Wireless speaker buying guide: How to choose the best audio for you

Say goodbye to fiddly wires and heavy speakers – there’s a whole world of wireless audio that should prick up your ears

Can’t choose between Bluetooth or wifi, or which brand to go for? Read our ultimate guide (iStock/The Independent)

There are many strong opinions out there on speakers. Every person and their dog thinks they have the ultimate truth, be it on the best brand; best production technique; best chair in which to sit when listening to jazz; best meal to eat before exploring the back catalogue of the Backstreet Boys.

Truth is, there is no objective truth. One man’s audio paradise is another’s soundscape from hell. However, one aspect of speaker tech that’s hard to ignore is the incredible, rapid development of wireless speakers.

Gone are the days when great sound could only be found in a set-up consisting of various receivers and lengths of wire that seemed like they could circumnavigate the globe. Now, multiple audio companies have created speakers that wouldn’t look out of place in the pages of Wallpaper* Magazine, or on one of those self-congratulatory and begrudgingly-inspiring Architectural Digest house tours.

Sleek lines, minimal space and no losing track of which wire goes where make wireless speakers a tempting proposition, especially when you go “full wireless” and enter the portable speaker market. The options here are even more varied and exciting, from tiny, pocket-sized speakers from brands like JBL, to big, booming monsters like the UE hyperboom, and dozens of good choices in between.

It’s worth taking a deep dive into both markets to find exactly what you’re looking for, and which speaker will give you the most musical bang for your buck.

Read more:

• 11 best Bluetooth speakers for every budget
• Which Sonos speaker should you buy?
• 11 best smart speakers for immersive sound and virtual assistance

You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world and expert advice. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent.

What are you going to use it for?

This might seem like a silly question, and for the most part, it is. Of course you’re looking for a wireless speaker that plays the best sound around. However, it isn’t quite as simple as that, with plenty of high-quality speakers also offering smart capability.

The Bose portable smart speaker and the Sonos move both offer portability and smarts, while retaining brilliant sound that does the job of a fitted speaker.

(John Lewis )

Wireless can mean a couple of things. One definition is, understandably, “portable”: speakers with a built-in battery that you can lug around in your backpack all day and not worry about finding a plug socket, such as the bright, good-value Soundcore flare 2. For more information on the flare, take a look at our review, where our tester said: “It doesn’t feel like a budget option: it’s weighty and sturdy, water-resistant, has speakerphone functionality and produces surprisingly great sound.”

For speakers such as this, it’s important to find out just how portable they are. How long is battery life? How far away can your device be from the speaker? Can you charge it in the car? Could you accidentally throw it down the stairs and still have a working speaker?

Most portable speakers worth their salt will be water and dust resistant, but always look out for the IP rating (the higher the better), otherwise that precariously-sat red wine might just topple from the table and make your brand new speaker sound like it’s in a submarine.

Read more: 10 best multi-room speaker systems for wireless sound throughout your home

Another way of looking at “wireless" is a speaker that forgoes the metres of wires that wired set-ups need to play music, instead focussing on music from streaming services such as Spotify to fulfil your audio needs and keep your floor refreshingly wire-free. These still need a power source, so you’ll have to put up with one wire, but audio tech has moved so quickly that sound quality from many at the upper-end of this market rivals the best wired systems.

Bluetooth or wifi?

Most wireless speakers you’ll come across use Bluetooth to connect to your devices. Early Bluetooth was patchy at best: we remember holding our phone next to a friend’s and waiting for five minutes to transfer a ringtone (better days).

However, modern Bluetooth (5.0 and beyond) is a much-improved animal, providing rapid data transference and communication between devices. As such, most top-end Bluetooth speakers, such as the portable Bang & Olufsen beosound A1 or incredibly clear Transparent small speaker, suffer minimal interference when playing music, even when your device is in an adjacent room.

(Bang & Olufsen)

Wireless speakers that rely on a wifi connection almost always have a slightly higher and more defined audio quality to them. Traditional Bluetooth compresses audio data more than wifi, and can’t process the amount of data needed to reproduce lossless audio, meaning that some audio intricacy will be lost.

Many smart speakers have gone down the wifi route, with Sonos and Bose being two brands that would much prefer you to connect to your home wifi system via their apps.

Read more: We put the new, no-nonsense Audio Pro BT5 Bluetooth speaker to the test

Home-based speakers taking advantage of wifi makes sense, as a smart speaker will most likely be a permanent fixture in your house. However, for more portable speakers, flexibility is key, which is where Bluetooth comes into its own.

The extent of set-up for most Bluetooth speakers is switching the speaker on, enabling Bluetooth on your phone, and enjoying your audio: no fuss, bells or whistles. In addition, the advent of high definition Bluetooth via the aptX HD codec (a fancy algorithm to help transfer your data) means that audio quality via Bluetooth is better than ever, and pretty indiscernible from wifi audio for everyday listening.

What about a wired connection? What happens to my old systems?

Just because your all-singing, all-dancing speaker has the capacity for a wireless life doesn’t mean that this is the be-all and end-all of modern sound. Granted, wireless tech has reached the stage where cable-less audio reproduction is knocking on the door of most wired systems. However, we’re yet to find a wireless system that has the same romantic connection as a proper hifi set up.

Luckily, your much-loved Yamaha system need not go the way of the dodo, as there are plenty of options to connect it to a wireless system, with a wide range of streaming adaptors on the market.

One such adapter is Audio Pro’s link 1, which gives users the option of adding an existing hifi system to an Audio Pro speaker for multi-room listening, or making your existing powered speaker set-up, radio or AV receiver into a wireless streaming powerhouse. For a simpler connection, it’s useful for wireless speakers to include a 3.5mm jack, for plug in and play capability from older-generation devices.

(Amazon)

How should I listen to music through a wireless speaker?

There are a few ways of playing music through wireless speakers. Almost all modern personal devices, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, come with Bluetooth capability, making it easy to connect and play the music you own, however you have it stored.

Streaming services such as Spotify and Tidal have become hugely popular over the last ten years, providing years of music to keep you entertained. For the best quality, services like Tidal, Deezer, Primephonic and Qobuz all offer HD audio for different tastes, and Spotify is releasing its own HD streaming service this year.

The verdict: Wireless speakers

It’s unbeatable having a proper speaker set up at home. It’s something that will be with you for decades, that offers unparalleled clarity, and that you can add to and improve over its lifetime. However, wireless technology has developed at such a blistering pace that the top end of the market now rivals many wired set ups for sound quality, and with wireless systems like those from Sonos, Bose and Bluesound, there are ways to tweak and improve the sound you know and love at home, while making your life a whole lot tidier.

Ultimately, you’re most likely buying a wireless speaker for its portability or lack of fiddly wiring. Before, this would mean you might have to compromise on audio quality, but the wireless revolution is catching up. The flexibility of having a wireless speaker is refreshing, and having a great musical companion on trips away from home is eminently possible, courtesy of a wide range of brands.

Don’t be afraid to look a little left-field either: there are some audio companies like JBL and Anker that are producing stunning-sounding speakers at a slice of the price. Happy listening.

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For an enhanced listening experience at home, try our best soundbars for achieving cinematic audio