Greatest AirPlay audio system for iPhones and Apple Music 2025

We’re placing the HomePod mini within the prime spot on the premise of its low price ticket, wonderful sound high quality and deep integration with Apple’s software program ecosystem – so long as you don’t thoughts being tied to Siri.

The HomePod mini can’t match the bass punch of the full-size HomePod, however the output continues to be much better than we’ve any proper to count on at this measurement and value. (Simply to reiterate, it’s a 3rd of the value and a seventh of the burden of its bigger sibling.)

For jazz, rock and classical we had been blown away by its clear, wealthy sound. And whereas it’s not fairly bought the welly to deafen your neighbors with home music at 3 am, and also you gained’t fill a village corridor with sound, however it does fill a room fantastically – particularly when teamed with a second mannequin as a stereo pair.

When you’re deep within the Apple ecosystem and also you respect high quality audio, that is the good speaker for you: it can play your music fantastically and make TV watching a delight.

As with the HomePod mini, ease of setup is certainly one of its strongest options–plug within the HomePod and wave an iPhone vaguely in its course and an onscreen popup (on the cellphone) will invite you to set it up. If there’s one other HomePod of the identical mannequin within the chosen room, you’ll be given the choice to affix them as a stereo pair.

It sounds nice whether or not used as a single unit, or as a stereo pair, and it’s a fantastic accompaniment to your Apple TV because it helps Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio (the HomePod mini doesn’t). To seek out out extra, learn extra about how the HomePod compares to the HomePod mini.

The primary disadvantages of the 2023 HomePod are the excessive value (3 times that of the HomePod mini) and the frustrations related to being reliant on Siri to regulate it. We actually need a HomePod with a display.

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin vary of audio system first appeared again in 2007. The  Zeppelin Professional Version launched on the finish of 2024 and appears nearly equivalent to the Zeppelin launched, so watch out to examine which mannequin you’re contemplating shopping for. 

At $799/£699, it’s one of many dearer AirPlay audio system at the moment out there, however it actually does ship the products by way of sound high quality.

The Zeppelin Professional Version measures 210 x 650 x 194mm and weighs 6.6kg. It’s out there in a darkish ‘area gray’ or ‘photo voltaic gold’. 

Not like many one-piece speaker methods – together with Apple’s HomePod – the Zeppelin Professional Version offers a full stereo system, with separate left and proper audio channels, in addition to a devoted sub-woofer for dealing with decrease frequencies. That’s the same set-up to earlier Zeppelin fashions, however Bowers & Wilkins says the woofers and tweeters have been redesigned for the Zeppelin Professional Version for even higher sound high quality.

Like earlier fashions, the Zeppelin Professional Version helps Bluetooth with AAC for Apple units, and aptX Adaptive for Android. There’s additionally Wi-Fi with help for AirPlay 2, which lets you stream wi-fi audio (and Apple Music) over your own home community out of your Apple gadget. Utilizing AirPlay with Apple units offers extra bandwidth for high-quality audio information. The Zeppelin Professional additionally helps Spotify Join, and Tidal and Amazon Music by way of an app. 

Our solely criticism is that the Zeppelin Professional doesn’t provide wired inputs, so you may’t join it to a CD participant or Hello-Fi.

The Zeppelin Professional Version is among the bigger and dearer AirPlay audio system. If you need a robust, high-quality stereo speaker that helps AirPlay 2 this can be a nice possibility. 

Roku is well-known for its vary of streaming media units, which supply an reasonably priced different to Apple’s personal Apple TV field. Nonetheless, the Roku Streambar goes a step additional by combining streaming options with a compact soundbar speaker and help for Apple’s AirPlay 2 – and all for a extremely aggressive $129.99/£129.99.

The AirPlay help and built-in dual-band Wi-Fi imply you could merely use the Streambar as a traditional AirPlay speaker, utilizing AirPlay to stream music by way of Wi-Fi from any Apple gadget. It’s surprisingly highly effective for such a compact speaker, and greater than loud sufficient for taking part in music at dwelling or watching a number of Hollywood blockbusters. It even offers fairly good bass too, touchdown the bass guitar and crashing drums on Kate Bush’s The Large Sky with actual impression (and Roku has just lately introduced a brand new vary of wi-fi audio system that additionally help AirPlay 2, though we’ve not had the possibility to check these but).

Going past primary speaker mode, you may also use the HDMI port on the again of the Streambar to attach it to a TV or laptop show, and this lets you stream video at as much as 4K decision out of your Apple units as effectively. You’ll be able to even eliminate your Apple units altogether, and simply use the Streambar’s built-in streaming options to attach your TV or laptop monitor to a variety of video companies–together with Apple TV+, Netflix, Disney+ and so forth. It additionally helps quite a lot of music streaming companies too, reminiscent of Apple Music and Spotify.

Admittedly, the low price of the Streambar signifies that it does lack a number of superior options, reminiscent of help for Dolby Atmos, which you may get from Apple’s HomePod and in addition the Apple TV 4K. However, in fact, the Apple TV field doesn’t embrace a speaker, and the Streambar’s low-cost mixture of AirPlay speaker and music and video streaming options makes it an absolute discount at this value.

