Speakers

In the $150 range, plenty of speakers employ DSP to limit deep bass dynamics (and some other frequency ranges, too) that tend to cause distortion. But the Life Jacket 3 tamps down the dynamics too often, unnecessarily—it's hard to get past this, as it...

6 expert reviews | 11 user reviews

The Hercules WAE Outdoor Rush is a pretty decent speaker with crisp, clean sound, FM Radio functionality, good battery life, and its IP67 water and dust resistant ratings.

3 expert reviews | 2 user reviews

If you're fed up with weedy audio from your flatscreen TV you might want to give the Panasonic SC-HTB520 soundbar a whirl.

17 expert reviews | 170 user reviews

The soundbar market is making quite a noise these days. The compact convenience of these sonic slivers has proved a big hit with telly addicts eager to compensate for the rubbish audio offered by most superslim TVs. The latest maker to sound off with...

9 expert reviews | 78 user reviews

While the H.ear Go is a decent speaker, nothing about it would compel me to spend $200 when there are so many superior options available, in terms of both audio performance and operation. All those extra features become more or less pointless when a...

2 expert reviews | 33 user reviews

The Elgato Thunderbolt Dock isn't cheap, but it adds a load of crucial ports to your Apple MacBook.

9 expert reviews | 24 user reviews

The Klipsch Reference Theater Pack offers impressive sound for such a tiny footprint, but lacks cinematic power compared to bigger-box speakers.

8 expert reviews

This upmarket TV soundbase brings classy design, polished sonics and slick music streaming to the table, but those with big living rooms need not apply.

3 expert reviews

A good choice for a portable speaker, but not the best option around.

21 expert reviews | 705 user reviews

It's versatile and attractive, but does its substance match its style?

30 expert reviews | 89 user reviews

If the Edifier Spinnaker has grabbed your attention thanks to its striking looks then you needn’t fear poor sound quality.

16 expert reviews | 87 user reviews

A £1000+ soundbar with the looks of a piece of designer furniture.

21 expert reviews | 28 user reviews

Not a bad effort, but out of its depth when put up against the best in class

7 expert reviews | 31 user reviews

The Polk Omni S2 is a well-priced, versatile Play-Fi speaker with decent sound quality, but Sonos' shadow looms large.

3 expert reviews | 1 user reviews

The Sharp HT-SB60’s prowess for detail, wide stereo image, and sheer power brings a lot to the table when it comes to movies. But the severity of the metallic treble created a constant battle between dulling its raw edge, and extracting the finer...

9 expert reviews | 263 user reviews

The last design hurrah is the LED on the bottom of the device. It’ll apparently act as part of the interface, telling you when the device is seeking a connection and so on, while also acting as a nice bit ‘o visual bling. And no, it doesn’t look...

15 expert reviews | 105 user reviews

The WAM5500 (or R5 for short) is Samsung's latest wireless multiroom speaker. It's one of three new models launched at the tail end of 2015 alongside the R1 (WAM1500) and R3 (WAM3500). The R5 sits one step down from the excellent R7, which earned top...

8 expert reviews | 57 user reviews

The Marley Chant Mini is, for the price, a fairly decent speaker, thanks in part to the booming bass of the Chant Mini that makes up for the non-existent high-end - especially if you’re into music with heavy bass lines (Drum and Bass, Dubstep, etc)....

2 expert reviews | 57 user reviews

Performance and Conclusions A transient peak, in audio, is when a brief moment of a song is louder than the others — think of a snare drum hitting hard in an otherwise quiet section. With pop music, we don't hear this much because most music is...

2 expert reviews

The PSB Alpha VS21's skimpy feature lineup and so-so movie sound quality don't live up to expectations considering its hefty $600 list price.

4 expert reviews

The Vizio SB3820-C6 is acceptable for mixed use. It lacks in the bass range, which impacts sound effects in action movies and music genres like EDM. Aside from the bass, it has a fairly neutral sound profile that's well-suited for vocals and dialogue....

1 expert reviews | 459 user reviews

we looked at a couple of weeks ago, you can't navigate iPod/iPhone menus using the remote - something we'd have liked to seen on this, too.

22 expert reviews | 65 user reviews

Its small size will appeal to some, but even at this price, we want more from it in the performance stakes

6 expert reviews | 2394 user reviews

A speaker system in this price range really ought to include a remote control, and there’s no carrying case, radio or alarm option either. So while the sound quality is good, the Logitech S315i still looks a bit expensive for what is essentially a...

26 expert reviews | 848 user reviews

The Gig employs digital signal processing (DSP), which typically ensures that there will be no distortion by limiting a track’s transient peaks at higher volumes. On the Gig, however, the DSP can’t quite restrain tracks with serious sub-bass content,...

8 expert reviews | 113 user reviews