After flooding our homes with every Sonos model you can buy (and filling all remaining space with the boxes of said speakers), then using them for a couple of years, we've come to value their audio fidelity and ability to network seamlessly together. There isn't another speaker system that lets you string together multiple speakers as easily or connect them to stream in different rooms of your home while keeping the audio perfectly in sync. The closest thing may be Google Assistant speakers, and Sonos connects to that system as well. Easy streaming: The Sonos app supports almost every streaming service in existence, and many apps, like Spotify, let you stream to Sonos speakers within them. The Sonos ecosystem can also handle home-theater applications and can support a full surround-sound setup.

Smart speakers have become the ultimate multitaskers for your home, combining great sound with the convenience of voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri. Whether you're streaming your favorite playlists, checking the weather, controlling your smart home devices or setting reminders hands free, a good smart speaker can make your day-to-day life a whole lot easier -- and more fun, too. If you're an audiophile, some models prioritize high-quality sound that can fill a room. If you're on a budget, there are plenty of affordable options that still pack in tons of features. And if you're deep into the smart home ecosystem, finding a speaker that seamlessly connects to your devices will be a game-changer. We've picked out the best smart speakers for every need, whether you're after booming bass, a sleek design or advanced voice assistant capabilities.

Sonos makes some of our favorite speakers and soundbars--we've tested all of them and have yet to find one we dislike. These devices are expensive, but the good news is that Black Friday Sonos deals launched earlier this week and they're still going strong through Cyber Monday. You can snag sales on the company's Bluetooth speakers, soundbars, subwoofers, and more (Roam speakers are on sale until January 6). We've included the best deals below. Updated November 27, 2023: We've updated links and pricing for Cyber Monday.

Black Friday seems to start earlier and earlier each year in its relentless march across the American calendar. Retailers and manufacturers have traditionally buttoned themselves down and steeled themselves for Black Friday by skimping on deals in the weeks before the big event, but some have snuck in early Black Friday deals on a few of our most recommended products. From Sonos to Apollo to Samsung, there's enough here to whet your whistle if you can't wait--or if you just want to stealthily beat the crowds. We rounded up several other sales earlier this week that are still running, including deals on Chromebooks as well as discounted Arlo security cameras and video doorbells. Special offer for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off).

The week after Memorial Day can sometimes be a little sleepy on the deals front, but this week we saw a good number of sales, particularly on audio equipment. The headliner deal, a rare sale at Sonos, takes up to 25 percent off some of the brand's most popular speakers. JBL is discounting a few of its better Bluetooth speakers, Sony's new WH-CH720N headphones are down to $128 and Apple's AirPods Pro have dropped back to $200. Solo Stove carried over its holiday sale to this week, in which you can save up to 45 percent on the brand's mostly smokeless fire pits or get $120 off one of our recommended pizza ovens. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today. Sonos' high-end Dolby Atmos soundbar is down to a surprisingly low price.

Voice assistants are everywhere now – on your phone, in your TV, possibly even in your kitchen appliances. But one of the most common ways that people interact with Siri, Alexa and the Google Assistant is through a smart speaker, and there are now a wide variety of such devices available at a wide variety of price points. There are downsides to having a smart home device that's always listening for a wake word, as giving more personal information to Amazon, Apple and Google can be a questionable decision. That said, all these companies have made it easier to manage how your data is used -- you can opt out of humans reviewing some of your voice queries, and it's also less complicated to manage and erase your history with various digital assistants, too. The good news is that there's never been a better time to get a smart speaker, particularly if you're a music fan. For all their benefits, the original Amazon Echo and Google Home devices did not sound good. Sonos, on the other hand, made great sounding WiFi-connected speakers, but they lacked any voice-controlled smarts. Sonos released its own voice assistant in 2022 and also supports Alexa on its latest speakers.

I've never really admired Sonos' speakers for their actual sound quality. But the main draw of a Sonos speaker is the technology behind the grill. Boasting integrations with Alexa, Apple, Google, and virtually every music streaming service worth mentioning, the multiroom-capable system is the most convenient way to listen to everything, everywhere, all at once. With the new Era 100, Sonos finally wipes the floor with competitors when it comes to sound quality too. With stereo tweeters and a more advanced room tuning feature, this is a single speaker that easily holds its own with everything but more expensive two-speaker systems.

When Amazon first introduced Alexa and the Echo speaker years ago, the idea of talking to a digital assistant wasn't totally novel. Both the iPhone and Android phones had semi-intelligent voice controls -- but with the Echo, Amazon took its first step toward making something like Alexa a constant presence in your home. Since then, Apple and Google have followed suit, and now there's a huge variety of smart speakers available at various price points. As the market exploded, the downsides of having a device that's always listening for a wake word have become increasingly apparent. They can get activated unintentionally, sending private recordings back to monolithic companies to analyze. And even at the best of times, giving more personal information to Amazon, Apple and Google can be a questionable decision.

With the $279 Ray soundbar, Sonos is going after a new market. The company's previous home theater products have all been $400 or more and have primarily been geared toward people intent on getting the best sound possible. The Ray, meanwhile, is more accessible for people who want better sound than their TV speakers can provide, but don't necessarily care about things like Dolby Atmos support or room-shaking bass. The Ray isn't exactly a budget speaker, though, so I set out to discover if Sonos made the right compromises here in its effort to make a more mainstream soundbar. Physically, the Ray is smaller than the already-compact Beam, with a tapered design that's wider in the front than it is in the back.

Sonos devices have supported Amazon's Alexa voice assistant for almost five years now. The Sonos One from 2017 was the first speaker the company made with built-in microphones, and almost every speaker it's made since has worked with Alexa, not to mention Google Assistant. Despite supporting those popular services, though, Sonos has decided to build its own voice assistant. Dubbed Sonos Voice Control, the feature is specifically designed to work with music only, so this isn't exactly a competitor to Alexa and Google Assistant. Instead, it's meant to control your music as quickly as possible, and with privacy in mind.