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These premium wireless speakers are designed for use in the home - where they will raise the roof

Here in hi-fi world, nothing stands still for very long. And that is as true in the land of wireless speakers as it is anywhere else, as technological advances and design innovation constantly find their newest expressions in the marketplace.

These days, such is the number and diversity of wireless speakers on sale that to say we are spoiled for choice is, on the scale of understatement, akin to saying that smartphones have recently become quite popular. You can buy all kinds of models, from those no bigger that a large matchbox and costing just a few pounds, that you can pop in your pocket for a trip to the beach, right up to pricey large-scale, multi-function domestic devices.

Here, we are exploring the foothills of the premium market where there is a good deal of choice and, therefore, keen competition among brands. Though portable in the strictest sense of the word, these models are more accurately described as transportable. That is, their size and weight dictate that they are likely to spend most of their time in one place but can also easily be moved around the house if required.

Generally speaking, they are not best suited to serve as hand luggage on a day out, but their larger dimensions mean that they relish the task of supplying copious amounts of bass and comfortably operating at higher volumes.

Sitting pretty - mainly in a performance sense rather than an aesthetic one - in this market sector is the Sonos Era 300, a model that has been around for some 18 months now and which holds our 2023 Award for Best home wireless speaker, thanks in no small part to the way in which it uses Dolby Atmos-friendly spatial audio.