We’ve tried them all — these are the best Sonos speakers in 2024

One of the best speaker brands is Sonos so it’s a smart move to kit your home out with some great Sonos speakers. The range is busy enough that it can be tricky to know where to start. To an extent, any Sonos speaker is sure to delight you with some of the best wireless speakers around coming from Sonos. There’s also the benefit of Sonos’s multi-room system so you can easily get all your speakers to work together across the house. However, certain speakers are better for certain scenarios so a little research is always wise.

Below, we’ve picked out all the best Bluetooth speakers from Sonos. That includes some more affordable options, speakers that can be taken out and about with you, and ones that give you sound that will fill the room with joy. Whatever you pick here, you’re going to love it. A great speaker really does make the ambience at home so much better and you’ll soon notice some details you wouldn’t hear through inferior speakers. Keen to learn more? Let’s get straight into the best Sonos speakers.

The best Sonos speakers in 2024

• Buy the for the best overall Sonos speaker.
• Buy the for the best living room sound.
• Buy the for Dolby Atmos audio.
• Buy the for the best portable speaker.
• Buy the for affordable Sonos sound
• Buy the for when you can’t decide where to put it.

Sonos One

Best overall Sonos speaker

The Sonos One is the perfect entry point for anyone keen to invest in a Sonos speaker that will suit anywhere in your home for a long time to come. The speaker offers brilliantly clear sound with the option to pair two of them in the same room to create stereo sound and a more detailed aural experience. The speaker has two Class-D digital amplifiers which are tuned to match the speaker drivers and acoustic architecture so you get rich sound with a high-frequency response, along with faithful playback of mid-range vocal frequencies and deep bass.

It’s an instantly appealing experience that sounds great wherever you put it. It’s also pretty smart as it has Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant built-in so you can easily use it to control smart devices around your home, check traffic info, catch up on the news, or even find a recipe to follow. Four far-field microphones mean you can be heard clearly. There’s also Apple AirPlay support while the Sonos app works with 80 streaming services including all your favorites like Spotify and Apple Music.

How you interact with the Sonos One is pretty varied. You can use voice controls, the app, or you can use the capacitative touch controls instead. These buttons control volume, track playback, along with muting the mic, while there’s an LED that displays the status and voice feedback. That’s one of the best things about the Sonos One — it’s incredibly simple to use in all the right ways. It produces great results without much effort on your part which is just what you want in your home.

Sonos Five

Best living room speaker

What do you mean it doesn’t have Bluetooth?! That’s likely to be your first thought when you skim-read the specs of the Sonos Five but bear with us, it’s still a great speaker for your living room. It truly fills your room with wondrous sound with deep bass that is unrivaled. It has three high-excursion woofers within a sealed architecture which eliminates reverb and echo. There are also two precisely angled side tweeters which create spatial extension and rich stereo sound, along with the center tweeter which optimizes vocal playback. The cherry on top is Trueplay which adapts and optimizes the sound of the speaker to the unique acoustics of your living space so you get the perfect experience for your situation.

While there isn’t Bluetooth connectivity, the Sonos Five does have Wi-Fi so you can stream via your Wi-Fi network as well as connect more Sonos speakers that way. It can also easily be connected to your turntable or other 3.5mm-related device which is what lends it so well to being placed in your living room. There’s also Apple AirPlay 2 support if you want to stream sound directly from your iPhone or iPad, plus it means you can ask Siri to play music over having to go over to the speaker. Similar voice controls can be set up if you connect the Sonos Five to an Amazon Echo Dot or Google Home Mini. Through the Sonos app, you have ready access to all your favorite streaming services too.

As with other Sonos speakers, the Sonos Five has capacitative touch controls so you can play, pause, skip, tweak the volume, or even group rooms by tapping or swiping on the device. If you don’t want to place the Sonos Five in your living room, you can place it in your bathroom or covered patio and still be safe as the Sonos Five has a humidity-resistant design. It’s a great all-in-one solution for your living room.

Sonos Era 300

Best for Dolby Atmos

Dolby Atmos is a feature that’s commonly seen in Sonos soundbars but not speakers. The exception is with the Sonos Era 300 and it’s a good option for anyone who wants wall-to-wall sound. It has six optimally positioned drivers around the front, sides, and top to ensure encompassing sound. Dolby Atmos means you’re truly immersed by whatever you’re listening to while each driver has been angled for better quality. In reality, the bass could be a little deeper but there’s certainly a richness here that means the Sonos Era 300 is good for anyone who wants detail over bassiness.

As expected from Sonos, the Sonos Era 300 is super easy to set up. Just plug it in and set up the app, and you’re all good to go in moments. It’s possible to pair the Sonos Era 300 with soundbars like the Sonos Arc or Beam so it’s well-suited for your living room or home cinema setup. It uses custom waveguides to disperse sound right, left, forward, and above so you get a spacious stereo soundstage.

The Sonos Era 300 works via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth so it’s always simple to connect your devices to it. There’s Hi-Res audio support so you can stream high-quality audio from anywhere in your home with the Sonos Era 300 also has a USB-C connector if you want to connect a device that way instead. Through the Sonos app, you can also use Trueplay tuning technology to analyze the acoustics of your space and get things just right. The Sonos Era 300 may not be for bass aficionados but everyone else will be happy.

Sonos Roam

Best portable speaker

If you want a great Sonos speaker that you can use outdoors as well as around the house, check out the Sonos Roam. It’s a little more expensive than the other best portable speakers that are available, but it’s worth the investment so you can enjoy the high-end experience that Sonos always provides. Via the Sonos app, you get Trueplay tuning so it optimizes its sound based on your location and the acoustics around you. For a portable speaker, that’s particularly useful as it’ll be moving around often and you don’t want to have to manually adjust things all the time.

