The best Wi-Fi speakers for 2021: Apple, Sonos, Polk and Ikea

Wireless audio for the home is nothing new, but the last few years have brought a proliferation of speakers using Wi-Fi streaming as an alternative to Bluetooth. The ability to control music in one multiroom the environment is one of the best-selling features of Wi-Fi, but almost all Wi-Fi speakers also offer voice control via a voice assistant including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri.

It’s a challenge to find a budget speaker that doesn’t have microphones on board, but they all come with mic switches or you can go for a “dumb” speaker like Sonos One SL, if you have privacy concerns. Read on for our list of the best Wi-Fi speakers for your needs – there’s a short buying guide at the bottom of the page if you have any additional questions, and don’t miss out. CNET’s guide to the best smart speakers.

Sarah Tew / CNET

For $ 100, you have a few smart speakers to choose from, such as the Amazon Echo and the Google Home, but if you want an affordable music speaker, it’s Ikea’s Sonos line. The Symfonisk Bookshelf Wi-Fi smart speaker is stylish and, after calibration, is ahead of the Echo in sound quality. The Sonos speaker isn’t going to start your party, but this ‘dumb’ bookshelf speaker is perfect for background music or children’s rooms. Read our Ikea Symfonisk Bookshelf WiFi speaker review.

Sarah Tew / CNET

At under $ 200, and with Alexa and Google Assistant along with excellent sound quality, the Sonos One is the smart speaker to get and will appeal to any music fan. Pair it with another Sonos One and you get a flexible, high-quality speaker system that responds to voice commands for less than the price of the Play: 5.

Now playing:
Check this out:

Sonos One is the best smart speaker you can …

1:44

Sarah Tew / CNET

The problem with most WiFi speakers is that they don’t match the rest of your decor. They are square and they are usually black. The Ikea Sonos speaker thinks outside the box and delivers a Sonos compatible lamp that sounds better than most speakers at the price point. It’s not smart, but the device will respond to Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa commands. Read our review of the Ikea Symfonisk table lamp with WiFi speaker.

Mark Licea / CNET

Now $ 50 off its original price of $ 350, the Apple HomePod is much more competitive than other Wi-Fi and multiroom speakers. This is one of the best all-in-one wireless speaker options with plenty of room and deep bass. Read our Apple HomePod review.

If you want a portable, water-resistant wireless speaker model, the Sonos Move offers great sound in a very large box. Read our review of Sonos Move.

Sarah Tew / CNET

With a compact bar and great sound, the Polk MagniFi offers almost everything you need in a streaming TV speaker, including Chromecast built-in. We chose the MagniFi over the Yamaha YAS-209 because it offers a robust multiroom system, but if you want Alexa built in, the Yamaha is a great speaker. Read our Polk MagniFi Mini review.

Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi offers the same basic convenience as Bluetooth: use your phone’s Wi-Fi connection to play music through an external speaker or audio system. Just like speakers that use bluetooth connectivity, it can work with a subscription music service application such as Spotify (via Spotify Connect) or Apple Music, a radio service like Pandora or TuneIn, or your own music collection. Here are the top reasons to get a streaming Wi-Fi speaker:

• A Wi-Fi speaker sounds better than a Bluetooth speaker because of its higher bandwidth.
• Wi-Fi has better range.
• Wi-Fi doesn’t support your phone’s audio channel – so you can take a call without interrupting the song, for example.
• It also works great for multi-room audio, allowing playback from multiple speakers throughout the house over your Wi-Fi network, all controlled by a single phone app.

Apple vs Sonos vs Google: best (and worst) Wi-Fi speakers

See all photos

What are the main multiroom standards?

When you buy a Wi-Fi speaker, you are also investing in an ecosystem – a family of products and applications that work together, but typically don’t work with other ecosystems. Here’s a look at the major Wi-Fi ecosystems available today.

• His bone: It’s a bit pricey and a bit exclusive, but Sonos still offers some of the best gear available. The company is moving away from the single megalithic app in favor of native support for third-party music services (Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay 2). Considering the demanding sound quality and bombproof construction, Sonos is still the premium Wi-Fi system to get. The liberation of Ikea Symphony Range also makes the system more affordable.
• Apple AirPlay / AirPlay 2: Apple’s AirPlay 2 reach will continue to grow alongside its music streaming service – with its most intriguing feature being multiroom – but there are plenty of speakers out there that still support the original AirPlay. Ideal for iPhone ($ 599 at Apple) users.
• Chromecast ($ 15 on eBay) integrated: For the cost of entry and ease of use and setup, Chromecast built-in is our current favorite Wi-Fi music system. There are no new apps to learn – just press the Cast button in an existing, compatible app and the music will play on your chosen speaker (s).

• DTS Play-Fi: This WiFi speaker ecosystem may offer the most manufacturers, but the number of hardware releases over the past 12 months has been quite sporadic. Meanwhile, official partners like Polk and Klipsch have opted to launch new Chromecast built-in speakers instead. The company will soon expand into TV and smart home with apps for Android TV and more to come.

There is also multi-room music from Amazon. The speaker market has been shaken by the Amazon family Echo speakers that combine wireless audio with voice control and home automation. MRM has been slow to take off, and the only non-Amazon product that supports it is the Polk control bar.

There are a number of other Wi-Fi systems, some open and some unique to the manufacturer. These include: Yamaha MusicCast, Denon HEOS, Formation Bowers and Wilkins, Bose Music and Bluesound. There are many systems that have been largely discontinued or replaced, either in favor of a newer version or in competition with more popular protocols. These include All-Play, LG MusicFlow, and Samsung Multi-Room.

If you want to play a song in “house party mode”, for example, where it is played simultaneously from multiple speakers throughout the house, all of those speakers must share the same ecosystem. For Sonos and other proprietary systems, all of these speakers will need to be Sonos (or connected to a Sonos device). For Chromecast, all speakers, regardless of brand, will need to be Chromecast compatible. Etc.

Most WiFi speaker products support streaming services like Pandora and Spotify, but check first to be sure. Is your music stored in iTunes, Google Play Music, or Amazon Music? You’ll still be fine with a Sonos (for example), but other products may offer less than perfect support.

More audio recommendations