It can be a little confusing knowing where to start, but these options below are all great places to start. Plus, each of these speakers can provide a foundation to add more speakers in more rooms later on, and they all sound great.
Google Nest Audio—$99Apple HomePod mini—$99Echo—$99Sonos One—$199Sonos Move—$399Bose Smart Soundbar 300—$399
Google Nest Audio—$99
The latest Nest Audio speaker lets you tap into the Google Assistant space and is a great music speaker for under a hundred bucks. On the surface, Nest Audio is coated in an attractive fabric so that it won’t be out of place in any room. It’s also slim enough to be able to find a spot in any cozy area.
Beyond looks, Nest Audio has a tremendous boom for its relatively small size. Like other Google Assistant speakers, it can be grouped to create multi-room audio or paired to create stereo sound. Google’s Home app includes direct support for services like Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music and YouTube Music.
Apple HomePod mini—$99
The Apple HomePod is an impressive, compact home wireless speaker, but it’s not cheap. That’s why the HomePod mini retailing for $99 is a great way to add a pop of audio to a bedroom or kitchen on the cheap.
Picking a HomePod mini is ideal for a home with lots of iPhones, iPads and Macs. It’s not required, but features like Hand Off and AirPlay will be best utilized. If you have a newer iPhone, HomePod mini supports tapping to transfer audio to the speaker. Or, you can just AirPlay any song, from services like Apple Music or Spotify to it.
If you have HomeKit compatible smart home devices or are planning to, HomePod mini can act as a home hub that will let you access those devices remotely, over the internet outside of your house.
HomePod mini is impressively small and sounds impressive for its size. Even though it isn’t the most amazing speaker comparatively, it’s a great pick for those pressed on space.
Buy at Best Buy
Echo—$99
In terms of the speaker itself, the 4th generation Echo is rounded, with plenty of power packed in. The speaker has no problem getting loud and definitely sounds more than decent. Echo devices can be used as part of multi-room audio devices, so the same song can be played across different rooms if you decide to get more than one. Plus, although this latest Echo speaker retails for $99, it is often discounted and can be found for less than full price.
Sonos One—$199
The Sonos One is a great starter Wi-Fi speaker for a few reasons. On its own, it provides surprisingly clear and deep bass for its compact size. It’s capable of getting plenty loud and will work well in a bedroom or a cozy living room. In the future, the Sonos One is also versatile and can be paired to make a stereo pair or used in conjunction with other Sonos speakers to make a wireless home theater system.
The latest generation Sonos One has Alexa and Google Assistant voice assistants built-in, so you can choose between the two. It includes AirPlay 2, so you can quickly pass audio from an iPhone or iPad to it. It also supports Spotify Connect to play audio directly from the Spotify app without needing to open the Sonos app. Sonos speakers may be a good option because they directly support many more streaming services than just Apple Music or Spotify. Inside the Sonos app, you can access more than 50 services.
The speaker is a little more refined than the $99 offerings but still low enough cost to test out your curiosity for wireless home speakers.
Sonos Move—$399
Spending $400 on your first wireless speaker may seem like a tough pill to swallow, but the Sonos Move is all about hedging your bets. The Move gets its name from being the first Sonos speaker to include a battery. It’s the first from the company that isn’t locked into one spot with an electrical outlet. This allows you to use it in the kitchen while cooking and then pick it up and move it to the dining room once guests arrive. The speaker is loud enough to sound respectable, even in the largest rooms in a home. It will also sound great outside.
Instead of wiring a speaker in the backyard, Move allows you to listen to music outside your house too. The speaker is designed to connect to a home’s Wi-Fi network for audio streaming, but it includes Bluetooth connectivity. So, for $400, you get a powerful home wireless speaker as well as a portable boombox you can haul to the beach, on vacation, or just to the deepest parts of your backyard.
Buy at Sonos and Best Buy.
Bose Smart Soundbar 300—$399
Another slightly unconventional recommendation for a first wireless speaker is the Bose Smart Soundbar 300. First of all, it’s a soundbar, so it’ll be attached to a TV, but that’s also why it’s a great choice. Most TVs can benefit from better sound, and this Bose soundbar is really great in that regard.
When it’s not being used as a soundbar, it can function as a standalone wireless speaker too. It has Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, and Spotify Connect functionality built-in, so there are plenty of ways to easily stream music to it. It can connect with other wireless Bose speakers for multi-room audio in the future and includes Alexa or Google Assistant voice assistants built-in.
It’s a perfect size for a bedroom TV, but it can work just fine for a living room setup — both places having a wireless speaker is great. If you do use it in a living room, it supports adding other Bose wireless speakers to build out a full surround sound system.
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