Best Bluetooth speaker 2025

The JBL Flip 7 is our pick for the best Bluetooth speaker overall as it offers such a great balance of features, toughness, sound quality, and price. It’s just a great all-rounder.

The standout aspect of this speaker is its toughness. It’s rated to IP68, which means it’s impervious to dust and can survive at beyond 1m (3.3ft) underwater for over 30 minutes. The previous Flip 6 and some competitors such as the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 are rated to IP67, which offers similar protection, but the Flip 7 allows for even deeper dives.

Also protecting this speaker are its rubber bumpers that cushion it from drops and a fabric cover that ensures any dents and scratches on the rest of it are well hidden – aluminum speaker grilles like on the Bose SoundLink Flex only look smart until they’ve taken a few knocks.

Then of course there’s the great sound of this speaker. It can deliver clear, powerful sound with a surprising amount of bass for its size. It can’t compete with larger option, such as the JBL Charge 6, and the unique Minirig 4 outmuscles it too, but it’s still great for all sorts of musical genres whether you’re lounging by the pool, having a kitchen party, or playing a few tunes round a campfire.

Where this speaker isn’t so accomplished is being cranked up to garden/pool party levels or if you’re trying to fill a larger room with sound. It’s can get a bit shrill at much above 70% volume and it lacks the true sub-bass to carry throughout larger spaces. But, that’s entirely typical of this size of speaker.

Perhaps more importantly, it doesn’t offer stereo, so it isn’t the best for hooking up to a gaming laptop and watching a movie or playing a game – you lose that stereo imaging effect. The Anker Soundcore Motion 300 is a better bet for that sort of use.

Battery life, meanwhile, is excellent, with JBL managing to add two hours to the previous Flip 6, for a toal of 16 hours. That’s at a loud 50% volume too. At 100% its battery life is roughly halved but at lower volumes it will last a bit longer.

All this and the Flip 7 is competitively priced. It may have launched at $150 but it’s readily available for $120-$130, putting it at or below the price of many competitors. So, whether you’re after a speaker for backpacking, for casual poolside listening, or just livening up your time perfecting your cookie recipe in the kitchen, it’s a great buy.

Read our full JBL Flip 7 review for more details.

The Anker Soundcore Motion 300 is an excellent-quality Bluetooth speaker in its own right, delivering great sound and decent enough battery life in a conveniently compact package that’s waterproof and has a useful carry strap. However, there are two further factors that really elevate its appeal.

The first of these is that it’s really competitively price, at just $80 (and currently just $68 on Amazon), which is as much as half the price of some competitors. It may not have the brand cachet of some of those competitors, and it’s bass presence isn’t the absolute strongest around but these are small compromises for that price.

Perhaps more importantly, this speaker offers something that most competitors don’t, which is the directionality and depth of stereo sound. If you want a speaker to really enhance your movie watching or gaming on a laptop, tablet, or phone, it’s ideal. Think of it like having a little portable sound bar for your laptop

The one downside here is that this is a slightly larger speaker than the likes of the JBL Flip 7. It’s quite a bit taller

Read our full Anker Soundcore Motion 300 review.

If you’re looking for a larger Bluetooth speaker that can really step up to filling large rooms, larger poolside parties, or a big ol’ campfire gathering, the JBL Charge 6 is the one. It’s basically just a bigger version of the Flip 7, with the same rugged, waterproof design but delivers higher volume, lower bass, and longer battery life.

Make no mistake, this is a much larger unit than the Flip 7, weighing nearly twice as much and being fairly unsuited to keeping in a backpack or taking traveling. Instead, it’s the sort of speaker that’s ideal for throwing in the back of the car for road trips to the beach or cranking up the tunes for a bigger gathering in your backyard.

Interestingly, its two single subwoofer and tweeter, and two bass radiators, deliver a claimed frequency range that’s only a tiny bit deeper than the Flip 7 (56Hz – 20kHz vs 60Hz – 20kHz) but in person its bass is obviously far deeper and more powerful. If you want to feel as well as hear your bass, you’ll want to make that upgrade. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not going to shake your foundations, but it’s a powerful unit.

As you’d also expect, it gets a lot louder without getting shrill or losing its power. All this and it can last 24 hours on a charge – eight hours longer than typical smaller Bluetooth speakers, though it will only reach about half that figure at full volume.

The only big downside to this speaker is that it can’t do stereo, without being hooked up to a second unit using the JBL app. Realistically, it’s not a super common use for this type of speaker – especially as it’s too large for traveling with and using to boost your laptop/tablet audio – but it would be nice to have the option on a speaker this large.

Otherwise, for its reasonable $200 price, it’s a great speaker that’s super versatile for both your indoor and outdoor listening life.

We’ve already mentioned the Anker Soundcore Motion X300, but we felt that X500 also deserved a place on this list. It may be a little more expensive than its counterpart, but it’s a more powerful device, with a longer battery life, and a durable design.

The sound quality is top-notch, and the soundstage is impressively wide. We recommend it for music, podcasts, gaming, or anything else you might want to play through it.

