What are the best Smart Speakers on the market? How to choose the top-quality audiophile smart speakers with Alexa and Google Assistant? Where to find great deals when buying?
Why you should buy smart speakers for your home? In the times in which we live, we have the total certainty that there is a high probability that your first device with artificial intelligence is a smart speaker. On the one hand, they act as a streaming music player through your mobile phone or through voice commands.
But to this, we must add the role of your voice assistant that allows us to perform an infinite number of actions such as knowing the time it will take the next few days in a certain city, turning on the smart home thermostat, or answering any questions we have and all this through voice commands.
It is clear that voice assistants are increasingly being incorporated into the vast majority of homes and many of their users consider the smart speaker as the close precursor for the automaton way that will give us great help.
The great advance in such a short time is getting artificial intelligence in these new devices. The only thing that for the moment they will not be able to do for us is to help us choose which action is the most appropriate, although over time I would not be surprised if they were also able to collaborate in the decision-making process.
Also, read our other guides on the best portable wireless speakers, high-end speakers, Bluetooth party speakers with bass, and the best budget PC speakers.
The best smart speakers with artificial intelligence
Virtual personal assistants have become essential aids to be able to control the new intelligent devices in our homes. With a simple voice command, they allow us to play music anywhere in the house, operate the TV, change the brightness of lights, set alarms, and can even teach our children their tasks. The possibilities offered by personal assistants are many to name.
Choosing a smart speaker can be tricky. You need to decide which personal assistant is best for you and what features you need. Is audio quality a priority? Do you play from online streaming services like Spotify? Do not worry. In this comparison, you will find detailed and objective reviews about the best smart speakers in the market, ideal for any budget and user.
Best overall: Sonos One
Connects to Alexa, Sonos, Apple AirPlay 2, and soon Google Home.
There are louder speakers, and others that are more portable, but no smart speaker is a better buy than the Sonos One right now. It sets the bar in several areas, including sound quality, stable multi-room audio, and smart-home utility. Plus, it’s probably compatible with whatever ecosystem you prefer. It comes with Alexa enabled, but also supports Apple Airplay 2, and software improvements in the next few months will add Google Assistant.
Compared to any other model on the market, it offers one of the best audios you can hear in a smart speaker. The combination of sound quality combined with the integration of the voice assistant Alexa makes it one of the best smart speakers in the premium range. Of course, for every cent that is worth more compared to other speakers, we assure you that it will be worth it and they will be well invested. Everything is already a matter of the pocket of each one.
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Best Portable Smart Speaker: JBL Link 20
Connects to Google Home
Out of all of the smart speakers I’ve used, the sheer convenience and usability of the JBL Link 20 have made it my favorite. The Link 20 is waterproof and floats. It also has helpful indicator lights showing you how much battery is left and how strong your Wi-Fi signal is, both important when you’re moving a speaker around the house (or in the backyard). Pairing via Bluetooth is also easy and I like that you can charge it while it stands upright, something that requires an adapter on the rival UE Blast and Megablast speakers.
Link 20 relies on Google Assistant, which works better than Alexa in many ways. Setup is easier, and the weird syncing issues common with third-party Alexa devices are absent here. It answers questions more reliably and is compatible with Google apps and Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube Music for streaming. Google Assistant can now play Netflix on your Chromecast devices too, so you can fire up Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat with a simple voice command.
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Best Smart Soundbar: Sonos Beam
Connects to Alexa, Sonos, AirPlay 2, and soon Google Home
The Sonos Beam is a sound bar that integrates the same functionalities of an intelligent speaker thanks to the incorporation of the voice assistant Alexa. With this, we can improve the audio of our TVs in addition to interacting with smart devices in the home.
For example, before starting to watch a movie, we can tell the Sonos Beam through Alexa to dim the luminosity of the Philips Hue smart bulbs and in this way obtain a much more pleasant environment.
Its design denotes a restrained, compact, and minimalist appearance that allows it not to stand out in the decoration of the living room, passing completely unnoticed in both the matt black and white tones. Inside, we find 4 woofers with an elliptical shape with full range response and three other passive radiators that allow you to significantly improve the output of bass thus reducing distortion to a minimum.
It also incorporates a tweeter whose primary mission is to make the voices of the actors much clearer. If you are a keen cinephile and you love feeling that cinema feeling in your own home, the Sonos Beam will help you to feel as comfortable as possible without having to move from the sofa.
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Best Smart Speaker With Touchscreen Display: JBL Link View
Connects to Google Home
The JBL Link View is currently our favorite smart speaker with a touchscreen display. It’s not what I’d call stylish, but it has a perfectly sized 8-inch screen and two 51mm full-range drivers that put it in a class of its own for music. Its onboard Google Assistant will answer questions, give you visual weather updates, and has some new features like a video CNN news briefing and step-by-step audio and visual directions for recipes.
Other notable skills include the ability to Chromecast videos , pull up YouTube videos with voice, and make video calls over Google Duo. (You use Duo, right?) The built-in camera lens cover also adds a layer of privacy and brings us some comfort.
