Bose vs Sonos: which speakers are best?

Bose and Sonos have built up a reputation of quality with their speakers. But working out which is best isn’t easy, particularly when browsing online where you can’t hear how they sound. Our expert tests reveal the truth.

If you want excellent sound quality you might think you need to spend big, but we’ve found this often isn’t the case. 

While more expensive models will typically offer a higher maximum volume, our expert listening panel has found plenty of Best Buy speakers with superb, crystal clear sound for under £200.

Many of these speakers can also be linked together to form a stereo pair or multi-room setup, so buying a cheaper speaker and then another down the line to link to it can be a good way to spread out the cost.

Unlike Sonos, Bose makes portable speakers that run on batteries. So if you’d like to be able to move your speaker around your home, take it out in the garden or on holiday, a Bose portable Bluetooth speaker could be ideal.

Our testing doesn’t factor in price, so whatever your budget you can find a quality speaker. We’ve found plenty of models that punch above their weight, with test scores matching their more expensive peers despite a lower price. 

If you need help choosing, read our guide to buying the best wireless or Bluetooth speakers.

Best cheap Bose and Sonos speakers

Here we’ve picked out the more budget-friendly Bose and Sonos Bluetooth and wireless speakers that did best in our tests.

Which? members get our expert pick of the best Bose and Sonos speakers. Log in to view our recommendations, or if you’re not yet a member, get instant access by joining Which?.

Pricing and recommendations correct as of November 2021.

Still not convinced? Browse all of the best wireless speakers from our tests.

High-end Bose and Sonos speakers

For £200 to £600 you can get some of the best wireless and Bluetooth speakers these brands have to offer, combining top-spec sound tech, sleek designs and premium build quality.

However, that doesn’t guarantee they’ll be Best Buys. We’ve found plenty of larger speakers with very unbalanced sound, overly powerful bass, or ones that will tire your ears over time. Their big prices mean buying the wrong one would be an expensive mistake.

The music industry professionals who helped with our tests don’t care about price or brand power or a sleek speaker design. All they focus on is the sound quality and whether it’s up to scratch. All brands will claim their speakers sound great – our experts find the truth. Find out which are the top-performing high-end Bose and Sonos speakers below.

Best high-end Bose and Sonos speakers

Bose and Sonos speakers to avoid

Speakers with good specifications aren’t guaranteed to have the precise, balanced sound quality that’ll make the most of your music. And if you’re looking for a portable speaker, beware that many lack bass and superb sound quality – we’ve found the few that do.

Our expert lab tests prove that no speaker brand has a perfect record – not even Bose and Sonos. We’ve found speakers costing £400 or more that are Don’t Buys, and speakers costing more than £600 that aren’t even close to being a match for speakers a fraction of their price.

Save yourself from sub-par sound by steering clear of the disappointing big-brand speakers below.

Bose vs Sonos speakers: average test scores

Bose and Sonos both make high quality speakers and are very close competitors. One brand has the highest-scoring model and has a higher average score for its speakers overall, but the other avoids having the lowest-scoring model of the two. 

It’s particularly important to consider the brand’s whole speaker range if you plan to set up a multi-room sound system with multiple speakers, as you can’t combine speakers of different brands with Bose and Sonos speakers - if you want to do that, consider Chromecast-supporting speakers instead. 

Compare how Bose vs Sonos have performed in our tests in the chart below.

Which? members can see which brand has the best, worst and higher average scores below.

Scores correct at July 2020.

Sonos feature updates

Sonos speakers are usually wi-fi only, and controlled through the Sonos Controller app on your smartphone. If you’re using an old smartphone, you’ll need to check if the Sonos Controller app is compatible, and be aware that eventually support will be discontinued for older devices and require you to upgrade to continue using your Sonos system.

Similarly, Sonos is one of the best wireless speaker manufacturers at upgrading the software and providing new features to its speakers even when they are several years old. 

However, Sonos announced it would stop adding new features to some of its oldest products in May 2020, including some models sold up to 2015, due to insufficient ‘memory and processing power’. It also committed to updating these older products with bug fixes and security patches ‘for as long as possible’.

Since there is no Bluetooth or wired option on most Sonos speakers, this means you need to be aware that unlike a traditional wired home audio setup, bear in mind that a Sonos system may only have a finite period of update support. That means you shouldn't expect it to last as long as a traditional, non-smart hi-fi system.

Other wireless and Bluetooth speaker brands worth considering

Bose and Sonos aren’t the only top wireless and Bluetooth speaker brands in our testing. Home multi-room speaker rivals include Samsung, Sony and B&O, while there are also the popular portable Bluetooth speaker brands Ultimate Ears and JBL.

To see all of our speaker recommendations from all the top brands, see our expert guides to the best multi-room speakers and best portable speakers.