A good Bluetooth speaker is a modern-day essential. Whether you’re at home, outdoors, or anywhere in between, you can enjoy high-quality audio wherever you go.
They come in all shapes and sizes, and there’s a Bluetooth speaker for every budget. Some are great for sheer portability, while others produce astoundingly good sound. These are our current favourite Bluetooth speakers that’ll make your favourite music sound even better.
Best Bluetooth speaker 2024
Best overall Bluetooth speaker: Sonos Era 100
For $399, the Sonos Era 100 is hands-down the best speaker, Bluetooth or otherwise, under $500. Supporting both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, the Era 100 is an incredible evolution of Sonos’ audio engineering.
Incredibly, for a relatively small device, it deftly produces clear audio separation, to the point of sounding like two separate speakers. Other than stellar sound quality and great bass levels for such a small unit, the Sonos Era 100 also steps up the smarts. It’s easy to enjoy multi-room audio with multiple speakers, plus it supports Apple AirPlay 2 and Amazon Alexa connectivity. This is the best Bluetooth speaker thanks to its overall value and performance.
Best premium speaker: Sonos Era 300
If your budget stretches further, the also-brilliant Sonos Era 300 is the bigger sibling of the Sonos Era 100. In return for its more expensive $749 price tag, you gain spatial audio and lossless audio support. If you’re not familiar with the format, spatial audio is an object-based format that gives greater depth to the listening experience.
Like the Era 100, the Sonos Era 300 is a stellar Bluetooth speaker. It supports a wide range of streaming services and boasts an impressive soundstage. In this price range, it’s more for audio aficionados but produces excellent results.
Best value speaker: BlueAnt X3i Bluetooth
Read the BlueAnt X3i Bluetooth review
Doubling as a speaker and a power bank, the BlueAnt X3i is a great value Bluetooth speaker. Easy to take out and about, it also withstands the elements thanks to an IP67 rating. Australian-made, this Bluetooth speaker blasts music loudly with a pleasingly full sound.
You can even pass the AUX cord, with a 3.5mm jack included. For $249, the BlueAnt X3i is a great value portable speaker.
Best Apple speaker: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation
Read the Apple HomePod 2nd Generation review
If you’re an Apple-centric household and want the most seamless smart home integration with your iPhone, the HomePod 2nd Generation is an easy choice. Although it’s technically not a Bluetooth speaker in the strictest sense, it does have Bluetooth technology, albeit restricted to Apple devices.
If you don’t need to use Android devices, the latest version of the HomePod packs a punch with decent bass levels. It’s surprising how much bass this thing produces for a speaker its size. The tight Siri smart assistant integration is a welcome feature too. There are better-sounding speakers available but the HomePod is a perfect fit for an Apple-based smart home.
Best gaming speaker: SteelSeries Arena 7
Read the SteelSeries Arena 7 review
Outside the conventional picks, the SteelSeries Arena 7 is a great addition to your gaming rig. Not only can you crank up the volume of your favourite PC games, but you can also play music from your phone via Bluetooth.
Despite being 2.1 speakers, they happen to do a good interpretation of spatial audio. Like many SteelSeries peripherals, the Arena 7 supports plenty of customisation in addition to RGB lights that sync with your other accessories. Even though these speakers are tuned for gaming, they still sound great across lots of different music genres.
A solid choice for a set of gaming speakers, the SteelSeries Arena 7 is worth a look.
Want to check out more audio devices? Check out more speaker news on GadgetGuy.
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