This article was updated on 10/25/2024 to include the Sony Ult Field 1, Beats Pill, JBL Go 4, JBL Clip 5, and the JBL Stage 2 speakers.
After thorough testing, we handpicked the best speakers you can buy in 2025. Our list includes everything from $50 portable ones to huge, fancy lounge speakers. It also covers a variety of use cases — from accompanying on rough adventures to some easy listening in the shower.
The editorial staff of Gizmodo independently tests and reviews each product found in our Buyer’s Guides. If you purchase something using our affiliate links, Gizmodo USA Media may earn a commission. Affiliate linking does not influence our editorial content.
Best Portable Speakers — Sony Ult Field 1
Sony’s new $130 Ult Field 1 speaker is made for adventures. It sports a rugged look with an IP67 rating, meaning it is the highest level of dustproof and almost the highest level of waterproof. You can be confident using it around the pool or in the rain. The Type-C charging port has a flap cover to protect it from water splashes. There is a lanyard for easy portability and a hook to attach to your backpack. The edges of the Ult Field 1 feature rubberized rings that are ideal for absorbing shock and protecting the delicate woofer inside. The body is perfectly streamlined, so it narrows in the middle and is easier to grasp. Every part of the speaker screams portability.
The Field 1 is as good for being taken on the go as it is for bass. It features a dedicated bass button, also known as the Ult button, that increases bass and sound pressure when pressed once and cranks both up even more when pressed twice. However, the bass loses some of its detail and clarity at higher volumes. So, if you’re looking for audiophile-level crisp bass, you won’t enjoy this speaker.
Best Budget Speakers — JBL Go 4
The $50 JBL Go 4 is a great travel speaker. It’s a tiny 0.6lb gadget but packs enough power to entertain a large group at a place that’s not overly loud. I found its volume ideal in parks, the pier, and my room. The only time I wished I had packed a larger speaker was at the excessively loud and chaotic Coney Island.
The Go 4 is fairly rugged and, at IP67, waterproof enough to endure the tons of wet hands and light splashes it has patiently endured so far. Its seven-hour battery life is more than enough to last a single hangout, though you might need a power bank and a Type-C cable to make it last an entire day. I just wish the Type-C charging port on the speaker was covered with a rubberized flap to prevent water from getting inside.
Best Speaker for Parties — Beats Pill
The new Beats Pill is ideal for parties because, at its modest $150 price, it is surprisingly generous enough to provide Amplify and Stereo Modes. You can pair two Pills for upgraded sound in Amplify Mode, which, as the name suggests, provides louder, more powerful sound. Or you can put them in Stereo Mode, where the speakers act as left and right channels. We tried the modes on the Beats Pills that were sent to us, which were extremely easy to set up. You bring the two speakers close to each other and long-press the multi-function button on the speaker to enable or cycle between them. I can imagine Amplify Mode coming in handy during a house party where you can place two speakers in two different rooms.
All in all, I believe the Pill offers so much more than you would expect from it. It has seemingly no premium for being made by Apple, commonly referred to as the Apple Tax, which is surprising. It features impressive high-end and mids, a bunch of portability-focused features, and some frills, such as lossless audio over USB-C. There are punchier low-end alternatives for the same price, so we wouldn’t recommend the Pill for just bass. The 24-hour battery life is more than double what you get on similar speakers in this range (10-15 hours), and its new, extended compatibility with Android features extends the target audience to just Apple users who Beats has previously primarily targeted.
Best Desktop Speakers — Edifier QR65
Edifier’s QR65 are gorgeous desktop speakers that we would recommend to people who are into bass. First of all, they have a pretty simple and intuitive setup. I prepared myself to get into a bunch of wires and at least consult a manual, but it required none of that. The controls on the speakers are as simple as the setup. There are two dials and a button, that’s all. One dial controls playback and volume, while the other controls lighting.
The QR65 offers a whole light show. There are around eight different modes of light show styles that you can cycle through via one of the two dials. The RGB on these speakers isn’t just for aesthetics. They also light up in different colors in different situations and quickly inform you about connectivity status: connected, pairing, etc.
You can connect these speakers using Bluetooth 5.3, USB, and line-in. The cables for the latter two are provided in the box. I like having multiple connectivity options because there’s room to choose from and because I’m comfortable with various device options. I connected my laptop to these via the Type-A cable, my phone via Bluetooth, and my TV via the in-line connectors.
These speakers are coated in leather, which gives them a nice, premium finish and makes them look worth their steep $370 price tag. The box includes metal stands that you can place underneath the speakers to raise them slightly above the surface they’re placed on. Though the plastic used is solid and high-quality, the speakers are fairly lightweight, making me feel good about carrying them around the house.
These are undeniably bass-heavy. The 1.25″ silk diaphragm dome tweeters do bring out some treble, but the 2.75″ mid-low drivers, with the aluminum alloy diaphragm and the long-throw design, overpower the high-end with extremely powerful bass. We experimented with a number of treble-heavy songs and was hoping the high-end would be able to cut through the low-end, but that never happened. They max out to an impressive volume, which I couldn’t enjoy for too long because I didn’t want to bother my neighbors.
