A great smart speaker should be more than just a music player. Today, there are a lot of high quality smart speakers but choosing the best of them is not easy. Smart speakers were the first step to make homes smart.
Fitted with a home assistant such as Alexa, a home owner is able to operate various functions in the house using voice command. When linked with a home appliance, it can turn the appliance on or off, lower volume and turn the lights on or off among others.
Because smart speakers basically rely on audio as a means of communication, most of them have good speakers. They are great for playing music and have in built virtual assistants to help us in our day to day activities.
The virtual assistants include Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. By connecting to the internet, this AI is able to play music and videos and answer almost every question you can think of. They also help you control your smart home appliances such as smart locks and smarts TVs.
Smart speakers also come with built in apps that enable certain functions. For instance, they may come with Spotify or Apply Music for music or HBO for movies and TV shows. When buying a smart speaker, there are a few things you should always remember and consider. The following section highlights these factors.
What to consider when buying a smart speaker
The most important factor to consider when buying a smart speaker is the compatibility. You see, smart speakers are built by the three main companies: Google, Amazon and Apple. Each of these companies makes their smart speakers so that it is only compatible with their own devices or products.
That means if you’re in an Android ecosystem, you have to go for a Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa powered speaker as the rest will not work with your smartphone. This quality is known as agnosticism. If you use an Apple ecosystem the most, then go for a Siri powered speaker by Apple.
Another factor to always consider is the sound quality of the speaker. Remember that the speaker solely communicates through audio, so the sound quality has to always be rich. Different models have different sounding speakers and spending more does not always mean you have a better speaker.
Look at the size of the speaker and the quality of sound it produces. There is always something within your budget and how much you spend tells you about the quality of sound you will be receiving.
The design and price should also always be considered when buying a smart speaker. Different brands have different designs. There are a lot of great designs and different shapes when it comes to smart speaker; there will always be something to float your boat.
Always keep the price in mind and remember that there is always something within your budget.
Finally, consider you most important need. If music sound quality is your biggest concern, choose a speaker that has a great speaker above anything else. With this, you are ready to buy a suitable smart speaker. If you need help finding your next virtual assistant, check out the guide below for the best smart speakers for music.
1. Amazon Echo Dot 2019
The Amazon Echo Dot is one of the first smart speakers to hit the market. After every few years, a newer model of the Echo is released and recently, the 2019 came out.
The Amazon Echo is also one of the most popular smart speakers being used in millions of homes today. This is because it is quite affordable and reasonably priced which makes it a great choice for beginners. It also has a lot of functionalities and great speakers with high quality rich sound.
The audio is able to play music loudly in high quality, listen to podcasts, read news and every other thing you need your virtual assistant to do. With Amazon being the manufacturer of this lovely speaker, it is powered by Alexa.
In other words, your assistant’s name is Alexa. This Echo Dot model comes with a clock that displays on the side of the oval-shaped device. It is fitted with high quality speakers, better sounding than the previous versions of the Dot. The Dot name came as a result of the oval shape design used by this smart speaker.
The clock is also adjustable so that of instead of displaying time, it displays the temperature of the room. The LED light design for this clock is what makes this smart speaker quite attractive to the eye. You can also use it as a timer. The Dot is affordable and goes for just about fifty bucks.
It is also readily available on online stores such as Amazon and at your nearest electronics shop. The sound quality is great and you’ll definitely enjoy some great music here. The following are the pros and cons of this smart speaker
Pros
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- The Amazon Dot comes with an LED clock on the side
- It has an amazing and attractive design with a cleaner presentation
- The clock functions are smart which is a great plus
- The speakers are of relatively high quality
- It comes with new Alexa features that were not there in previous models
- It is considered the best mini speaker there is in the market
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Cons:
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- The speakers are not great when the volume is at max
[/su_list] [su_button url=”https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R1CXKN7?tag=smarthomegizmos-20″ target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#2D3194″ size=”6″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”5″ icon=”icon: external-link”] Get Amazon Echo Dot Today! [/su_button]
2. Sonos One Smart Speaker
The Sonos One is considered the best speaker by some users and they are justified to believe so.
The Sonos One is the first Sonos Alexa speaker that brings together an amazing sound experience and a superb design that looks and feels good. It brings together both the Sonos and Alexa ecosystems and this has been done to perfection. The Sonos One is known for its versatility in functionalities.
We have already seen it is powered by Alexa. However, it can supports Google Assistant and Airplay, meaning it cuts across all platforms. To add to all these, the speakers are amazing and produce fantastic sound quality. It is everything you would want in a smart speaker rolled into one.