In 2024 Roku launched the Streambar SE, which is a less expensive model of the Streambar reviewed right here. The bigger Streambar Professional has been discontinued, however for now Roku appears to be persevering with to promote the Streambar.

When Sonos first launched the Period 100 it was positioned as a mid-range possibility that sat between the entry-level Sonos One and the imposing Period 300 with Dolby Atmos on the top quality. Nonetheless, the veteran Sonos One quietly light away a number of months in the past and the Period 100 has taken over as the brand new entry level for the Sonos vary of multi-room audio system, with a $249/£249 price ticket that makes it an excellent different to the Apple HomePod at £299/$299.

At first look, the Period 100 does look similar to the unique Sonos One, with an upright cylindrical design that’s out there in black or white. It’s barely bigger than the Sonos One, although, standing 182.5mm excessive, 120mm huge and 130mm deep. This enables the Period 100 to squeeze in a further high-frequency tweeter, in order that it now homes two tweeters which are angled out to the fitting and left to unfold sound extra broadly than the Sonos One. It additionally features a bigger woofer than the Sonos One, to deal with the mid-range and bass and add a little bit additional energy as effectively.

This new design works a deal with and the Period 100 offers excellent sound high quality for a comparatively compact speaker. The atmospheric harmonies of Enya’s Orinoco Move have a lightweight, shimmering sound, however the compact speaker has bought some muscle too, and is well capable of fill the room round me with Enya’s swirling cloud of sound. The dual tweeters present a crisp, clear sound for the digital loops that fly via the air, however that bigger woofer may attain down and embrace the gradual bass pulse and rumbling drums that enter as Enya’s multi-tracked vocals chant – “flip it up, flip it up”.

The one minor disappointment is that the Period 100 doesn’t help Dolby Atmos or spatial audio. When you’re a house cinema fan who actually desires Atmos then you definately’ll have to pay a little bit extra for alternate options such because the Apple HomePod or the high-end Period 300. However, for those who’re simply on the lookout for a compact, high-quality speaker with wi-fi and help for AirPlay, then the Period 100 delivers the products at a lower cost than most of its AirPlay rivals.

Sonos’ Roam must be the smallest and most transportable AirPlay 2 speaker we’ve seen to date.

Sonos’s authentic Roam good speaker was launched again in 2021, and it was among the finest transportable audio system we’ve ever seen, offering excellent sound high quality in a extremely compact design that additionally managed to squeeze in helpful options reminiscent of wi-fi charging and even help for Wi-Fi and AirPlay for Apple units. The Roam 2 fine-tunes quite a lot of options reminiscent of its set-up and tuning course of, and offers extra easy controls.

Accessible in quite a lot of colours–together with crimson, inexperienced, blue and plain outdated black and white–the Roam 2 appears to be like equivalent to its predecessor. It’s 168mm tall, 62mm huge and 60mm deep, and weighs 0.43kg. It’s not pocket-size, however it can match right into a backpack. It has a IP67 ranking water and mud resistance, so it’s suited to the outside.

There’s no room for a big battery within the compact design, however it ought to final for as much as 10 hours with music at 50% quantity. It wants to face upright for wi-fi charging and the amount, playback and microphone controls sit on the highest, however you may flip the speaker onto its facet and lay it flat. A USB-C port on the again can be utilized for charging too. 

Roam 2 helps Bluetooth 5.2 and now has separate buttons for Energy and Bluetooth pairing, that are simpler to make use of than the fiddly multi-function button on the unique Roam. You’ll be able to press the Bluetooth button to pair by way of Bluetooth, however it is advisable obtain the Sonos app for iOS with a view to set the speaker up correctly. We encountered issues getting the speaker linked to our Wi-Fi community and needed to spend time altering the Wi-Fi settings. However, as soon as that was carried out, the Roam 2 labored rather well. Fortunate its help for AirPlay made connecting it to extra Apple units easy.

The Roam 2 provides nice sound high quality for such a compact speaker, particularly over a Wi-Fi connection. It did an excellent job with Sturgill Simpson’s Sing Alongside, laying down the grinding, fuzzy guitars that kind the bedrock of the sound. On Billie Eilish’s Dangerous Man it achieved a fairly respectable bass beat for such a small speaker.

Switching to Bluetooth brought about the sound to lose a little bit readability–however that’s a limitation of Bluetooth quite than the speaker itself, and the Roam 2 can go head-to-head with any transportable speaker of this measurement and weight. The Roam 2 actually punches above its weight in the case of sound high quality and its sturdy and light-weight design is nice for outside use. 

Apple has been banging the drum for spatial audio for a number of years now, however Sonos actually took a step ahead with that know-how when it launched the Period 300 in 2023. Appropriately sufficient, it additionally marked a brand new period for the Sonos vary of multi-room audio system, with a wholly new design that was at the very least eye-catching even when it wasn’t maybe as elegant as Sonos claimed.

