Speakers
The latest news and reviews of speakers.
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SteelSeries' first desktop speakers include a 5.1-channel USB model
SteelSeries has unveiled its first desktop speakers, and the centerpiece is a model that delivers 5.1-channel surround over a single USB cable.
Jon Fingas08.23.2022
Sony's new portable speakers are waterproof and better with calls
Sony's latest portable Bluetooth speakers are designed to withstand the great outdoors and are equipped for better sounding calls.
Billy Steele07.11.2022
LG's latest flagship Atmos soundbar is now available for $1,799
LG has released its 2022 soundbar lineup in the US, with prices starting at $399 and peaking at $1,799 for a 9.1.5-channel model.
Jon Fingas06.24.2022
Marshall widens the soundstage on its new home speaker lineup
Marshall has made some seemingly minor changes for its third-gen home speakers. The Acton III, Stanmore III and Woburn III have all been tweaked so the tweeters are angled outwards to provide a larger, more immersive soundstage than the forward-facing earlier models.
Jon Turi06.09.2022
Sonos knocks 20 percent off Move and Roam speakers
With summer around the corner, Sonos has discounted both of its Bluetooth speakers
Igor Bonifacic06.05.2022
8210082100Sonos Ray review: A soundbar that nails the basics
With the $279 Ray soundbar, Sonos is going after a new market. The company’s previous home theater products have all been $400 or more and have primarily been geared toward people intent on getting the best sound possible. The Ray, meanwhile, is more accessible for people who want better sound than their TV speakers can provide, but don’t necessarily care about things like Dolby Atmos support or room-shaking bass. The Ray isn’t exactly a budget speaker, though, so I set out to discover if Sonos made the right compromises here in its effort to make a more mainstream soundbar. Physically, the Ray is smaller than the already-compact Beam, with a tapered design that’s wider in the front than it is in the back. Unlike other Sonos soundbars, though, the Ray’s speakers are all forward-facing; in this way, it reminds me a bit of a wider and flatter version of the Sonos Five speaker. This design means you can tuck the Ray into a media stand and not have to worry about the sound bouncing off of nearby surfaces. Since the Ray doesn’t have a mic for voice assistants, you don’t need to worry about whether it can hear you if you place it in a media stand, either. As with just about every other Sonos product, the Ray has touch-sensitive buttons on top to start and pause music and adjust the volume. There’s also an LED status light on the front, rather than on the top as it is on most Sonos speakers. Again, this is in case you put it on a shelf that would otherwise hide the light if it was on the top. On the back, there’s a power jack, setup button, ethernet port and optical audio jack; Sonos left out HDMI support to cut costs, and since the Ray doesn’t support more advanced audio formats like Dolby Atmos, the additional bandwidth HDMI allows wasn’t needed here. The setup process was simple: I just plugged the Ray into the wall and connected it to my TV with the included optical audio cable. From there, I finished setting it up in the Sonos app on my phone. The process will take a bit longer if you’ve never set up a Sonos speaker in your home before, because you’ll need to do things like authorize the various streaming music services you want to use. But I simply needed to wait for the app to recognize there was a new speaker to set up, tell it which room the Ray was in and then wait for it to get connected to my wireless network. Once that’s done, you have the option of tuning the Ray using what Sonos calls Trueplay. This uses the microphone on an iPhone or iPad to balance the speaker’s audio based on how your room sounds. It’s a bit of a weird process, walking around your space slowly raising and lowering your phone, but I’ve found it always makes my Sonos speakers sound better, so it's worth the five minutes it takes to set it up if you have a compatible device on hand. I’ve spent the last week or so watching movies and shows with the Ray and it’s an obvious improvement over my TV’s built-in speakers. Sonos said it focused on dialogue quality, bass response and a wide soundstage, and it definitely succeeded on two of those fronts. Dialogue sounds extremely clear, whether I was watching a drama like HBO’s The Staircase or enjoying Galadriel’s narration at the beginning of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The latter also provided a great chance to hear how the Ray performed in more intense, action-filled sequences. As the prologue of Fellowship continued to its massive battle against the forces of Sauron, swordplay and arrows flying filled the space around the narration in a well-balanced mix. And the rumbling explosion and massive thud of Sauron’s helmet hitting the ground after his defeat were a good opportunity to hear the Ray flex its bass muscles. Another favorite of mine for testing soundbars is the 15-minute intro of Pacific Rim. The beginning of this over-the-top movie has it all – huge battles between giant robots and monsters, cities being destroyed as panicked citizens flee and a solid heroic narration, all of which the Ray faithfully reproduced in a well-balanced mix. The Ray pulls this off despite having much simpler acoustics than the Beam: it includes two center midwoofers, two tweeters with split waveguides to broaden the speaker’s soundstage, a bass reflex system that provides a surprising amount of low-end performance, and four Class-D amplifiers. It’s an effective system, but my main complaint is that the waveguides and computational audio can only do so much to widen the soundstage. While the Ray clearly has a solid stereo presence, it’s not nearly as immersive as the first-generation Sonos Beam that I usually use. Even though my older Beam doesn’t support Dolby Atmos, its larger size and more complex speaker array give it a big advantage over the Ray. The Ray is also not the loudest speaker out there. Again, this isn’t a huge surprise, as Sonos is marketing this device for use in relatively smaller space. That doesn’t mean it was too quiet for me, but I did usually have its volume up over 50 percent for it to be loud enough. If I really wanted to kick things up while