This smart speaker also supports multi-room pairing. What this means is that, you will be able to talk to Siri while still connected to Alexa. It also has built in apps to help with its functions.
There is Spotify and Tidal for music. It is arguably the best Google speaker in the market today. For all these functionalities and quality, the Sonos One speaker is quite expensive and premium priced. The following are its pros and cons:
Pros
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- It has an amazing and attractive design with a cleaner presentation
- Since it supports multi room pairing, the Sonon One speaker is able to support other platforms including Apple and Google.
- The Sonos One speakers are of high quality and very rich sound ideal for music
- It comes with new Alexa features that were not there in previous models
- It is considered the best Google speaker in the market
- The Sonos One is able to play music while Alexa is muted
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Cons:
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- It is thick and somewhat heavy
- It is expensive and premium priced
[/su_list] [su_button url=”https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074XN1LH3?tag=smarthomegizmos-20″ target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#2D3194″ size=”6″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”5″ icon=”icon: external-link”] Get Sonos One Smart Speaker Today! [/su_button]
3. Apple Home Pod Smart Speaker
The Apple Home Pod is a great speaker. Like other Apple products, expect to the speaker to look and feel good as well as have amazing speakers. Also, like other apple products, the Home Pod is limited to only Apple products.
This means it does not support other platforms that are in the market. It is powered by Siri. This lovely speaker was first released in 2018 and since then as performed quite well. The most wonderful thing about the Apple home Pod is how easy it is to use and connect with your other apple devices.
If you’re an Apple ecosystem user, then this should be your first choice. Unfortunately, like all Apple products, the Home Pod is quite expensive and premium priced. But for this price, you get the best of sound quality and design. The speakers are adaptive to the environment and adapt to the room to optimize the quality of sound.
This ensures your favorite songs always sound great. The only downside to this smart speaker is that it is limited to only Apple services such as Apple Music, Siri and Apple Podcasts.
If you need to use Spotify or anything that isn’t Apple, this speaker is not for you. However, it is a great speaker for anyone living in an Apple Ecosystem. The Apple Home Pod feels as great as it looks.
It stands at 7 inches tall with a simple cylindrical design that comes in either black or white. It does not have any fabrics or wood like many smart speakers have. When it comes to setting up this smart speaker, it is easy and straight forward. Plug it into power and turn it on then place your iPhone near it.
The Apple Home Pod pulls everything it needs from your phone including the Wi-Fi password and your iCloud details. In just a few seconds, your phone will be connected and Siri will ask you whether you want to play music. When the Home Pod is on, there are a few lights that are on.
The first light is at the top center of the pod and is a dot of hazy light that swirls in different colors. This is to indicate that Siri is on. The other lights are the volume control lights on the plus and minus signs.
They come on automatically when you play music. You can tap gently on the center to pause and play a song, hold it to talk to Siri and triple tap it to skip a song. With that said, the following are the pros and cons of this smart speaker.
Pros
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- The speakers are high quality and produce amazing sound ideal for music
- Siri commands work well
- The Apple Home Pod is small and has a very futuristic tech look
- It supports multi room pairing over Airplay 2
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Cons:
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- It is very closed and only for people that heavily use the Apple ecosystem
- Siri does not match either Alexa or Google Assistance in terms of functionalities, usability and versatility.
[/su_list] [su_button url=”https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-homepod/homepod” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#2D3194″ size=”6″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”5″ icon=”icon: external-link”] Get Apple Home Pod Smart Speaker Today! [/su_button]
4. The Amazon Echo Studio
Amazon Echo Studio was released on late 2019 and is a wonderful midrange smart speaker.
It is considered to have the best speakers in Echo Family. From the bass to the treble, they all sound crisp and rich and do not distort at high volume. The reason for this is that it uses Dolby Atmos speaker complete with playback.
It’s a large speaker that sounds bigger and this is attributed to the great amount of acoustic engineering work done on it. It is fitted with a lot of drivers that give it the ability to bounce sounds off the wall for ideal listening.
If you want a speaker for the sole purpose of music, we highly recommend this smart speaker. It should be noted that although this speaker is branded as a HiFi system, it is not really a home theatre. One of the reason this smart speaker makes this list is because of its value for money.
This is because although it is premium priced, the quality and functionalities it offers are worth every penny. The Amazon Studio is powered by Alexa and cannot be used with other platforms. Use your android smartphone to download the Alexa app from google play store and you’re good to go.
