All-time smart speakers 2022: the best voice assistant speakers
All-time Smart Speaker Buying Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?’s round-up of the best smart speakers y’all can buy in 2022.
Virtual voice assistants from large-hitters Amazon, Apple and Google have never been and so full of smarts. Whether yous want to know the news headlines, how many calories you lot’ll accept to deduct from your recommended daily intake if yous want a Mars bar (228), failsafe scone recipes or whether the cat misses y’all while you’re at work, Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant tin can be institute baked into sure speakers, waiting patiently for your next query.
Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant products aren’t just humble fonts of knowledge, either. These speakers tin can play your chosen music over Bluetooth or wi-fi and, depending on the brand, also offer access to a number of dissimilar music streaming services, including Apple tree Music, Tidal, Deezer and Spotify.
How to choose the best smart speaker for you
The commencement thing to consider is compatibility. Most smart speakers are platform doubter, so they’ll piece of work with both Android and iOS devices, just the Apple tree HomePod Mini isn’t much apply without an Apple mobile device to set up information technology upwards.
It’s also worth thinking about which ecosystem y’all use most. If y’all frequently employ Google’s services – Calendar, Maps, Gmail – maybe a product with Google Dwelling house broiled in would exist best for y’all. Love shopping at Amazon and accept a Prime number account? An Amazon Echo might be right upwardly your alley. (While these exercise both work with other services, they’re tightly integrated with those made by their creators, making them much slicker to use.)
Finally: sound quality. This tin vary quite a lot between models and manufacturers and spending more doesn’t always guarantee a improve listening experience. Some of the smaller smart speakers are limited purely because of their dimensions. Be realistic about your budget and what to expect. Luckily, every product here comes with our unabridged, comprehensively star-rated review attached – and if it didn’t go at least a highly-commended 4-star review under test conditions, you won’t notice it on this list.
From inexpensive upkeep options to premium sonic experiences, read on for our choice of the all-time smart speakers.
The HomePod Mini really is bijou. At simply 8.4cm tall and nine.8cm wide, information technology’s quite a bit smaller than the similarly spherical Amazon Echo. In fact, it’s even dwarfed by the new Echo Dot. Get its swirling orb of coloured light upwardly and running (when Siri is listening or processing) though, and you lot realise you’ve got a swish performer on your hands.
Afterward a short period of learning, Siri volition reply to the phrase “Hey Siri, play something I’ll like” non past streaming your nigh played track of the terminal few weeks, just by playing something that you may have never listened to earlier but is a expert fit for what y’all often do listen to. Information technology’due south a actually powerful way to discover new music, and Alexa is nowhere near equally skilful at it.
It goes loud, too. From the moment nosotros start playing music, it’s clear that the HomePod Mini comfortably outperforms its size and price, quite frankly embarrassing its direct competition with the composure and maturity of its audio.
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Apple HomePod Mini
The question of which voice assistant to introduce to your home is largely a personal one. But past updating its almost pop and affordable Repeat device with this degree of skill, Amazon has laid down the most compelling case yet for choosing Alexa. Regardless of the Marmite aesthetic (yes, it looks like a niggling Magic 8-Ball) Alexa’due south responses are slightly quicker, the answers are much (much) clearer, and the sonic performance is better than always.
Amazon’s entry-level smart device has come a long manner in terms of audio quality since the inflow of the first and second Dots – so much so, you could say Amazon has come a ‘full circumvolve’ in the smart speaker loonshit.
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Amazon Repeat Dot (4th Generation)
The JBL Link Portable’s neat connectivity features bring a plethora of streaming options to the table – features rarely seen in the sub-£150 speaker category including AirPlay 2, Chromecast and hi-res back up. You as well become hands-free Google Banana, a charger cradle and wireless streaming via wi-fi or Bluetooth.
The Link Portable looks and feels like a premium product. For a speaker of this size, it has oodles of detail and an expansive mix with everything nowadays, including bass. While there’s no PartyBoost or Connect+ support for daisy-chaining other JBL speakers, the Link Portable makes JBL a serious contender in the category of affordable wireless speakers.
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JBL Link Portable
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Amazon’south countdown smart speaker is back with a whole new wait, a built-in Zigbee smart hub, and more potential under its new 100 per cent recycled hood. Yous don’t need an especially corking center to realise that Amazon has started from scratch for this quaternary-generation Echo.
The cylinder design has gone, in favour of a Magic 8-Ball-esque sphere, and perhaps fittingly you lot can ask it any question yous want – as long as it’s plugged in to power and linked to your wi-fi. There’s an impressive selection of third-party support, (once you’ve linked your streaming service accounts, information technology’ll play music from Apple Music, Spotify or Deezer over wi-fi, and even if yous don’t link any music-provider subscriptions, the Repeat will play from Amazon Music by default – and you’ve always got TuneIn radio) and the pulsating ring of light is relocated to the lopped-off base.
