You like to buy the best logical product. “Best” is of course an opinion, and in this case ours. With Bright Stuff, we base that opinion on a few things. Sound quality is important with a soundbar, but ease of use and versatility are also important. And because it often stands out in the room, such a speaker can also look beautiful. These speakers meet those requirements:

SonosOne

Sonos recently released two new soundbars: The era of 100 and the era of 300. But we recommend up front: the Sonos One. We have a number of reasons for that. First: it’s cheaper, although that’s not always a good reason – cheap often turns out to be expensive. Not in this case, however: For a lower price, you get a speaker that does a few things better.

Sonos One supports Google Assistant and is therefore smart and versatile. The Sonos Era speakers don’t have Google Assistant, which makes them less versatile, and on top of that, they can’t be played in Dutch. It relates to a battle between Sonos and Google — but the customer shouldn’t be bothered by that, right? Then you buy a brand new speaker that suddenly can’t turn on the lights.

The Sonos One is a great soundbar to start with, or to expand your Sonos soundbar: take two channels and you’ve got two channels of home cinema surround. These two Sonos Ones can also form a stereo pair together. You can also do this with a regular one and a cheaper SL model, without a microphone.

the new 100- Masoud It sounds better than the Sonos One One, don’t get us wrong. But again not €100 better, and not so good that you’d want to give up a smart voice assistant for it. The Sonos Era 300, in turn, is excellent: a spatial speaker like the Apple HomePod, just a little better. This spatial music can only be used through Apple Music linked to the Sonos app. And that era 300 also has no assistant in Dutch – and that’s for 500 euros.

The Sonos One is available in black and white (and in some places other colors – while supplies last), starting at €179.

Apple HomePod

The first HomePod came out in 2018 at a critical time. Several competitors have just launched “smart” speakers that are cheaper and can answer more questions than Siri on a HomePod. Apple responded to this with a much more expensive speaker, which sounded much better, but was also less good at answering questions: Siri was particularly good at selecting music. Five years later, it turned out to be the better choice, because the HomePod is back in almost the same look and with the same functionality. And that sounds fine.

with the HomePod Apple puts sound quality first. The speaker has five speakers in different directions and one tweeter. This ensures a full, balanced and spacious sound. Especially for Apple Music users: they can input songs via HomePod Dolby Atmos He listens. Then you hear more channels of sound at the same time and from different directions. Especially with two HomePods linked, it’s like you’re in the same room with the jukebox. You also have to turn on other AirPlay services on the HomePod: this is done seamlessly, but not as seamlessly as via Siri.

Siri may also not be a great voice assistant, but it is very useful when it comes to music. Siri understands far better than the competition what music means when you ask for a song, album, artist, or genre. And Siri is smart enough to set multiple timers and control your entire smart home. If you have an Apple TV, the two HomePods also make an impressive wireless audio system for your TV and all of its connected equipment.

The Apple HomePod is available in black and white and costs 349 euros.

Google Nest Audio

This perfect starter is available for €100 – really the bottom line when it comes to sound quality. the NestAudio It naturally has Google Assistant and is therefore very smart, nice and versatile: answering questions and running your smart home is possible.

The Nest Mini also has these functions, but for music this speaker really falls short: for 35 euros it’s a good option for podcasts, for example. As far as we’re concerned, this Nest Audio is the minimal speaker for listening to music. The tweeter and tweeter aren’t much, but they’re enough to produce reasonably full, mono sound.

This makes the Nest Audio a great speaker for background music: while you’re working, learning, or cooking, for example. It’s high-quality hi-fi to sit for, but it’s more than good enough that you don’t have to wonder, “Where is this noise coming from?”. And if you make a stereo pair with a second Nest Audio for the long haul, you’ll get room-filling music for a fairly affordable price.

Google Nest Audio is available in light gray and dark gray for €99.99.