We purchased the The 4 Best Alexa and Alexa-Enabled Speakers so our expert reviewer could thoroughly test and assess it. Keep reading for our full products reviews.
Alexa, Amazon’s smart assistant, is arguably the most well-known of them all. This is largely due to the fact that Amazon’s Echo smart speaker lineup has remained one of the most affordable smart home options.
This smart speaker category has come a long way since its inception a few years ago. The small-format Echo Dot is now in its fourth generation, and there are a slew of other Amazon-made options available.
However, there are a slew of third-party speakers that include Alexa functionality that has been certified by Amazon. We’ve broken down the best options for you, whether sound quality, portability, or compatibility are important to you.
The Echo Dot line (Check latest price on Amazon) began as a dedicated voice assistant for retrieving information, scheduling calls, checking the weather, and other mundane tasks. However, the original Dots were not particularly good speakers for listening to music. The fourth-generation Echo Dot with a clock display fills this gap.
The larger, angled speaker driver in this round, globe-like device provides a much fuller and richer sonic response. Instead of just upward like previous generations, Amazon achieves this by angling the speaker upward and toward the front, pushing the sound in the direction of your room. This makes it an excellent speaker for listening to music while getting ready in the morning or doing chores.
This particular configuration features a bright digital clock face that can be seen through the mesh on the front, making it ideal for nightstands. Of course, you can perform all of the expected Alexa functions, such as controlling your smart home, asking questions, and so on. For most people, this is Amazon’s best foot forward, and it comes at a reasonable price.
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi: Both | Voice Assistant: Amazon Alexa | Battery Powered: No | Water Resistance: No
Bose is one of the best audio brands out there in terms of sound quality and ease of use. The Home Speaker 300 (Check latest price on Amazon) is the company’s answer to in-home audio with Amazon Alexa built-in. This means you get all of the features of a standalone Echo Dot in the form of a room-filling Bose home speaker.
The larger drivers produce a much deeper bass response, while the round-firing speakers produce a more 360-like sound. You can connect your speaker to your home Wi-Fi system to communicate with your in-home audio system, but you can also use Bluetooth connectivity to connect to a phone or computer more quickly.
Bose’s SoundTouch technology allows you to have complete control over any Bose speaker in your system. Simple capacitive touch controls and a stylish Bose design round out an excellent smart speaker option. It’s on the more expensive side of our list, at around $200, so that’s a major factor to consider.
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi: Both | Voice Assistant: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant | Battery Powered: No | Water Resistance: No
Sonos is another big player in the smart speaker market, and the Sonos One (Check latest price on Amazon) is a great option for those looking for a fully integrated smart speaker system. This unit allows you to invest in a system that isn’t tied to a single smart ecosystem. That’s because the Sonos app connects to the system entirely via Wi-Fi.
While buying a pair of Sonos Ones to use as a stereo set will provide the best sound quality, a single speaker will fit nicely on an office shelf or in a kitchen. Alexa is pre-installed, allowing for the same level of smart control as the Echo line of smart speakers. However, the Sonos app also supports AirPlay 2 and a slew of other services, including Spotify and Pandora.
Sonos’ technology incorporates a lot of digital signal processing and sound research, resulting in a speaker that sounds fantastic.
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi | Voice Assistant: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant | Battery Powered: No | Water Resistance: No
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Best for TV & Entertainment: Polk Audio React Sound Bar
While a dedicated Echo Dot is a great device to have around the house, and many of the models work well in a pinch for listening to music, these devices aren’t designed to round out your overall entertainment setup. This is where a soundbar can help. The Polk Audio React (Check latest price on Amazon) sits just below your TV, filling in the gaps left by your TV’s poor built-in speakers.
Six dedicated drivers are included in the React, with some focusing on mids and bass and tweeters focusing on the higher end of the frequency spectrum. Polk has even included DSP that isolates and accentuates the vocal portion of the frequency spectrum, which is ideal for watching shows with a lot of dialogue.
Then there’s the Alexa feature, which allows you to summon Amazon’s voice assistant directly from the soundbar. This Wi-Fi-enabled device is ideal for movie and entertainment setups.
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi: Both | Voice Assistant: Amazon Alexa | Battery Powered: No | Water Resistance: No
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The Final Word
It’s no surprise that our best overall pick comes from Amazon, and the fourth-generation Echo Dot with a digital clock interface delivers the most bang for your buck, with smooth performance, a useful clock visualization, and improved sound in a small package.
If you don’t mind venturing away from Amazon, Bose or Sonos products have a lot to offer. For a slight premium, our Bose pick gives you the brand’s truly incredible sound quality and smart assistant functionality.
There are plenty of Amazon-direct speakers to choose from, and we were blown away by what Amazon’s flagship Echo Studio speaker has to offer.
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