The 4 Best Alexa Speakers - Summer 2022 Reviews

The best Bluetooth speaker with Alexa we’ve tested is the Sonos Move. This portable Bluetooth speaker comes with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in, which you can use while connected to a Wi-Fi network. It has no trouble understanding your commands from far away and in noisier rooms, and you can mute its mic when you no longer want the speaker to listen to you. It’s battery-powered and well-built, so you can easily move it from room to room or take it outside with you. Its battery life can also last over 10 hours from a single charge, making it great for long listening sessions, though this can vary depending on your usage habits and chosen volume levels.

Its sound profile is balanced, and its mid-range ensures voices and lead instruments are clearly and accurately reproduced in the mix. It has to downmix stereo content to mono, resulting in a soundstage that isn't as immersive. If you prefer having an Alexa speaker with a wider and more immersive-sounding soundstage, consider the Bose Home Speaker 500. However, it isn’t as portable or as well-built as the Move.

The Amazon Echo Gen 4 is the best budget Alexa speaker we've tested. It has Alexa built-in and has no trouble understanding your commands from far away and in noisy rooms. You can also mute the mic when you no longer want your assistant to hear you. It's advertised to have a built-in Zigbee hub, so you can use Alexa to control smart home devices like lightbulbs and thermostats. However, since it's designed for use at home, it needs to remain plugged into a power outlet for it to work. Its default sound profile is slightly boomy, with a balanced mid-range that reproduces vocals and lead instruments clearly and with detail. Higher-pitched voices and instruments sound a bit dull and dark at times. Fortunately, you can tweak its sound using the bass and treble adjustments featured in its Amazon Alexa app.

If you're looking for an even more affordable option, check out the smaller Amazon Echo Dot Gen 4. However, it doesn't produce an as extended low-bass and downmixes stereo content to mono, resulting in a soundstage that isn't as immersive.

The best Alexa-enabled Bluetooth speaker for bass that we've tested is the Denon Home 350. This loud wired speaker has a slightly boomy sound profile suitable for listening to a wide variety of music genres and can produce the deep thump and rumble in bass-heavy music like EDM and hip-hop, making it a great choice for music lovers. Its balanced mid-range ensures vocals and lead instruments reproduce clearly and accurately in the mix. If you like having control over your speaker's sound, you can customize its sound to your liking, thanks to the bass and treble adjustments featured in its companion app. It has middling directivity resulting in a narrow and directional-sounding soundstage. It also has high Bluetooth latency with iOS and Android devices, which isn't ideal for watching movies and videos.

Alexa is built into this smart speaker, and you can activate the assistant with your voice. It does an excellent job of understanding you from far away and in noisy rooms. You can also mute its mic when you no longer want it listening to you and can even connect it to compatible Denon soundbars to create a home setup. If you don't care for Bluetooth latency or a wide-sounding soundstage, this loud speaker's slightly boomy and customizable sound profile makes it the best Alexa speaker for music and bass that we've tested.

If you're on the hunt for a small speaker that's easy to bring on the go, check out the Bose Portable Smart Speaker. This battery-powered smart speaker comes with a built-in carrying handle to help easily bring it along with you on the go and is even rated IPX4 for water resistance, meaning it's certified to withstand small splashes of water. This means you can bring it outside with you without worrying about it getting a bit wet. Alexa and Google Assistant are built-in and can easily register your command when you're far from the speaker and when you're in noisy environments. You can also use Alexa to make commands to Bose smart products, Amazon Echo products, or anyone in your contacts list.

Its sound profile is slightly boomy out-of-the-box, with a balanced mid-range that ensures vocals and lead instruments to reproduce accurately and with detail in the mix. It also has fantastic directivity thanks to its 360-degree design, resulting in a wide and spacious-sounding soundstage. If you're looking for an even smaller portable speaker for Alexa, consider the Sonos Roam. While its soundstage isn't as spacious-sounding as the Bose, it's smaller, lighter, and better-built.