From award-winning Sonos speakers to retro offerings from the likes of JBL, here’s a list of all our favorite web-connected speakers for 2024.
You’ve probably seen a million Bluetooth speakers online and in stores. Hyperbole aside, that’s no surprise, as Bluetooth is one of the most convenient wireless standards. But when it comes to overall sound quality, it’s hard to beat the performance and versatility you’ll get with a Wi-Fi-connected speaker. And while Sonos was one of the first brands to leverage your home network for its wireless speaker lineup, web-connected speakers are now available from numerous speaker brands.
What exactly can a Wi-Fi speaker do that a regular ole’ Bluetooth speaker can’t? For starters, Bluetooth has both quality and distance limits. You’ll be hard-pressed to get your phone and Bluetooth speaker shaking hands when you’re more than 35 feet away. In most cases, a web-connected speaker will be paired with your Wi-Fi, which basically eliminates that distance caveat (a typical Wi-Fi connection can reach up to 115 feet indoors). The higher bandwidth also allows for streaming of higher-quality music tracks for better sound.
Many Wi-Fi speakers also include far more inputs and outputs than a traditional Bluetooth model. At the same time, some even have built-in interfaces for popular music-streaming platforms like Spotify and Tidal.
We see a lot of wireless speakers in our line of work, so we put together this list of all our favorite 2024 options to help make your shopping a little easier. For this roundup, we’re going to focus more on the plug-in variety with Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth wireless capabilities. So, without further ado, here’s our roundup of the best wireless speakers.
Sonos Era 100The best wireless speaker for most people
Out with the old and in with the new, they say, and the now-discontinued Sonos One, the tried-and-true wireless network speaker that has sat at the top of this list for ages, couldn’t have asked for a more worthy successor than the Sonos Era 100. Launched early this year, the Era 100 is everything that the One was and more. A powerful, compact network speaker with unsurprisingly excellent sound (this is Sonos, after all), the Era 100 is many people’s entry into Sonos’ whole-home audio system and is just as at home solo in the kitchen (voice control makes it perfect while cooking) as it is stereo paired with another Era or even as rear surrounds in a home theater Sonos configuration.
A bit taller and more cylindrical than the One, there are a bunch of reasons to go for the Era 100 over the One (while they last), least of which is that it’s just $30 more, so why wouldn’t you? First and foremost is the sound. Newly configured tweeters are angled creating what our reviewer, Simon Cohen, praised as an « impressive sense of openness » and » expansive soundstage. » A bigger woofer in the Era 100 also gives it a decidedly bigger punch, and if filling a small-to-medium-sized room is your goal, few wireless speakers of this size and budget do it better than this. Add to that Sonos’ fantastic Truplay tuning, adjustable EQ , and AirPlay 2 compatibility and what more could you want?
The Era 100 also benefits from Sonos’ experience with one of the best user-interface apps on the market, giving you access to all of your streaming services — hi-res ones, too, as because it’s a Wi-Fi speaker you can capitalize on all that beautiful lossless sound. But fear not, the Era 100 does Bluetooth, too, allowing you and other users to connect to it without going through the Wi-Fi connection and send Bluetooth-connected music through your Sonos system’s grouped speakers, as well. The Era 100 also has a line-in connector should you want to hook up a turntable or other external source to the speaker (and also send out to the whole system).
The only thing missing from the Era 100 is Google Assistant voice control. Thanks to a legal dispute between Sonos and Google, the popular voice assistant has been absent from all new Sonos speakers starting with the Era 100 and Era 300, and those that have come since, including Move 2 and Roam 2 speakers. For now, users will have to settle for Alexa and Sonos’ own voice assistant, which ain’t bad either.
Easy as heck to setup and use, for how the Era 100 sounds and the price, this wireless speaker is hard to beat. All Sonos has to do is clear up the disaster that has been made of the Sonos app, and hopefully the company will return to its former glory.
KEF LSX IIThe best premium wireless bookshelf speakers
The first generation of KEF’s superb LSX wireless hi-fi speakers were on this list for some time, and we’ve found no reason to take them off — but we have updated our choice with the improved second generation, the KEF LSX II.
We made the comparison to the popular and premium KEF LS50 Wireless II, which are still among the best-sounding bookshelves you can buy for the money, and their wireless convenience makes them among our favorite speakers we’ve encountered. And KEF’s LSX II still offer much of what’s to like about the KEF LS50 Wireless for less than half the price.
The KEF LSX II stick with their tradition of offering sound that’s big, crystal clear, and expressive, with a wide soundstage that defies what should be capable from speakers so small. But that’s KEF for you.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity is only the start with the LSX II, with the second gen improving the speakers’ connection stability with its W2 technology. The optical 3.5 mm AUX, subwoofer out, and Ethernet connection options are now joined by USB-C and HDMI ARC in the LSX II. It is also now compatible with a whole bunch of third-party services including Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, Amazon Music, Qobuz, Tidal, and Spotify Connect. DSD and MQA audio codec support is on tap too, for audiophiles who want to hear the best digital sound possible.
The KEF LSX II benefit from KEF’s proprietary Uni-Q speaker driver tech that sets the tweeter in the middle of an 11-inch woofer for what KEF says is a more natural sound. The LSX II are available in five colors: Carbon Black, Mineral White, Cobalt Blue, Lava Red, and Soundwave.
And another thing: if the hefty $1,300 price of the LSX II is a bit hard for your to swallow, in an effort to make its products more accessible, the company recently launched the $1,000 LEX II LT, a slightly pared-down version.
Edifier MS50A Wi-Fi Smart SpeakerIdeal for Spotify and Tidal subscribers
Edifier is an AV brand we’re always glad to spotlight, and it just so happens that the Edifier MS50A Wi-Fi Smart Speaker sounds pretty phenomenal. At 6 inches wide, 8 inches tall, and 6 inches from front to back, this is one of the larger Wi-Fi speakers on the market, so you’ll want to make sure you have enough tabletop or shelf space. And like many other products on this list, this Edifier speaker needs to be plugged into an AC outlet.
As far as sound quality goes, the Edifier MS50A is a beast. Expect warm and punchy low-end and crystalline higher frequencies, thanks to the onboard 15-watt tweeter. At max volume, the Edifier should output up to 40 watts.
You’ll need to download the Edifier Home app to get this speaker connected to your network, but you’ll definitely want to hang onto this companion app after setup. Edifier’s software is where you’ll go for firmware updates, playback controls (the top of the speaker features manual controls), and a few other settings.
