Whether you're at home, having a backyard barbecue or travelling away from home, a wireless speaker is a great way to enjoy your music exactly where you want it. But while good tunes are essential for a great party, a tinny-sounding speaker can really kill your buzz.
If you love your music, these are the wireless speakers to avoid buying. We've picked the worst performing models in various price categories so you can avoid the cheap and nasties as well as the high-priced duds.
How much do wireless speakers cost?
Depending on what you're after, you can opt for:
- a battery-powered portable speaker with a Bluetooth connection linked directly to your smart device so it's 100% portable.
- a home speaker that has a wireless Wi-Fi connection to your home network so you can stream music over your home network. These are usually quite bulky and require a power socket, so they aren't really portable.
- a smart screen with voice assistance and a display, which is perfect in your kitchen for viewing recipes or cooking videos, or in the bedroom for the morning news or a podcast (note these are no longer part of our test).
The cheapest models in our test cost around $50, while the high-end models can cost as much as $3300.
Sound quality tends to match the asking price when it comes to speakers and though there are plenty of exceptions (especially poor performers at the very expensive end), you can expect to pay around $500–1000 for a good quality wireless speaker.
Of course, sound quality is subjective and cheaper models that didn't earn the tick of approval from our experts aren't necessarily terrible. It's always best to have a listen to the speakers before you buy if you can, as you may find some that suit your needs, and your ears, at a much more affordable price point.
Wireless speakers are also the kind of products that are steeply discounted during sales periods, particularly at major retailers like JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman. If you find a model you like but it's outside your price range, hold out for a sale as it could drop by a very decent margin.
How we test wireless speakers
To make sure you get the best bass for your buck, our panel of experts listens to a range of music and audio. This includes classical, jazz, pop and speech with male and female vocals (i.e. a podcast). Technical measurements of frequency response and harmonic distortion are taken as well.
We also conduct a general ease of use assessment which covers setup, day-to-day use, the effectiveness of digital assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant (where available) and more. Lastly, battery life and power consumption are measured and scored.
We record battery life for portable speakers and annual energy consumption for home models, in kilowatt-hours (kWh).
Note: We updated and overhauled our wireless speakers test in June 2025, following changes to our test method and scoring system. Some previously tested models may have new scores and recommendations as a result. For a complete explanation, read more about how we test wireless speakers below.
Lowest scoring speakers in our test
Here's the worst performing speakers from the following price brackets, arranged in order from cheapest to most expensive:
- Under $100: House of Marley Roots
- $101–200: Marshall Willen II
- $201–300: Audio Pro P5
- $301–400: JBL Pulse 5
- $401–500: Bang & Olufsen Explore
- $500 and above: Bang & Olufsen Beosound Emerge
House of Marley Roots
Worst under $100: House of Marley Roots
- Cost (RRP): $100
- Choice Expert Rating: 26%
- Sound quality score: 18%
- Ease of use score: 48%
- Power score: 49%
- Battery life (hh:mm): 6:27
In a testament to the enduring power of Bob Marley's name and music, this speaker will make you want to get up, stand up – for a refund. Not only is it the lowest scoring model in our test overall, it has the worst sound quality out of any model we've tested. A moment for our expert's ears, please.
Now granted, this cheap, rectangular cube isn't designed to compete with a mid- to high-range model. But even so, there are other speakers in this price category that sound so much better than the very poor sounds that soured our audio lab from this speaker.
Other test results are borderline at best. It's not all that easy to use and power performance is middling. Portability features and IP67 dust and water resistance are decent, but your friends will send you home if you dare to bring the Roots wireless speaker to the next BBQ.
Read the full House of Marley Roots review.
Marshall Willen II
Worst between $101–200: Marshall Willen II
- Cost (RRP): $199
- Choice Expert Rating: 42%
- Sound quality score: 31%
- Ease of use score: 73%
- Power score: 77%
- Battery life (hh:mm): 13:37
In what may be considered a victory for Peavy or Fender fans, Marshall's foray into the affordable Bluetooth speaker market is a mere whimper compared to their guitar amplifiers. Though their more expensive models deliver the impact of a show-stopping solo, Marshall's cheaper units are hardly music to your ears.
