If you love listening to audio at home, you'll want a speaker to fill your space with your favorite music or podcasts. Nowadays, many speakers offer a sleek, stylish design that can blend in easily with your existing home decor without taking up a lot of space or requiring a lot of unsightly wires and cords. Many speakers have built-in voice assistant capabilities that can help you with your day-to-day tasks, and some even support multi-room features that make it easy to bring your audio with you from one room to the next. If you plan on using your speaker around water, like in your kitchen or bathroom, some speakers also come with waterproof designs.
We've tested over 110 speakers, and below are our recommendations for the best wireless speakers for home use. See our picks for the best smart speakers, the best cheap speakers, and the best Bluetooth speakers.
The best home speaker that we've tested is the Sonos Era 300. This premium device has a sleek and stylish design that's easy to integrate into your home decor, with great sound quality suitable for listening to many different audio content types. You can use the speaker on its own or integrate it into your existing Sonos ecosystem to create a surround sound setup in your living room. It's one of the few speakers we've tested with Dolby Atmos support, too, which is great for enjoying more immersive formats like Dolby Atmos Music found on subscription platforms like Apple Music.
As for its sound, this speaker comes with a room correction tool designed to optimize its audio reproduction based on your room's unique acoustics. It's called Trueplay, and while the full feature is only available with iOS devices, Android users can now access a more simplified version, too. If you'd rather manually adjust the speaker's sound, there are bass and treble adjustments in the Sonos S2 app. Plus, this speaker's built-in Alexa capabilities let you control it hands-free from the comfort of your couch. Overall, it's a feature-packed device that brings a high-quality sound. If you want something more simple, it's a little much, but it's still worth a look.
The Sonos Move is the best wireless speaker for home use in the upper mid-range. It's a unique device that's designed for use both in and out of the home, so it's more versatile than some of the other picks on this list. Still, with a sleek and stylish design, it's easy to fit into your home decor. Built-in Alexa and Google Assistant provide hands-free control, so you can ask either voice assistant to adjust the volume, check the weather, or even add ingredients to your grocery list. The included wireless base is great for charging—but you can use it wired.
Best of all, this speaker lets you bring the party outside, too. The built-in handle makes it easy to transport, and with up to ten hours of battery life, you can listen to your tunes without interruption for a good chunk of the day. Since it's rated IP56 for dust and water resistance, there's some protection against the elements, too. So, what's the difference? The Move lacks some premium features available with the Sonos Era 300, like Dolby Atmos support. Its ability to support the Trueplay room correction tool is also limited to iOS devices, which is disappointing if you're an Android user. Still, if you want something more portable at a more affordable price, it's worth checking out.
The Sonos Era 100 is a more affordable home speaker that's also a great pick for improving your at-home sound. As its name suggests, this speaker is the smaller alternative to the Sonos Era 300, offering many of the same cool features. For example, built-in Alexa support lets you control it with your voice, and you have access to the Trueplay room correction tool on Android and iOS devices. Through the Sonos S2 app, you can connect this speaker with other Sonos devices to spread sound throughout your home or to create a surround sound experience with a compatible soundbar. There's no Dolby Atmos support, but it's not a huge deal if you don't listen to much of this content.
Given its wired-only design, this speaker doesn't offer the same portability as the Sonos Move. It's not rated for dust or water resistance, so it's best to use it indoors, away from any sinks or showers. Still, it's a great addition to any living room, with a stand-out sound quality for the price. Voices and lead instruments are clearly reproduced right out of the box, which is ideal for listening to many different music genres. It's a stereo speaker, unlike the Move, so you get a clear sense of separation between the left and right channels. For a more budget-friendly price, this speaker is a really handy choice.
The Amazon Echo Studio is a great all-around smart home speaker that's more affordable than our top picks. It's one of the best home Bluetooth speakers we've tested, with a sleek design that blends in easily with your home decor. Many smart features are on hand, including built-in Alexa and a Zigbee hub that gives you hands-free control over other compatible smart devices like light bulbs and thermostats. When you use the voice assistant, the light ring on top of the speaker comes to life, so you know it's registered your command. When you're done, you can easily mute the microphone using the button on top of the device.