While it might take a little while to charge up, there’s very little that we can say against the Anker Soundcore Motion X500. If you’re looking for the best sound quality in a case that will keep it safe while you travel around, this is your best option.

Read our Anker Soundcore Motion X500 review.

The Minirig is now a stalwart of the Bluetooth speaker space, with them having been around for well over 15 years and still being hand made in Bristol, UK. Now in its 4th iteration, the Minirig continues to offer a unique and brilliant combination of features that’s ideal for big sound on the move.

The standout feature of this speaker is that it only has one speaker driver, rather than the several used in most competing devices. This is some downsides but it also has one huge upside which is it allows the Minirig 4 to deliver a huge sound with a bass presence and lower mid-range drive and warmth that no similarly small competitor can match.

As well as this bass power, the Minirig 4 can also pump out a lot of volume, competing with far larger speakers such as the JBL Charge 6 and Anker Soundcore Motion 500. It’ll still get drowned out by a proper Hi-Fi or a try party speaker like the JBL PartyBox 310 but it’s a notable step up from the JBL Flip 7 and UE Boom 4.

What’s more, the Minirig 4 has astonishing battery life. The company claims up to 100 hours per charge, and across the four Minirigs I’ve owned over the last 15 years, they’ve all proven to be up to that claim. That peak figure drops as you turn up the volume – it’ll last closer to 16-20 hours at nearly full volume – but it still far outlasts any competitor, making it a great choice for taking camping or backpacking.

An extra useful feature is also the fact that the Minirig can take a 3.5mm input – two of them in fact. This opens a whole world of extra connection options, plus if means you can directly plug two of these speakers together to make a stereo pair and even plug in the Minirig subwoofer.

There are three downsides to the Minirig 4. The first is that is mono only and fires straight upwards, so it’s best for just filling a room/space with sound and not for providing directional sound. Despite being mono as well, even the JBL Flip 7 is better for stick behind a laptop to enhance the audio for watching video, as it’s drivers face forwards.

The Minirig 4 is also only splashproof, not waterproof. I’ve left one out in the rain before and it survived fine, but it’s a risk to take one poolside or to the beach, though it does come with a carry case for protecting the solid aluminum cylinder from scratches/drops.

The final issue is that these speakers are only sold directly in the UK, either from Minirig’s site or via Amazon. For those in the US or round the world, you’ll have to import one. At £149.95, it’s also a slightly more premium speaker than some competitors, coming in just a bit more expensive than the Flip 7, but its power, build and battery do justify the price.

If you’re looking for a Bluetooth speaker that offers truly omnidirectional/360° sound, the Ultimate Ears Boom 4 is it. It’s stand-up design fires audio all around, making it a great speaker to stick in the center of a table for everyone to hear.

It combines this ability with a really slick and simple design with the crucial addition of being waterproof – in fact it floats – removing the concern of taking this portable speaker with you anywhere you go. It’s design isn’t quite as rugged as that of the JBL Flip 7 though.

In terms of sound, the Boom 4 delivers plenty of punchy bass and volume to fill even large rooms with ease. It can’t quite go as low or loud as the Charge 6 or Minirig 4 but it’s roughly on par with the Flip 7. However, its sound has a different feel thanks to that 360°  output. It’s not quite as good to listen to if the speaker is place in one corner of the room, for instance.

A 15 hour battery life is a solid showing for this format of Bluetooth speaker, even if the Flip 7 claims that one extra hour.

Where the Boom 4 misses out slightly is in two areas. Firstly, upright design means it’s all too easy to knock over, and although its rubber-ended design should survive most falls, they will eventually take their toll – and it’s just annoying when it does topple.

There there’s the price, particularly compared to the Flip 7. Both have the same MSRP but the Boom 4 is doggedly staying at its full $149.99 price, where as the Flip 7 is regularly discounted to a lower price.

Though SteelSeries is primarily known and respected for its headsets, it also has some pretty fantastic speakers to offer, and the Arena 7 is a prime example. Not only does it offer top-notch sound quality, but it looks fantastic too, with RGB lights that help it to fit in perfectly in any flashy gaming space.

The audio visualizer setting means that you can have the lights throbbing and flashing in tune with whatever music you have on at the time – ideal if you want to have a little house party. However, we get that this might become annoying or distracting, and you can easily toggle the lights on or off with just the flick of a switch.

But it’s not just about how the Arena 7 looks – it’s a premium speaker (with not only a Bluetooth connection but also a 3.5mm jack and a USB-C connector) and it comes packed with a powerful subwoofer. Bass-y music isn’t going to make your whole house shake, but you can feel it, and it feels pretty great. The 5.1 surround system offers an immersive soundscape that’s easy to lose yourself in, whether that’s while playing a game, or when trying to lose yourself in music after a hard day.

It’s not without its flaws, like its inconveniently positioned power switch, and its fixed speaker cables that we wish could be adjusted more easily. Still, you only pay once, and you’ll soon get used to the niggles. We really like this speaker, and with a Bluetooth connection that makes it easy to connect to just about anything, we can’t recommend it highly enough.

