Extend your audio and home automation to even the smallest rooms in the house with our pick of the best smart and portable speakers. From Bluetooth bangers to audiophile enticers, we discover the best options

AMAZON ECHO DOT (4TH GEN)

The diminutive Dot sounds better than the third generation, its front-firing speaker more effective than the previous model’s unidirectional one, and its voice recognition is better too. The bigger Echo sounds better but the Echo Dot is happy in smaller spaces, works well in a multi-room setup and can add voice control to your existing smart home devices.

Wi-fi Yes

Driver 4cm

Output 3.5mm

Dimensions (hwd) 10 x 10 x 8.9cm

Weight 328g 

APPLE HOMEPOD MINI 

iPhone owners will love this $99 Siri smart speaker
At $99, the HomePod Mini is Apple's most affordable smart speaker. It's worth a look if you're an active Siri user, or if you're already invested in Apple's ecosystem. At 99 $ the  HomePod mini is probably cheap enough to succeed. But it probably won’t make as much noise as Apple hopes it will.

AMAZON ECHO SHOW 5

If you’d like your smart speaker to include a screen, Amazon’s smallest Echo Show is a good choice. The tiny speaker

is better for podcasts and talk radio than for music (ours is connected to an external speaker for that) but it makes a good kitchen or bedside speaker and doubles as a smart alarm clock. Never pay the RRP: always shop around.

SONOS ONE SL

The SL is a more affordable version of the Sonos One smart speaker, sacrificing the microphone of the more expensive Sonos One while retaining its signature sound quality, excellent app and multi-speaker,

multi-room smarts. It’s a great way to get started in the ever-expanding Sonos ecosystem, which also includes home cinema systems, subwoofers and amps.

£179,