever before, stuffed with so many tricks and quirks that you'll often find yourself falling into the trap of speaking to Alexa as though it, or rather she, were a real person.
Audio has come a long way, too. We weren't hugely keen on the sound of Amazon's early Echo models, but the trajectory has been very much one of continual improvement courtesy of Jeff Bezos' tireless team of audio tinkerers. Amazon's so-called “best-sounding Echo Dot yet” lives up to its billing thanks to a single 44mm front-firing speaker (4mm larger than the previous gen’s 40mm), offering sound that feels, for the size, weighty, listenable and surprisingly versatile.
Read the full review: Amazon Echo Dot (5th Generation)
You might not even realise it, but the hugely impressive Beosound A1 qualifies as a smart speaker thanks to its built-in Alexa compatibility and support from Qualcomm’s latest aptX Adaptive Bluetooth 5.1 codec. Most smart speakers do tend to come courtesy of Apple, Amazon and Sonos, making it all the more remarkable that B & O's rugged, well-made and superb-sounding Beosound A1 also qualifies for a spot on this list.
In fact, the Besound A1 is something of a Jack-of-all-trades, master of many. Sonically, the well-made and portable model offers a pleasingly comfortable yet authoritative performance that you'd be happy listening to all day, complimenting your musical catalogue with broad, full sound and confident presentation. Sound performance is authoritative and expansive with a weighty, pleasing bass feel, and there's even a convenient strap for ease of transport for what is still a primarily portable unit.
It's expensive, sure, but if you have money to spend, the smart Beosound A1 is a rather remarkable all-rounder.
Read the full review: Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen)
Amazon's inaugural smart speaker returned with a whole new look, a built-in Zigbee smart hub, and more potential under its new 100 per cent recycled hood. You don’t need an especially keen eye to realise that Amazon started from scratch for the fourth-generation Echo, as most of the changes are utterly self-evident.
The puck design of the third generation was ousted with the arrival of the fourth model, and in came a Magic 8-Ball-esque sphere that, rather fittingly, can be asked any question you want.
There's an impressive selection of third-party support, too, provided you’ve linked your streaming service accounts, and the Echo will play music from Apple Music, Spotify or Deezer over wi-fi. Even if you don’t link any music-provider subscriptions, the Echo will play from Amazon Music by default.
Alexa feels present and useful but not imposing, while the Alexa app support makes placement and multi-room configurations a breeze. The audio quality, meanwhile, may be a notch below superb, but it easily passes the sound-per-pound value test for a smart home hub of this modest price.
Read the full review: Amazon Echo (4th generation)
Yes, a device sporting a screen on a list of smart speakers. Sacrilege to some, yet there's no denying how competent the Google Nest Hub is as both something to be heard as well as played with. To put the Nest Hub’s 7in (1024 x 600) touchscreen into context, by the way, the display real estate is only marginally bigger than the 6.7 inch one sported by the largest iPhone 12 Pro Max when measured on the diagonal - even if there's no camera for selfies, video calls or security duties.
There are, however, plenty of music streaming and TV services available, including All 4, Deezer, Netflix and Disney Plus. The headline-grabber, however, is Sleep Sensing, a motion-tracking system that analyses your slumber, with the Nest Hub including Google’s Soli sensor for motion detection, plus light and temperature sensors to get a handle on what's going on when you're getting some shut-eye.
The Amazon Echo Show 10 provides a similar smart-speaker-with-screen alternative, but it's almost three times the price of the Google Nest Hub. Thanks to Disney Plus, Sleep Sensing tech and the delivery of a solid soundscape, the Nest Hub is a worthy proposition if it meets your criteria.
Read the full review: Google Nest Hub (2nd Generation)
If you want to get fully ensconced with the world of the digital assistant – and by that we mean with both audio and video – this is as good a starting point as we’ve come across.
Where most Alexa-enabled kit on the market is audio based, the Echo Show 5 embraces both sound and video to communicate across various mediums. As well as playing music or reading out information, you can access video content on the Echo Show 5's 5.5-inch LCD touchscreen, while an HD camera lets you make Skype calls (for example) or else view images from cameras in other rooms of the house.
Sound quality is solid considering what it is, even if the Echo Show 5 can be beaten by more audio-focused rivals at this level. Still, given that this is a bulging £80 box of tricks that opens up the world of the digital assistant to a whole new audience for both audio and video, middling audio can just about be forgiven. If you want sound, screen and a virtual companion all in one, this is about as good as you’ll get for under £100.
Read the full review: Amazon Echo Show 5
The second-generation Sonos One might have been superseded in recent times, but let's not forget just how impressive Sonos' five-star performer remains. The integration of Amazon's Alexa smart assistant for voice controls alongside Google Assistant took the smart speaker to the next level, while its room-filling sound helps the One stand apart from the glut of models that are smart first and actual speakers second. Throw in Apple's AirPlay 2 tech and the fact that the One fits seamlessly into a multi-room set-up, and you've still got a real winner on your hands.
Yes, the newer Sonos Era 100 has rather stolen the One's thunder as of late, but that doesn't diminish the qualities of one of Sonos' most popular wireless speakers, especially when you factor in the One's compatibility with Alexa and Google, perfect for anyone who wants the choice of the two smart assistants for households that mix and match ecosystems.
The arrival of the Era range is also good news for Sonos bargain hunters, as it has meant a significant price drop for slightly older models like this One. A five-star Sonos speaker at a discount is nothing to be sniffed at, after all.
Read the full review: Sonos One
The Audio Pro Addon C5A is almost identical to the Addon C5, which was our wireless speaker Product of the Year in 2017, a bright, hugely likeable speaker that earned its stripes as one of the finest examples of its kind in the market at that time.
The big addition brought in by the C5A was the integration of Amazon Alexa (hence the 'A'), adding some voice control-flavoured icing to an already Award-winning cake.
Available for the price of an Addon C5 plus the cost of an Amazon Echo product bolt-on, the C5A brings the whole package into one tidy, easy-to-set-up box. With that same Award-winning sound and Audio Pro's unerring commitment to dynamic sound presentation in a portable package, the C5A is the ideal combination for those who want an alternative to the usual suspects, but still an excellent Alexa wireless speaker that can be expanded into a full-blown multiroom system.
Read the full review: Audio Pro Addon C5A
How we test smart speakers
We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of experienced, in-house reviewers test the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door.
What is important in our reviewing process is that each product is compared to the best in its price and class – whether that's one standout smart speaker or a few we favour the highest among the scores we listen to each year for reviews and What Hi-Fi? Awards judging. What Hi-Fi? is all about comparative testing, so we keep our Award-winners nearby to enable unbiased comparisons between new products and ones we know to have performed highly in the category.
We are always impartial and do our utmost to make sure we're hearing every product at its very best, so we'll try plenty of different types of music and give each one extensive listening time – including time to run in. It's not just about sound quality, of course. If a product has noteworthy features (including specific smart skills) we'll ensure part of our testing involves trialling the claims made by its makers.
All review verdicts are agreed upon by the entire team, rather than an individual reviewer, to eliminate any personal preference and to make sure we're being as thorough as possible. There's no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdicts or star ratings in our reviews.
MORE:
See our pick of the best wireless speakers
Check out the best portable speakers: brilliant budget Bluetooth speakers
Apple HomePod vs HomePod 2: which is better?
Sonos Era 300 and Era 100: everything you need to know