Speakers

If you can afford it, the Sonos Playbase offers almost everything you want in a soundbase, especially big sound and ease of use.

The Anker Nebula Soundbar – Fire TV Edition is a tough sell, due to a clunky interface, a high price and a disappointing soundscape.

The Amazon Echo can stream music, answer questions, control smart home devices and help you shop — and it sounds good, too.

Amazon's second-gen Echo is more attractive and more affordable than the original, and it sounds just as good, too.

The Roku Wireless Subwoofer works exactly as it's supposed to, providing pretty good bass for a fair amount of money.

If your TV lacks quality speakers and could use a few (thousand) more apps, the Roku Smart Soundbar is worth a look.

The Google Home Mini looks and sounds better than Amazon's smallest Alexa speaker, but it’s not quite as versatile.

A slim soundbar with serious smarts.

Bose's $349 Portable Home Speaker lets you carry Alexa and Google Assistant around with you.

The Anker Soundcore Infini Pro produces good overall sound without a separate subwoofer, but its Dolby Atmos abilities won't wow you.

Music lovers with deep wallets looking for a powerful outdoor speaker that doubles as a cooler should check out the Thomas & Darden Kube.

The $399 Sonos Move is a battery-powered smart speaker and a portable audio beast.

With excellent sound and a rugged build, the Fugoo Style-S hits a sweet spot of price and performance for portable Bluetooth speakers.

UE's Wonderboom 2 hits a sweet spot for small Bluetooth speakers, delivering good bass and vocals in an easily portable package.

The Yamaha YAS-209 delivers solid, all-around sound for a midpriced soundbar, and Alexa makes controlling it easy.

For less than $100, you can get an excellent-sounding Sonos speaker, sold by Ikea.

The feature-packed Sonos Beam delivers very good sound for a small soundbar, and comes with Alexa voice controls.

The Sonos One is the best-sounding Alexa speaker yet, and its integration with Amazon’s assistant is excellent (if not yet complete).

For those who are about to rock, the Stanmore II has just about everything you need--as long as you don’t mind spending a big chunk of money.

The UE Megaboom 3 has what you want in a portable Bluetooth speaker: good sound quality, long battery life, ruggedness and more.

The Yamaha MusicCast Bar 400 offers good sound and plenty of features, but you'll get the most out of it if you invest in additional MusicCast speakers to expand to a 5.1 system.

Audiophiles who already own a Roku TV and want the simplest sound solution should consider the Roku Wireless Speakers.

The JBL Flip 4 improves on an already-solid speaker line, adding more battery life, more ruggedness and better sound.

The Samsung HW-N850 is a big soundbar that produces big sound and comes packed with the latest features, including Dolby Atmos.

The Amazon Echo Dot is an easy way to update your home stereo system with smart home features.

The Vizio SB36512-F6 brings true surround sound into your living room at an affordable price, has a ton of features and settings, and can handle the height of Dolby Atmos encoding.

The Polk Command Bar, with Alexa voice control, delivers resonant dialog and good overall sound, though Alexa can be finicky.

The Cavalier Maverick portable smart speaker sports premium touches such as leather and aluminum, and sounds good overall—though you can get better-sounding portable smart speakers for less.

Yamaha's YAS-108 soundbar delivers plenty of features and overall very good overall sound, all for $200.