Best Bluetooth speakers of 2024

We love the UE Boom 3’s design — its funky two-tone look is simple, unobtrusive and brightens any occasion. It also features 360-degree spatial sound and the ability to connect to two concurrent devices, while its waterproof, dustproof, and drop-proof capabilities mean it’ll take a lot of punishment before it keels over. It even floats, so it won’t need rescuing after an impromptu dip.

In terms of sound, the Boom 3 delivers plenty of punchy bass and volume to fill even large rooms with ease, even if it does lack the clarity that some high-end rivals offer.

If there’s an area where the Boom 3 drops the ball, it’s UE’s insistence on porting over the micro USB charge slot from the last-gen model. We know it’s been around since 2018, but a USB-C would have really sealed the deal.

We’ve seen Bluetooth speakers with comparable prices from audio heavyweights such as Bose and Sonos, so while the UE Boom 3 is rather expensive, it brings a lot to the table in terms of features, making it a wonderful all-rounder.

The Anker Soundcore Motion 300 is an excellent-quality Bluetooth speaker in its own right, delivering superb sound and decent enough battery life in a conveniently compact package that’s waterproof and has a useful carry strap. However, once you factor in its low asking price of just $80 you have a real winner on your hands.

Quite simply, there are few Bluetooth speakers that can offer this much performance at such a competitive price, making this the best value Bluetooth speaker on the market.

Read our full Anker Soundcore Motion 300 review.

For a premium Bluetooth speaker, look no further than the Sonos Move. While the next-gen Sonos Move 2 is now available, the original arguably offers better value. Its design oozes quality, with touch-capacitive buttons, a metal front grille, and four far-field mics that show it means business, even if it’s on the higher end of most people’s budgets.

Those mics are used for voice control and its Trueplay feature, which automatically tweaks its sound levels to the environment, room, and audio. Clever.

The sound is excellent too, with thumping bass and clarity in vocals and the high to mid-ranges. Its bigger body highlights the problem that many smaller speakers have in delivering consistent, crystal-clear audio, and the team at Sonos has outdone themselves here.

Despite the name, the Sonos Move isn’t the most portable unit on this list. Its size means it’s more suited to carrying around the house and into the garden. Even with the integrated handle, at a hefty 3kg, you won’t want to cart it around too much.

Additionally, its 11-hour battery life means it can’t stray far without a charge for long, but the included wireless charging base is a nice addition.

With the UE Hyperboom, you’ll certainly frighten the neighbors. This 14-inch monolith is a pure speaker and almost imposing in its looks. However, at a beastly 6kg, carrying it around is going to give your biceps a workout.

Should you want to enjoy a long gaming session with an immersive soundscape, the Hyperboom’s impressive 24-hour battery life has you covered. And speaking of shindigs, this speaker is rated IPX4, so it’ll survive a cocktail spill. It can also output power as a charging unit, so you can blast out your tunes while juicing up your phone.

Loud is what the Hyperboom does best, and it has the power to practically reverberate your entire household. It handles treble, bass, and mid-range sound with ease, with no degradation – even when you turn it up to 11.

That’s thanks to the brains behind the brawn. Conducting its mass of woofers, radiators, and tweeters is its adaptive EQ, which literally reads the room and adjusts its sound accordingly.

Bulky and exorbitantly expensive, the Hyperboom is a serious bit of kit for parties. Ultimate Ears has shied away from revealing its power output, but trust us when we say it’s plenty loud enough. Just use it responsibly, okay?

We’ve already mentioned the Anker Soundcore Motion X300, but we felt that X500 also deserved a place on this list. It may be a little more expensive than its counterpart, but it’s a more powerful device, with a longer battery life, and a durable design.

The sound quality is top-notch, and the soundstage is impressively wide. We recommend it for music, podcasts, gaming, or anything else you might want to play through it.

While it might take a little while to charge up, there’s very little that we can say against the Anker Soundcore Motion X500. If you’re looking for the best sound quality in a case that will keep it safe while you travel around, this is your best option.

Read our Anker Soundcore Motion X500 review.

The Stormbox Micro 2 is a Bluetooth speaker that houses a surprising amount of power and features, considering its tiny size. No bigger than the size of a palm, it’s small enough to be taken anywhere and comes with a clip and strap for attaching to a bike or backpack.

Handily, you can also charge your phone in a pinch thanks to its USB-C line out, while its IP67 rating means it’s both waterproof and dustproof. It can also pair with another Micro 2 for stereo audio.

That’s an impressive level of functionality in such a diminutive speaker. But how does it sound? Admirably, actually. For a micro speaker, there’s plenty to appreciate, with clear, punchy notes, and even the bass is surprisingly decent. Naturally, the driver isn’t large enough to deliver big room volume, and when you crank it up, it starts to struggle.

Nevertheless, the Micro 2 offers a stack of features and decent performance at ludicrously good value for money.

The Bose SoundLink Flex is a classy-looking speaker backed by the company’s solid audio tech credentials.

It features a powdered steel grille with a soft silicone shell, so it can take some rough and tumble while in transport. There’s also a robust fabric loop, so it’s light enough to attach to a carabiner, clip, or hook for travel, even if its dimensions are rather chunky for proper city hopping.

It’s also IP67-rated, meaning it’s dustproof and waterproof. Handily, it also floats, so it’s fine for balancing on an inflatable or boat.

As you might expect, the Flex’s audio performance is great, with clarity at all ranges and even with bass. We do wish it was louder — some of the bigger party speakers are more than a match for it, but for a light, easy-to-use speaker you can slip into a backpack, it’s a great effort from Bose.

The Partybox 310’s mammoth boom box is powerful enough to bring the house down.

This party speaker stands at nearly 70cm and weighs over 17kg, so it really pushes the boundaries of portability. That said, it has plenty of practicality and features, including a retractable long handle and wheels for ease of transport.

Like many party speakers, there’s an audio-synched light show in the form of dual circular RGB lights, which helps set the ambiance. It can also keep going for up to 18 hours on a single charge, so it’s great even for extended use, while its IPX4 protection can help it survive the odd splash of drinks. There are even inputs for a mic or guitar if you feel like throwing on a solo gig, alongside physical EQ buttons so you can tweak your sound profile on the fly.

With an output of 240W, the 310 is loud enough for large parties and then some. It’s got plenty of punchy performance in its bass, which can be enhanced further with its Bass Boost mode. And while this behemoth even performs well at volume, we’d say that heavy bass songs can test its limits at high volumes, even if few speakers can deliver perfect clarity.

It’s a weighty, sizeable, and very expensive unit, but this beast is more than capable of doing justice to your favorite soundtracks.