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Best Alexa Smart Speaker With Touchscreen: Echo Show (2nd Gen)
Connects to Alexa
We currently prefer the Lenovo Smart Display, but the Echo Show is a great Alexa-powered alternative. It’s more usable than third-party Alexa speakers because it can call and network with Amazon’s other Echo speakers. The new version looks much nicer than the first Echo Show, too, with a 10-inch full-size screen.
That screen is where it shines. You still have to talk to Alexa to do almost anything, but the screen lets you see what music you’re playing, pause the audio, skip to the next song, and even view lyrics on some Amazon Music tracks. It can also play Amazon Prime videos and has a video version of Alexa’s daily flash news briefing. Voice and video calls are supported, though to do video, you’ll need to call another Echo device with a screen.
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Google Home Mini
Google Home Mini is certainly one of the best low-end smart speakers. This is the mini and round version of Google Home, with an reduced price, dimensions, and audio equipment. A great compromise for those who want all the advantages of a smart speaker without spending too much. Or it can be used as a Google Home integration (to be used in other rooms). The features of Google Home Mini, relying on Google Assistant, will be the same.
The audio, however, is the part that suffers. Being so small and equipped with a 40mm driver, it is a speaker that needs to be integrated with other speakers if you want to listen to music regularly.
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Best Apple Smart Speaker: Apple HomePod
Connects to Siri, Apple’s voice assistant
The intelligent speaker of Apple, the HomePod did not begin to say with a good foot. After several failures in its exit from the market, the first critics of the device left much to be desired. Much more was expected from the Apple brand.
After the first gale of prosecutions, Apple has an ace up its sleeve that no other technology company has and is the immense legion of followers that as soon as it comes out any device of the brand Apple.
To be honest, the Homepod speaker has a spectacular sound and this is due to the wide variety of speakers and the technology that hoards inside that automatically adjusts the bass and treble of the audio depending on where the speaker is located. As for its voice assistant, Apple has opted to create its name, Siri.
And, this is the biggest flaw of this smart speaker Apple as it is pretty much basic compared to the assistants of Amazon and Google in terms of functionalities and ecosystem with different smart devices in the home. We could only consider the Siri assistant if our home is fully equipped with Apple or HomeKit devices.
In summary, if you are a faithful follower of Apple software, you love listening to your songs with incredible sound and most of your devices are from Apple, it may be an option to consider.
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Best cheap Smart Speaker: Echo Dot (3rd Gen)
Echo Dot is an intelligent speaker that connects to Alexa Voice Service, Amazon’s voice assistant. The Echo Dot is the most compact among the smart speakers produced by Amazon, and also the cheapest.
It allows you to play music, answer questions, read the latest news, provide weather forecasts, set alarms, turn lights on and off, control compatible home automation devices, and much more.
Put it in the room you prefer and ask him anything you want by giving him voice commands, he will always listen to you with 4 integrated microphones.
It has a built-in speaker, to stream music directly from Amazon Music, Spotify, TuneIn,
You can also call and send messages with simple voice commands to anyone who has an Echo device or the Alexa App.
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Amazon Echo Plus (2nd Gen)
Amazon Echo is an intelligent speaker that you can control directly with your voice without having to press keys.
It connects to Alexa Voice Service and allows you to listen to music, call your friends, send messages, search for information and news on the internet, adjust lights and home temperature, and many other things.
The speaker consists of a woofer with a 63mm down firing cavity and is designed to deliver high-fidelity sound reproduction with crystal-clear sounds and dynamic bass response throughout the room. Amazon Echo is the ideal choice for those who are going to buy a smart speaker for listening to prolonged and high-quality music.
It has as many as 7 microphones with beamforming technology and can hear you talking from virtually any direction even when you’re listening to music or if there is background ambient noise.
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Bose Home Speaker 500
Among the best smart speakers on the market and the biggest rivals of Sonos One, we also find Bose Home Speaker 500, another WiFi device with integrated Amazon Alexa. Being aware of the limitations of most smart speakers, Bose, a US company leader in the audio industry, just like Sonos, has decided to launch its loudspeaker to satisfy audiophiles who love smart homes. Also, this speaker foresees future integration with Google Assistant and Apple Airplay 2; therefore, the potential is high. The smart features are the same as the Echo devices with some limitations (it is not possible, for example, to make calls or use the drop-in).
In terms of audio quality, this is the best smart speaker around (its direct rival would be Apple Homepod, not yet arrived in Italy). With its two 6.35 cm drivers oriented in opposite directions, it can simulate a stereo sound from right to left. The yield is clean and without distortions, even at very high volumes (the power is impressive). Unlike Sonos One, Bose Home Speaker 500 features Bluetooth connectivity and 6 very convenient presets to store your favorite stations or playlists. Unfortunately, however, it does not have technologies similar to
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What are smart speakers for?
Essentially, what the smart speakers are for; what are their applications in everyday life?
By interacting vocally with a voice assistant, you can ask to listen to your favorite music. It’s simple, just ask: ” Hey Siri, let me listen to Pink Floyd “. In the kitchen, it can be useful for example to set a timer or to activate a reminder.
The applications of smart speakers are numerous: it is possible to control the switching on and off of an appliance or control the lighting and temperature of a specific room.
The uses and uses of the devices vary greatly based on the features of the voice assistants or all the limitations imposed by Google, Amazon,