Best Bluetooth Speakers in 2016
Having a bluetooth speaker can make your life so much easier and better. One problem with wired speaker systems is finding a place for them. With bluetooth speakers, with their wire-free technology, you can put them wherever you want, allowing you to place them in the best place in your room for a full bodied, high quality sound.
You can also easily switch between devices. So if you have some music stored on your phone, some on your computer, and some on your tablet, it is very easy to simply switch between whatever device you want.
They are also amazing for parties and visitors. Instead of having just one computer hooked up to your sound system, you can invite all of your guests to hook up their own devices to your speakers, making it really simple for people to add their own music to the mix.
Bluetooth speakers have also come a long way from the past. Before, it was hard to find ones which would play your music as great as wired systems can. Now, the technology has increased massively, with many famous players now providing their own bluetooth speakers.
Almost all bluetooth speakers are portable, meaning that they are also perfect for the days you want to spend in the park or outside of the house. You can also move them from room to room, allowing you to have high quality sound no matter if you are relaxing in the living room or making a meal in the kitchen.
This also creates one of the few problems with Bluetooth speakers. With so many on the market, it can be hard to make the choice over which one to buy. Which is why we have written this guide, to help you become informed over which one to pick in regards to all of the big players on the market.
Bose SoundLink
An instantly recognizable name for any music fan, Bose’s entry into the Bluetooth Speaker market is their Soundlink.
Although it does also come in a mini version, this article deals with the large, main Soundlink, its full name being the Bose Soundlink Bluetooth Speaker III, which will set you back just over $300. However, for this price, you are getting a lot of quality.
It solves one of the few problems of Bluetooth speakers by having a full 14 hours of battery life from a single charge. Meaning that this is one of the perfect choices if you are planning on traveling with your speaker a lot.
For the aesthetic conscious people, the speaker can also be customized with a range of covers, allowing you to make your speaker as unique as your wardrobe. The covers, while also allowing you to still play all of your music, also help to protect the speaker if you put it in a bag.
The Soundlink also covers you if you want to play from a device without a bluetooth connection, such as a television set, with a handy Aux port accepting input from most major devices.
With a range of 30 feet, it is also very unlikely that your devices will ever be far enough from the speaker to lose connection.
And of course, as it is from Bose, the sound quality is immense. With four different speaker drivers, the bass of your songs sounds clearer than all of the other bluetooth speakers in this article, without making your music sound tinny at all.
One difficultly with this bluetooth speaker is if you are the kind of person who loses cables. Unfortunately, the speaker can only charge from a specialized adapter, which you also need a plug socket for. As many other speakers can charge by a much more convenient USB connection, this may mean that you need to switch out some plug sockets whenever you want to charge up the speaker.
You will also need to dedicate to using your device to controlling the music. The speaker doesn’t contain any buttons for changing music other than volume adjustments. This isn’t a problem if you plan on never touching your speaker once you have hooked up your phone to it, but it can be annoying if you want to pause or skip tracks without reaching for your device.
AmazonBasics
If Bose Soundlink is your choice if you have a large budget, the AmazonBasics Portable Bluetooth Speaker might just be your choice if you don’t have that much disposable income. Direct from Amazon, this speaker currently only costs just shy of $50 dollars, a massive saving of $250 when compared to the Bose Soundlink
Unlike the Bose, there are no covers for it, but when buying one you do have a choice between four colors; black, blue, red and white.
One feature that the bluetooth speaker has which can be really convenient, that the Bose speaker lacks, is a microphone. This means that if you are listening to music from your phone, and a call comes in, you can actually answer and speak into your speaker in a hands-free mode. Although this should rarely happen, it can be a feature that can come in really useful those few times you do need it.
It also boasts a comparable battery life to the Bose speaker, with a time of 15 hours on half volume (with of course, this time being reduced depending on how loud you have your music.)
Unlike the Bose Soundlink, the speaker charges via USB, meaning that the problems of needing to find a spare plug point are gone. This is also useful if you are bringing your speaker to someone else’s house. The speaker charges through a common Micro USB cable (the same kind used to charge Blackberries, Android Phones, and many other devices) meaning that it is very likely that the house you are at will have the cable you need if the speaker does run out of charge.
Another thing to consider is the customer service provided. Amazon have been called the King of Customer Service, and for good reason. They are very quick to respond to any, and all, queries. This means that when you buy it, if you have any problems, it is very simple to get a replacement or help from the Amazon team.
Of course, some sacrifices have to be made to provide this speaker for this price point. The sound will not be as clear as many of the other speakers in this article, with some problems with flat sounding basses. Furthermore, the speaker is somewhat fragile, having not been made of the premium materials found in other speakers. This means that it won’t be able to take quite as much rough treatment as all of the others and you might need to replace it sooner than you would like to. Furthermore, due to the cheap materials it is made of, it can attract a lot of fingerprints, which can be a problem if you want everything in your house to look clean.
Also if you are the kind of person who likes listening to your music loud, you also need to be aware that it will not be able to reach the same high volume levels as other speakers.
But, if you don’t mind these problems, the AmazonBasics Portable Bluetooth Speaker is a great choice for very little money.
DKnight MagicBox
All of the other speakers are perfect if you are looking for a large device that, although portable, will likely be staying in one place most of the time. However, the DKnight Magicbox is perfect for you if you are looking for a speaker you can easily travel around with. And although it is the cheapest bluetooth speaker so far, at just $27.99, there are many great features that make it a choice to consider even if you do have more money to spend.
