smart speakers
2 0 24’ s best smart speakers
By CNET.COM (TNS) No matter if you are just starting to create your smart home or are looking to make some changes to your current setup, the right smart speaker makes a huge difference. On top of providing great sound quality for listening to your music, audiobooks and podcasts, they also allow you to search the internet and control smart devices with just a voice command. Many of them can also function as smart home hubs for systems like Matter and Zigbee.
When seeking out your next smart speaker, size and digital platform may be the most pressing needs, but actual sound quality, line-out support and specialty features like a built-in clock can make a world of difference at the end of the day. And, of course, it needs to be able to easily understand you whether it’s right next to your bed or all the way across your echoey kitchen. Additionally, if you’re on a budget, you can secure some savings right now. After all, smart speakers easily top the list of best smart home gifts year after year.
Most speakers these days are still running either Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, but Apple’s HomePod Mini with Siri is there for those of you wholly committed to Apple’s ecosystem. We’ve tested speakers for each of those ecosystems, and here we offer CNET’s picks for the best of each, and all three have been named a CNET Editors’ Choice recipient.
The following CNET staff contributed to this story: Senior Writer David Anders, Editor Ty Pendlebury, former CNET staff member Molly Price and Copy Editor Jim Hoffman. For more reviews of personal technology products, please visit www.cnet.com.
