Best Alexa speakers 2024: the best Alexa-powered smart speakers tried and tested (2024)

Of all the voice control assistants that have entered the market in recent years, Amazon's super-smart AI remains the one to beat. Alexa is the leading voice assistant in the realm of smart products, baked into a wide array of speakers and smart devices extending far beyond the modest stable built and designed by Amazon.

Alexa's quality is increasingly reflected in the number of third-party hi-fi manufacturers keen to harness its smart capabilities - just look at the Audio Pro Addon C5A or the Sonos Era 300 as a couple of top-of-the-line examples.

That's made the picture more complex, as you're not simply dealing with a restricted number of Amazon devices anymore; instead, you'll need to navigate a wider array of respected audio brands, features and price points to see which speaker is the truly smart choice for you.

Here to help you pick the right option for your specific needs and budget, we have created this guide detailing the best-performing Alexa-equipped speakers to pass through our dedicated testing rooms. All of the speakers below have been reviewed by our experienced in-house team, so you can read more about our testing process or scroll down for the recommended speakers. From budget brilliance to superb spatial audio, there's an Alexa speaker for everyone these days.

The quick list

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The 7 Best Alexa Speakers - Spring 2024: ReviewsAmazon Echo Buying Guide: Which Alexa Device Is Best for You?Lautsprecher mit Alexa im Test: Die 18 besten Alexa-Lautsprecher 2024Der beste Alexa-Lautsprecher: Sonos, Echo & Co im Test

Written by

Harry McKerrell

I'm a staff writer who has listened to and reviewed dozens of products - be they smart speakers, over-ear headphones or portable MP3 players - during my time atWhat Hi-Fi?.Aside from testing the heavyweight hi-fi we perpetually have populating our test rooms, I've spent hours with more small-form one-box speakers, be they portable Bluetooth units, wireless speakers or smart Alexa speakers. I've had hands-on experience chatting with every entry on the list below, probing and pushing the limits of their sonic and AI capabilities to ensure you're getting the best that Alexa has to offer.

The best Alexa speaker overall

If you want Alexa but need more oomph and refinement than you'd receive from one of Amazon's own speakers, we'd direct you over to the Sonos Era 100. Released alongside the also excellent Era 300 (see below), the Era 100 is a versatile, beautifully made smart speaker that combines extensive streaming playback features with some classy, deeply musical audio.

If you’re also not ready to splash out £449 / $449 / AU$749 for theEra 300, the Era 100 is a perfect Alexa-enabled alternative. Like its brawnier counterpart, the 100 happily produces a big, open sound, a lovely sense of rhythmic drive and all the detail and precision you could hope for at this level. The app is marvellous, the number of streaming features is extensive, and everything is as reliable and well-made as you'd expect from Sonos.

As a way of getting Alexa into your life without a hint of sonic sacrifice, the Era 100 is a logical step up from most of the candidates in the Amazon-made stable. It's a terrific, eminently versatile smart speaker that outperforms many of its rivals - we'd urge you to consider getting one.

Read our full Sonos Era 100 review

The best budget Alexa speaker

There was a time when we weren't particularly bowled over by the way that Amazon's bespoke wireless speakers sounded, finding them a little thin and artificial for our rather exacting tastes. Those days, happily, seem to be long gone, with the dinky fifth-gen Echo Dot proving itself to be a startlingly refined performer for the price.

Amazon touted last year's edition as its “best-sounding Echo Dot yet” and, all told, we really can't bring ourselves to disagree. That single 44mm front-firing speaker delivers audio that feels weighty, listenable and mature given the size and cost of the Dot, filling most rooms with a reassuring sonic confidence.

Plus, it's a great unit even when no music is being played. Alexa has come on leaps and bounds with so much knowledge and so many skills that it's on the verge of becoming a little frightening. You can even use her to play a humorously clunky version of Skyrim if your old Xbox 360 is on the blink.

Often discounted but always good value even when at full price, the Echo Dot (5th gen) is the best-value way to get Alexa into your life.

Read our full Amazon Echo Dot (5th Generation) review

Echo Pop vs Echo Dot (5th Gen): which is the best budget Amazon smart speaker?

The best portable Alexa speaker

If what you want is Alexa integration alongside portability and audio quality, the Besound A1 (2nd gen) does tick a remarkable number of boxes.

The hugely impressive Beosound has built-in Alexa compatibility, although that'll obviously only work when it's hooked up to wi-fi. When it's time to go out and about, though, the A1 doubles as a classic Bluetooth portable unit, sidelining its smart capabilities and becoming a hardwearing, attractive and musical performer capable of rivalling the best that JBL has to offer at this price.

The real feather in the Beosound's cap, then, is its versatility. Sonically, it offers a comfortable yet authoritative performance that you should be happy listening to all day, treating your musical catalogue to a broad, full sound with plenty of tactile bass. When it's time to come back in from the cold, connect the A1 to the wi-fi and you'll get all of those Alexa benefits from the comfort of your home, plus a stereo pairing mode if you need to hook up multiple Beosounds together to really get the party started. That's a lot of cap feathers!

The Bang & Olufsen portable started its life as a rather expensive unit, but shop around and, with a little patience, you'll likely find a cracking deal. If it's on sale, we'd heartily recommend this classy all-rounder without a moment's hesitation.

Read our full

The best Alexa speaker for audiophiles

The C5A's audio performance remains its biggest draw aside from Alexa, firing our test tracks with supreme confidence alongside impressive levels of musical understanding. Lovely to look at, great to listen to and a breeze to use, the C5A is the ideal combo for anyone wanting a five-star non-Amazon alternative.

