Wireless, Wi-Fi-enabled speakers allow you to fill your home with music without the hassle and mess of running cables everywhere. They tend to use their own mesh network that allows for high-fidelity audio and synchronised multi-room playback.

We’re always testing the latest and greatest wireless speakers here at Pocket-Lint, and, so, this is the place where we round them up. It can get a little complicated if you’re trying to pick between these options, as you might expect, which is why we’ve also included a concise list of things to consider before you buy and can find this below our top picks.

Keep in mind that many of the devices we detail below support Bluetooth and Apple’s AirPlay, as well as Wi-Fi, which really helps broaden their appeal. However, if you don’t necessarily need all these connections, or portability is key, you may be better served with one of the best Bluetooth speakers.

Now, let’s get into some of our favourites.

Best wireless speaker: Our top picks

• Sonos / Pocket-lint

  Sonos Era 100

  1. Best overall

• Sonos / Pocket-lint

  Sonos Era 300

  2. Best for features

• Audio Pro C10 Mk 11

  3. A fantastic all rounder

• Apple

  Apple HomePod 2

  4. Best for Apple users

• Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin (2021)

  5. Best for large rooms

• Amazon Echo Studio

  6. Best value

• Naim Mu-so Qb 2nd generation

  7. Best for big budgets

The Sonos Era 100 is the company’s newest entry-level speaker, replacing the excellent Sonos One and bringing a new lease of life to the smallest Sonos of the family.

It has added a number of new features that make it even more appealing than the One, like Bluetooth capabilities, new controls and line-in functionality, plus of course it offers Sonos’ multi-room capabilities and Alexa smarts.

Yes, it’s a little bit more expensive than the speaker it replaces, and no there is no backwards compatibility with the One either, but it sounds fantastic and builds considerably on its predecessor’s performance, with an entirely new acoustic architecture.

If you’re considering entering the Sonos platform, the Era 100 is a perfect place to start.

Wireless speakers we also recommend

The Sonos Era 100 detailed above is a brilliant speaker, but it won’t be the right pick for everyone. That’s why we also recommend checking out these other superb options below.

If you like the sound of the Era 100 but you want something that can offer bigger, better sound and more features, the Era 300 is the speaker you’re looking for.

It adds in support for Dolby Atmos and spatial audio via compatible streaming services, plus will either kick off or slot into your Sonos multi-room system without issue, bringing Alexa compatibility with it to boot.

It’s not the cheapest, and its design might also divide opinion, but its punchy, powerful and, above all, likeable performance is something that everyone will agree on.

A great speaker doesn’t always standout in your room of choice, but it’s nice to know that it can when you need it to – and that’s what we really like about the Audio Pro C10 MkII. Whether it’s taking off the fabric cover for a more modern look or just turning up the volume, it can pop off when called upon – both literally and figuratively.

It’s a great bookshelf speaker, and with improved connectivity compared to the original version, it’s a doddle to play your tunes through.

It can get a party started, as well as turn its hand to more relaxed home listening sessions, and sounds warm, detailed and precise.

While the lack of built-in voice control options might limit its use for some prospective owners, we think Audio Pro’s second-gen C10 speaker is a perfect choice for a whole range of other buyers who will appreciate its myriad of charms.

The Apple HomePod 2 is a superb-sounding smart speaker in its second generation, and it takes audio quality seriously in a way we haven’t been used to hearing from smart speakers – including support for spatial audio.

It’s also adds a range of features that make it significantly more useful than its predecessor. The addition of Matter support helps to make HomeKit more relevant in the smart home market and in turn, HomePod too. There are also a few nice-to-have features mixed in too, especially – and importantly – for those embedded in Apple’s ecosystem.

If you’re an Apple user and want one of the best sounding smart speakers out there – if not the best – the Apple HomePod more than delivers.

Bowers & Wilkins’ iconic Zeppelin is sure to become the centrepiece of any room it is placed in. Not only because of its striking design, but also because it can pump out deep, throaty bass and precise sparkling highs.

