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Buying advice: How to find the right Bluetooth speaker
by Marco Engelien
«Stiftung Warentest’s» speaker review: the devil’s in the detail
28.1.2025
German consumer organisation «Stiftung Warentest» has reviewed speakers in different categories. Almost none of the Bluetooth speakers wowed them across the board, but the Wi-Fi speakers fared better. Their test procedure and criteria seem reliable and sensible, but the way it’s presented is confusing.
How did they determine the device categories?
Generally speaking, the devices are differentiated both by weight and certain functions. For example, whether they achieve a certain decibel output – which qualifies them as party speakers, as they can fill a larger room with sound at a certain level. It makes sense to introduce certain limits to define these categories. Making a distinction between the protocols also makes sense, with Wi-Fi speakers able to use Wi-Fi, while pure Bluetooth speakers can’t.
1 kg speakers and under
In the first category, «Stiftung Warentest» reviewed speakers up to a maximum of 1 kg. These are pure Bluetooth speakers that can play music by connecting to a smartphone or tablet. Being lightweight, they’re incredibly portable and ideal for hiking or at the pool. Of the ten speakers tested, not a single one scored well across every category.
The two test winners are the Klipsch Nashville and Teufel’s Rockster Go 2, which achieved «satisfactory» (or 2.7 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is the best). The Klipsch speaker is a fraction ahead, with a battery score of 1.6, while the Teufel is only 2.2. However, this positive ranking is somewhat deceptive given that both speakers only received a score of 3 out of 5 or «satisfactory» in terms of sound.
LG’s Xboom 360 DXO2T speaker and the Beats Pill with a score of 3 bring up the rear.
Interestingly, the Beats Pill has a footnote to add that this speaker has an integrated USB sound card function for playback. There’s no explanation of what this is or does (you can connect the speaker to your PC via USB and use it as a PC speaker).
2.5 kg speakers and under
What’s interesting is that the Bose speaker is clearly rated the weakest in the music category (2.9), and yet at 349 francs/euros, it’s the most expensive speaker in this test. That’s 80 francs/euros more than for the second most expensive device, Loewe’s We. Hear Pro.
Party speakers / bookshelf speakers
«Stiftung Warentest» also added five new devices to its party speaker list. This category is for speakers that «emit at least 90 dB at a distance of one metre without audible distortion». These are much heavier than lower quality, portable Bluetooth cubes because you need a corresponding sound box to achieve this kind of volume.
Bringing up the rear with a respectable score of 1.8 is the Klipsch One Plus. It’s worth noting that the JBL is the only speaker with a good score for ease of use (1.9). However, at 1.9, it also has the worst battery score. If this was slightly better, JBL would have overtaken the C20.
In this category, I notice that some of the devices don’t come with a battery. To be precise, three of the five speakers tested: the top-rated C20 from Audio Pro and the two Klipsch speakers, The Three Plus and The One Plus. These three have been tested as so-called bookshelf speakers.
Even more of a sore point is that Sony’s Ult Field 7 is denied multi-room capability (empty box means «no»), although the Party Connect feature does just that. Fellow editor David Lee was also aware of this function when he tested out the Field 7 in his own review.
Lots of good content, but it’s hard to get an overview
Overall, the article along with the extra info online provides a good overview of lots of devices.
Header image: Shutterstock
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
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