Improve Your Quality of Life With the Best Smart Speakers

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Buying Guide: Smart Speakers

We’ve recently witnessed technology integrate seamlessly into our lives — just a few years ago, being able to control everything in your house using only voice commands might have seemed unbelievable. In today’s world, though, you can manage almost all household appliances with a single device — a smart speaker. Gone are the days when a speaker solely referred to a gadget that’s used to listen to your favorite tunes, and that’s because modern smart speakers can do so much more than just play music. Acting as virtual assistants, these smart gadgets can do everything from streaming music over Wi-Fi to setting up appointments and arming your home security system. Because the market is saturated with seemingly endless high-tech options, finding the right product can be challenging. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help you choose from the top-rated smart speakers in 2023 to make your life just a little easier.

The Amazon Echo Dot Smart Speaker is a 3rd generation speaker that features the company’s Alexa assistant. Its compact design makes it perfect for small spaces, letting you easily place it on your office desk, kitchen counter, or nightstand to use. It also has better sound quality than its predecessors, and you can pair it with another one of these smart speakers to enjoy some impressive stereo sound. This smart speaker is perfect for controlling your smart home with your voice, and it allows you to set timers, check the news, and even connect with friends. You can listen to music from popular streaming sites like Spotify and Apple Music, and you can turn its microphone off whenever you feel like it. A pretty affordable price tag and plenty of smart features help this smart speaker bag the top spot on our list.

The Bose Smart Speaker is a premium, sleek-looking speaker that comes with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant built-in. Its noise-rejection microphone makes it super responsive to your voice commands, and it offers three different controls to let you use it any way you want to — voice command, a plethora of one-touch presets, or the Bose Music app. With multiple connectivity options like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Apple AirPlay 2, you can conveniently enjoy listening to your favorite music with this smart speaker’s stereo sound. Using the manufacturer’s SimpleSync technology, you can even connect multiple speakers to enjoy synchronized music for a concert-like experience. This smart speaker also features a small LCD screen that will tell you what’s playing, something that sets it apart from other options on the market.

The Sonos Smart Speaker is a compact set of speakers that’s great for both indoor and outdoor use. With multiple connectivity options, you can stream your favorite music anytime, anywhere, and you can easily control the device with voice commands, its app, or Apple AirPlay 2. If you’re a fan of high-quality audio, then this smart speaker can prove itself worthy with its automatic Trueplay tuning, deep bass, and expansive soundscape. Since Amazon Alexa is built into this speaker, you can control all of its actions with a simple voice command, from playing songs to looking things up. This smart speaker also boasts an IP56 rating, meaning that it can withstand rain, snow, UV rays, dust, and other extreme weather conditions.

The Marshall Smart Speaker is a versatile speaker that can fill any room, large or small, with excellent sound quality. This speaker comes integrated with Alexa, letting you use voice commands to play music or carry out various tasks. It offers multiple connectivity options, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AUX, and RCA, and you can turn Alexa off with a simple tap of its mute button. Thanks to this smart speaker’s noise cancellation microphone, Alexa can easily hear you over the sound of your music, no matter how loud it is. Using the physical controls or the speaker’s app, you can customize your music according to your preferences, and you can even play music wirelessly across different rooms with compatible Alexa devices.

The Poly Smart Speaker is a high-end device that’s officially certified for use with Microsoft Teams. You can press a button to access Teams, and a standard version without this compatibility is also available. With its multiple echo and noise-canceling microphones, this smart speaker is suitable for meetings and professional conferences. This smart speaker offers easy connectivity with various devices. You can use Bluetooth to connect it to your smartphone, and it also comes with a dongle to connect to computers and laptops for high-quality audio. This battery-powered smart speaker can last up to 20 hours before it needs to be recharged, and its IP64 rating means that’s highly resistant to water and dust.

Do smart speakers have good sound quality?

It depends on the type of speaker you have. If you choose a high-quality smart speaker, it will usually sound better than a cheap alternative.

What is the difference between a smart speaker and a Bluetooth speaker?

A smart speaker has built-in virtual assistants, like Amazon Alexa, that help you do much more than play audio, while a Bluetooth speaker can only play music after you connect it to your phone or computer. Smart speakers usually have Bluetooth connectivity, but not all Bluetooth speakers are smart devices.

Are smart speakers safe to use?

Any smart device with a microphone that’s always on can raise some ethical concerns, but if you opt for a reputable smart speaker, you shouldn’t be too concerned about your privacy.