The best smart speakers of 2025

Contact: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi | Assistant support: Amazon Alexa, Sonos Voice Control | Maximum wattage: 10 watts | Battery life: 10 hours | to rise: 6.6″ | an offer: 2.3″

While many people will be happy with a few speakers strategically placed around the house, you may want something that works outdoors as well as indoors. Fortunately, you can find speakers that combine voice controls and powerful music playback performance with portable, weather-resistant form factors. For my money, it’s hard to beat Sonos Walkthrough For versatility, not to mention sound quality.

When used indoors, the Roam works like any other Sonos speaker. It fits into your existing multi-room Sonos setup, or you can get a pair for stereo playback. Like most other Sonos speakers, it works with Sonos Voice Assistant or Amazon Alexa, and supports basically every major music service available. It looks very good considering its small size; It’s quieter and not quite as clear as the Sonos One or Era 100, but it still has amazing bass and distinct highs.

Because it was designed with on-the-go use in mind, the Roam has a battery and Bluetooth so you can take it anywhere and use it away from your Wi-Fi network. Its small size makes it easy to take everywhere, whether at home or outside. It’s also the first Sonos speaker to be completely waterproof, as well as dust and drop resistant, so you don’t have to worry about taking it to the pool or beach.

The Roam has about 10 hours of battery life, whether you’re using Wi-FI or Bluetooth. There are other portable speakers that last longer, so if you’re actually going to be using the battery, you may be better off using another option.

Another portable wireless speaker option is $449 Sonos Move 2. It’s much larger and louder than the Roam, which isn’t surprising given its higher cost. It’s a great upgrade over the previous Move, with dual speakers for more detailed sound, a battery that lasts more than a day and redesigned touch controls on top. It also has a USB-C connection socket, so you can plug in the turntable when using it indoors. If you’re willing to sacrifice portability for power and better sound quality (and you can afford it), the Move 2 will be more satisfying than the Roam.

The better option from the Move, unless you already have other Sonos products, is $399 Bose portable smart speaker. It supports Alexa and Google Assistant commands, and since it can connect to WiFi, you can ask your favorite assistant to play music from Spotify, Amazon Music, and other services. Moreover, it produces well-rounded sound, features an IPX4 design with a convenient carrying handle and will last up to 12 hours on a single charge.

Bose also has a good alternative to the Roam. $149 Soundlink Flex It supports Siri and Google Assistant commands, plus it has an IP67 design that’s about the size of a small suitcase. It produces bright, dynamic sound and can pair with other speakers for stereo sound, too – it’s excellent and a little cheaper than the Roam.

Although this guide is about smart speakers, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention all the solid portable speakers out there that either have limited smart features or no features at all. We have Complete guide to the best portable Bluetooth speakers, so if you’re all about portability and less interested in having an ecosystem of connected speakers, there are plenty of options worth investigating.