THE BEST PORTABLE BLUETOOTH SPEAKER YOU CAN BUY

The portable Bluetooth speaker seems, at first glance, like an unnecessary gadget. If you already have nice surround setup at home or a solid pair of over-the-ear headphones, you might ask yourself in what situations you’d even use a Bluetooth speaker? It turns out the answer is everywhere, all of the time. Portable Bluetooth speakers have shed the crummy sound, abysmal battery life, and lackluster design of past models. The best of the crop today can transform any situation — the beach, living room, kitchen, and, yes, even the shower — into a surprisingly good music experience. And once you start bringing music with you wherever you go, it’s hard to stop.

But it’s hard to know which one to get, because pretty much every consumer electronics brand with an audio department has slapped its logo on a tube-shaped speaker, and a lot of them are terrible. Like with headphones, it’s easy to get tricked into buying a speaker that looks really cool, but ends up sounding subpar. And while it may seem like a smart choice to stick with tried and true audio brands, some of the best devices come from brands you might not have ever heard of before. At around $100 to $250 bucks for a decent Bluetooth speaker, it’s not a trivial purchase. But there’s good news: your choice isn’t as hard as it sounds.

THE WINNER

UE BOOM 2

Two years ago, the best Bluetooth speaker you could buy was the Logitech UE Boom. So it’s no surprise Ultimate Ears has done it again with the device's sequel, the Logitech UE Boom 2. The speaker still has your now-familiar cylindrical design, but that gives it great 360-degree sound. Plus, it comes in a series of neat color combos including a tropical purple-orange option and full red, blue, or white models.

As for the upgrades, the Boom 2 is now more durable and, more importantly, waterproof. You can stand it up on the edge of a hot tub or take it to the beach without thinking twice. You can even drop it in a fish tank and it will play music for up to 30 minutes. That’s not to say the Boom 2 is the best-sounding portable speaker. It’s a bit lacking in bass response and tends to sound best when pumping bright pop or really busy electronic music. So think of this as more of a party speaker before you’d sync it up with a string quartet.

Yet considering its other perks, the Boom 2 performs well in enough genres and situations to please most everybody. You can also pair it to another UE Boom to give the setup stereo sound, and a recent software update means it supports Siri and Google Now voice commands with the press of a button. It gets about 15 hours of battery life, which is average, but its range is great. I walked about 30 feet away from it in a crowded park before the sound began cutting out. At $200, this model is one of the more expensive options in the field. But if you’re looking for the most well-rounded speaker with really good sound, the Boom 2 is the best available.

THE RUNNER UP

B&O BEOPLAY A1

The Beoplay A1 is a funky gadget — there’s no doubt about that. It looks like a water canteen crossed with a wheel hub. But it is, hands down, the best-sounding bluetooth speaker we tried. It’s a Bang & Olufsen product, a brand typically known for making high-end audiophile gear that runs thousands of dollars. With the A1, the company has managed to shrink down its excellent sound and off-the-walls product design into a portable package.

The A1 has full omnidirectional sound for pretty much every genre of music. It can nail the fullness of an Ennio Morricone score and capture the nuances of an Aphex Twin track, all the way up to replicating the bass thump of a Drake single. It’s also incredibly loud. It can full your entire apartment with crisp audio, and it’s more than enough for busy social gatherings.

There are trade-offs. The A1 is expensive at $249. I’s range is also on the shorter side and it charges using USB Type-C, which can be annoying unless you happen to have a few extra Type-C cables lying around (one cable is included with the speaker). Luckily, the A1 does have 24-hour battery life to tide you over for long weekend trips. Other downsides: it’s not very durable nor is it waterproof. The outer covering is quite delicate and could get pretty beat up if you throw it in a bag with your keys.