When it comes to size and design, the Amazon Studio does not miss. First, it is important to remember that the Studio is far much larger than the Echo or Echo Plus. If you are expecting the same water bottle size from the previous Echo or Echo Plus, you’re in for a shock.
This is because, the Studio is bulkier and thicker and generally much larger than the previous versions. It also features a slight gap or space opening at the bottom for the bass to breath.
This large size is attributed to the large speakers inside. There are three midrange speakers inside measuring 2 inches, on the sides and one facing up. There is also a single tweeter facing forward. The following are the pros and cons of this smart speaker.
Pros
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- Amazing sound quality that works for movies and all styles of music
- It features fast and excellent connectivity
- It has amazing microphones that are quite sensitive to sound
- It offers great value for money
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Cons:
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- The sounds produced are not always distinct making it unsuitable for 3D audio
- When multi room support is activated, the speaker lags a bit and becomes slow
[/su_list] [su_button url=”https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Echo-Studio-High-fidelity-speaker/dp/B07G9Y3ZMC?tag=smarthomegizmos-20″ target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#2D3194″ size=”6″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”5″ icon=”icon: external-link”] Get Amazon Echo Studio Today! [/su_button]
5. JBL Link View
JBL is known for making high quality, rich sound audio speakers but recently, they shifted their attention to the fast-growing home assistant industry. The JBL Link is one of their best releases yet and it’s easy to see why. On first look, the JBL Link View assistant has a beautiful striking and sleek design.
It is slim and features an almost rectangular shape with smooth curves on the edges. It comes in black color and features nice firm buttons and a great overall finish. The JBL Link packs a relatively large smart display screen with all the necessary smart functions available.
They include: playing music, checking weather, finding food recipes, managing photos among others. JBL is powered by Amazon and Google, same way Alexa is powered by Google.
At the top front of this device, there is a 5MP camera for video calls and monitoring your house when you’re not around. The interface used is beautiful and very user friendly. The interface used is Google’s Visual Assistant. Other than these, the following are some of its other great features.
The JBL Link View is available worldwide at an affordable rate. You can buy it from Amazon on the link provided above or at your local gadgets shop. The Link View is affordable and sells for $249 which is hue bargain considering all you are getting. However, you can buy it for less when you shop around.
The JBL Link View has one of the best designs when it comes to home pod assistants. They went for a wonderful clean cut and elliptical design that almost looks vintage. It has a flat frontal display with beautiful dark grey fabric on each side of the screen. It features hefty bezels and lovely curves that make it quite catching to the eye.
At the back, there is a loud and rich-sound speaker that reminds you that JBL still have it in regard to sound. The speaker is rich and accentuated by a relatively large JBL logo right at the center.
The back is curved to allow more space for the speaker. Below them are the charging port and the mute microphone slider. The controls are on the topside and include volume controls and a slider for enabling and disabling the camera. The unfortunate part is that it is available in only one color: black.
The JBL Link View has a nice 8 inch display LED screen with a resolution of 1200 by 800. This means that the clarity is right up there with its competitors. In terms of size, the Link View has a smaller screen with the Nest Hub having a 10 inch screen.
Many users have only have one complaint with the Link View and that’s the relatively small screen. However, the visuals are always in full HD and are a fantastic combo with the rich sound. The viewing angles are great but not excellent with less color and integrity when watching off-angle. The following are its pros and cons:
Pros
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- It has an amazing and attractive design with a cleaner presentation
- Since it supports multi room pairing, the JBL link speaker is able to support other platforms including Apple and Google.
- The JBL link speaker are of high quality and very rich sound ideal for music
- It comes with new Alexa features that were not there in previous models
- It is considered the best Google speaker in the market
- The JBL link speaker is able to play music while Alexa is muted
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Cons:
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- It is thick and somewhat heavy
- It is expensive and premium priced
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[su_button url=”https://www.amazon.com/JBL-Activated-Wireless-Bluetooth-Speaker/dp/B076FDH6WC?tag=smarthomegizmos-20″ target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#2D3194″ size=”6″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”5″ icon=”icon: external-link”] Get JBL Link View Today! [/su_button]
Final verdict
There are a lot of smart speakers in the market today that fit anyone’s budget and needs. The above listed speakers are the best in the market and are guaranteed to give you great music listening sessions both alone and with friends.
If you’re an Apple user, your choices may be limited as you only have the Apple Home Pod. However, for Android users, the pool of selection is wide and endless. We home this guide helped you in making this tough choice.
