Lots of Bluetooth speakers will also have a built-in microphone, which enables you to use them for hands-free calls. This means they can serve a useful dual purpose and are a better option than using your phone’s speaker. Some also support the use of voice assistants such as Siri, Google Assistant and Alexa. These speakers allow you to control your audio with voice commands rather than using the physical buttons on the output device or speaker itself. If you’re having installation issues with your printer or scanner, see either Fix printer problems or Install and use a scanner in Windows 10. To pair a Bluetooth device using Swift Pair

The Edifier D12 offers a lot of speaker for the money, both in terms of its physical size and the sound it’s able to output. Drawing on mains power, it can produce 70W RMS courtesy of two 4in woofers and a pair of 19mm tweeters housed in a fetching wooden enclosure. Bluetooth speakers that rely solely on mains power are less common and normally less portable, too. You may still be able to carry one around in your bag, but if you want to use it while out and about, you’ll need access to an external power source. Can I use my Bluetooth speaker outdoors? The Move 2 also delivers premium sound to match its premium price tag. It has a three-driver speaker system, made up of two angled tweeters and one central midwoofer. Although we found the audio quality to be excellently balanced with great detail, the stereo sound wasn't very convincing, but that's okay.

The best Bluetooth speakers

We test each Bluetooth speaker in a range of environments and against its chief competitors too, so you know that the product will work just as well in the great outdoors as it does in your home. We live with these speakers in our homes to make sure that their performances are consistent, and we don't finalize our testing until we are certain of the sound quality. For the best sound quality, we recommend keeping the speaker around 50-60% volume based on our experience – when you have to push beyond this volume, there’s likely so much ambient noise that sound quality isn’t the first priority. We've been testing the best portable speakers for years, in all sizes and shapes – and crucially, for all budgets. People aren't typically looking for audiophile sound quality here, but they do want something portable that delivers balanced and clear audio outdoors (because if you're going to buy something, it might as well sound good, right?) and with a battery built to last. These are our priorities when testing Bluetooth speakers and obviously we're balancing that with the price – otherwise known as value for money. A bass-heavy audio performance makes it ideal for use outdoors, because during our testing we found it's powerful enough to cut through wind noise. Meanwhile, a clever Automatic Switching feature means it seamlessly becomes part of your Sonos Wi-Fi multi-room setup indoors.

An IP67 rating means you can use it just about anywhere in any weather conditions and there’s even RGB lighting around a ring on the crest of the speaker, which adds a colourful flourish if you’re using it in darker environments. This can sync up with whatever audio is playing via an option in the AI Life app, though the feature isn’t available on iOS. Customisation options are also limited if you’re not using a Huawei phone, but if you are, the Sound Joy audio can be tweaked to your heart’s content. The Sonos Roam has been sitting at the top of our best Bluetooth speakers list for some time now and we love that it seamlessly becomes part of your Sonos Wi-Fi multi-room setup indoors, too. How we test the best Bluetooth speakers The best Sonos speakers are great if you want to bridge the gap between indoors and outdoors, with the ability to form part of a wider multi-room system – and you can be sure that they’ll sound fantastic, too.You want audiophile sound: The Roam's audio performance isn't bad by any means, but the bass frequencies can be overwhelming. You’re after a striking design: The UE Hyperboom looks good, but it won’t win any awards for its design. If you’re having problems installing your printer or scanner, see either Fix printer problems or Install and use a scanner in Windows. To pair a Bluetooth device using Swift Pair

We particularly enjoyed the bass response here, which is where small speakers usually fall down: Tribit is keeping quiet about the exact specifications of the driver in this model but whatever it is, it delivers impressive bass for such a small footprint. And battery life is superb, up from the 8 hours of the original Micro to a travelling or beach day-friendly 12 hours. You want a speaker for a large room: This is better for a living room or more intimate environment, although it will do the job well enough for occasional use. Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity means that the speaker is easy to pair with your smartphone, while built-in Alexa voice assistance means it can double up as a smart speaker. The A1 is the first speaker to offer Alexa support without needing to be connected to your home Wi-Fi network – and while this is impressive in itself, we did find that the voice assistant was sometimes quite slow to respond to our commands, since it's routing over Bluetooth to your phone, and your phone is then making the request over whatever internet connection it has… which won't always be great.You want sound-per-pound value: If you don't need the portability, you can buy plugged-in speakers that sound the same for around half the price.

We test countless portable speakers every year at TechRadar, and that means we know exactly which features and specs to look out for.It's important for us to compare the performance of these speakers against the specs claimed by their manufacturers, which is why we take the time to make sure the battery life and connectivity is as good as the brands say they are.Before you try anything else, turn on Bluetooth on your phone. While this step seems obvious now, you might have overlooked it in the frustration of figuring out why the speaker isn't working, especially if you keep Bluetooth always on. The Tribit Stormbox Micro 2 is the best-sounding and most fully-featured mini Bluetooth speaker we've had the pleasure of testing. It's not the most powerful or the loudest Bluetooth speaker out there, but at this size and price you can't currently buy better. The terms wireless and Bluetooth are used interchangeably when referring to headphones, but they’re different things in the speaker world. Bluetooth speakers typically only connect over Bluetooth, though you may find some that are capable of connecting to a Wi-Fi network, too. You want a smart speaker: There are no mics for talking to Siri, Alexa or the Google Assistant here, which means you wont hear your voice over the speakerphone.