In an era when devices are becoming smaller and more personal, Bluetooth speakers aim to liberate music from our personal devices and share it with those around us. In our testing, we set out to find which speakers could deliver full, clear sound that gets loud enough for a party, and be portable, durable, and last long enough to use on any adventure.
To find our golden goose, we split up these qualities into six key tests: sound quality, portability, volume, drop test, and measured battery life.
Sound Quality
To evaluate Sound Quality, we created a small panel of expert listeners to spend hundreds of hours listening to music of all genres, podcasts, audiobooks, and videos on each speaker in both our In-House audio studio and at home. This ensured consistent acoustics, as each speaker was in the exact same spot in the same room when we listened to them. We then had all of our testers listen to the same songs played at the same volume on each speaker, one after another. Our expert audiophile testers then rated each speaker based on its bass and treble quality, clarity, and dynamic range. Our lead testers are an audio expert with a Bachelor's degree in Music and our head Audio Analyst, who has spent years reviewing the best audio gear on the market, from earbuds and headphones to wireless speakers.
Portability
We assessed portability through their weight, size, and weather resistance. The lighter, more packable, and weatherproof a speaker is, the more likely you'll be to take it with you and actually use it. We weighed all of the speakers ourselves on the same scale to ensure an accurate and comparable measurement. To grade packability, we noted the size and shape of each speaker and had our testers shove them into all sorts of different bags and backpacks. We also toted them along on normal trips to the beach, park, and our favorite sunset cocktail locations, and even took them on cross-country road trips.
We award points to models that have the best water and dust resistance ratings. We verified these water and dust-resistant claims before awarding those bonus points by taking them to a nearby beach and dropping them in the water, and using them in the sand. All of the models lived up to their various water-resistant ratings.
Volume
To assess volume, we used a sound meter to measure each speaker's decibel level at its maximum volume. We also evaluated the sound quality as we increased the speaker's volume and how well each speaker could fill an entire mid-sized room. If you enjoy blasting your music or want a speaker for large gatherings, it's important to have crisp, clean sound at high volumes that all of your guests can hear clearly from all corners of the room.
Drop Test
For this test, we pushed each speaker off a countertop 3 feet from the ground. We pushed them twice, the first a gentle push with a target of 1 foot away from the counter, and the second a more forceful shove with a target of 3 feet from the counter. We then recorded any changes in functionality, physical damage, or cosmetic scrapes and scuffs.
Battery
To test battery life, we fully charged each speaker to 100%, set it to 75% volume, and played pink noise on a loop until the battery ran out. We then noted the exact time down to the minute that they kicked the bucket.
