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Parker Hall
Gear
These are our favorite portable speakers of all shapes and sizes, from clip-ons to a massive boom box.
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Best Overall
UE Boom 3
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Pocket Bass
JBL Charge 5
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Best Micro Speaker
Sony SRS-XB100
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Best Bargain
Tribit StormBox
Read more4
/
22
The best Bluetooth speakers still have a place near and dear to our hearts, even as we've seen better (and more portable) smart speakers creeping into the universe. It's fun and easy to ask an Amazon Echo or Google Nest speaker to play your favorite track or tell you the weather, but smart speakers require stable Wi-Fi and updates to work. By (mostly) forgoing voice assistants and Wi-Fi radios, Bluetooth speakers are more portable, with the ability to venture outside of your house and withstand rugged conditions like the sandy beach or the steamy Airbnb jacuzzi. They'll also work with any smartphone, and they sound as good as their smart-speaker equivalents.
We've tested hundreds of Bluetooth speakers since 2017 (and many before that), and we can happily say they are still some of the best small devices for listening on the go. Here are our favorites right now. Be sure to check out all our buying guides, including the Best Soundbars, Best Wirefree Earbuds, and Best Smart Speakers.
Updated February 2024: We've added the JBL Charge 5 and Tribit Stormbox Flow, as well as honorable mentions for the Tivoli Model Two and Dali Katch G2.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com, full Gear coverage, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
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Parker Hall is a senior editor of product reviews at WIRED. He focuses on audiovisual and entertainment products. Hall is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied jazz percussion. After hours, he remains a professional musician in his hometown of Portland, Oregon.
TopicsShoppingbuying guidesSpeakersBluetoothhome entertainmentaudio
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