Wireless technology has improved in leaps and bounds over the last few years and wi-fi is a must when it comes to sound quality. There’s no sound compression of music files – sorry, Bluetooth – and you’ll hear your music just as your favourite artists intended.
An added bonus of having wireless speakers means you can turn your home into a multi-speaker household; with the use of your smartphone, control the music in each room with a touch of a button, like some sort of benevolent audio god.
And while it sounds obvious, there’s not a spaghetti of wires to wrestle with while setting it up. Just plug in and play.
Here, then, is a round up of the best wireless speakers on the market to suit every budget.
B&W Zeppelin Wireless
With its beautiful design, this Bowers & Wilkins speaker comes with a hefty price tag. But it’s worth every penny. Thanks to its reinforced body and mid-range cones, the Zeppelin Wireless offers a clean sound, plus there’s no distortion if you like your tunes played at Motörhead levels. In short, this piece of tasty kit model will satisfy the most choosy of hi-fi enthusiasts.
Audio Pro Addon C3
Forget wheeling out the extension cable for the Addon C3 and dragging it out into the garden. It’s more suited to the living room or office. Offering Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and auxiliary connectivity, this speaker supports Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal and a battery life of up to 30 hours (if you listen to it a respectable level). It’s got a great sound, too, with a total power output of 25 watts. Pairing up similar speakers is a cinch too, thanks to its user-friendly app.
Marshall Acton Multi-room
If you’re a fan of the Marshall home speaker range, then you’ll know what to expect: iconic design, world-class engineering, all wrapped up in a small speaker which will fill easily fill a room. It boasts a 50-watt amplifier with bass and treble controls, so you can tweak the sound until your heart’s content. The Acton Multi-room supports Chromecast, AirPlay and Spotify Connect and internet radio, and can be controlled via an app or Google Assistant, so you don’t have to race over to the device when one of your guilty pleasures makes an unexpected appearance on your party playlist.
Audio Pro Drumfire
The Drumfire stands out from its competitors due to its appearance. It looks like a speaker stack you’d see at a gig, although its size means you thankfully won’t need a dedicated road crew to carry it into your home. With a 300-watt amplifier and an 8-inch subwoofer, it’s loud enough to dislodge the food in your teeth; the bass sounds powerful, and offers a clean, distortion-free mid-range and treble. There’s four ways to connect: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, RCA phone and a 3.5mm AUX input, plus it supports Spotify and Apple’s AirPlay. If you really want to shake the pictures from your walls, pairing other Drumfire speakers can be done easily using a dedicated app. It might be pricey, but just look at it.
Sonos One
This Alexa-controlled smart speaker doesn’t just rely on the Amazon digital assistant; using the dedicated app, it supports Amazon Music, Apple Music, internet radio and many other streaming services. Spotify users can use voice control to request music from your library, too. If you’ve got cash to spare and fancy rigging up your entire house with Sonos One speakers, you can wirelessly connect them to play black metal in one room or your whole home. Other genres are available.
Devialet New Phantom
Weighing in at 11.4kg, the New Phantom has an output of 1200 watts and can play at 101 dB – other, more expensive speakers in Devialet range are even louder, but we think you’re fine with this volume. It supports Deezer, Spotify, Qobuz, Tidal, internet radio and Live on Phantom, plus can be connected via Airplay, UPnP Renderer, Bluetooth, Spotify Connect and more. If you’ve got money to burn, this French-made Wi-Fi speaker looks like something from 2001: A Space Odyssey. “Play Fall Out Boy.” “I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.”
Klipsch The Three Heritage Wireless Speaker
It might look like something that would take pride of place in your nan’s house, but the Heritage combines the robust engineering of the past – that era when stuff was built to last – and cutting edge technology. It’ll connect via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, analog, 3.5mm miniplug, Phono Pre-Amp, and USB Type B audio. Available in ebony or walnut, the Klipsch The Three Heritage Wireless Speaker looks like it was made of class, if class were a tangible material.
Sonos Play 5
Though it’s more pricey than the Sonos One, the Play 5 has a lot of features worth the asking price. It supports 80 streaming services and can be connected to an Amazon Echo or Dot, plus can be controlled with an app too. Under the bonnet, so to speak, you’ll find six Class-D amplifiers with dedicated speaker drivers and three woofers that offers distortion-free playback at any volume.
Naim MU-SO
This beautifully-designed speaker will make your bank manager cry, but hear us out. This wooden cabinet is wrapped in a layer of anodised aluminium and is capable delivering perfect audio – 450 watts of power comes from six amplifiers, and supports UPnP, Airplay, Tidal, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth and USB. This is the British brand’s first wireless speaker and is simply a work of art.
Master & Dynamic MA770
A lottery win or an unexpected windfall may come in handy for this speaker, but it’s not a a CES Innovation awards honouree for nothing. This Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker is crafted from a concrete composite and features four Kevlar long throw woofers and a small titanium speaker, offering the listener – fingers crossed – a flawless sound. Best placed out of the reach of children, pets and anyone but you. What the heck, buy two. You deserve it.
