Even if your music source is CD quality, by the time it’s delivered to your speakers, much of the dynamic musical range is compressed in order to send the data without interference. Part of the reason Bluetooth became such a popular format was its reliability. What are the differences between these two methods? Is one option better than the other? Let’s take a look at the key components of wireless audio and see how the two methods stack up.įirst and foremost, let’s consider music quality. However, in the last few years, traditional Wifi has become a popular method as well. Who should buy it: Someone looking for an option that delivers smart speaker versatility with a little added visual information about the tracks on that Remember the 2000s playlist.For a period of time, Bluetooth was the most reliable method to connect wirelessly to speakers. The Home Speaker 500 can’t be synced with Bose’s SoundTouch wireless models, which can be disappointing if you’re a longtime fan deeply entrenched in the Bose ecosystem.

While some users may like it, others will find it to be an awkward half-measure, sitting between an audio-only device and a smart speaker with a full-blown screen like Amazon’s Echo Show models.

What’s not to like: It’s hard to know what to make of the small LCD screen that shows the title and album artwork from your playlist. The model fares quite well in our sound-quality tests, exhibiting strong bass and detailed highs that can reproduce both the thwock of a kick drum and the shimmer of cymbals with lifelike realism. What’s to like: The Bose Home Speaker 500 is platform-agnostic, meaning it’s one of the few smart speakers that allows you to choose between Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant.

Wifi vs bluetooth speaker