Stuff - UK (2019-12)

FOR FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE PRODUCTS IN OUR TOP TEN LISTINGS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10

TOP TENS TOP TENS

Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar

£2199 / stuff.tv/AmbeoSoundbar^

Utterly convincing Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D sound, ample

power and lots of inputs mean no other soundbar currently

available can perform feats with the solidity and confidence

of this Sennheiser. The sheer room-filling scale of this device’s

sound is remarkable, and it’s hard to think of any content

that wouldn’t benefit from being Ambeo’d. That’s why, as

well as being the biggest and the most expensive, it’s the

best you can buy.

Sonos One

£199 / stuff.tv/SonosOne

Making an amazing speaker was an easy job for the multiroom

champs, but getting Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant to dance

along in time with it... well, that wasn’t such a simple task. But

the One is now an altogether more well-rounded device than it

was at launch, supporting Spotify with voice control as well as

Amazon Music and TuneIn Radio, while the early Alexa hiccups

seem to have been fixed by a series of software updates. It also

has an improved processor in its current ‘Gen 2’ form.

Stuff says +++++

The Ambeo Soundbar is a big unit but the sound it

makes is bigger still

Stuff says +++++

Sonos’s Alexa-powered speaker remains a class apart

from the competition

Q Acoustics Media 4

+++++£179 / stuff.tv/Media4

This is a whole lot of under-telly hi-fi

for the money.

Apple HomePod

++++,£279 / stuff.tv/HomePod

For Apple Music users who want a high-end

smart speaker, this is a cracking choice.

Sky Soundbox

+++++from £249 / stuff.tv/SkySoundbox

The best-value upgrade ever... as long as

you’ve already got Sky.

Amazon Echo (2nd gen)

++++,£90 / stuff.tv/AmazonEcho

Nothing else does the job this well – at least

until we’ve tested the new 3rd-gen Echo...

Stuff says +++++

One of the best bargains in tech right now

Stuff says +++++

A bargain Dolby Atmos upgrade

Stuff says ++++,

A smart speaker that’s ready to party

Amazon Echo Dot

£50 / stuff.tv/EchoDot

If you don’t want to make room for a full-size

Echo in your tat-cave, the 3rd-gen Dot is

a good bet. The only downside is its lo-fi

speaker, but the 3.5mm audio output will

solve that problem for most.

Vizio SB36512-F6

£599 / stuff.tv/Vizio36512

An intriguing 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos setup with

a wireless sub and rear satellite speakers,

all for under 600 nicker. Not bad... and the

quality of its delivery, from film dialogue to

thrumming helicopters, is deeply impressive.

Google Home Max

£299 / stuff.tv/HomeMax

If you want a smart speaker that can blow the

doors off a party, this is the best you can get

right now. All the smarts of the basic Home

speaker are here, naturally, and the larger

drivers offer much more powerful bass.

Stuff says +++++

Compact, affordable and packed with smarts

Sonos Beam

£399 / stuff.tv/SonosBeam

Sonos’s great-value Alexa-equipped

soundbar offers fine audio quality, comes

with loads of features and is compact

enough to fit into the average living-room

AV setup without taking over.