Audio

A Marshall-branded Bluetooth speaker with brass knobs, a toggle switch, and 80 watts of real output. Looks like an amplifier, sounds nearly like one. Mains-only and no Wi-Fi.

A Swedish AirPlay 2 speaker with RCA inputs on the back, enough power to fill a living room, and a sub-out for when you want more. Costs $180 more than a HomePod and earns the gap.

A 360-degree portable from the French company that builds Phantom speakers. It sounds beautiful, it looks like sculpture, and at $790 it is buying a brand at least as much as a speaker.

A 360-degree Bluetooth cylinder that floats, takes a beating, and runs all day. Mids are thin and the sound signature is barely changed from the Megaboom 3, but for parties none of that matters much.

Three kilos, 24 hours of battery, IP56 against rain and dust, and the full Sonos ecosystem in a handle. It's the speaker for the patio and the kitchen, not the speaker for the beach.

It survives the pool, it survives the drop test, it sounds bigger than its price, and the new USB-C lossless input is the kind of upgrade I didn't know I wanted. The 24-hour battery claim is not real, though.

Four and a half pounds of Bluetooth speaker. It throws a real stereo image, takes a dunking, and runs all day. At $400 the Bose tax is real — but for once you can hear what you paid for.

Tempered glass, leather, aluminum, and a USB-C path that gets you genuine 24-bit lossless on Android or a Mac. Heavy, expensive, and the ANC mode switch has a baffling two-second pause.

A USB-C DAC inside the cups, magnesium and aluminum construction, and the most accurate tuning of any noise-cancelling over-ear I have heard. The noise cancellation itself is fine, not class-leading, and the price is steep.

Two hundred dollars buys you the neutral tuning the M50x has been famous for, plus LDAC, multipoint, and roughly sixty-five hours of playback. There is no noise cancellation, and that is the trade.

A surprisingly balanced tuning, USB-C lossless via an internal DAC, and Apple ecosystem perks at $349. The ear cups are small, the ANC is just okay, and a chunk of buyers will be uncomfortable before they hear it.

Nappa leather, brushed aluminum, forty hours of battery, and a tuning that swings hard toward bass. The build is the best in the category and the value is the worst.

Strong ANC, thirty-two hours of battery, and a TV Audio Swap feature that pulls audio off a Sonos Arc or Beam straight into the cups. Outside the Sonos ecosystem there are better headphones for the money.

Roughly sixty hours of ANC-on battery, the most accurate sound at the price, and forty-some dollars cheaper than the Sony and Bose flagships. The ANC and the microphone are the compromises.

Bought alone, it's a $299 speaker that mostly justifies the price. Bought in pairs and wired to an Apple TV, it quietly becomes the best $600 you can spend on living-room sound.

Two active speakers with KEF's Uni-Q driver, hi-res streaming, an HDMI ARC port for the TV, and an honest 24-bit pipeline. Fifteen hundred dollars for the pair, and they're the only wireless speakers I've heard that actually compete with separates.

A weird-shaped Sonos with four tweeters and two woofers, designed for Dolby Atmos music. As a solo speaker it's bass-heavy and quirky. As a pair behind your couch, it's the upgrade your soundbar has been waiting for.

The 2024 refresh swaps Lightning for USB-C and unlocks wired lossless from a Mac or iPhone. Everything else, including the weight and the case, is identical.

The best ANC I have measured in over-ear wireless, comfortable enough to wear all day, and at $430 priced exactly where you would expect. The Immersive Audio mode is still a gimmick.

The noise cancellation is the best in any true-wireless earbud I have used. The default tuning leans hard on bass, the app fights with you occasionally, and one bud sometimes drops out for reasons nobody has fully explained.

Class-leading ANC, all-day comfort, and a meaningful jump in call quality over the XM4. The lost folding hinge and the larger case are the price of the redesign.

A small, single-room Sonos with real stereo, a line-in, and the usual Sonos software lock-in. Two hundred and fifty dollars buys the speaker most people should actually own.

Better fit, better noise cancellation, a heart-rate sensor that mostly works, and the same iPhone-only magic everyone else has spent four years trying to copy. Two hundred and fifty dollars, and the easy answer.

A big, loud, swappable-battery JBL with a shoulder strap and a sense of humor about itself. Three hundred and fifty dollars for a speaker that will outlive the warranty.