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The 5 Best-Sounding Bluetooth Speakers - Black Friday 2024

Updated Nov 28, 2024 at 10:13 am
Best-Sounding Bluetooth Speakers

If you care about how your tunes sound, you'll want a speaker with good sound quality to reproduce music, podcasts, and audiobooks with fidelity. Thankfully, there are plenty of great Bluetooth speakers on the market to meet your needs. Plus, many speakers support sound customization tools, so you can switch up their sound based on your personal preferences or adjust their output to meet the unique acoustic characteristics of your listening space.

We've tested over 155 speakers, and below, you'll find our recommendations for the great-sounding Bluetooth speakers. If you want more options, you can also look at the best Bluetooth speakers, the best waterproof Bluetooth speakers, and the loudest Bluetooth speakers.


  1. Best-Sounding Bluetooth Speaker

    The JBL Boombox 3 is one of the best-sounding Bluetooth speakers we've tested. Right out of the box, this premium speaker brings an impressive sound quality suitable for everything from classical music to EDM and hip-hop. Its balanced frequency response ensures plenty of thumpy, rumbly bass without muddying vocals and lead instruments, so you'll enjoy a clear and accurate reproduction of all your favorite tracks. If you want a different sound, the JBL Portable app features a graphic EQ that lets you customize its output.

    This speaker is great for listening to music at home or outside. Since it's battery-powered, you can take it wherever you go, and its IP67 rating for dust and water resistance keeps it safe against the elements. It even floats in water, which is great for your next pool party. With a battery life of almost 30 hours, you can rock on all day without worrying about a recharge.

    See our review

  2. Best-Sounding Upper Mid-Range Bluetooth Speaker

    The Ultimate Ears EPICBOOM is a great alternative if you're looking for a Bluetooth speaker at a more affordable price. While it reproduces a little less thumpy low-bass than the JBL Boombox 3, this speaker remains a great pick for all sorts of music genres, and it has lots of tools to make the most of its sound. Notably, as with other premium speakers, it has a room correction tool called Adaptive EQ designed to optimize its sound based on your room's unique acoustics. You can manually adjust its performance with its graphic EQ and presets if you prefer.

    Thanks to its portable design, this speaker is more than suitable for listening wherever you go. It's a little larger and heavier than some of our budget picks, but it's still easy to carry in one hand with its built-in strap. Plus, it's rated IP67 for dust and water resistance, so it can withstand a little wear and tear. That said, its 7.8-hour battery life isn't the most impressive, especially compared to the more premium JBL. Still, this speaker is worth checking out if you want a great sound at an even better price.

    See our review

  3. Best-Sounding Mid-Range Bluetooth Speaker

    Looking for something more wallet-friendly? Check out the Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 4. Despite its mid-range price point, its sound quality rivals some of our top picks. Whether you're listening to classical music or bass-heavy pop tunes, it's a solid choice. It reproduces voices and lead instruments with relative clarity, albeit with a little extra boom in the bass. Best of all, this speaker is lightweight and super portable. Its built-in hook makes it easy to transport, and it's rated IP67 for dust and water resistance.

    The Ultimate Ears app has many of the same sound customization features as more premium devices on the market, including a graphic EQ and presets. That said, it can't reproduce as much low-bass as the Ultimate Ears EPICBOOM due to its smaller size, and its lack of room correction feature means it sounds a little different depending on your room. If you don't mind manual customization, you may find it's the better value overall.

    See our review

  4. Best-Sounding Budget Bluetooth Speaker

    You don't have to break the bank to find a speaker with good sound quality. The Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 4 is a great option for the budget-conscious and offers versatile performance at a low price. It's a smaller, more portable speaker ideal for on-the-go listening. It floats in water, so you can use it at your next pool party, and its IP67 rating for dust and water resistance helps keep it safe against the elements. It lasts around 13 hours off a single charge, too.

