Do you want something that will play throughout the house or just within one room?

DH is an audiophile so we don’t have any Bluetooth speakers. He did however fall hook line and sinker for an Echo device after trying it out at a friends house. We already have Amazon Prime and it’s perfect for music and podcasts. At home we use it only for music and have a Sonos device to connect it to our stereo. However at our lake cabin we just use the Echo and it’s great - podcasts and music.

Love the home pod speakers from Apple. Use multiple, though not in the living room where we have real speakers hidden here and there.

Bose makes some relatively inexpensive ones that sound great and are portable. They have been very easy to pair with our Apple devices.

We have a Beats pill speaker that has great sound quality and pairs easily with our various devices and is portable. I like that it is rechargeable too, so that I do not always have to find a plug if I am moving about the house. We do have a system with a receiver and floor speakers in the living room. That sound quality is good but it further limits furniture placement.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-bluetooth-speaker/

I bought the ones mtn recommended in a previous year holiday thread, Bose sound link they are pretty good for the price. That said, wirecutter usually has good recommendations.

I like a streamline speaker thats waterproof that I can travel with, take to the beach or have around the pool or take to the bathroom . I do have an in ceiling surround sound but use this almost daily. I’m thinking of getting another to double up. The sound these kick out will surprise you.

The price has gone crazy stupid so I would look around. I bought one for my dad a few months ago for I think $ 130 (?). Now over $219.

I have an older model I paid less that half that and it’s been around the world and going strong still.

UE Roll , it’s on am a z o |\|

"DH is an audiophile......We already have Amazon Prime and it’s perfect for
music ......"

Hmm, I'm not so sure. Streamed music is usually at lower than CD quality. CD quality itself is poor and not what any real audiophile would ever listen to. An Echo device is also a very poor piece of hardware to listen to a quality music source from.

It is possible with Amazon's Ultra HD service or a limited number of other sources to have a better than CD quality sound source but few go to that extreme.

True audiophiles (which I define as someone whose equipment has a higher than low range 5 digit price tag) never listen to anything other than vinyl.

I'm a lifelong music afficionado. For the kind of music I prefer (mostly rock and roll), the sound quality elegance of the ultra expensive equipment isn't really necessary. But I do have a relatively expensive component system but it's sub-audiophile quality. I know several people who have uber special and expensive systems and it's incomparable for classical music. I do hear the difference. Most people don't. People listening to streamed sources or music being played over popularly priced equipment most certainly aren't in the same league.

We have a Fugoo speaker that works great. In fact we have two, one for home and one for cottage. Because DH sort of stole the Fugoo for his own use, I got myself a new one. It’s a Wonderboom — the first one in the article Mimou linked to above. I have only used it a couple of times, but so far I like it. We only use these for casual listening while making dinner or listening to podcasts or whatever — they aren‘t like The Ultimate Sound Quality but I think they sound pretty darn good for being so portable.

I have a JBL Flip speaker. My original plan was to get the one to see if I liked it, then buy a second one to pair up in stereo. I’ve been content with just the single speaker for streaming Amazon music and never got around to getting a second one. As EJF mentioned, digital music isn’t good enough quality to justify the second speaker.

Hmm, need to get some monogrammed shirts! I like the initials.

We have a house full of Sonos speakers. Each room has a Play5 or a pair of Play3’s. They create their own mesh network using your wifi and draw from your music subscriptions, your iTunes program(s) and other hard drive storage, and native content. The speakers are the best sound reproduction we’ve ever found. They sync between rooms exceptionally well; there is no “lag” in the broadcast between rooms. You can play something different in every room or use the whole system Party mode, or any combination of rooms and music. We brought the system from our old house here, which is an obvious advantage. The new house is completely wired for sound in every room, but after we experimented with it there was no comparison with Sonos.

edited to add.... the controllers for our system are smartphone, tablet or computer apps. We have a lot of guests (well, pre-covid we did) and each person can download the app, find our system and play whatever they like in their guest rooms, including radio stations all over the world, which can be more fun than it sounds :)

We have a UE Roll. Completely portable, water resistant, quick charging. This little speaker is fantastic. The sound is excellent. Way better than any of the Amazon devices and I would put it up against a Bose any day.

While looking for a photo of it I see the price has almost doubled since we bought ours. Even so, if I had to buy it again I would. It’s worth every penny. Ours is about 4 years old and used daily.

Houzz doesn’t seem to play well with links, but this Is what it looks like. It’s about 5-6” big. Small size but BIG sound. UE Roll (Ultimate Ears).

My goodness, Elmer, but THAT was smug!

I have a little Beats speaker. Nothing fancy, but I enjoy it for quiet listening on my patio.

We have a Bose and it works beautifully. Great volume and great fidelity! I highly recommend it. Mine is a few years old so the models have, probably, changed since then. We enjoy ours.

Elmer, good thing that we are not all audiophiles, isn't it?

I get so darned weary of everything having to be the very best. I do value quality over quantity, but there are limits.

