Best Smart Speakers for 2025: Upgrade Your Sound

Smart speakers don't just play music (although they do that very well too). Their voice assistant-enhanced features can answer questions, make phone calls, set timers, play games and control your smart home devices -- and that's just the beginning. Whether you want an advanced speaker as an add-on to an entertainment system or gaming setup or a standalone speaker for your kitchen, garage, office or bedroom, these speakers can play a role nearly anywhere. To find the best options, we tested top models like the Echo, Nest, HomePod and Sonos, running on Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Apple’s ecosystem. After evaluating their performance, here are our top picks. What's the best smart speaker? Amazon Echo speakers are among the most affordable and easy-to-set-up smart speakers out there. That's why the fourth-gen Amazon Echo is our pick for the top smart speaker overall. It's likely to best meet the needs of most households. Although it's a few years old, the device features improved ... Read full article.