Accessible in black or white, the cumbersome, hourglass design of the Period 300 could be very a lot designed for spatial audio, housing at least six separate speaker drivers, with help for Dolby Atmos when watching movies and video, or listening to spatial audio on Apple Music. There’s one woofer and one tweeter on either side of the unit, which give a large stereo soundstage, whereas one other tweeter on the entrance highlights vocals and dialogue, or lead devices. There’s yet another tweeter on the highest, which is designed to fireplace pontificate the ceiling to assist create a way of top and area when listening to music or video that makes use of Atmos.

Like most Sonos audio system, the Period 300 makes use of dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz/5.0GHz) to hook up with your own home community, and in addition helps AirPlay 2 to be used with Apple units and different AirPlay-compatible audio system. However, in contrast to earlier Sonos audio system, the Period now helps Bluetooth as effectively, in order that it could present a fast and straightforward wi-fi connection for cellular units and computer systems when required. You too can purchase an adaptor that gives a wired connection (though it’s annoying that this prices an additional $19/£19, given the speaker’s hefty $449/£449 price ticket).

The Period 300 can earn its preserve, although. The Dolby Atmos help works rather well on the opening scene of Blade Runner, creating an actual sense of motion because the hovercar flies over the Los Angeles skyline, and there’s a satisfying bass rumble to the bursts of steam and flame that erupts into the air.

It does an excellent job with spatial audio on Apple Music too, particularly with Ringo’s deft percussion on the Atmos mixture of Come Collectively by the Beatles. The bongos skip evenly via the air and the bass guitar glides ahead with a swaying, sinuous rhythm. There’s actual weight behind the guitar riff that leads into the refrain, however the Period 300 can nonetheless pick gentler particulars such because the shimmering cymbals and rhythmic keyboards. Admittedly, it’s one of many dearer AirPlay audio system at the moment out there, however the highly effective and atmospheric sound of the Period 300, and help for Dolby Atmos, make it an excellent different to dearer soundbar methods for music and watching video.

It sounds higher than most transportable audio system this measurement, however nonetheless sounds clipped at excessive volumes and a few controls are a little bit opaque.

The Beats Tablet is far improved over earlier variations, however it has a number of faults that we’d like to see addressed within the subsequent revision.

Beats’ iconic “capsule” form is useful to hold round, matches anyplace a water bottle would go, and sits effectively on a desk or equally flat floor. You will get one in basic Beats colours—black, crimson, or champagne.

When at relaxation the audio system are tilted 20 levels upward, which is a good way to undertaking the sound extra straight at you. 

The Tablet is IP67-rated, so is must be secure on the seashore, beside a pool, or within the rain. A silicone outer wrap helps stop bumps and dings, whereas including weatherproofing.

Alongside the highest, you’ll discover quantity buttons, a middle multi-function button, and an influence button. They’re far sufficient aside and labeled clearly sufficient that it’s simple to hit the fitting one with out paying shut consideration.

Within the again is a single USB-C port that can be utilized for charging or as an audio enter, with help for lossless audio (not that the Tablet has the sound high quality to do it justice). It even reverse-charges with a triple-tap of the ability button so it may be a form of energy financial institution on your cellphone.

Beats says the battery will final 24 hours. We are able to verify it could simply run all day with out recharging.

With a single woofer able to 90 % extra air displacement than the woofer within the Beats Tablet+ and a paired tweeter, the brand new Beats Tablet sounds OK. Like all transportable audio system with a cylindrical design it lacks low-end oomph. There’s extra bass than you’d count on, however nonetheless lower than you want. It does get fairly loud, however at excessive volumes, there’s a clipped or restricted really feel.

There’s a microphone to allow speakerphone or voice assistants, however it doesn’t have a lot in the best way of noise discount to guard from sturdy wind or close by freeway noise.

The weatherproofing, comparatively loud quantity, and incredible battery life all make this a very nice reasonably priced speaker for hanging out by the pool. The $149.99/£149.99price is affordable, too. You simply have to handle your expectations for getting nice sound high quality out of a little bit transportable speaker like this.

We point out the brand new for 2024 Zeppelin Professional above, however for now Bowers & Wilkins continues to promote the 2021 Zeppelin so chances are you’ll discover it at an excellent low cost. Simply remember that whereas we celebrated this fashions terrific sound high quality when it got here out, the newer mannequin boasts even higher sound.

Accessible in both Midnight Gray or a silvery Pearl Gray, this Zeppelin appears to be like similar to the 2024 Zeppelin Professional and its predecessors, with the eye-catching oval design that provides the speaker its title.

On the within, this Zeppelin has a pair of high-frequency tweeters and mid-range woofers positioned on either side of a central sub-woofer, whereas all the unit is powered by a roof-rattling 240W amplifier.

The Zeppelin helps AirPlay 2, together with Bluetooth and Apple’s AAC codec and the AptX Adaptive codec that’s used on many Android units, and Spotify Join too.

At $799/£699 this mannequin has the identical (excessive) value because it’s predecessor, however as it’s phased out it’s more likely to see value drops.