8 Best Bluetooth Speakers Under 500 – [ Top Picks of 2022 ]

Although wireless speakers were a rare tech a couple of years ago, they have evolved over time, and Bluetooth speakers have become a necessity for many users. Bluetooth speakers basically work without the limitation of a physical cable and rely on a Bluetooth protocol which makes them ideal in any given situation but sometimes buying a quality speaker can break your bank. To minimize those issues, here’s the list of the best Bluetooth speakers under 500 dollars.

High Quality Bluetooth Speakers Under $500 – 2022

1. Best Overall: Marshall Action II Bluetooth Speaker

Features

• Noise-canceling microphone and smart voice recognition
• LED and brass plate
• Built-in Alexa
• Sound management and far-field microphone
• 3.5mm input, 5.90 x 10.40 x 6.30 inches and weighs 6.70 lbs.
• Marshall II comes with a user manual and Action II Voice Speaker.

Enjoy your music with a smooth bass with these Marshall Action II. 

Accessing literally every song has become so easy. All it requires is to ask Alexa. The Alexa feature takes full control for you and reduces the burden on your shoulders while you’re occupied with other things. 

Its far-field voice recognition feature compliments your business phone calls. The far-field microphone helps with noise cancellation and smart voice recognition even when the mic is on.

Allow your smart home to be controlled by Alexa as well with its Action II Voice! Alexa-enabled interfaces can control devices such as thermostat, lights, Tv, locks, etc. at your smart home.

You can control music without lifting or moving your finger because of hands-free Alexa, which plays and controls the music or podcast for you with an amazing revolutionary sound. 

The audio produced by this speaker is well balanced, nothing short of large, and is very conveniently controlled and managed by your voice.

What’s even more interesting is that you can customize your sound. Use the Marshall Voice App or the analog controls located on the top panel of the speakers to fix and manage your sound according to the room.

2. Best Budget: JBL Charge 4 Portable Speaker

Features

• Waterproof speaker with a full-spectrum.
• Wireless, charges with its 27Wh Lithium-ion Polymer battery type.
• 20 KHz sound quality and weighs 2.9 pounds.
• 3.50 x 8.50 x 3.40 inches
• JBL connect enabled
• IPX7 waterproof

JBL Charge 4 speaker that is not only portable but also waterproof is a source of full entertainment. This speaker is waterproof, which means you can carry it to the beach pool party, or any other such place for full entertainment.

What’s amazing about this device is its ability to connect up to 2 devices (smartphones or tablets) wirelessly, which allows you to enjoy a powerful sound. Since the device is wireless, it needs charging, and battery charge time is 4 hours but allows you to play audio up till 20 hours with that!

This device is an amazing party rocker, helps you to blast and amplify songs in a fun gathering that too wirelessly. Extremely powerful sound and even a built-in power bank so you can charge your devices along.

 The JBL Connect+ and rugged design make this device extremely ideal as it’s quite impressive for a small portable speaker to blast such a high sound.

3. Best Portable: SONY SRS-XB12

Features

• 3 5/8″ in height
• 3″ in diameter
• 8.6 oz weight
• Wireless which makes it portable and safe for traveling
• 2.5 watts output power and extremely loud bass
• dustproof preventing any damage to the speaker

Party nonstop with its 16-hour long battery life and full range speaker.

This Sony model is a wireless, mini Bluetooth speaker that is portable and has extra loud bass. It’s an amazing device for phone calls, as it’s small, loud, and dustproof. It may be small in size, but it’s amazing for playing music because of how mighty it is in volume and delivers extremely powerful beats for the user.

One’s amazing, but apart, two of them would give everyone a time to remember. Although it’s portable because it’s small in size, it comes with a detachable strap with which you can carry, hang or clip it with your bag and USB charging cable.

4. Best Mini: JBL GO2

Features

• 3.80 x 1.45 x 4.21 inches
• Battery-powered and has Bluetooth connectivity
• Comes with IPX7 waterproof design
• Noise-cancelling speakerphone
• Package comes with a Quick Start Guide

JBL GO2 is designed to be taken anywhere and provides a very entertaining sound quality. It has features like portability and is waterproof.