With its solid sound quality, this speaker is a suitable choice for listening to many different types of content. You won't have any trouble following the action in dialogue-heavy podcasts and audiobooks, and instruments in music are detailed and lively in the mix. Compared to the Sonos Era 100, it doesn't have a room correction feature, so it sounds slightly different depending on the space you're listening in. However, you can use the bass and treble adjustments in the Amazon Alexa app to make up for this. You'll also find multi-room and stereo pairing support in the app to connect it with other compatible speakers.
The best budget home speaker we've tested is the Amazon Echo Gen 4. This smart device has a unique spherical design that makes for a stylish addition to your home decor, and you can find it in several colors to match your aesthetic. Thanks to built-in Alexa support, you can control the device hands-free with only the sound of your voice, making it easy to add ingredients to your shopping list, check the weather, and more. The built-in Zigbee hub gives you control over other smart home devices, like lightbulbs and thermostats. For more private moments, you can mute Alexa's microphone.
This speaker's sound quality is solid, making it a great choice for listening to music, podcasts, and more in the comfort of your home. Dialogue is easy-to-follow, and the clear reproduction of voices and other instruments brings a pleasant and accurate sound to the mix. Adjust its bass and treble levels in the Amazon Alexa app if you want a different sound. While this smaller device doesn't get quite as loud as the larger Amazon Echo Studio, as long as you're listening in an average-sized room, it won't be much of an issue.
The Google Nest Mini is a great place to start if you're new to the home speaker space. This wallet-friendly device offers a solid voice assistant performance, even compared with the pricier models on our list. Built-in Google Assistant gives you hands-free control over your device right from the comfort of your couch. It's also available in several colors, so you can pick a variant that best suits your style. With a sleek design covered in tight-knit fabric, it blends right into your existing home decor.
This speaker is a solid choice for listening to everything from music to podcasts to audiobooks. Voices and lead instruments are clearly and accurately reproduced from the jump, so you enjoy a clear and clean sound. Given its small size, though, it can't bring as much rumble in the bass as larger models on our list, like the Amazon Echo Gen 4. It still has many customization tools to help you switch up its sound, including bass and treble adjustments. This speaker is a great option for those looking for a low-price way to get voice assistant support at home.
If style is your top priority, you'll be happy to know that more and more home speakers on the market are adapting innovative designs, so they can blend right in with your existing decor. The IKEA SYMFONISK Bookshelf is the best we've tested, and as its name suggests, it's designed for use as a bookshelf. Available in black and white, it's easy to mount to your wall using the compatible brackets sold separately. Since you can control its features through the Sonos S2 app, you don't have to worry about handling the speaker once it's in place.
That's right—this speaker is a collaboration between IKEA and Sonos, so it has many of the same features available on Sonos' more premium models. With Trueplay room correction, you can optimize the speaker's output based on your room's unique acoustics. If you prefer manual calibration, you'll find bass and treble adjustments. Plus, the app lets you connect other Sonos speakers to spread audio throughout multiple rooms in your home, which is neat. With such a unique build, this speaker is worth a look.
Jun 01, 2023: The Amazon Echo Dot Gen 4 is no longer available, so we've replaced it with the Google Nest Mini as the 'Best Cheap' pick.
May 12, 2023: The Sonos Era 300 replaces the Denon Home 350 as the 'Best Overall' pick, as it has a better soundstage and more features like Dolby Atmos support. The Sonos Era 100 replaces the Apple HomePod (2nd Generation) as the 'Best Mid-Range', given that it's more customizable and supports Bluetooth.
Apr 14, 2023: Confirmed product picks. Minor text updates for clarity.
Mar 17, 2023: Added the Apple HomePod (2nd generation) as our 'Best Mid-Range' pick.
Feb 15, 2023: Confirmed picks and made minor changes to the text for accuracy.
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best home speakers for music and other uses for most people to buy, according to their needs. We factor in the price (cheaper speakers win over pricier ones if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no speakers that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).
If you would like to choose for yourself, here's the list of all our reviews for speakers, including the best home Bluetooth speakers. Be careful not to get caught up in the details. There are no perfect speakers. Personal taste, preference, and listening habits will matter more in your selection.