Read our full SteelSeries Arena 7 review.

For a premium Bluetooth speaker, look no further than the Sonos Move 2. Its design oozes quality, with touch-capacitive buttons, a metal front grille, and four far-field mics that show it means business, even if it’s on the higher end of most people’s budgets.

Those mics are used for voice control and its Trueplay feature, which automatically tweaks its sound levels to the environment, room, and audio. Clever.

The sound is excellent too, with thumping bass and clarity in vocals and the high to mid-ranges. Its bigger body highlights the problem that many smaller speakers have in delivering consistent, crystal-clear audio, and the team at Sonos has outdone themselves here.

Despite the name, the Sonos Move 2 isn’t the most portable unit on this list. Its size means it’s more suited to carrying around the house and into the garden. Even with the integrated handle, at a hefty 3kg, you won’t want to cart it around too much.

Crucially, though, the Move 2 improves considerably on its predecessor with over double the battery life, totalling 24 hours. Meanwhile its wireless charging base is super convenient for when you do need to top it up.

With the UE Hyperboom, you’ll certainly frighten the neighbors. This 14-inch monolith is a pure speaker and almost imposing in its looks. However, at a beastly 6kg, carrying it around is going to give your biceps a workout.

Should you want to enjoy a long gaming session with an immersive soundscape, the Hyperboom’s impressive 24-hour battery life has you covered. And speaking of shindigs, this speaker is rated IPX4, so it’ll survive a cocktail spill. It can also output power as a charging unit, so you can blast out your tunes while juicing up your phone.

Loud is what the Hyperboom does best, and it has the power to practically reverberate your entire household. It handles treble, bass, and mid-range sound with ease, with no degradation – even when you turn it up to 11.

That’s thanks to the brains behind the brawn. Conducting its mass of woofers, radiators, and tweeters is its adaptive EQ, which literally reads the room and adjusts its sound accordingly.

Bulky and exorbitantly expensive, the Hyperboom is a serious bit of kit for parties. Ultimate Ears has shied away from revealing its power output, but trust us when we say it’s plenty loud enough. Just use it responsibly, okay?

The Stormbox Micro 2 is a Bluetooth speaker that houses a surprising amount of power and features, considering its tiny size. No bigger than the size of a palm, it’s small enough to be taken anywhere and comes with a clip and strap for attaching to a bike or backpack.

Handily, you can also charge your phone in a pinch thanks to its USB-C line out, while its IP67 rating means it’s both waterproof and dustproof. It can also pair with another Micro 2 for stereo audio.

That’s an impressive level of functionality in such a diminutive speaker. But how does it sound? Admirably, actually. For a micro speaker, there’s plenty to appreciate, with clear, punchy notes, and even the bass is surprisingly decent. Naturally, the driver isn’t large enough to deliver big room volume, and when you crank it up, it starts to struggle.

Nevertheless, the Micro 2 offers a stack of features and decent performance at ludicrously good value for money.

The Bose SoundLink Flex (2nd gen) is a classy-looking speaker with solid enough performance to be a strong contender to the Flip 7, UE Boom 4 and others. However, it’s a little larger than the Flip 7 while being not as tough and with fewer EQ options.

Instead, where SoundLink Flex stands out from the crowd is by including a microphone. This means you can take calls with this speaker, giving it a few extra uses compared to other portable Bluetooth speaker.

Another advantage is that this speaker floats, so not only does its IP67 rating means it’s dust and waterproof but you won’t have to dive to the bottom of your pool to fetch it.

On the audio front, the SoundLink Flex offers a touch more bass than the Flip 7 with a fraction more high-end detail too, with less of a warm mid-range. We prefer the Flip 7’s sound for most listening. There’s a three band EQ for tailoring the Flex’s output. That’s not as much control as the seven-band EQ of the Flip 7 but it’s enough to get a great sound in most situations.

Crucially, despite having the big name of Bose attached to it and having an MSRP of $150, the SoundLink Flex (2nd gen) is readily available for $110, making it a great value choice.

The Partybox 310’s mammoth boom box is powerful enough to bring the house down.

This JBL party speaker stands at nearly 70cm and weighs over 17kg, so it really pushes the boundaries of portability. That said, it has plenty of practicality and features, including a retractable long handle and wheels for ease of transport.

Like many party speakers, there’s an audio-synched light show in the form of dual circular RGB lights, which helps set the ambiance. It can also keep going for up to 18 hours on a single charge, so it’s great even for extended use, while its IPX4 protection can help it survive the odd splash of drinks. There are even inputs for a mic or guitar if you feel like throwing on a solo gig, alongside physical EQ buttons so you can tweak your sound profile on the fly.

With an output of 240W, the 310 is loud enough for large parties and then some. It’s got plenty of punchy performance in its bass, which can be enhanced further with its Bass Boost mode. And while this behemoth even performs well at volume, we’d say that heavy bass songs can test its limits at high volumes, even if few speakers can deliver perfect clarity.

It’s a weighty, sizeable, and very expensive unit, but this beast is more than capable of doing justice to your favorite soundtracks.