Wi-Fi speakers

It’s tempting to wade in here and make some grandiose statement about the era of hi-fi being over. But that wouldn’t be quite right. Audiophile hardware is only getting better, vinyl is back on the rise, and there’s nothing quite like building your own system. That said, the smart speaker market has evolved to such an extent that it has all but unseated the concept of complex hi-fi separates for many of us.

For a start, a smart speaker is a quick way to get your hands on serious quality. Even at the lower end, they exhibit a remarkable amount of poise; premium wireless speakers, tuned and engineered for fantastic sound, stand almost statuesque above them. Seriously: if you’ve never wrapped your ears around a high-end speaker, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Secondly, premium wireless speakers offer the perfect mix of simplicity and complexity. There’s literally nothing difficult to do at the beginning: plug in your speaker, attach it to the relevant networks using your phone, and you’re ready to stream. If you want to expand your horizons, you can. You could start playing with multi-room, with advanced EQ and room compensation, with built-in smart assistance. Doing that with hi-fi is much more difficult.

And let’s not forget the looks. The high end is the sexy end – these are a centrepiece for the eyes as much as the ears.

WHAT’S ON TEST…

1 Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin

B&W’s unique-looking speaker promises to be more than just a bag of gas. It’s Alexa-enabled, packs a set of five drivers backed by some serious amplification, and it’s compatible with many codecs including a bunch of 24-bit streaming services.

$1,199, bowerswilkins.com

SPECS

Drivers 5 (2 x 1-inch double dome tweeters, 2 x 3.5-inch FST midrange, 1 x 6-inch sub) Frequency range 35Hz to 24kHz

Connectivity USB–C, Bluetooth 5.0, Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect Voice assistant Alexa

Dimensions 210 x 650 x 194mm

Weight 6.5kg

2 Naim Mu-so Qb 2nd Gen

The elegant angled drivers (and intricately tuned housing) of Naim’s reimagined and re-engineered compact cube give great all-around sound. It can be app controlled, but sits just as happily under the hand with its tactile dial controller – and the wide range of services it supports means it’ll play everything thrown at it.

$1,800, naimaudio.com

SPECS

Drivers 5 (2