Speakers are foundational to the way we enjoy music from Spotify, Apple Music, and other services — and our own music collections. And increasingly, they’re also a convenient way of controlling smart home devices compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, or Siri. Companies like Sonos offer multiroom audio platforms capable of synchronizing music across speakers of all different sizes. Whether you’re looking for a smart speaker or a simple Bluetooth speaker to take everywhere, The Verge covers the best of what’s out there in 2025.
CEO Tom Conrad on cleaning up Sonos’ app redesign mess and turning a speaker company into a software platform.
That’s a stat shared by Sonos CEO Tom Conrad at the company’s Open House event. Always interesting to hear the numbers. You can read about the new gear (and a big update to its app) in our post, but stay tuned for more coverage.
Your Sonos speakers can now control your Lutron Caséta lights, plugs, and shades alongside your music with Sonos Voice Control. This is the second lighting integration for the speaker’s built-in assistant, which added the ability to control your Hue lights last year.
Its $299.99 Acton III Bluetooth speaker is now dramatically more groovy to celebrate the brand’s 60 year anniversary of working with the musician. But it’s not just about the new aesthetics. When you power the speaker on or off it also plays unique sounds sourced from Hendrix’s recordings.
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LG’s Xboom Stage 501 party speaker is now available to buy for $499.99 (technically $449.99 after a $50 rebate). Like Soundcore’s Rave 3S, the new Xboom speaker has an AI feature that can remove vocals, turning “virtually any song” into a karaoke track.
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In a post on Reddit, Sonos CEO Tom Conrad says the company is rolling out a beta this week that will introduce tabbed navigation, a volume interface “that is easier to grab and fine tune,” and more control over player organization. It’s part of Conrad’s efforts to clean up the app more than two years after a messy redesign.
[Reddit r/Sonos]
In addition to the new Lifestyle Collection speakers announced today, users of existing Bose speakers and soundbars can opt in to add generative AI-powered Alexa Plus functionality starting on May 15th.
You can use Alexa Plus to play songs, add reminders to your schedule, or ask questions, and it will respond more conversationally like other AI chatbots.
[Amazon News]
The Lifestyle Ultra speakers have big sound, can group with non-Bose speakers, and don’t need the Bose app to stream.
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Verge Score
The Play takes the best parts of the Roam and Move speakers to make a great Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker.
The $799.99 Bromley 450 includes the same replaceable 40+ hour battery, mic and instrument inputs, and hidden light show as the original Bromley 750. It’s just a good chunk smaller, and substantially cheaper to match.
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