The DKnight MagicBox is very small, coming at six by two inches, with a depth of only one and a half inches. This means that it can fit into even the smallest of bags.
The DKnight MagicBox is also made out of rubber, meaning that the speaker is also protected while you are carrying it around.
Even though it is tiny, it also has a great sound quality. Although, of course, it will not be as clear as either the SoundLink or the AmazonBasics speaker, it will more than do for any parties or events that you go to. This is also a perfect speaker to take on holiday with you, as you can listen to your music by the pool, then shove it back into your suitcase without worrying about it getting damaged.
It does have a lower battery life than the other devices though, coming in at just ten hours with moderate usage. Part of this is because of its size not allowing the same amount of room for a battery as other portable bluetooth speakers.
Just like AmazonBasics, it also includes a microphone allowing you to answer calls on it. However, there is another great feature that is missing from many other Bluetooth Speakers. That is, you can also insert in a Micro SD card into it. This means that you don’t even have to connect a device on it to listen to music. It would be quite easy to have one micro SD card always in the device, filled with your favorite music, for those times when your phone runs out of charge or you have run out of your data allowance for internet streaming.
From the speaker itself, you can also pause and skip tracks, as well as adjust the volume. Making it very easy to operate, even if you don’t want to pick up the device you are streaming to it from.
All in all, if you are planning on moving or traveling with your Bluetooth speaker, the DKnight is a perfect choice, and perhaps might even be better for your needs than the Bose SoundLink or the AmazonBasics Bluetooth Speaker.
Beats Pill
Whereas all of the other portable bluetooth speakers within this article follow the same rectangular design, the Beats Pill 2.0 bluetooth speaker looks completely different, having a pill shaped body. As true of any Apple product (with Apple having brought the Beats company last year), the Beats Pill is a stunningly designed speaker. But the shape is not just for aesthetics.
By having a curved shape, the Beats Pill can provide sound in multi directional locations, providing you with a full surround system, helping your music to stretch into every part of your room. The base of it is made out of rubber, preventing your speaker from moving around when playing at the loudest volumes… Which is good, as this speaker can achieve some loud sounds!
The Beats Pill also offers far more features than any of the other bluetooth speakers in this article, which is reflected in it’s price tag of just under $170.
For a start, the Beats Pill can sync up with any other Beats Pill. This means that if you bring one to a party, and find that someone else has brought a Beats Pill, the speakers don’t have to compete with each other. Instead, by tapping them together, you can set one pill to be a right speaker and the other to be a left speaker, further increasing the stereo output of the music that is playing.
Just like the AmazonBasics Speaker, and DKnight MagicBox, the Beats Pill also includes a microphone, allowing you to answer any call and go straight back to your music the moment the call ends.
Connection is also a lot easier with the Beats Pill than all the other devices, as following on from Apple’s “Simple to Use” philosophy. Whereas with the other devices you have to tap through menus on your phone, press and hold various buttons on the speaker, etc, with the Beats Pill all you have to do is tap your phone on it and it will instantly collect.
You might already have a high quality sound system at home, and just want a portable speaker while using your sound system at home. With the Beats Pill, you can actually easily connect your new bluetooth device to your existing speakers, as it also contains an audio out. This means that you can enjoy all of the joys of Bluetooth streaming while using your normal setup.
The sound quality, as typical for any Beats product, is also amazing. Although some people do complain that the Beats series can make bass too loud, it can actually make your music sound better than ever before.
The only problem with the Beats Pill is that it can occasionally cut out, meaning that you will have to reconnect your phone or other bluetooth device to it every now and then. Oddly, this happens more on iOS devices, such as the iPhone, than it does with Android devices.
Another problem is its battery life, with an estimated six hours. This means that it will need charging far more than any of the other speakers in this article. Thankfully, it doesn’t use a propriety connector, instead using a simple USB cable. Interestingly, the Beats Pill also doubles as an extra battery for your phone, allowing you to charge up straight from the device. Of course, this reduces the power on time of the Beats Pill, but can be really useful if you need to charge your phone in a hurry.
So which one should you buy?
With all of these speakers, the particular one you should choose depends on what kind of person you are, and what you are looking for in your Bluetooth Speaker.
If you don’t see yourself traveling with the speaker too much, then you have two main choices, the Bose Soundlink or the AmazonBasics. If you can afford it, and can handle only being able to change the music on the device you are streaming from, then our recommendation would be to pick the Bose Soundlink. Although it may be more expensive, you might actually save in the long run from the costs of having to replace your AmazonBasics whenever it breaks. Plus, for a little extra investment, you get a far better sound quality, which surely is one of the most important things to look at when deciding on your speaker.
When your goal is to have a speaker you can carry around with you, then your choices are between the DKnight MagicBox and the Beats Pill, and this is a harder choice.
If you are content with having a simple device to play music, and don’t expect to be needing great sound quality all the time, then the DKKnight is a great and cheap choice.
But, you can see yourself using all of the special features of the Beats Pill, and don’t need to have a device that can hold its charge for more than six hours, then the Beats Pill is a great choice. The surround sound capabilities of the device will make all of your music sound amazing, and if you ever want to upgrade even more, you can simply buy another Beats Pill to pair with your current one, having two speakers outputting your music.
No matter what Bluetooth speaker you buy, if you haven’t purchased one before, you will find that it quickly improves your life by providing you with wire free enjoyment of all of your music. Once you buy one, no matter which one you do by, you will find yourself never wanting to go back to messing around with audio cables and switching between different devices ever again.