Alexa feels present and useful only not imposing, the Alexa app support makes placement and multi-room configurations a breeze, and the sound quality, while a step down from superb, easily passes the audio-per-pound value examination for a smart home hub of this modest price.
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Amazon Echo (4th generation)
Bang & Olufsen isn’t noted for following the herd. In the Danish tech specialist’s catalogue you’ll detect a bicycle-shaped wireless speaker, a Telly that opens up similar a butterfly, and an 8200-watt monolithic speaker comprising 18 drivers. B&O’s output could reasonably be described as “premium” and “innovative” – and the Beosound A1 (second Gen) wireless speaker is no exception.
It boasts similar dimensions to a large floury bap, but that’s where whatever comparisons with broiled goods end. The new A1 supports Qualcomm’s latest aptX Adaptive Bluetooth 5.1 codec, and of grade, Alexa is built-in (in a mode of speaking – it’south a Bluetooth-only speaker).
It works a treat, too, delivering a pleasingly comfortable yet authoritative performance that you’d exist happy listening to all day. Throw in its classy, well made design, like shooting fish in a barrel to use operation and the bonus of Alexa (every bit long every bit your smartphone is nearby and connected to wi-fi), and you lot’re looking at a Bluetooth speaker sequel that has very much been worth the look.
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Blindside & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen)
Information technology’s the most expensive smart device Amazon has produced past a whole £twenty ($20, AU$l) simply when you consider that its 10.1in Full Hd screen can now tilt and twist to follow you lot around the room, and that both the speaker and camera operation have been significantly improved from the previous-generation model, that cost hike begins to look entirely reasonable.
Physically, it’south imposing. It will require a space the size of a large pizza to operate fully (information technology comes with a footprint then you can check). The photographic camera has been boosted from 5MP to 13MP and it’s here one of the biggest gains is to be had, because you can at present ‘drib in’ visually on the Show ten past selecting ‘communicate’ and tapping on the Show x icon – and nobody demand reply at the other end. But you can become even further. Tap ‘All devices’ on the Alexa app and the Show ten, then ‘camera’ and you lot’ll get a live feed of your domicile. Swipe left or right on your smartphone and it manually moves the Show ten to pan effectually your room in real-time.
If yous desire to make sure the family silver hasn’t been pinched, run across if a parcel has arrived or just spy on the cat, you now accept a security camera that zooms in and out, depending on how close a moving object is to the screen. Information technology’s a neat feature and the Show ten is likable and helpful overall. It won’t be your new sound system – for this coin, we would expect a niggling more from it sonically – merely it is a very good smart device indeed.
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Amazon Echo Prove 10 (3rd Generation)
To put the Google Nest Hub’south 7in (1024 x 600) touchscreen into context, the display real manor is only marginally bigger than the six.7in one sported by the largest iPhone 12 Pro Max when measured on the diagonal – and here, there’southward no camera for selfies, video calls or security duties.
Only there are plenty of music streaming and TV services available, including All 4, Deezer, Netflix and Disney Plus – and call back, Amazon’s smart products don’t currently accept ‘skill’ support for Disney Plus. The headline-grabber, all the same, is Sleep Sensing, which is free to trial on the Hub this twelvemonth merely will come at a cost from 2022. As the Nest Hub includes Google’s Soli sensor for motility detection, plus light and temperature sensors, not simply tin can you stop and resume tracks by but showing your Hub the palm of your hand, the chip housed within the speaker can tell you how long you slept for and how restful your sleep was. It’southward something different and trying to marshal your ‘sleep circles’ with a good eight hours is quite addictive.
Amazon’south Echo Show 10 (above) – a similar smart-speaker-with-screen concept – is almost three times the toll and is bigger, beefier, and comes with a snapper. But thanks to Disney Plus, Sleep Sensing tech and a good (if not groovy) sound, the Google Nest Hub is a worthy proposition depending on your priorities.
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Google Nest Hub (2nd Generation)
The headline hither is that the third-gen Echo Dot with Clock is actually much better sounding than the 2d-gen Dot (without a clock). The differences between it and the third-gen Echo Dot (also without a clock) aren’t huge, certainly not proportionate to those between previous generations, but they’re noticeable.
There’s no denying the Echo Dot with Clock is more comfy keeping a tempo as well as offer more rhythmic drive than previous iterations. Information technology’south almost every bit if that digital timepiece has had a beneficial event on the music. Oh, and what if you lot already have a clock in the room where you desire your Echo Dot? Then change the LED brandish to evidence the outside temperature or use it every bit a kitchen timer.