Borderline sound quality is the main culprit here, a point which is not able to be compensated for by the good battery life. Trust us, you wouldn't want to listen to the Willen II for thirteen-and-a-half hours. Like the portable Marley above, there are better options in this product category for a similar RRP. Though credit where credit is due, it does nail the rock 'n' roll aesthetics.
Note: The Google Charging Speaker Dock for Pixel Tablet scored slightly lower than the Willen II in this price bracket. However, we chose to highlight the Willen II as the Pixel is primarily intended as a charging station with a speaker included.
Read the full Marshall Willen II review.
Audio Pro P5
Worst between $201–300: Audio Pro P5
- Cost (RRP): $249
- Choice Expert Rating: 38%
- Sound quality score: 37%
- Ease of use score: 59%
- Power score: 30%
- Battery life (hh:mm): 5:19
Audio Pro in name but barely Audio Pro in nature, maybe it would be best to rename this speaker the Audio Poor P5. Sound quality for classical, jazz and pop just isn't very good at all, while battery life is among the bottom five models in our test.
While you can't expect amazing sound quality from a speaker of this size, it's certainly big enough to deliver results better than what our experts heard. Plus, you're probably going to have trouble setting up and using the Pro P5 as the ease of use results are firmly OK. Sorry Mr Pro, but it's time to go.
Read the full Audio Pro P5 review.
JBL Pulse 5
Worst between $301–400: JBL Pulse 5
- Cost (RRP): $379
- Choice Expert Rating: 44%
- Sound quality score: 37%
- Ease of use score: 62%
- Power score: 69%
- Battery life (hh:mm): 15:24
This LED-clad speaker sure looks pretty, especially when the lights pulse in time with the tunes. It's one of the best looking models around, but how does it sound?
Unfortunately, JBL's Pulse 5 is all show, no substance. Sound quality is poor and though ease of use is at the upper end of OK, it's not really worth learning how to use.
The IP67 dust and water resistance does make it a hardy outdoor option and battery life is pretty good at over 15 hours. So maybe just take it to the park and look at the pretty colours all day instead of putting up with the poor sound quality.
Read the full JBL Pulse 5 review.
Bang & Olufsen Explore
Worst between $401–500: Bang & Olufsen Explore
- Cost (RRP): $460
- Choice Expert Rating: 38%
- Sound quality score: 33%
- Ease of use score: 53%
- Power score: 52%
- Battery life (hh:mm): 10:48
Bang & Olufsen, the iconic electronics brand, will reach its 100th anniversary in November this year. Let's hope the Explore portable speaker is not part of the celebrations.
These skillful Danes have built some legendary high-end audio products over the years and yet this wireless speaker is a classic example of paying extra for the branding alone.There's nothing here to suggest that the Explore meets the same lofty standards as the name suggests. So don't be fooled by that B&O stamp.
The sound quality, ease of use and power results are similar to, or worse than, cheaper speakers in this article – not to mention many others in our test. Features are almost identical too, so really you can get the same performance for half the price of this model.
Read the full Bang & Olufsen Explore review.
Bang & Olufsen Beosound Emerge
Worst over $500: Bang & Olufsen Beosound Emerge
- Cost (RRP): $1850
- Choice Expert Rating: 53%
- Sound quality score: 58%
- Ease of use score: 51%
- Power score: 29%
- Annual energy use (kWh): 50.55
We included this speaker to show you that price doesn't always equal quality – and what a price to drive that point home! This seems to be another case of Bang & Olufsen trading on its legacy alone because these results aren't worth the model's current sale price of $1375, let alone an RRP of $1850.
To be fair, the sleek, elegant, modern design does fit nicely into spaces like a study, reading nook and so on. This speaker could easily blend in to deliver the feeling of music emanating from nowhere and that style alone does warrant a higher RRP.
But you want at least some substance to match that style and the borderline audio quality doesn't come close to justifying the price point. Looks, unfortunately, can so often deceive.
Read the full Bang & Olufsen Beosound Emerge review.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
