Best smart speakers 2023: the best voice assistant speakers

Smart tech has become big business in recent years. The idea of having an AI assistant on whom one can rely for all manner of functions, tricks and procedures has been the stuff of sci-fi legend for decades, yet only recently has the world of integrated domestic smart tech truly become a reality. 

One of the areas of explosion in this section has been the smart speaker. Part music player and part robot-assistant, smart speakers can be integrated into your favourite ecosystem to control your home, your music or even the lights in your kitchen. 

The main players in the market right now are Amazon's Alexa, Siri from Apple and Google Assistant, and while many of these handy helpers are tied to a specific platform or set of devices (Siri obviously works best with iPhones and HomePods), there are many products and devices that use these assistants despite being manufactured by separate companies. The Sonos Era 100, for instance, integrates Alexa despite being a Sonos-made product.

Getting to know your way around the best smart speakers can be seriously tricky and, as you'll have gathered, there are multiple parameters at play here, as not only do you need to consider your favourite ecosystem and/or AI assistant, there's also the small matter of sound quality, feature lists and build quality thrown into the mix. With this list of the best smart speakers, all of which have been tested by our expert team of reviewers, we hope to make navigating this tricky maze a whole lot simpler.  

Harry McKerrell

Harry McKerrell is a staff writer at What Hi-Fi?. He studied law and history at university before working as a freelance journalist covering TV and gaming for numerous platforms both online and in print. When not at work he can be found playing hockey, practising the piano or forcing himself to go long-distance running.

The quick list

We've given you a handy breakdown of all the smart speakers this list has to offer in short summary of their strengths and weaknesses below. If you need more info, just click the photo of the speaker you want to find out more about and you'll be taken to a more in-depth breakdown of its tech specs, features and performance.

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The best smart speakers 2023

Best smart speaker overall

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In terms of overall performance at a cost that doesn't price you out of the market, we can't think of many better smart speakers than the Sonos Era 100. Released as a cheaper, slimmer model 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 great option as a smart home speaker that will suit most needs almost all of the time. 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 that works superbly as a dedicated music player and a clever smart speaker. 

Read the full Sonos Era 100 review

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Best smart speaker for spatial audio

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Right now, smart speakers don't come much more impressive than the Sonos Era 300, especially if you happen to want home spatial audio as a matter of priority. 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. By far the best smart speaker for spatial audio on the market, and easily one of the best models available if you have the money. 

Read the full five-star review: Sonos Era 300

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Best budget smart speaker

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If the HomePod 2 is too big for your living space and you don't want to splash the cash but you still want a smart speaker to integrate into your Apple ecosystem, the HomePod Mini is your best bet. At just 8.4cm tall and 9.8cm wide, it’s quite a bit smaller than the similarly spherical Amazon Echo, but it certainly doesn't lack for power. Get its swirling orb of coloured light up and running (when Siri is listening or processing) 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.

Apple products have occasionally laboured under the reputation of being a little overpriced, but the HomePod Mini, hovering around the £100 / $100 mark, actually seems like superb, Award-winning value.

Read the full review: Apple HomePod Mini 

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Best smart speaker for Alexa

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Love Alexa? We'd heartily recommend the cheap and very cheerful fifth generation of the Echo Dot. 

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)

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Best portable smart speaker

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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. Most smart speakers are welded to the mains as part of their nature, but the A1 has Alexa capabilities while also being a well-made and sophisticated piece of portable tech.

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)