watching a big movie, I might get closer to 70 percent. If you’re the kind of person who really wants theater-style audio, you’ll be better off with a more powerful device. The good news is that, as with all other Sonos home theater devices, you can pair the Ray with the Sonos Sub to improve bass performance. You can also use two Sonos One speakers as rear surrounds to make for a much more immersive experience. The Ray might be an ideal choice for a first soundbar to upgrade your TV’s audio and then use it to build out a more complex setup down the line. That said, the Sonos Sub costs a whopping $749; it’s hard to imagine someone buying a Ray and then spending three times as much on a subwoofer. While the Ray is meant to be hooked up to your TV, it’s also a capable music speaker. Sonos says that when it builds its home theater products, music quality is just as important as how it works with movies and shows. In my testing, the Ray sounds great – songs like Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” and Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Cut to the Feeling” have plenty of low end and super-clear vocals. Meanwhile, the hard left- and right-panned guitars in Metallica’s “Wherever I May Roam” were quite distinct. While it’s still not the loudest speaker, the Ray is more than capable of filling a medium-sized room with clear and lively music. Naturally, the Ray has all the same multi-room audio features as other Sonos speakers. This means you can simultaneously stream the same music to multiple speakers on your WiFi network, or play something different on each one. You can set up custom speaker groups (just the speakers on your first floor, for example) and stream audio directly to the Ray using AirPlay 2. The only real feature it’s missing compared to most other Sonos speakers is voice control. There’s no mic, which means you can’t control the speaker directly with Alexa, Google Assistant or the upcoming Sonos Voice Control feature. That said, if you have other smart speakers, including any other Sonos speaker with a mic, you can use them to control the Ray. There’s no question in my mind that the Ray is a serious upgrade over a TV’s built-in speakers. What’s less clear is how much better it is compared to other small soundbars, like Roku’s $180 Streambar Pro. Sonos has a long history of delivering excellent sound, and the Ray continues that tradition. And just as the portable $179 Sonos Roam is a good gateway drug into the Sonos ecosystem, the Ray is a good first Sonos for someone who wants to improve their TV audio. Yes, you can find cheaper soundbars, but Sonos is betting its reputation for excellent sound quality will make the Ray a success. After spending some time with it, I’d have no problem recommending the Ray to anyone who wants an easy way to upgrade their TV’s audio but doesn't care about having the best speaker that supports the most formats. For a lot of people, particularly those with smaller living rooms, the Ray will be just the right soundbar for their space.
Nathan Ingraham05.31.2022
Teenage Engineering's OP-1 Field is a big refresh with a big price tag
Teenage Engineering (TE) has unveiled the successor to its popular OP-1 portable synth sampler, the $2,000 OP-1 Field.
Steve Dent05.12.2022
The portable Sonos Roam speaker is now available in three new colors
Once in a blue moon, Sonos releases its speakers in some fun colors or finishes, but most of the time, people just have to pick between black and white. But starting today, you can get the portable Sonos Roam in three new shades; Wave, Sunset and Olive.
Nathan Ingraham05.12.2022
Sonos' rumored $250 soundbar is reportedly called the Ray
Sonos' low-cost Ray soundbar has surfaced in leaks that suggest it will be tiny, but still pack some useful features.
Jon Fingas05.04.2022
Soundboks Go: A portable boombox with a wireless focus
The Soundboks Go Bluetooth offers loudspeaker sound in a portable package, priced at $699.
Jon Turi04.28.2022
Sonos bought a startup that made a light-powered Bluetooth speaker
Sonos has acquired Mayht, a Dutch startup best known for co-creating a Bluetooth speaker powered by light.
Igor Bonifacic04.11.2022
Devialet’s huge soundbar might not need a separate subwoofer
French audio maker Devialet is best known for speaker collaborations, unique designs – and often heady prices. Having experimented with UK broadcaster Sky, the sound company is ready to launch its first solo soundbar for TVs, the Dione. And it’s huge.
Mat Smith03.29.2022
IKEA's new outdoor LED lamp is also a Spotify-enabled Bluetooth speaker
IKEA has unveiled the Vappeby Bluetooth speaker with a Spotify Tap button that doubles as an outdoor lamp, confirming an FCC filing we saw last year.
Steve Dent03.23.2022
Polk's latest soundbar packs Dolby Atmos in an ultra-compact design
At just 14.5 inches wide, the MagniFi Mini AX won't take up much space in front of your TV.
Billy Steele03.15.2022
Apple's 5K Studio Display should support Windows, including the webcam and speakers
Apple's new 27-inch 5K Studio Display — including its 12-megapixel webcam and fancy speakers — should work just fine with Windows PCs.
Steve Dent03.10.2022
Bowers & Wilkins' $999 Panorama 3 is its first Dolby Atmos soundbar
Bowers & Wilkins says its first Dolby Atmos soundbar is an all-in-one setup that doesn't need a subwoofer.
Billy Steele03.04.2022
Sennheiser will debut a more affordable Ambeo soundbar this year
Sennheiser's Ambeo soundbar is impressive, but it's also expensive. The company plans to offer a cheaper alternative in 2022.
Billy Steele03.03.2022
Beats revives its discontinued Pill+ speaker for a Stüssy collab
Beats is resurrecting its Pill+ speaker for a limited edition collaboration with Stüssy.
Jon Fingas03.03.2022
Sonos' Roam SL is a mic-free version of its portable speaker
It’s been about a year since Sonos released the Roam, the company’s smallest and least expensive speaker yet. As with most modern Sonos speakers, the Roam has a built-in microphone that lets you use the speaker with Amazon’s Alexa or the Google Assistant. Today, Sonos is releasing a variant of the Roam that omits those microphones, the Roam SL.
Nathan Ingraham03.01.2022
Astell & Kern's first Bluetooth speaker includes a 32-bit DAC
Astell & Kern has unveiled its first Bluetooth speaker, and it caters to enthusiasts with a 32-bit DAC and 24-bit codecs.
Jon Fingas02.24.2022