Read our full Audio Pro Addon C5A review

The best premium Alexa speaker

Anyone seeking out the best Alexa speaker available has to have the Sonos Era 300 somewhere near the top of their list. Smart speakers - Alexa-enabled or otherwise - don't come much more impressive than the Era 300, a smart speaker whose revolutionary sound and slew of cutting-edge features made it a worthwhile Award-winner coming into 2024.

Smart features come courtesy of Sonos's branded voice control or Alexa, although the first of these can only be used to control music playback. As you'll have guessed, Sonos has ditched Google support and shacked up with Amazon's AI assistant instead, as is the case for the Era 100 above.

Sporting that unique but oddly alluring “cinched hourglass” shape, the Era 300 is perhaps a little more of an acquired taste than many of Sonos' more conservative designs. Blocks and monoliths are out, cinched hourglasses are very much in.

They are if they help to deliver the sort of sound the Era 300 is capable of producing. It's a profoundly excellent speaker, filling our test rooms with spacious, cohesive sound regardless of the genre or even its given particular location. Expansive choral offerings feel broad and immersive thanks to spatial audio, yet the Era 300 is as comfortable with hip-hop and classic rock as it is with film scores or funky jazz fusion.

For now, the Era 300 is a relatively premium choice, but it justifies its high asking price by being one of the finest Alexa speakers you could hope to find.

Read our full Sonos Era 300 review

Top Tip

Top Tip

Harry McKerrell

This goes for practically any piece of hi-fi or audio equipment you're thinking of buying, but it's especially true for many of the entries on this list: be smart about your spending! What we've found from our extensive experience with deals periods and events like Black Friday and Prime Day is that many of the speakers we've listed - especially the Amazon Echo Dot (5th gen), the Beosound A1 and the Audio Pro Addon C5A - frequently enjoy spectacular discounts. If you're thinking of buying something on this list, check out our dedicated deals pages first, because you could save yourself an absolute packet.

The best Alexa speaker with screen

Audio and Alexa not quite enough for you? Need something to look at as well as someone (or something) to talk to? That's where the Echo Show 5 comes in.

If you want to get fully ensconced with Alexa's world – i.e. via audio and video – this is likely your best starting point.There are a few Echo Shows knocking around, such as the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen), yet the Show 5 is our affordable screen-and-sound choice for Alexa lovers everywhere.

Whereas most Alexa-enabled tech is audio-focused, the Show 5 embraces sound and video to help you out around the house. As well as reading out information and playing music, you can access video content on the device's 5.5-inch (14cm) LCD touchscreen, while an HD camera lets you make Skype calls or view images from cameras in and around your house.

Sound quality is pretty decent considering what it is, even if the Echo Show 5 can be beaten by more audio-focused rivals. Still, given that this is an inexpensive box of tricks that opens up the world of Alexa to a whole new audience, sonic sacrifices feel somewhat inevitable.

If you want a screen, sound and a very smart virtual companion all in one, this is as good as you’ll get for under £100 / $100.

Read our fullAmazon Echo Show 5 review

Also consider

JBL Authentics 300:Large, handsome and versatile, the Authentics 300 is an outstanding choice for anyone seeking a semi-portable wireless speaker that can fire out a robust, enthusiastic sound as it moves from room to room. With dual voice assistants, Bluetooth, wi-fi streaming and Alexa Multiroom, the 300 does the lot.

JBL Authentics 500:The 300's bigger brother features Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility but, unlike the smaller model, comes with spatial audio support via Dolby Atmos. It's also larger, louder and bolder sounding, although a lack of any internal battery means you'll need to keep it connected to the mains at all times.

How to choose the best Alexa speaker for you

There are plenty of Alexa speakers to choose from, including Amazon's own, ever-growing family of devices led by the Echo Dot, the standard Echo, the Echo Show and the Echo Studio. But which one is right for you?

The main question is this: do you want something small and unassuming to kick-start a smart system, or do you want a substantial wireless speaker with built-in brains that sounds good to boot? The common assumption is that Amazon's homegrown family of Echos is the only place Alexa can be found, but there are a number of third-party brands such as Sonos and Audio Pro which have given the AI assistant a home within their own respective stables.

That's great news for the consumer, as not only does it mean you have more choice when it comes to picking up an Alexa-enabled item, but you are also much more likely to get great sound from dedicated audio specialists than from Amazon's array of capable, but rather diminutive smart speakers.

How we test Alexa speakers

We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London and Reading, where our team of experienced, in-house reviewers test the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door, including Alexa speakers.

What is important in our reviewing process is that each product is compared to the best in its price and class – whether that's one standout smart speaker or a few we favour the highest among the scores we listen to each year for reviews andWhat Hi-Fi?Awards judging.What Hi-Fi?is all about comparative testing, so we keep our Award-winners nearby to enable unbiased comparisons between new products and ones we know to have performed highly in the category.

We are always impartial and do our best to make sure we hear every product at its very best, so we play plenty of different types of music and give each speaker extensive listening time – including time to run in. With smart speakers it's not just about sound quality, of course; we'll also ensure part of our testing involves trialling the voice control features. We also take them home to test how they perform in real-world use.

All review verdicts are agreed upon by the entire team, rather than an individual reviewer, to eliminate any personal preference and to make sure we're being as thorough as possible. There's no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdicts or star ratings in our reviews.

AtWhat Hi-Fi?we areproud to consistently deliver honest, unbiased reviews – something we have been doing for over 45 years.

FAQ

Recent updates

• May 2024: Added an Also Consider section to give buyers alternatives to the main models listed above.
• February 2024:Added FAQ section to help with buying decisions and frequently asked questions.
• November 2023:What Hi-Fi?Award winners labelled after the 2023Awards Best Buys and Product of the Year announcements.

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