It’s an audiophile’s dream come true – and while it’s a couple of years old now, it still holds its own in a busy marketplace.

We like it so much that the only real downside we could find, other than the price tag, is the lack of wired source inputs. Luckily, the app support is excellent, so we don’t think it’ll be an issue for most.

Let’s be honest – smart speakers wouldn’t always be your first choice for a wireless speaker if sound quality was top of your priorities, but Amazon’s Echo Studio does a pretty good job at bringing the fight to Apple’s HomePod 2 in that respect.

It offers a huge step up in audio quality compared with the rest of the Echo line up, and also offers Dolby Atmos and spatial sound support, when using a compatible streaming service. More of a movie person? You can pair it with Fire TV and give an compatible TV audio a pretty decent boost too.

Of course, it’s full of Alexa’s smarts too, so kills two birds with one stone.

Overall, what it offers as a package is outstanding, and it comes in at a price that, quite frankly, embarrasses a lot of the competition. It’s not the most beautiful speaker around, but there’s real value on the sound front and amazing connectivity, too.

We’d not call the Naim Mu-so Qb 2nd Gen a budget speaker by any means, but its price point is about as low as we thought we’d ever see from the Naim, um, name.

Now in its second generation, the Qb certainly makes a strong impression, giving out high-quality audio at a smaller size and price compared to the larger Mu-so. Connectivity is also top notch, and of course it support high-res music too.

For a speaker so square, the Qb is an all-round success.

How to choose a wireless speaker

The wireless speaker market has grown considerably over the past decade or so, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down any time soon. All this choice means that you can find speakers in any style and with any kind of features you want. Unfortunately, it also makes it much harder to narrow down your options. So, with that in mind, here are some things worth thinking about before you decide on a wireless speaker.

What is the multi-room ecosystem like?

One of the main reasons people get into wireless audio systems, rather than something like Bluetooth, is the multi-room expandability. It’s really nice to be able to access your music all over the house, and even better when you can group speakers together for a more immersive sound.

If you’re only really focused on one room, or if you live in a studio, then it might not be important to you. Regardless, it’s something worth thinking about as many users choose to expand their home audio systems as time goes by and a good ecosystem can make that process much easier.

Which services are supported?

This one is nice and simple, if you’re an avid Apple Music user then you had better check that your chosen wireless speaker supports Apple Music playback. Not all wireless speakers offer the option of wired or Bluetooth playback, so if your favourite service is missing you’d be out of luck.

It’s always worth paying attention to what reviewers and customers are saying about the app too. With a wireless speaker, the majority of your interaction with the device will be through its app, so it’s important to seek out a good one. It’s no good having the best speaker in the world if it has a buggy app that’s always crashing, as you’ll likely never want to use it.

What about other smart integrations?

A feature that is becoming more common on wireless speakers is the ability to integrate with smart assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant. It won’t matter to everyone, but if you’re a keen user then it’s undeniably convenient to have your audio system integrated too. If you’ve got lots of other smart home kit, then imagine how convenient it would be to ask any speaker in any room to turn the heating up or switch certain lights off.

Another feature that we’re big fans of is Spotify Connect (there are equivalents for lots of the other streaming services too), this allows you to control Spotify playback on wireless speakers from within the Spotify app without needing to open your music system’s app. It’s worth taking a look at the compatible devices for your chosen music platform to check if you could take advantage of such a feature.

How’s the sound quality?

Last but not least, it’s got to sound good, of course. As the sound quality is fairly subjective, we’d recommend thinking about the particular sonic aspects you enjoy, as well as the genres you’ll be listening to. If it’s gonna be all drum & bass, all the time, then obviously you’ll want something that can kick out the low-frequencies. Whereas, if it’s going to be mainly podcasts, the mids are going to be far more important.

One important thing to remember is that great bass response tends to come from larger housings, so there’s a balance to be found between what fits neatly into your space and what is going to rumble your face off.