    While you won't get much low-bass out of this pint-sized speaker, voices and lead instruments are clear and detailed right out of the box, making it suitable for most genres. Plus, its 360-degree design brings a consistent sound from all angles around the device. Fewer sound customization tools are available than on the Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 4. However, it still has an Outdoor preset to make music clearer in larger, more open spaces like a backyard. If you're willing to spend a bit more, you can also opt for the Sony ULT FIELD 1, which has a more balanced default sound, as well as a graphic EQ and presets in the companion app. However, its directivity is much worse than the Ultimate Ears, and it compresses much more at max volume.

    See our review

  5. Best-Sounding Bluetooth Speaker For Bass

    Cyber Monday Deal: The JBL PartyBox 310 has dropped in price by $199 at BestBuy.com.

    The JBL PartyBox 310 is a great party speaker for bass lovers. It's much larger than the previous speakers on this list, but with an impressive low-frequency extension, it easily brings out all the thump and rumble in your favorite tracks, especially EDM and hip-hop. You can even use its Bass Boost tool to add more punch to the mix, or if you prefer more manual customization, there's a graphic EQ available in its companion app. Like any good party speaker, it gets loud, too, and its customizable RGB lights help you set the mood. The bass doesn't muddy other elements of your songs, either. With a balanced mid-range, this speaker accurately reproduces voices and lead instruments in the mix, so it's also great for plenty of other music genres.

    This feature-packed device lets you interact with your music in many different ways, so you can plug in a microphone or guitar to sing along or use the DJ effects in the app to rock out. It's a big speaker, though, so if you're looking for big bass with a smaller footprint, it's worth checking out the Brane X instead. This premium, lunchbox-size speaker defies its small frame with a pretty loud output and a surprisingly prominent bass response. It also comes with smart features like Alexa and Wi-Fi integration. However, its design has some limitations, as its directivity isn't the best, and its battery life is on the shorter side.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Sonos Move 2: If you're looking for a premium smart speaker with great sound quality, the Sonos Move 2 is a great alternative to the JBL Boombox 3. However, it doesn't bring as much bass, and its battery life isn't as long-lasting. See our review
  • Bose SoundLink Flex:

    The Bose SoundLink Flex is a great alternative to the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 4

    . It reproduces more low-bass for a slightly higher price, making it a solid pick for EDM and hip-hop fans. However, it can't reproduce stereo content without downmixing it into mono.

    See our review
  • JBL PartyBox 710:

    The JBL PartyBox 710 is a larger alternative to the JBL PartyBox 310. Given its size, it can reproduce a more extended low-bass. However, it's a wired speaker, so it's not as easy to transport and is a bit more expensive.

    See our review
  • JBL PartyBox Club 120: The JBL PartyBox Club 120 is the smallest party speaker in this article, but it still packs a punch. While its default sound isn't as balanced as the JBL PartyBox 310, and it can't get as loud, the Club 120 is a fair bit more portable and comes with a swappable battery pack design, which gives you more flexibility when it comes to keeping the party going. See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Nov 28, 2024:

    The Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 4 and Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 4 replace their predecessors, the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 3 and Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 3, because the newer versions charge via USB-C, which is useful.

  2. Sep 03, 2024: We've updated this article to introduce a comparison between the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 3 and the Sony ULT FIELD 1. Due to its balanced default sound and swappable battery pack design, we've added the JBL PartyBox Club 120 as a Notable Mention.

  3. Jun 04, 2024: We've added a comparison to the Brane X in our 'Best Sounding Bluetooth Speaker For Bass' pick due to the bass it can produce from a small frame. Otherwise, we've checked our picks but have made no changes.

  4. Mar 29, 2024: We've checked our picks for accuracy and product availability, but our recommendations haven't changed.

  5. Feb 02, 2024: We've reviewed and updated the text for clarity and consistency. That said, we haven't made any changes in our product picks.

All Reviews

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the Bluetooth speakers with the best sound 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 Bluetooth speakers organized by their frequency response accuracy. 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.