The Best Smart Speakers
Smart speakers have quickly become a staple in many modern households. With a simple voice command, you can start and stop music, toggle between playlists, listen to audiobooks and podcasts, make hands-free phone calls, or chat with a family member in a different room. The devices have the ability to connect to your smart home, allowing you to switch on the lights, change the temperature, lock doors, and more. Whether you need a virtual assistant to keep track of your calendar, a powerful speaker to play your favorite tunes, or a better way to make phone calls while you are cleaning the kitchen, there is a smart speaker that will be perfect for you.
What to Look For
In our hunt for the best smart speakers, we looked for options that offered convenient connectivity, high-quality audio, fair prices, and versatile capabilities. One of our favorites is the 3rd-generation Echo Dot since this little hub comes at a bargain price and transforms any space into an interactive, hands-free hub. But for those with a big budget, the second-generation model from Sonos One is a premium pick you won’t regret. For more of our in-depth reviews, read on.
Echo Dot (3rd Generation)
The smart choice
This popular, versatile smart speaker would make a great gift. It’s compact enough to fit into small rooms, but it has endless capabilities. Pair it with your smart home for optimized voice control, turn off the microphone to protect your privacy, use it as an intercom, or make hands-free phone calls.
Pros:
- The Echo Dot has all the AI you find in other Echo devices but in an affordable compact design.
- While we think the sound quality is good for the size, we love that it connects to external speakers via the aux input or Bluetooth.
Cons:
- It’s compact but not portable, so you’ll need to keep it plugged in.
Echo Studio
With Echo Studio, you get incredible sound quality along with sensitive voice activation. Over time, the speaker will sense the acoustics of your room and adapt its playback to optimize the sound for your space. Although it is compact, the speaker is built with five directional speakers to fill your room with sound.
Pros:
- It may be small, but we were blown away by its room-filling sound. The bass is deep but not boomy, making this perfect for studio apartments yet ample enough for larger homes as well.
- The highs and mids are clear, which makes this great for podcasts and audiobooks.
Cons:
- The meshed fabric may not be durable enough for certain conditions.
Sonos One (Gen 2)
Built with Amazon Alexa, this Sonos speaker is top of the line. You can play music with your voice from 100 different streaming services, and the unobtrusive design means the speaker will fit anywhere. It’s resistant to humidity, making it the perfect choice for a bathroom or patio. Plus, you can pair two speakers together to enhance the sound quality in your room with no feedback.
Pros:
- It can be paired with another Sonos One for a full stereo sound, plus its wall mountable.
- If you don’t use Alexa, you’ll be pleased to know that this works with Google Assistant as well.
Cons:
- We wish it came with an auxiliary line.
Our Tips and Tricks
Are you new to smart speakers? They can be intimidating at first, especially if you aren’t familiar with all the available commands. However, it’s not as hard as you think. Voice assistants are activated by a trigger word. For example, to talk to Alexa, you simply need to say “Alexa,” followed by whatever command you plan to give her. Google Assistant is trigged with the commands “Hey Google” or “Okay Google.” Voice assistants generally can surf the web to find answers to various questions, make phone calls, control your smart home, and complete other programmed tasks. As long as you remember to say the trigger word, your voice assistant will be able practical answer any question or perform any task — outside of washing the dishes, of course.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between Google Assistant and Alexa?
Both are voice assistants that function similarly. However, Google Assistant is generally considered to have a wider breadth of knowledge when searching the web, while Alexa tends to refer to Wikipedia more often in response to general inquiries. On the other hand, Alexa devices usually come at a more affordable price. You can also switch Google Assistant to be either male or female.
Can Alexa do Google Searches?
You can install third-party apps that allow you to tell Alexa to ask Google a question. However, the app itself does not have this capability, as it is a conflict of interest for the makers of Alexa. Alexa relies on Bing to answer inquiries.
About the Author
Why Trust Us
With the constantly shifting landscape in the world of technology, GameRevolution seeks to provide gamers and tech-enthusiasts with the information they need to select the right products for their needs. Since 1996, our experts have used their knowledge on all the latest gadgets – everything from headphones to standing desks – to help millions of people navigate specs and answer common questions.