The best Wi-Fi speakers and music systems
The best Wi-Fi speakers and music systems
Google’s budget audio dongle pipes music to any stereo from the most popular streaming apps on your smartphone.
It’s simple and works well, with direct compatibility for most major music services, and even more supported by the Chrome browser plug-in and on the Android app.
The ability to feed 24-bit/96-kHz music to an external digital analog converter will please audiophiles.
Some notable music services, including iTunes, Apple Music and Amazon Music, are not supported on iPhone and iPad.
In analog sound quality it’s beaten by the Fon Gramofon (which costs twice as much).
The LG offers excellent performance for the money, particularly for movies.
The connectivity is better than most competitors with HDMI, optical, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
If you want to listen to music, a dedicated stereo system will sound better for the money.
The LG proves how far affordable sound bar/wireless subwoofer systems have come, and sounds equally credible with movies and music.
Amazon’s voice-activated smart home speaker is undeniably futuristic, but it’s also practical and accessible.
The growing list of Skills in the Alexa app could also benefit from better organization.
More than a year after its release, the Echo is smarter than ever, and one of the best connected home products money can buy.
The SoundTouch 10 is a very compact Wi-Fi speaker that plays much bigger than its size would indicate, and it offers convenience features like Bluetooth and shortcut buttons.
The revealing nature of the speaker means some genres of music can sound a little harsh at higher volumes.
The competing Sonos offers more services over Wi-Fi, more sound-tailoring features and a superior app.
The affordable Bose is an impressive sounding compact Wi-Fi speaker that also offers Bluetooth connectivity.
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