The 8 Best Bluetooth Speakers - Fall 2022 Reviews

The best Bluetooth speaker that we've tested is the Sonos Move. It's a premium, versatile choice that can please many different listeners, with built-in smart features so you can control it with your voice. With a sleek design, it fits easily into your home decor, and it's still portable enough to bring with you on the go. There's even an IP56 rating for dust and water resistance, meaning that it's safe to use near pools and lakes, and it's certified for protection against direct contact with water for up to three minutes.

If you love listening to music, podcasts, and audiobooks, the speaker's a good choice for you, too. Simply connect your phone or other mobile devices over Bluetooth to stream your favorite tunes, and you enjoy a clear and accurate reproduction of voices and other instruments in the mix. Its room correction feature, found with other premium speakers, adjusts its audio output based on your room's unique acoustics, too, which is great. You even have bass and treble adjustments on hand if you want to customize its sound.

The Sony SRS-XG300 is a more affordable alternative to the Sonos Move, making it the best Bluetooth speaker in the upper mid-range we've tested. It's a stylish speaker with a boombox-like design, and its built-in carrying handle makes it easy to carry with you from place to place. Plus, you can choose between two different color variants based on your style—either Black or Light Gray. There are even RGB lights on the sides to bring some more flair to your next listening session.

The speaker's frequency response is quite balanced, so it's suitable for listening to lots of different types of audio content. Dialogue in podcasts and audiobooks is clear and accurate, and there's plenty of detail to bring instruments to life in your favorite songs. You can also switch up its performance with its graphic EQ and presets in the Sony Music Center app. Compared to the Sonos Move, there's no built-in voice assistant, though. Instead, you'll have to pair a phone with Siri or Google Assistant capabilities to the speaker to use it through another device. It's not quite as handy, but for the price, it's still a solid pick.

The Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 3 is another great Bluetooth speaker available at a more wallet-friendly price. It's a small, cylindrical speaker, also available in a wide array of different colors to meet your preferences. Its small size makes it easy to bring out when you go outside, and there's even a built-in hook to attach it to your backpack. There's also an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, just in case you want to bring it to the pool or use it near the kitchen sink.

Pairing your phone over Bluetooth makes it easy to enjoy your favorite tunes on this speaker. Its default sound adds some extra boom in the bass, bringing genres like EDM and hip-hop to life. Voices and lead instruments remain clear in the mix, and the added punch doesn't overwhelm them. With your phone connected over Bluetooth, you can use its companion app to switch up its sound, thanks to the included graphic EQ. However, there are no voice assistant capabilities—even with your phone connected. If you want a voice assistant, you'll want to pay a little more for one of the top speakers on our list, but if you don't need it, you may find that the Ultimate Ears is the better value overall.

The Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 3 is the best wireless speaker we've tested in the lower mid-range. For its price, it offers a versatile performance with a fun design that you can find in plenty of different color variants. This speaker is designed to bring with you on the go, so it's not quite as stylish as some of our top picks, but you still have a built-in hook to clip it onto your backpack. Plus, there's an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, meaning it's certified to be fully dust-tight and immersible in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. It's even advertised to float in water, which is pretty cool.

This speaker has no trouble reproducing dialogue in podcasts and audiobooks, and it brings detail to the voices and instruments in your favorite music genres. You won't find a companion app like the Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 3, so you're pretty limited when it comes to customizing its sound. However, its 'Outdoor' preset is designed for when you take it with you to the park or the pool, as it makes your audio sound more crisp and clear. If you're on a tighter budget, this speaker's a great option.

Looking for the best wireless speaker on a budget? Check out the Anker Soundcore Flare 2. It's another portable speaker with a small design, so you can easily bring it on the go. It comes with an IPX7 rating for water resistance that certifies it to be immersible in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes, so while the manufacturer doesn't advertise it to float in water like the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 3, it's still a great poolside companion. It even comes with multi-colored lights, which you can customize to add to the atmosphere at your next party.

The speaker has a pretty balanced sound, making it suitable for listening to lots of different types of audio content. There's even a graphic EQ in its Soundcore companion app to help you customize its sound, as well as a 'BassUp' feature to add more boom to the mix. However, the manufacturer doesn't say it can float in water like the WONDERBOOM 3, and it's not designed to withstand small drops and falls, either. Its eight-hour battery life may be suitable for shorter listening sessions, but it isn't quite as impressive as the 22-hour performance offered by the WONDERBOOM. Still, it's a good pick overall.

If you're looking for something cheaper, consider the Anker Soundcore 2. Since the release of the Anker Soundcore 3, this speaker has become a great, cheap option that offers a good performance for its price range. While it doesn't produce a bass as deep as the Soundcore 3 and the Anker Soundcore Flare 2, it still produces the deepest bass we've tested compared to similarly priced portable speakers. While it isn't compatible with the Soundcore app, and you can't access a graphic EQ or presets to tweak its sound, its mid-range is still balanced, ensuring vocals and lead instruments sound clear and present in the mix. It means it's suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content. Higher-pitched voices and instruments sound a bit dark at times, though.

Also, its similarly small and lightweight design to the Soundcore 3 makes it incredibly portable, so you can easily throw it in your backpack when you're on the go. It has a long-lasting battery life of 15 hours on a single charge, making it great for long listening sessions. It comes with an IPX7 rating for water resistance that certifies it to be immersible in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes, so you don't have to worry about getting it wet when taking it outdoors.

Prepared to splurge on the best-sounding Bluetooth speaker to keep at home? Check out the Denon Home 350. This home speaker offers a slightly boomy sound profile that can produce a deep, thumpy, and rumbling low-bass that'll please fans of bass-heavy music. The rest of its range is balanced, so vocals and lead instruments sound clear and present in the mix. There are bass and treble adjustments in its companion app to customize its sound to your liking.

This smart speaker also offers outstanding voice assistant support with Alexa built-in. You can activate Alexa with your voice and mute the speaker when you no longer want it listening to you. It does an excellent job of registering your commands when you're far away from the speaker and when you're in noisier rooms. You can also connect the speaker to a compatible Denon soundbar to upgrade your home theater setup. However, this large and heavy speaker isn't designed to be very portable like the Sonos Move since it needs to remain connected to a power outlet for it to work.

The best speaker for parties we've tested is the JBL PartyBox 310. This large speaker is battery-powered, has telescopic handles, and includes built-in wheels to help transport it. It can get incredibly loud, so it can easily fill large crowded spaces. It can even get a bit louder when wired to a power outlet. With its Bass Boost feature set to '1' and placed horizontally, it has a boomy sound profile suitable for different audio content. You can customize its sound to your liking using the graphic EQ in its companion app. Its battery lasts over 17 hours from a single charge, which is great for long parties, though this can vary depending on your usage habits and chosen volume levels.

You can customize its RGB lights in the app, and it comes with a 12V DC In port that you can use to charge the speaker from your car's lighter port. There are also mic and mic/guitar inputs, each with volume knobs and gain adjustments, and the PartyBox app features DJ and Karaoke features. If you're looking for a more affordable party speaker, check out the ION Pathfinder 280. Unfortunately, it doesn't produce bass as deep and doesn't feature mic or guitar inputs. That said, it's smaller, making it more portable. It also gets almost as loud with less compression at max volume, resulting in cleaner audio quality when you max out the volume.