has got you covered with our expert lab tests.
Speakers that receive a poor score of 45% or lower are Don’t Buys and should be avoided — these will have poor sound and so there are far better options for the money.
Some Great Value models will score well enough to also be Best Buys.How we test wireless and smart speakersListening performance (sound quality)A panel of experts listens to musical passages across various genres, assessing the overall quality of the speaker’s performance.Our experts listen to and assess pieces of music covering jazz, classical, pop and rock, along with several radio broadcasts, so you can be sure that whatever you listen to, it’ll sound great if it earns a CHOICE Recommended tag.Ease of useOur ease of use testing determines how easy or difficult it is to take advantage of the features included in a wireless speaker or smart display.Our testers assess the set-up process for all wireless speakers, then assess the speaker for everyday use by looking at things such as connecting the speaker to your devices — be it Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or via a wire.
The tester then splits the network in half and plays different songs over the two separate zones.Wi-Fi speakers are designed to be controlled from a smartphone, so our testers assess the design, functionality and performance of each brand’s Apple and Google smartphone app.Smart speakers undergo additional ease of use tests that assess aspects of the digital assistant.We look at how well the speaker responds to commands in various environments using the built-in digital assistant, such as Siri (Apple), Alexa (Amazon) or Google.Those speakers with lower scores required us to repeat commands even in quiet rooms.Good speakers can pick up your voice, even in a busy situation.
The times we were able to achieve may be longer than the claimed times, but it gives an indication of their comparative battery capacity performance.Annual running cost is based on sitting idle for most of the day and playing music and using as a smart device for a few hours a day for speakers that are mains powered.
If the speaker has any additional features, including sound adjustment controls, music streaming services support or Apple AirPlay and radio functionality, we’ll assess them to see how well they work.