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Amazon Echo Dot with Clock
Considerably larger than whatsoever previous Echo, the Studio manages to dwarf both the Sonos One and Apple HomePod. As well as boasting 330W of power and upgraded internals fit for CD-quality and hullo-res audio (which are both now available from Amazon’due south latest incarnation of its streaming service, Amazon Music Hard disk) the Echo Studio as well promises to deliver 3D sound via tracks encoded in Sony’due south 360 Reality Audio and Dolby Atmos.
Producing immersive, directional audio is always going to exist hard, only doing information technology from a single speaker source is even more challenging. Nevertheless, information technology’south an open up, blusterous presentation that suits the 3D environs well. The speaker sits you in the jaws of a tall soundstage, where in that location’s a good corporeality of detail to percussion and high frequencies. While nosotros’re not entirely convinced past the manner information technology handles bass – and we wouldn’t exactly call it audiophile quality – for the coin, the Echo Studio has a lot going for it.
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Amazon Echo Studio
If you desire to get fully ensconced with the world of the digital assistant – and past that we hateful with both audio and video – this is as a good a starting point as we’ve come across.
You lot see, where almost Alexa-enabled kit on the market is audio based, concentrated on the Bluetooth speaker market in item, the Echo Evidence v embraces both sound and video in its abilities to communicate. So, likewise as playing music or reading out information, you can access video content on the Repeat Show 5’southward five.5in LCD touchscreen.
There’southward also an HD camera, allowing the user to make Skype calls (for example), or view images from cameras in other rooms of the house – and elsewhere.
Although information technology can be browbeaten for sound quality, this is an £lxxx box of tricks that opens up the globe of the digital assistant to a whole new audience for both sound and video; and if that’s what you’re after, this is nearly every bit good as y’all’ll get – particularly for this kind of money.
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Amazon Echo Show five
Arguably the best all-round smart speaker you can currently purchase, the Sonos One sounds superb for the money and has all the functionality you’re probable to demand. There’south Spotify and Tidal integration, the ability to conversation with Alexa and Google Assistant, and the option to build a multi-room system around it using other Sonos speakers or AirPlay 2. This is now the all-time Google speaker on the market.
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Sonos One
The Megablast is Ultimate Ears’ loudest and smartest speaker yet. With Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant congenital in, it can answer your questions also as play all your favourite tunes.
More crucially, the Megablast joins the make’southward portfolio of five-star Bluetooth speakers that are simply fun to use and heed to. Practiced-looking and peachy-sounding, the Megablast is an accented treat.
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Ultimate Ears Megablast
The Audio Pro Addon C5A is almost identical to the Addon C5, which was our wireless speaker Production of the Twelvemonth in 2017. Then adding Alexa voice control to an Award-winning speaker is, frankly, the icing on the cake.
Bachelor for the price of an Addon C5 plus the cost of an Amazon Echo product bolt-on, it brings the whole package into one tidy, easy-to-prepare-upward box. And with that same Laurels-winning audio, this is the ideal combination for those who want an excellent Alexa wireless speaker that can exist expanded into a full-blown multiroom system.
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Audio Pro Addon C5A
Information technology looks like your boilerplate smart speaker, but the Citation 100 produces bass past the bucket-load and can play extremely loud without strain. It is great for parties, though perchance not so much for purists.
This Harman Kardon speaker has a pretty standard, minimalist design, and it keeps connections to a minimum, too, with no aux input. Control comes via the Google Dwelling app and Google Assistant, and commands work well enough, though it seems slightly more decumbent to wi-fi driblet-outs than rivals.
Sonically, while the Harman Kardon Citation 100 isn’t exactly balanced, it is otherwise a tasteful-sounding smart speaker with enough calibration to fill nearly rooms. If you don’t mind that bassy over-exuberance, there’s a lot to similar.
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Harman Kardon Commendation 100
How we test smart speakers
We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our squad of experienced, in-business firm reviewers exam the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door.
What is important in our reviewing process is that each product is compared to the best in its price and class – whether that’southward one standout smart speaker or a few we favour the highest among the scores nosotros listen to each year for reviews andWhat Hello-Fi? Awards judging.What Hi-Fi? is all most comparative testing, so we keep our Award-winners nearby to enable unbiased comparisons between new products and ones nosotros know to have performed highly in the category.
Nosotros are always impartial and do our utmost to make sure we’re hearing every production at its very best, so we’ll endeavor plenty of different types of music and give each one extensive listening fourth dimension – including time to run in. It’s non just about sound quality, of course. If a product has noteworthy features (including specific smart skills) we’ll ensure part of our testing involves trialling the claims made by its makers.
All review verdicts are agreed upon by the unabridged team, rather than an individual reviewer, to eliminate any personal preference and to brand sure we’re existence every bit thorough every bit possible. There’s no input from PR companies or our sales squad when it comes to the verdicts or star ratings in our reviews.
AtWhat Hi-Fi?we areproud to consistently deliver honest, unbiased reviews – something we take been doing for over 45 years.
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