When vertical, the Sonos Roam provides room-filling sound while taking up barely any room. When placed horizontally, it’s a perfect fit for unstable surfaces like grass with its triangular shape subtly directing sound upwards for a better listening experience. It has precision-engineered acoustics which provide richly detailed sound that is far better than you would expect from a speaker that weighs less than a pound.

The Sonos Roam has an IP67 rating so it’s fully waterproof and rustproof, while its silicone end caps protect the speaker from drops and turbulence no matter where you take it. It has a battery life of up to 10 hours on a single charge with battery-saving features meaning it switches off when not in use. There’s support for streaming music via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth so you have plenty of flexibility here, whether you’re at home on your Wi-Fi network or want to use Bluetooth on your phone to stream music over. There’s also Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa support any time you’re connected to Wi-Fi so the Sonos Roam will feel just as useful when at home as it would on a trip.

Sonos Era 100

Best affordable Sonos speaker

For a more affordable Sonos speaker which still has all the key features, check out the Sonos Era 100. If there’s a sale, you may find other models more competitively priced but as standard, the Sonos Era 100 is highly affordable for a Sonos model. It has a wider soundstage than the Sonos One while also offering more bass and a fuller dynamic range. It’s strong stuff to the point that the bass can be a little overly keen but with some tweaks, you get to enjoy crisp detail and clarity otherwise. It promises detailed stereo separation with that being even more potent when you pair two speakers together in the same room.

Elsewhere, the Sonos Era 100 simply just works well. It’s small enough to fit anywhere around the home including on a bookshelf or a kitchen counter. It takes seconds to set up via the Sonos app before quickly being able to check out all your favorite streaming services.

As expected, there’s Trueplay tuning technology that analyzes your surroundings while coming out with the best equalizer settings for your Sonos Era 100. Any time you do want to change anything, you can dip into the Sonos app yourself. For basic controls, there are intuitive touch controls so you can tap or swipe to play, pause, tweak the volume, or group your Sonos speakers together.

Sonos Move 2

Best flexible Sonos speaker

Little indecisive but know you want a Sonos speaker? Buy the Sonos Move 2. It’s expensive but it means you get the best of both worlds as you can use it as an indoor speaker or as an outdoor one. It replaces the original Move’s single tweeter with two so that you get a higher-fidelity stereo soundstage with crisper vocals and more detailed instruments. That leads to deep and dynamic bass with a precision-tuned woofer ensuring you’ve got a truly great sounding experience.

There’s also Trueplay tuning so you can easily optimize the sound of the speaker depending on your surroundings. That means if you move the Sonos Move 2 between your bathroom and living room, you still get a great experience. Related to that, using it in the bathroom or kitchen will be fine as the Sonos Move 2 is ultra-durable and water-resistant. It’s made from shock-absorbent materials which protect it against accidental drops while its IP56 rating means spills and dirt aren’t an issue.

That ties in nicely with how flexible the Sonos Move 2 is. It has a built-in handle along with 24 hours of battery life so you can take it out with you if you prefer, using it on the beach or on a camping trip. When you do head home, the stylish wireless charging base will get it back up to full charge in no time. It’s perfect if you need a speaker that you can take anywhere with you while still giving you a full experience indoors.

How we chose these Sonos speakers

Buying a new speaker, especially a Sonos speaker, is a pretty big deal. None of the Sonos range is particularly cheap because it’s a high-end brand. You don’t want to end up wasting hundreds of dollars on something that doesn’t suit your needs. We’re the same when buying a Sonos speaker so when picking our choices above, we’ve given strong consideration to what we’d do in the situation. While we can strongly recommend all the Sonos speakers above, it’s important to know how we came to our decision as you can use such guidance to help you figure out which one is the best choice for you.

One huge consideration is whether you need the Sonos speaker to be portable or not. Some models have a built-in battery that you can charge but others require you to hook them up to mains power. If you want a speaker for your living room and don’t plan on moving it, a mains-powered option will be perfect. However, if you want to take your speaker outside, you need one with a battery. Also, if you want to move the speaker around your home, it can be easier to have one that relies on a battery rather than needing to unplug it all the time. Related to that, think about how durable you need it to be and buy accordingly.

It’s also important to think about sound quality. These are Sonos speakers so they all sound great but some offer extras. For instance, if you want Dolby Atmos, you need to buy the Sonos Era 300. Others may offer more tweeters or ways to improve the sound, while some provide a much bassier experience which may not suit what you plan on listening to. Read up on the technology involved to see what suits your listening preferences.

From there, check out the connectivity options. Not all Sonos speakers have Bluetooth connectivity which may seem strange but makes a lot of sense when they’re designed to be connected to a turntable or similar at home. Similarly, look out for Wi-Fi connectivity so you can easily stream music without a hitch. Wi-Fi connectivity can also mean voice assistant support so check the small print if you want to be able to issue commands with your voice or control other devices in your home through Alexa or Google Assistant.

Ultimately, the biggest thing to consider is what you want to do with your Sonos speaker. A Sonos Roam won’t suit you if you want to use it solely in the living room and enjoy a room-filling experience but then again, the Sonos Five is a terrible choice for using when out and about. Budget also plays a role here as sometimes you can’t or don’t want to spend the most money on a speaker, which is why we’ve also featured more budget-friendly Sonos models. It’s worth investing in something if you can afford to spend more, but even basic Sonos models will keep you happy, especially as you can pair them with others if you decide to expand your Sonos collection.

This article is managed and created separately from the Digital Trends Editorial team.

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