Speakers reviews

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.

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.

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.

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.