Speakers

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 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.

The JBL Link 500 is a good large speaker with Google Assistant inside, but you'll be better served with two Sonos Ones or the Google Home Max.

The JBL Link 300 delivers most of the features you want in a smart speaker along with above-average sound — especially if you love bass.

The Sony LF-S50G brings Google Assistant to your home with an elegant style and includes some useful features.

The Sony LSPX-S1 is a stylish Bluetooth speaker/LED light combo, but you're better off with a smart speaker (or several) for this kind of money.

The Onkyo Smart Speaker G3 sounds great and can do almost everything a Google Home speaker can.

The Sound Dimension Soundots XCEL Ai-1 offers easy modularity, light customization and good audio quality in a sturdy aluminum-and-steel chassis.

The Razer Nommo Chroma is an impressive set of gaming speakers with rich, loud sound and customizable RGB lighting.

This small Bluetooth dongle lets you use Alexa while you're driving, but the voice assistant could respond faster.

Yamaha's YAS-706 delivers full sound and a robust feature set, though it's better for video than it is for music.

Yamaha's slim YAS-207 soundbar creates an immersive experience for watching movies and TV, though it isn't as good for music.

The UE Megablast sounds great, but it can't do everything an Amazon smart speaker can.

The Sony HT-ST5000 soundbar delivers detailed audio, booming bass and encompassing Atmos surround sound, but the quality comes at a steep price.

Alexa is built into this clever but pricey alarm clock, which also has physical buttons to let you control smart home devices and get some more shut-eye.

The first smart speaker with Cortana sounds fantastic, but Microsoft's virtual assistant lags behind Alexa and Google Assistant.

Packed with features, including 4K and multiroom capabilities, Samsung's HW-MS750 delivers crisp, clear audio in an attractive package.

LG's SJ9 soundbar fills the room with sound and can decode Dolby Atmos, but it doesn't sound as good as other soundbars in this price range.

While the iHome dock adds a clock and somewhat better sound quality to the Echo Dot, it's too expensive for what it offers.

The Monster Superstar RaveBox delivers big, booming bass with clean mids and highs, an integrated light show and up to 12 hours of battery life.

Fluance's AB40 soundbase delivers above-average audio quality at an affordable price.

The Vaux improves the sound quality of your Amazon Echo Dot while making it portable with an integrated battery.

JBL's Cinema SB 450 delivers 4K video with a ton of bass and volume, making this soundbar a legitimate contender to replace your home-theater sound system.