Are Top-Rated Speakers Really Better? Yes, and New Tracks From Springsteen, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, and Taylor Swift Prove It.

To test this for myself, I took one track each from Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti,” Beyoncé’s “Renaissance,” Taylor Swift’s “Midnights,” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Only the Strong Survive” and played them on two speakers, one of which earned decent CR sound quality scores while the other excelled. The differences were huge.

The first speaker was the $180 Sonos Roam. It’s a portable smart speaker that sits squarely in the middle of our sound quality ratings. I’ve owned one for a while and find the sound to be quite pleasing most of the time.

The other speaker is the Edifier S1000DB, which is the best-sounding speaker CR has ever tested. (There’s a new version, the Edifier S1000W, that adds WiFi streaming; according to our testers, its looks and sound quality are identical to those on the earlier version.) I bought a pair of the S1000DBs several years ago and listen to them daily in my home office.

They have deep, impactful bass and extended trebles. But most of all they have a clear, detailed midrange (the central part of the sonic spectrum where vocals and most instruments live). And on a good recording they can create the illusion that the musicians are in the same room with you. If that sounds a little magical, well, that’s the whole point. 

I’ve included links and time stamps to recordings on YouTube, so you can hear what I heard in these tracks. Note that I listened using Tidal’s high-quality streaming service—but the difference between YouTube and Tidal is tiny compared with the gap in quality between these two speakers.

Even really good speakers can have trouble reproducing bass—you want those deep tones to be strong, but also nuanced, so they don’t all blend together. The bass end of the spectrum is highlighted in Bad Bunny’s “El Apagon,” a three-act homage to his home in Puerto Rico. (We’re linking to a “clean” radio version because the album cut contains some explicit language.) It starts with a sultry conga drum rhythm, but at 1:22 it shifts to a heavy electronica dance beat.

How does it sound on my two sets of speakers? The Sonos Roam does a decent job of keeping up with the beat. The Edifiers? They render the texture not only in the drums, but even the synths. It also rattles your chest. The bass is both bigger and better.

Great speakers also create a sense of space, as if you’re there in the room with the musicians. As “El Apagon” (Spanish-to-English translation: “The Blackout”) builds to a crescendo, Bad Bunny surprises us again. At 2:32, he takes us from a hot, crowded dance club to a dreamy tropical beach. On the Sonos Roam, you know you’re listening to a different singer as the track switches from Bad Bunny’s vocals to those of former girlfriend Gabriela Berlingeri. But the little speaker doesn’t really make you feel like you’ve been transported from that rowdy almost claustrophobic club to a wide open space.

When I listen to Act 3 on the Edifiers, the soundscape spreads toward the ceiling and walls of the room and I swear I can almost feel the breeze through the palm trees. As Bad Bunny’s guided tour draws to a close, I can’t help but smile.

Next up is “Plastic off the Sofa” from Beyoncé’s “Renaissance.” And it only takes 19 seconds to hear the difference between the two speakers. In this case, it’s all about the nuance in the midrange—that wide swath of sonic territory where most music lives, including the majority of vocals.

On the Sonos Roam, you can hear the power and rich timbre of Beyoncé’s voice, but the speaker lacks the resolution to let you hear the detail.

On the Edifiers, you get more of the magic in Beyonce’s voice. Their ability to render sonic detail puts her expressive vibrato front and center. Later on, around 2:50, the Edifiers deliver realistic finger snaps that sound like flesh on flesh recorded in a nice big room, while on the Sonos they sound cold and clinical, almost like a digital click track.

Toward the end of the track, Beyoncé raises the stakes again. At 3:42, she stretches the word “bay-bee” into 14—yes, 14—scale-scaling syllables . . . and then she repeats this trick, in case you missed it the first time. On the Sonos Roam, these vocal gymnastics sound a bit blurry, as if the little speaker is struggling to keep up. On the Edifiers? She totally sticks the landing. The flurry of vocal notes is delivered so cleanly that you can literally count every single joyful, playful syllable. It’s a major goosebumps moment made possible by a stellar speaker.

That level of midrange detail is just as important in Taylor Swift’s new, remixed version of “Anti-Hero.” This cut features her producer Jack Antonoff as a special guest star (and includes just a bit of mild profanity). Listen to the outro in which Antonoff sings a line that Taylor Swift repeats throughout the track: “Always rooting for the anti-hero.”

When I play the track on the Sonos Roam, it takes concentration to distinguish between Taylor Swift’s vocals and Antonoff’s, especially when I turn up the volume. (A less-than-great speaker can really start to blur the music as things get louder.)

It’s a different story on the Edifiers, which reveal exactly what Antonoff is up to. At 3:09 he sings the line in a slightly detached way. But over the next 25 seconds or so, he ratchets up the intensity until by the end he’s delivering the line in a raspy shout that reminds me of early Peter Gabriel. With the Edifiers it’s clear that it’s the singer that’s straining a little, not the speakers.

All the nuance of both the bass and midrange tones come across in the final track in our musical tour, “Turn Back the Hands of Time” from Bruce Springsteen’s album of soul music covers, “Only the Strong Survive.” When I listen to Bruce’s take on this Tyrone Davis chestnut on the Sonos Roam, I can tap my feet to the groove, but the bottom end is kinda muddy—the thing that stands out most is a tambourine keeping 4/4 time.

Switching to Edifiers, on the other hand, highlights an intricate, syncopated bass line. The detail is so crisp I can easily imagine the bassist trying to keep his fingers working as fast as his brain. This tasty groove is simply too cool for school, and once I heard it the first time on the Edifiers, it became clear that Bruce and producer Ron Aniello had built the rest of the track around it. 

This riff is such a standout that it sent me off to do a little research. The album’s liner notes reveal that the slinky bass part is actually played by Aniello, who also played just about every instrument on every track on the album, as a kind of one-man E Street Band. (The music video, however, shows the very talented Rose Blanshei playing bass, instead.)

And when I searched YouTube for Davis’ original version of “Turn Back the Hands of Time,” that funky bass line (likely played by Tyrone himself on a unique six-string Fender VI electric bass) is front and center. Just waiting more than a half century for Team Bruce to discover it. 

Should you go out and buy a pair of Edifiers for yourself? I’ve owned a pair for years and, Iike our testers, I give them a thumbs-up for performance, value, and, well, fun. But there are other great speakers and headphones on the market—and the point is really to decide whether it’s worth seeking out a device with top-notch sound quality.

If you mostly listen to podcasts or background music, there are plenty of speakers and headphones that will do a more than satisfactory job. But if you truly love listening to music, a great pair of speakers will reward your attention by leading you on a deeper dive into your favorite songs. Sure, a better device lets you hear the kind of sonic details that audiophiles drone on about. But the truth is, these details help you understand the musical message that your favorite artist is trying to get across.

In just a few minutes of purposeful listening, I explored Bad Bunny’s immense sonic imagination. Gained a deeper respect for Beyoncé’s nuanced vocals. Appreciated the connection between Taylor Swift and her longtime producer and friend Jack Antonoff. And took a deep dive into Bruce Springsteen’s record collection.

These hidden treats aren’t found only in top-of-the-charts hits. Delve into any of your playlists and you’ll certainly uncover sonic Easter eggs that deliver both joy and meaning.

Here are some more great picks from CR’s ratings of speakers and headphones.