The 10 Best Bluetooth Speakers of 2015
The 10 Best Bluetooth Speakers of 2015
Smartphones and tablets are great. Smartphone and tablet speakers, however, are dismal. You just can’t get very good sound out of a small, flat object designed to fit in your pocket. Fortunately, you don’t have to rely on your smartphone or tablet to put out sound when you’re on the go. Portable Bluetooth speakers are the best way to bust out the jams wirelessly when you can’t carry around your entire sound system, which is pretty much all the time.
Thanks to integrated Bluetooth, these speakers work with Android, iOS, and, well, any Bluetooth-enabled device, including most laptops and some desktops. Also, they don’t require a Wi-Fi network, making them much more flexible than Apple-only AirPlay speakers. Still, there are a few things to consider when picking a Bluetooth speaker.
Form Factor
Bluetooth speakers are usually portable devices, but they don’t have to be. Speaker systems like the Harman Kardon Aura and the Polk Audio Hampden are built for connecting to your PC or HDTV, and Bluetooth connectivity is a secondary function. These types of speaker systems are great if you want wireless audio at home, but you can’t easily haul either of them around, unlike many of the smaller, more bag-friendly speakers on this list.
Portability
Most, but not all, Bluetooth speakers use rechargeable batteries, so you can take them anywhere and use them without a power outlet. Some larger speakers, especially those intended for home theater or PC use, need a dedicated power supply to run, even though you can connect your devices to them wirelessly. Size is often a trade-off for power; the smaller a speaker, the less powerful it will likely sound.
Durability
Not all portable speakers are built to be carried around outdoors, or used by the pool. Rugged speakers like the JBL Clip+ and Ultimate Ears UE Roll can handle splashes, dunks, drops, and gunk and keep running. If you try that with the non-rugged speakers on this list, however, you’ll find yourself with a brick instead of an audio device. Look for speakers with IPX ratings and guarantees of water and shock resistance if you want to carry them around to the beach, the lake, the slopes, or the sewers.
Audio Quality
Unless portability is at the top of your priority list, sound quality is paramount. Plenty of speakers don’t offer much in the way of features, but produce top-notch audio. Big bass isn’t for everyone, but unless your speaker is downright tiny, it should be able to reproduce low frequencies accurately without distorting at high volumes. Clarity is more important than sheer power, and a balanced, clean sound should be your goal when shopping for a speaker. If you want a sound system that can drive a whole party instead of just fill a small room, keep the size of the speaker in mind; generally, the bigger a speaker is, the louder it can get while still sounding good.
Connectivity
Beyond an auxiliary input (so you can connect your smartphone or tablet with a wire, if you wish), you’d be lucky to find much else in the way of connectivity on most Bluetooth speaker systems. Even a 3.5mm aux input isn’t a certainty if you’re getting a particularly small or inexpensive speaker. However, larger speakers can often serve multiple purposes, and even use multiple wireless standards. Apple’s AirPlay used to be completely separate from Bluetooth and other Android-friendly wireless systems, but now there’s plenty of overlap, and you can find some speakers pulling double-duty as both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi systems. The Aura can double as an AirPlay-like speaker with Wi-Fi connectivity besides simple Bluetooth, so you can set up multi-room audio with it and not worry about pairing with every device. The Amazon Echo, meanwhile, is primarily a voice-controlled speaker that can work autonomously once it’s connected to your Wi-Fi network; you can just tell it to play music, if you don’t want to stream audio over Bluetooth. These multi-platform speakers sacrifice portability for their flexibility, however.
Price
You can spend as little as $30 or upwards of $600 on a speaker system. Don’t assume, however, that the most money always buys the best overall product. Generally speaking, higher-end models do sound better, but sometimes they lack the features you might expect for the price. The trick is to get the best sound, along with the features you want, at a price you can afford. The easiest way to get the best price: Shop around online. You’ll often find prices well below list if you do a little bargain hunting on the Web. Don’t be afraid to look for similar speakers to the ones on this list, either; the Bose SoundLink Mini II and the JBL Clip+ are both improvements over their predecessors, but the original SoundLink Mini and Clip are still solid speakers that you can now find for much less since they’ve been replaced.
For more, check out the latest Bluetooth speaker reviews in our Speakers Product Guide, as well as The 10 Best Wireless Speakers and The 10 Best Computer Speakers.
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