Wireless Bluetooth speakers come in all shapes and sizes, and they generally range in price from $20 to $500, with a handful of truly premium models costing even more. Needless to say, some speakers are better than others — and some are better values, which is an important factor when we consider what products make our list of best Bluetooth speakers. We also evaluate sound quality, battery life and design, with a speaker’s water-resistance and durability key attributes we look at. After all, portable speakers should ideally be able to hold up to the elements.
Below we’re featuring three of the newest and best models to make our Best Bluetooth Speakers list, in a range of sizes and prices. But if these don’t fit your summer party tunes requirements, check out CNET’s complete list at cnet.co/43HboFT, which is quite a bit more extensive and will definitely have something to get that barbecue or pool party started!
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Marshall Middleton
Best new midsize Bluetooth speaker
CNET TAKE: Marshall’s new-for-2023 Middleton speaker isn’t exactly compact. But it also isn’t so beefy that you get a workout carrying it around. Weighing 4 pounds (1.8 kg), it’s bigger than Marshall’s Emberton speaker and smaller and more portable than its Kilburn II speaker. Any way you look at it, it sounds very good for its size and puts out a surprising amount of quality bass while offering good treble detail and natural-sounding mids (where vocals live). We also like that it has equalizer controls on the speaker itself — we did bump the bass a bit — and is fully waterproof and dustproof with an IP67 rating.
Battery life is rated at up to 20 hours at moderate volume levels, and Marshall says it takes 4.5 hours to fully recharge the speaker. Its USB-C charging port also has a charge-out feature that allows you to use the speaker as a power bank and charge your devices.
You can pair two or more speakers to amplify the sound, but you can’t pair two speakers together to create a stereo pair. Marshall says the Middleton uses True Stereophonic, “a unique form of multidirectional stereo sound,” and we did think the soundstage was bigger than what you typically get from a speaker this size. The only downside to the speaker is that it’s fairly expensive at $300, but we were otherwise impressed.
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Soundcore by Anker Motion Boom Plus
Best Bluetooth boom box for the money
CNET TAKE: Anker’s original Soundcore Motion Boom speaker (see below) has been on this list for a while and is still a decent value at a little more than $100. But the new-for-2022 Motion Boom Plus is significantly improved, particularly in terms of sound quality. It’s easily one of the best Bluetooth speakers of 2023.
Weighing 5.29 pounds (almost a pound more than the Motion Boom), it uses Bluetooth 5.3 and is equipped with upgraded dual 3.5-inch woofers and newly added dual 1-inch tweeters, delivering up to 80 watts of audio output (60 watts for the woofers and 20 watts for the tweeters). Battery life is rated for 20 hours at moderate volume levels. It’s also IP67 waterproof and dust-proof and floats if you happen to drop it in a body of water.
If you’re sitting within a few feet of the speaker, there’s a bit of stereo separation. But if you really want to improve the sound quality, you can wirelessly pair two Soundcore Motion Boom Plus speakers to create a real stereo pair.
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Sony SRS-XB100
Best mini canister speaker
CNET TAKE: For 2023, Sony’s smallest Bluetooth speaker has been modestly upgraded, with a new Bluetooth chipset, slightly improved sound and speakerphone performance. This portable Bluetooth speaker is both dust- and waterproof with an IP67 certification and, like its predecessor (the SRS-XB13), it’s rated for 16 hours of battery life at moderate volume levels, and it charges via USB-C. Equipped with Bluetooth 5.3 with support for the AAC and SBC audio codecs, the speaker plays bigger than you’d think for its small size, with some punch to its bass. It’s pretty impressive for a mini mono speaker.
Although the 9.6-ounce (272-gram) speaker appears to have the same design as the XB13, Sony says its new sound diffusion processor “realizes richer spread sound,” which basically means this has a bit wider soundstage, which I can confirm. It can output only so much sound — yes, it has its limitations — but if you add a second XB100, you can get stereo sound. Alas, there’s no companion app, but that isn’t a huge deal.
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The following CNET staff contributed to this story: Executive Editor David Carnoy and Copy Editor Jim Hoffman. For more reviews of personal technology products, please visit www.cnet.com.