Best Smart Lounge Speakers — JBL Authentics 300
Considering this is the first-ever speaker to feature both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, it’s probably the smartest speaker you can get your hands on. Not only does it feature both assistants, but it does so incredibly well. It’s impressive how seamlessly the Authentics 300 juggles both while some speakers struggle to get even a single assistant to work flawlessly.
This speaker is gorgeous and justifies its $450 price tag. You get a premium leather-coated body with subtle golden accents on the front. There’s also a helpful handle for easy portability. Though, at around 11 lbs, it’s better suited as a lounge speaker that lives in one place. It lasts around 8 hours on a full charge, though, so if you ever need to move it for an event briefly, you can do that without having an ugly cable sticking out of it.
This speaker means business when it claims to fill your space with music. Its sound carries immense power and is always more than enough for my two-bedroom apartment. It never sounds muddy, even at higher volumes, and retains that strength regardless of how much pressure you put it under.
You can (low-key) DJ on this by tweaking your music in real-time. Thanks to a pair of huge bass and Treble dials on the top of this speaker, you can customize exactly how much low and high end you want and on which track. My friends and I sometimes like to constantly play around with them during tracks for a fun and hands-on listening experience. We can promise that the dials work and aren’t just a marketing gimmick. Maxing out the bass will make your entire floor vibrate.
See JBL Authentics 300 at Amazon
Best Wi-Fi Speakers — Edifier D32 Wireless Tabletop
Edifier’s D32 Wireless Tabletop Speaker is an excellent option for enjoying one of the top-of-the-line audio codecs, ALAC. These gorgeous speakers facilitate Wi-Fi connectivity via Apple AirPlay for iOS devices, allowing crisp, lossless audio. The D32 offers several connectivity options, including Wi-Fi, standard Bluetooth V5.3, a 3.5mm AUX port, and a Type-C port.
The treble is definitely the star of the show. It is bright, crisp, and clear. It shines bright enough to dim all other elements of the orchestra. If you’re more into low-end, you won’t like these speakers. The dual one-inch silk dome tweeters work harder than the single four-inch long-throw mid-low driver responsible for producing bass.
The D32 doesn’t feature dedicated woofers or passive radiators that would create the deep pitch you’d feel in your chest.
After checking its Bluetooth capabilities, we switched to a Wi-Fi connection and was amazed at the difference in quality that ALAC led to. It was as if someone had injected the orchestra with much space. Over Wi-Fi, my music featured more clarity, richness, and depth. The treble gained more personality, and the bass gained some power, too.
Best Speaker for Apple Households — Sonos Era 300
The Sonos Era 300 is an impressive speaker, even at its eye-popping price point. But don’t think about it unless you’re in an Apple-dominant household.
It has one forward-firing tweeter routed through what the company calls a “custom waveguide” and one tweeter firing upward so that sound bounces off the ceiling. Two side-firing tweeters, one on each side and two woofers underneath those are also present. I was impressed by the speaker’s ability to thump through deep bass while listening to techno with the volume up high.
But with no Google Cast integration, this speaker doesn’t make much sense in a Google-led household. You would have to rebuild your entire smart ecosystem to integrate the Sonos Era 300—and even then, it would only work with the few AirPlay-capable devices rather than the mass of Google cast devices I have throughout my abode.
Best Shower Speakers — JBL Clip 5
The Clip 5 is a great shower speaker. Its high IP67 water resistance rating would be able to handle the splashes of water and our wet hands. The clipping mechanism is ideal for convenient use on the shower head. A larger clip is something the company worked on from its predecessor so it can accommodate shower heads or handles of all shapes and sizes. This $80 speaker will serve you quite well.
The treble tends to get overly sharp and tinny in the shower, but that’s due to its acoustics and echo. Mainly because the sound profile is much more balanced outside of the shower, its 12-hour battery life easily lasts weeks before we need to tether it to a socket. The only sore spot on this speaker is its buttons. They are hard to press, and there isn’t much travel, so it’s tough to tell if you’re even pressing them. Mostly, it’s not a major dealbreaker since I’m not navigating its controls too much in the shower.
Best Loudspeakers — JBL Stage 2
JBL recently launched nine (yes, nine) new loudspeakers on its Stage 2 line, with retail prices ranging from $300 to $1,200 per pair. What’s exciting about these speakers is their suitability for the average consumer in terms of price, ease of setup, and features. I got the chance to demo three different speaker setups for various price points. The setups ranged from $1,000 for barebones bookshelf loudspeakers (250B) to a full-fledged $3,500 5.1.2 surround sound system. The latter included a single center channel loudspeaker (245C), a pair of floor-standing loudspeakers (260F), a pair of bookshelf speakers (250B), two Dolby Atmos enabled height module loudspeakers (240H), and a subwoofer (220P).
Jab Se Tu Ne by Khamaaj is a song we’ve been using frequently for speaker testing lately. At the beginning of the song, we were blown away by how crisply Arsalan Shah’s voice cut through the bass guitars. The high notes were packed with brightness, never crossing over into tinny or sharp. The orchestra was airy, with lots of openness and depth. The song’s chorus brings a powerful low-end that concerns muddiness.
This list is updated regularly with new recommendations and product forecasts. Want more of Gizmodo’s latest consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best laptops, best TVs, and best headphones.
