Here are a few other good products that didn't quite make the cut. Like the Stockwell II, it has a built-in battery gauge. If you want a little more power and heft, the Marshall Kilburn II ($266) is similarly excellent, and the Marshall Emberton ($150) is a great extra-portable addition to the amp company's Bluetooth line. You'll enjoy toting all 3 pounds of it around with its carry strap, which has a leather feel on the outside and red velvet on the inside. It has a front-facing woofer and a tweeter on each side, powered by a battery that lasts around 20 hours (USB-C charging with a 3.5-mm jack too), depending on how much you tweak the stylish volume, treble, and bass knobs up top. The exterior has a durable-feeling, splash-resistant silicone finish, and the front and back are covered with a steel grille.

For a speaker that's about as big as four old DVD cases stacked, standing upright, it sounds killer, with a smooth, balanced, and refined sound. As with all Marshall products, you pay a price for the style, but the audio lives up to expectations. If you're a music fan or just love the classic Marshall guitar amplifier design, this Bluetooth speaker is ready to rock. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day. com and our print magazine (if you'd like). Special offer for Gear readers: Get a 1-year subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off).

Updated February 2022: We've added the Sony SRS-RA5000 and Tribit Stormbox Micro 2. Here are our favorites right now.īe sure to check out all our buying guides, including the Best Soundbars, Best Wirefree Earbuds, and Best Smart Speakers. We've tested hundreds of models in the past few years, and we can happily say they are still some of the best small devices you can listen to. They'll also work with any smartphone, and they sound as good their smart-speaker equivalents.

By (mostly) forgoing voice assistants and Wi-Fi radios, Bluetooth speakers gain portability, with the ability to venture outside of your house and withstand rugged conditions like the sandy beach or the steamy Airbnb jacuzzi. It's fun and easy to ask an Amazon Echo or Google Nest speaker to play your favorite track or tell you the weather, but smart speakers have a few crutches-first and foremost, stable Wi-Fi. The best Bluetooth speakers still have a place near and dear to our hearts, even as we've seen better (and more portable) smart speakers creeping into the universe.

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