
Like the aforementioned HomePod, Amazon's Echo Studio has been around for a while now and its maker hasn't seen fit to regularly update it. Connections: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Apple AirPlay 2.Voice-controllable music services: Apple Music.You can still play music from non-Apple services over AirPlay, but as Siri is an Apple Music-only affair and is so baked into the user interface, we think you lose too much for it to be worth it. If you're all in on Apple devices (and prefer Apple Music to Spotify) you won't find much better, but you won't get as good an experience if not. If you have the cash, you can create a stereo pair using two HomePods more even bigger sound, and with an Apple TV 4K in tandem, a pair of HomePods can also do a very good impression of a dedicated home cinema setup. If you use an iPhone, you can transfer audio to the speaker by waving it over the top, which still feels a bit like magic to us, while Siri is very good at picking up your voice commands from across the room.

The HomePod 2 sounds fantastic and is a great advert for Apple Music's Dolby Atmos functionality, which can make your music more immersive than ever. The speaker arrangement is slightly different and the newer model integrates better with smart home systems, but otherwise, it's pretty much same again. And the HomePod 2 is simply a better version of an already excellent device. The original HomePod stuck around for longer than anyone expected, but it remained one of the very best smart speakers around until a follow-up arrived last year. Related: Best portable Bluetooth speakers for 2023 We've rounded up what we believe to be the best smart speakers you can buy today, with the aforementioned big three all accounted for, and all budgets considered. Are you all in on Apple gear, or is Alexa your go-to? There's also size and audio quality to think about, while some smart speakers also have a screen. If you plan on building a proper smart home, you'll need to think about which devices best interact with those you already have. Oh yeah, and they play music too.īut choosing a smart speaker isn't always a straightforward decision.

Whether your virtual assistant of choice is Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple's Siri, smart speakers allow us to control other devices, set timers, turn the lights on, check in on the news and weather, ask all manner of strange questions and so much more. Shouting at your gadgets used to be awkward, but these days everyone's doing it, and that's largely thanks to the emergence of smart speakers.
