8 best smart speakers (2021): Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri

Connect to Google Assistant or Alexa

Pint-sized Sonos Roam (9/10, Recommend with WIRE) has become our new favorite portable speaker. I (Parker) have taken it on road trips, to outdoor weddings, and in my bike basket. The easy-to-use Sonos ecosystem works with Google Assistant and Alexa, and the speaker has Bluetooth when you’re out of Wi-Fi range. It even includes wireless charging, making it the perfect speaker to put at home in between outdoor trips.

You’ll get 10 hours of listening on a full charge at medium volume, and this is solid; IP67 rating means it can survive in 3 feet of water for 30 minutes. It’s not easy for me to talk about speakers, and our review unit is still going strong. If you’re looking to improve your ongoing game, buy one of these and store it in a stainless mug. Just grab a drink on the go.

★ Another alternative: The Sonos Move ($399) It’s also a great mini speaker and it sounds bolder, but it’s much bulkier (and expensive).

There are many smart speakers out there. Here are a few more that we like:

• Amazon’s Echo Studio ($200) is the best sounding Alexa speaker. Don’t buy it just for the quality of the music, but Echo Studio is right there with Google Home Max about deep bass and room-filling soundstage. Its odd shape keeps it at the top of our list.
• Bose 500 home speaker ($350) there’s Alexa and a little extra. It’s certainly not cheap, but this Bose speaker sounds pretty good (not as clear as the Sonos One, but great overall) and it’s huge. It has hands-free Alexa, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm aux port for connecting directly to your phone or MP3 player, and six useful preset buttons that you can assign to open a particular playlist or album. from Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music and TuneIn. The screen on the front shows album art and some other reminders, but not nearly as effectively as on a real smart display.
• Bang & Olufsen Beosound Level ($1,499) It’s a beautiful speaker built to last. The company designed the premium model to be repairable and upgradable over time. It’s made with natural fabrics and woods for a truly sustainable experience. It’s a beautiful flat speaker that comes with the Google Assistant onboard—or you can buy it without the smart assistant for the same money.

It looks really nice, but Apple’s HomePod Mini ($100) (6/10, WIRED rating) has the same problem as the original, larger HomePod speaker (now discontinued), including a price much higher than the competition. It doesn’t come anywhere near the level of third-party smart home support you’ll find with Amazon or Google. You could buy a full-size Nest or Echo speaker for about the same amount of money, and you should.

There are plenty of reasons to love Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, and it works pretty well. If you want to use your voice assistant to shop or use Amazon services like Prime Music or Prime Video, chances are an Alexa-enabled speaker is the best fit for you.

The Google Assistant has fewer skills and is compatible with fewer smart home devices than Alexa, but it might be enough to qualify as truly useful, and Google is adding new skills at a rapid rate. . Speakers with Google Assistant work better when you connect them together, and they’re compatible with many Google apps and services. Google is better at answering random questions and telling you where to eat because it can access and send information to your phone through Google apps.