In more and more living rooms, WLAN loudspeakers are replacing the stereo system. No wonder they deliver an extremely good sound with little volume. From Bose to Sonos to Teufel: Stiftung Warentest has now tested 13 WLAN speakers for between 170 and 650 euros. The bottom line: good doesn’t have to be expensive.
Whether from Bose, Sonos or Teufel: wireless speakers are becoming increasingly popular. There are several reasons for this. In addition to the mostly great sound with comparatively little volume, it is above all the tangled cables that you no longer have with WLAN speakers. As the name already suggests, the connection between the storage location of the music and the loudspeaker is made via the home network, i.e. via WLAN. If you set up several loudspeakers in the living room, you can save yourself the need to lay cables.
THE WIRELESS SPEAKER WITH THE BEST SOUND
The Stiftung Warentest has tested 13 wireless speakers for the latest edition of “test” of their own journal as a whole. “Five trained jurors evaluated the reproduction of classical music, pop, electronics and language in a blind test,” said the testers. In addition to the sound, Stiftung Warentest also assessed the handling, power supply, versatility, the protection of personal data as well as “Deficiencies in the terms and conditions and conditions of use” and – if available – the voice assistant.
If price is of secondary importance and the sound of the speakers is the most important thing, there is no getting around the Sonos Five. With the grade “very good” (0.9) it delivers the best sound of all tested loudspeakers according to the Stiftung Warentest. It sounds strong, balanced and dynamic, according to the testers. In addition, it delivers a high maximum volume. This means that the Sonos Five leaves the laboratory as the test winner. Only the Harman Kardon Citation 500 can keep up with the sound with the partial grade “very good” (1.0). Overall, both WLAN loudspeakers received the grade “good”, as they left points for power supply, versatility and basic protection of personal data.
GOOD SOUND DOESN’T HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE
The shortcoming of the test winner from Sonos and the Harman Kardon Citation 500: The speaker models are not exactly cheap at around 500 and well over 600 euros. In addition, if you want stereo sound in your living room, you need two speakers. Thus, 1,000 euros and more are quickly due here.
But it is also cheaper and still good. The Yamaha Musiccast 20 also scored “good” (2.4) in the test and currently costs around 170 euros . This makes it a good 300 euros cheaper than the test winner. The verdict of the Stiftung Warentest is: “Great performance for little money.” When it comes to sound, however, you have to make compromises compared to the expensive speakers. This is “good” and, according to the testers, sounds clear and quite neutral, but also slightly cool. In addition, the loudspeaker is relatively quiet in comparison.
THE BEST WIFI SPEAKERS WITH A SAVINGS ASSISTANT
With both the Sonos Five and the kind and compact Yamaha Musiccast 20 you have to do without a voice assistant. The Harman Kardon Citation 500, on the other hand, can also be operated using voice commands. The same applies to the Teufel Holist M, the Bose Home Speaker 500 or the Amazon Echo Studio. However, the three models achieved the final grade “satisfactory” because they only had sufficient basic protection of personal data. The sound, on the other hand, is “good” with all three speakers.
