Wireless speakers are a must for any fan of audio entertainment - they are some of the best speakers to have. Whether you like to spend your time listening to radio, podcasts or music, a wireless speakerstreamlines your user experience. You become free of cables, you're not tethered to your stereo to change tracks, and with multi-room functionality, your audio can follow you around the house (and your garden!).
There are many ways of connecting to a wireless speaker – and if you are the proud owner of some Apple tech, the most effective and reliable method is AirPlay 2. Because AirPlay 2 uses your pre-existing W-Fi network, its connection is reliable, and its streaming quality is higher than its ubiquitous cousin, Bluetooth.
AirPlay, unlike Bluetooth or generic Wi-Fi connections, is a property owned by Apple and therefore is not universally available on all wireless speakers – it only comes with those who have legal agreements in place with Apple.
We’ve saved you some work and collected together the strongest and highest performing of the AirPlay-compatible marketplace. Whatever you choose, it’s going to sound darn good.
Best AirPlay Speakers
The Sonos One is a market leader for a reason. The build is compact, so it fits in anywhere, yet it delivers a huge, bright and clear audio profile. As we have come to expect from Sonos, the One can be linked up with other Sonos products to deliver a surround sound or multi-room experience. The One supports AirPlay 2 and can stream Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, and Amazon Prime Music. Alexa is built-in, so it is voice controllable too.
The Sonos Beam is the quality Sonos sound – but in a sound bar. It can be used independently or as part of a wider surround set-up and offers all of the same features as the Sonos One, just with more speakers and more volume. A remarkable bit of kit that could comfortably be your sole audio entertainment solution for music, radio and TV.
The Libratone has more to offer than a great look. The sound is powerful and full, and there is a room correction function which will automatically match speaker performance to the location, delivering you the best sound possible. The Libratone can be controlled via in-built Alexa, connects via AirPlay 2, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, will playback all of the major streaming providers, and supports a multi-room setup. When you're off out into the garden or to the park, simply unplug and take the Zipp 2 with you has a twelve-hour battery life.
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The Apple HomePod offers a sound to rival Sonos' offerings – the bass response is full, and mid and highs are balanced. AirPlay 2 is supported, offering full multi-room support (which will allow you to link to another manufacturer speaker), and you'll have access to Apple Music, with Siri voice command and assistant letting you control your home's smart devices. If you aren't kitted out with Apple iPhones, iPads, Macs and TVs, pass this one by – Android is not supported in any way. But if you're a fully embedded Apple maniac, you're in for really a good time.
The Bose Home Speaker is probably called that because it can be heard around the whole house. Defying all expectations garnered by its modest size, the Home Speaker kicks out some serious, wall-shaking volume – but it's not all noise. The sound is balanced and offers pleasing instrument separation. Connectivity is all-encompassing too, with AirPlay 2, WiFi, Bluetooth, Amazon Alexa and 3.5mm audio-in jack. The Bose Home Speaker 500 is the larger brother of the 300, offering even more volume and a playback display screen.
This affordable AirPlay 2 speaker is a subtle beast. It appears unassuming, but the sound it pumps out is all quality. It won't go as loud as the other offerings here, but if you are looking for a small room solution with delicious audio, look no further. AirPlay 2, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are the connection options here, and Spotify and Deezer support is in-built.
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Bowers & Wilkins do not err when they pick an aesthetic, they lean into it hard. The look of this speaker is a design statement which somehow manages to be restrained and bizarre in equal measure – and we love it. What we love even more is that the sound is as bold and intelligent as the shell. The 120-degree speaker layout is calculated to deliver a full sound profile, giving crisp instrument separation, powerful sub-woofer-driven bass and acoustic refinement to any track it has to tackle. Yes, it is expensive, but not only will it hold its value, it will never disappoint.
FAQs
What is multi-room?
Multi-room is the ability to play your music in different rooms around your home on individual speakers (individually or in chorus) connected via a Wi-Fi network. Multi-room audio systems are wireless and offer great versatility and performance. You'll be exempt from this if you are a speaker fanatic and have one in every room anyway, including the beloved bathroom speaker. Or if you're looking to declutter the AirPlay is the way forward.
What is Apple AirPlay 2?
AirPlay is, in some ways, comparable to Bluetooth. It allows you to control and stream audio or visual media from your Apple iPhone or iPad to an Apple device using a Wi-Fi connection.
How is Airplay 2 different to Bluetooth?
Airplay 2 is a connection facilitated by a Wi-Fi network, therefore has a range only restricted by network area. Bluetooth is a direct linking connection which typically has a range limited to 10-meters, and this can be restricted further by room size and blocking walls.
What is Bluetooth?
Bluetooth is a method of carrying information over short distance, short-wave radio signals. Initially a relatively slow process, Bluetooth has developed into the ubiquitous method for transferring music information between devices - challenged in its quality and usability only by Wi-Fi.
What is bass, midrange and treble?
Bass, midrange and treble are sometimes referred to as lows, mids and highs. These terms refer to the different sound frequencies found in audio.
Bass, low or lo, is the boomier sections of sound, the frequencies that people can most often 'feel' - bass drums are an example of low frequencies. Without bass, audio sounds very empty and 'tinny'. Too much bass, and music can sound rumbly, overpowering and woolly.
Midrange, middle or mid, is all the stuff that happens in the middle - guitars, vocals and speech. Balancing this with bass really brings audio to life. If you struggle to hear vocals in music or conversation in podcasts, boosting the midrange can bring these out for you without having to play with volume.
Treble, highs, or hi, is the highest frequencies. These are important for picking out details in audio, but if they are too high they can annoy and be painful to listeners – overpowering treble gives audio the dreaded tinny sound