It is my observation that men are often the ones to get in to needing the very best of everthing in order to pursue their passion or hobby. If they bake bread, they have to have the best oven, the best pan, a perfect thermometer to proof the yeast, and special blends of flour.

The are competitive grass growers and mowers out in the burbs.

I will bet that it is mostly men who buy all of this audiophile equipment.

Women, in general, have a different approach to getting things done, I think.

Elmer, to the best of my knowledge, you are not a man.

For the major portion of humanity a good speaker is all that is needed.

We like our Bose.

I bought my sister and her husband a Bose Revolve to use by the pool and she said they love it so much they carry it around to listen in the kitchen.. on the deck or by the pool.

It has great sound for a portable and is water resistant and tote-able-- and it has all the other typical bose features like easy use controls, ability to link to other speakers and very easy to link to your apple music sources. I also got the optional charging base.

I bought my other sister the bose micro portable to take with her in her kayak and she also mentioned how much she enjoyed it.

I got them both with steep holiday discounts (cyber monday?) from Best Buy.

@just_terrilynn I do not see your post above. Must be links that cause a post to lag behind. But isn’t the UE Roll the best? I love the portability.

Tann, hmmm, that’s weird. Yes, I have had the older model for years but bought my dad the newer model this summer. Yikes those prices have jumped, jumped even since the summer. I’ll take the link off my way up post and see if it shows the rest.

Thank you all! You've given me lots to work with. Sorry I've been remiss in responding sooner, we are in the middle of cleaning up after the ice storm 2 weeks ago.

Gotta go with Bose! I have the sound link, both the micro soundlink and the sound link II. The difference is that the II has a microphone and can be used on Zoom or with your cellphone. Great sound. It’s on sale for $79 which is a great deal.

Bose website.

"Elmer, good thing that we are not all audiophiles, isn't it?"

Huh?

My comment was to offer a reality check to the person who said her "audiophile" husband really liked an Echo device for music. That's like saying "I like high speed, exceed the highway speed limit by as much as possible when driving uphill in the middle of the night and I use 10 speed bicycle."

I also said "I do hear the difference. Most people don't. "

"Elmer, to the best of my knowledge, you are not a man."

I am a man.

"For the major portion of humanity a good speaker is all that is needed."

Everyone has a different definition of what's a good speaker but i restated what I'd said earlier when I quoted myself as having said, "most people don't hear the difference" .

Something to think about with vinyl. If it was not better for listening why do some groups and performers insist that it must be used. This has been known for years. It provides a better sound.

The sound quality of a particular source is not something that's subjective in any way.

There's nothing about a digital copy of a recording that compromises the sound source. In fact, it's the opposite, a high percentage of today's recorded music is done (at the studio level) ultimately in digital form. Though it may pass through analog equipment, thought to give warmth to the sound, along the way.

The problem is with CDs and other formats. A CD has a limited amount of memory space. When the CD standard was set back at the dawn of time, it was decided to fix the bit and sampling rates at a point that would allow about 70 minutes of content. To get there requires "mastering" and down-sampling of that leaves more than half of the sound content behind. The bit rate standard is about 1400 bits per second, that's what's needed to fit within the capacity of the memory to reach 70 minutes. MP3s and MP4s (the Apple equivalent) take that already compromised sample and reduce it further with compression and further down-sampling - the top MP3 or equiv rate is about 320bps. Streaming music is usually at 128bps or less. Less than 25% of the original source content, if made from a CD, which itself is already a compromised source. .

Analog sources have more capacity and so more of the master is present in a vinyl record.

There a comparison with digital photography. A commercial photographer, or indeed even a photographer hired to take pictures at a wedding or other social function, will use one of several RAW formats for images. A typical image might be 50 million bits - 50 Mbs for each picture, or larger. For a family event, some of the RAWs I got approached 100Mb.

Someone standing next to the photographer taking the same scene with a point and shoot camera or smartphone is going to have a file of 5-10Mbs, max. How could that be? Because the common jpg or gif formats sample, compress and downsize the image to produce a smaller file. Does it matter? Sure. You can produce large images/large print sizes with a RAW file. Any image from a RAW within a relevant range will be quite clear and sharp. With a jpg or gif, as images get much above a compact size, the image will become blurry because of the missing "data" from the image.

Another vote from the unwashed masses for Bose. ; )

Curious Elmer have you ever listened to the "Fish Fry"?

I don't know what that is so the answer is No.

What is it?

I love my Bose. It was only 200.00, might be less now as I bought it a couple of years ago. Great sound. I listen to alt rock on amazon prime and have the Sirius app.

The person who does the "Fish Fry" is the director of the Marr Sound Archives which for music lovers a treasure house and pulls from it. Seldom two types of music in a row. Only on here on Saturdays.

It's a radio program?

I recently purchased the JBL Extreme 2 portable Bluetooth speaker from Amazon and I love it! My intent is to move it from room to room so I can listen to music wherever I am inside (or outside) my house. I pretty much bought it to listen to Christmas music while I'm decorating and baking, but I'm sure it'll come in handy otherwise. It's on sale now for $149.