Alongside a new soundbar and headphones, Sonos is announcing an updated app and some major changes to the underlying OS that powers all of its products. Forgive me for immediately delving into the recent past, but this is likely the biggest software update the company has announced since its absolutely disastrous app update in 2024. Without rehashing too much, Sonos rushed the app update out to enable functionality for its new Ace headphones, but it was missing a ton of key features and was extremely buggy. The cascading effects of this resulted in the dismissal of CEO Patrick Spence and a 2025 where the company didn't release any new products. We have to imagine that Sonos learned enough from the 2024 debacle to make sure things are locked up for the launch of Sonos 27 -- yup, the company is giving its OS annual version numbers going forward.

Sonos is cramming AI into its software because it's "very hot these days." The new features, which include agentic automation, are opt-in. Stop me if you've heard this one before . The smart speaker company, long a darling of the audio industry, undid much of the goodwill it earned with its multiroom speakers through a bevy of software updates that broke its app in 2024. Almost all app users hated it, citing the loss of features like volume control and accessibility tools meant to help blind people use the wireless speaker system.

We've tested hundreds of speakers over the years, and we put the best ones into our buying guides -- namely the ones for soundbars, portable Bluetooth speakers and smart speakers. Now that Cyber Monday has arrived, we're seeing notable discounts on many of our top picks. So if you need a soundbar to make the dialogue on your TV clearer or want to take your music out on the porch once the weather warms back up, this is a good time to grab a new music maker. And if you need a speaker to do your bidding (like turning on your smart lights or reminding you to take out the trash) you can save on a smart speaker, too. Here are the best Cyber Monday speaker deals we could find. Portable Bluetooth speakers make it easy for you to bring the music where plugs don't reach -- a picnic, the front stoop, an aimless wander along the Pacific Crest Trail.

According to my imprecise calculations, there are approximately a zillion speakers on sale for Black Friday. So how can a mere human know which ones are worthy and which will make music sound like it's emanating from a tin can? We've done our part by testing and reviewing dozens of different options and putting the best of the lot into handy buying guides for smart speakers, soundbars and portable Bluetooth speakers. This is an even more rarefied list, made up of the speakers we recommend -- that are also seeing notable discounts. If you need a new way to listen to music, a soundbar to help suss out the dialogue on your TV or a smart speaker to fulfill your demands, read on for the best Black Friday speaker deals. Portable Bluetooth speakers make it easy for you to bring the music where plugs don't reach -- a picnic, the front stoop, an aimless wander along the North Country Trail.

Earbuds are nice, but a portable speaker shares music with friends. And now for Black Friday, many of our favorite music sharers are on sale. We found deals on many of the speakers we've tested for our various guides and reviews -- and most of those discounts are hitting the lowest prices of the year so far. One of the best deals is the JBL Flip 6, now 50 off. Further down the page you'll see deals we found on smart speakers and soundbars too. Most everything here has been pulled from our Bluetooth speaker buying guide, our smart speaker roundup and other buying advice articles. Here are the best speaker deals we could find for Black Friday.

We've tested scores of speakers over the years, and the best ones have made their way into three of our buying guides: soundbars, portable speakers and smart speakers. Right now Black Friday sales are bringing notable discounts to many of our top picks. So if you need a soundbar to make the dialogue on your TV clearer or want to take your music out on the porch once the weather warms back up, this is a good time to grab something new. Of course, Black Friday doesn't technically start until the day after Thanksgiving, but nearly every retailer and speaker brand has already pushed their holiday deals live. Some discounts are even hitting new all-time lows. As new sales appear and we find new notable discounts, we'll update this list. But for now, here are the best Black Friday deals on speakers we could find.

According to my imprecise calculations, there are approximately a zillion speakers on sale for Black Friday. So how can a mere human know which ones are worthy and which will make music sound like it's emanating from a tin can? We've done our part by testing and reviewing dozens of different options and putting the best of the lot into handy buying guides for smart speakers, soundbars and portable Bluetooth speakers. This is an even more rarefied list, made up of the speakers we recommend -- that are also seeing notable discounts. If you need a new way to listen to music, a soundbar to help suss out the dialogue on your TV or a smart speaker to fulfill your demands, read on for the best Black Friday speaker deals. Portable Bluetooth speakers make it easy for you to bring the music where plugs don't reach -- a picnic, the front stoop, an aimless wander along the North Country Trail.

JBL has unveiled an all-new series of smart speakers, which means yet another option to investigate in the overgrown smart speaker marketplace. Except there is something different about JBL's stylish Authentics line. For one thing, they're arguably the coolest-looking speakers out there, borrowing aesthetically from JBL speakers past and present, like the L100, to dig up some slick nostalgia. When it comes to smarts, they're the first of their kind to offer both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant in conjunction, meaning you don't have to choose between them. This opens up an array of use cases, and the two assistants mostly work well side by side, if not always together.

Sonos may be synonymous with WiFi-equipped multi-room speakers, but plenty of companies have introduced their take on those products since the Play:1 arrived in 2013. Today, JBL announced its new Authentics series, a lineup of three connected speakers that offer a lot of what we've come to rely on from Sonos. While only the most expensive has Dolby Atmos immersive sound, the entire trio can run Google Assistant and Alexa at the same time, a feat JBL says it's the first to achieve. For the design of the Authentics series, JBL took inspiration from its L100 speaker that debuted in the 70s. That bookshelf unit featured a grid-patterned Quadrex grille as a prominent aesthetic element, one that the company has carried through a few of its pricier products over the years.

Google has just been hit with a $32.5 million penalty for infringing on a patent held by Sonos. According to Law360, a California federal jury ordered the fine after determining that Google infringed on a patent Sonos holds relating to grouping speakers so they can play audio at the same time, something the company has been doing for years. US District Judge William Alsup had already determined that early version of products like the Chromecast Audio and Google Home infringed on Sonos' patent; the question was whether more recent, revamped products were also infringing on the patent. The jury found in favor of Sonos, but decided a second patent -- one that relates to controlling devices via a smartphone or other device -- wasn't violated. They said that Sonos hadn't convincingly shown that the Google Home app infringed on that particular patent.