Speakers: Buying Advice, Tips, and News

The fourth-generation Amazon Echo speaker takes the sound quality and smart home hub capabilities of the Echo Plus and puts it in a new round package.

The portable and rugged Anker Soundcore Motion 300 speaker offers excellent Bluetooth streaming quality, customizable audio, and a speakerphone for well under $100.

Apple's second-generation HomePod carries over the elegant design from the original, but improves the audio and smart home experiences to better compete with speakers from Amazon and Google.

The 2021 model of the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin speaker delivers wonderful, high-fidelity wireless audio from a strikingly designed enclosure, with built-in support for Amazon's Alexa voice assistant.

The Nest Audio smart speaker offers Google Assistant functionality and clear, detailed sound in an attractive design for a reasonable price.

The Harman Kardon SoundSticks 4 are a 20th anniversary, Bluetooth-compatible update to the classic 2.1-channel speakers, and they remain just as compelling as ever.

You won't want to carry it too far, but the highly durable JBL Boombox 3 brings impressively deep bass and plenty of volume to the great outdoors.

The Dolby Atmos-compatible Era 300 delivers room-filling spatial audio on its own, or it can be easily integrated with other Sonos speakers for a truly theater-like experience.

You pay a premium for it, but the stylish and outdoor-friendly Sony SRS-XG300 speaker delivers commendable bass and offers lots of customizability in a portable package.

Audioengine's A1-MR speakers deliver top-notch audio free of digital signal processing, with Wi-Fi support for lossless audio and multiroom playback.

The oversized LG Xboom XL7 speaker delivers big bass, bright highs, an animated LED light show with strobes, and karaoke inputs, for a pricey way to power your parties.