Our Picks
When you want to relax at home, there's nothing better than hearing the beats from your favorite musician or a familiar voice from your favorite podcasts as you catch up with your backlog after a long day. And when you have these audio sources coming in from a Wi-Fi wireless speaker, you don't have to worry about ignoring others when they need you. And they're also quite helpful when you have guests over, as there are no cords to deal with or a complicated setup. Compared to Bluetooth speakers, the best Wi-Fi speakers have a greater range, and many also have extras like compatibility with popular streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora.
Like most tech gadgets, many Wi-Fi wireless speakers exist -- and wading through them might seem exhausting and overwhelming. But our experts have tested and researched the best brands, so you don’t have to. No matter the budget or priority features, there’s an option worth your investment.
Read more: Best Bluetooth Speakers of 2025
Best speaker overall
The Sonos Era 100 is the smart speaker to please any music fan. The compact device makes several improvements on the award-winning One, including stereo sound playback and even better sound quality. With Bluetooth, Amazon Alexa and Apple AirPlay 2 compatibility, the Era 100 is a more flexible streaming speaker than ever before.
Best budget speaker
For $120 there are many excellent smart speakers to choose from, including the Amazon Echo, Nest Audio and HomePod Mini, but the Symfonisk is bigger than all of them. Bigger cabinets usually mean bigger sound. While this speaker is best as part of a Sonos surround sound system, it also makes a great kids' room or garage speaker.
Best sounding Amazon Echo
Pros
- The Amazon Echo Studio produces a monstrous cloud of sound that works great with action movies and spacious styles of music. It offers a lot of features, including Dolby Atmos, excellent connectivity and Fire TV hookup, for a relatively affordable price. The microphones are quite sensitive.
Cons
- The sound isn't always very distinct, which makes it less suitable to showcasing 3D music or Atmos. Multiroom support lags behind Sonos and Apple AirPlay. Dolby Atmos soundtracks require a Fire TV device.
The Echo Studio comes from Amazon – the creator of Alexa. It is easy to set up and is loud enough to fill a room with sound. With thumping bass, clear sound and good highs, this is easily the best Amazon Echo. You can use Alexa to stream songs from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Tidal and more.
Best AirPlay speaker
Pros
- It sounds great
- It's small
- It's under $100
Cons
- Siri still isn't the best assistant
- HomeKit needs more compatible accessories
- Other small smart speakers are $50 or less
The HomePod Mini may be outgunned by the new HomePod in terms of output power, but it is also a third of the price. For its size, the HomePod Mini has a laundry list of useful features -- Siri voice assistant, temperature and humidity controls -- and it sounds really good, too. If you're deep in the Apple ecosystem, especially if you use Siri a lot, the Apple HomePod Mini should make a seamless addition to your home.
Best portable speaker
The Sonos Roam is a portable Bluetooth speaker on steroids -- it can be used out and about or it can be used as part of a Sonos multiroom system. It's affordable (for Sonos, that is) and it sounds better than other products of its type. It also comes with a choice of voice assistant to make choosing a song even simpler.
Best for streaming to existing systems
The WiiM Pro is not so much a speaker, but its a great device for people who don't want to buy a whole new one. Say you've got a stereo system -- or even an old Bluetooth speaker like the Fluance F170 -- and you wanted to be able to add Wi-Fi streaming to it. The WiiM Pro offers the best sound and streaming support of any other dongle I can think of. The app makes it easy to set up and use, and it will integrate with many multiroom systems too.
Best for Android users
Pros
- The JBL Playlist is the most affordable Chromecast speaker I've seen and it offers the most open sound we've heard in a product of this kind. Setup is easier than with most other Wi-Fi speakers thanks to the Google Home app, which also lets you have a multiroom system on a budget. The ability to use Bluetooth or auxiliary adds a lot of convenience.
Cons
- The speaker isn't as convincing with bass-heavy material like dance or pop music. The build quality isn't as impressive as its rivals'. There's no onboard battery so it's stuck in one spot.
Google may offer a lot of speakers, including the Nest Audio, but the one that was truly great with music -- the Home Max -- has been discontinued. It's surprising then that the list of affordable-yet-good-sounding Chromecast built-in speakers can be counted on the fingers of one hand. And of those, the JBL Playlist is the best I've tested, with a generously sized speaker and enough volume to fill a typical room. It also has Bluetooth and an auxiliary input to expand its flexibility. The JBL speaker may not be "smart", but if you want a system that can be controlled via an existing Google Assistant speaker, this is the one to get.
Other Wi-Fi speakers we tested
The new HomePod now features an edge-to-edge Siri display on top.
- Apple HomePod (2023) ($300): The new HomePod is a refined take on Apple's first smart speaker with better sound and more features. Despite new-found support for Dolby Atmos, it's the temperature and humidity sensors that are the most palpable changes. Yet, at $300 most people are better off buying the HomePod mini which has an almost identical set of features.
- Bowers and Wilkins Formation Flex (Update: Out of stock): A smaller brother to the flashy Formation Wedge, the Flex is still quite stylish and boasts an open-hearted sonic signature. There's plenty of competition at this level though, including the Sonos Five, which is capable of a much bigger, party-ready performance.
The Sonos Move
- Sonos Move($399): If you want a wireless speaker model that's (kinda) portable and water resistant, the Sonos Move offers great sound in a very large box. If you need to power a tailgate or large party this would be great, but for most people the Sonos Roam is both cheaper and more pocketable.
- Sony SRS-RA5000 ($798): Where are people supposed to put large speakers like the Sony SRS-RA5000 and the McIntosh RS150? A dressing table -- like, a really big one? The Sony is over a foot tall but adding to its potential awkwardness is its 360-degree playback, making the "best" place to put it at the center of a room. The sound is fine, but if you want to hear 3D spatial audio, the Amazon Echo Studio is a quarter of the price.
- McIntosh RS150 ($1,200): The massive McIntosh RS150 has some great things going for it -- namely Chromecast built-in, Roon Ready and Spotify Connect. Nonetheless, the sound wasn't as clear as I'd expected and the unit offers no EQ controls to compensate. In addition, while the previous RS100 had the fabled McIntosh blue meter this update misses a trick by replacing it with LEDs. The competitive Naim Mu-so Qb is more compact and offers excellent performance for the same price.
How does CNET test wireless speakers?
CNET follows a rigorous, unbiased evaluation process for all of our audio testing. We test Wi-Fi speakers ranging from simple bedside and PC speakers all the way up to high-end systems. Our audio lab includes a Roon server running on a Synology NAS, Google Nest and Amazon Echo speakers, plus both iOS and Android devices. Similar speakers are compared side by side in a living room environment with different styles of music and utilizing multiple streaming platforms when required. We grade the sound quality of each by evaluating clarity, dynamics, bass response and stereo imaging (if applicable). If the speaker comes with a proprietary app we will compare that to other competitive controllers.