Stream music via Bluetooth wirelessly for up to 5 hours enjoying continuous JBL quality audio. This device is extremely portable and is waterproof, which makes it safe for traveling anywhere. It further comes with Micro USB Cable and a Quick Start Guide

GO 2 also provides you with an efficient and crystal clear experience of the phone calls. It has noise-canceling built-in speakerphones for this feature, so you can attend conference calls while being occupied with other work. What’s amazing about GO2 is that you can plug the audio cable to enjoy the music if the Bluetooth is not available for nonstop fun!

5. Bose SoundLink Color Bluetooth Speaker II

Features

• Extremely portable, accompanied by its soft silicone exterior
• water-resistance of this speaker further allows traveling to pool sides
• 1.2 pounds, 2.20 x 5.00x 5.20 inches
• Battery-powered and has Bluetooth connectivity
• IPX4 Waterproof

Bose SoundLink is an innovative Bose technology. These mini, water-resistance speakers are packed with an amazing bold sound.

It has a wireless range for up to 30 feet, so the user can attend important phone calls at ease and clearly with the built-in mic for calls on the speaker. It’s very convenient to take it anywhere as it won’t slip out of your hand or any place. The water-resistance of this speaker further allows traveling to pool sides.

Enjoy quick pairing with NFC devices with its Bluetooth connection just with a tap, and the playtime of up to 8 hours through its Lithium-ion battery. Easily recharge these batteries with the USB power source it comes with.

SoundLink speakers allow you to have a good time everywhere you go either to listen to music or attend important conference calls. Utilize more of it by downloading the Bose Connect App to unlock more fun features and be aware of more updates!

6. Bose SoundLink Mini II

Features

• wireless range of up to 30 ft.
• Lithium-ion batteries allow you to charge the device via any USB source.
• 1.5 pounds, 2.10 x 7.10 x 2.30 inches
• Battery-powered and has Bluetooth, USB connectivity

We have a very interesting product under discussion here. It all compiles when we say that all wireless Bluetooth speakers don’t need to be created and look the same or equal.

 Bose here has combined custom-engineered driver power along with the anodized aluminum sleekness to come out with a technology that looks not only good but also sounds good.

Attend phone calls, access Siri or Google Assistant with its built-in speaker giving you loud sound. Pair it up via Bluetooth with other devices more simply because of voice prompts and connect with other audio sources with auxiliary input. Speakers come along with a charging cradle so you can easily charge it and enjoy a playtime of up to 10 hours for nonstop fun.

Don’t judge the sound of these speakers from their size, surprisingly they have a very loud sound. It’s always convenient to have a small portable product that makes it extremely easy for the user to carry around at home, work, party, or trip.

7. JBL Xtreme 2

Features

• The rugged material and durable fabric make the speaker’s exterior appear extremely attractive and provides you convenience while traveling.
• The speaker powers through a li-ion battery and has Jul.
• Connect+ and is IPX7 waterproof
• 7.90 x 12.10 x 18.10 inches and weighs 5.27 lbs

JBL Xtreme 2 is a Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker. Enjoy wireless streaming by pairing and connecting devices through Bluetooth connection. It’s portability and water resistance makes it easier to carry JBL Xtreme 2 anywhere so you can have nonstop fun with its 15 hours playtime.

Speaker has a pretty impressive sound range and nice bass, making it a suitable choice for having a good time. As this speaker’s bass is not as loud as others, it’s great if you could connect two speakers together for an even better output. 

The rechargeable Speaker works well with Bluetooth connectivity and has a 10,000mAh lithium-ion battery. Pretty decent bass and good for a fun time.

8. Ultimate Ears MegaBlast

Features

• 360 degrees intensely rich sound, and extremely pounding bass.
• Discover new music, attend calls, and much more through your own voice using the built-in  Amazon Alexa.
• MegaBlast being IP67 can literally be immersed in water for 30 minutes at 1-meter height.
• Move around freely as it has 330 ft range on wifi and a Bluetooth range of 150 ft.
• 3.50 x 3.50 x 9.40 inches and weighs 3.70 lbs

As the name says, this speaker is the most powerful and superior portable Bluetooth speaker with stunning clear audio. This is an amazing product for party lovers. 

All you have to do is use your voice and ask Alexa to play music straight from Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, and TuneIn.Take these speakers anywhere with you due to its water resistance and portability. Add more features by downloading the app to have an even better experience.

This is a great purchase if you are looking for ULTIMATE SOUND, ULTIMATE VOICE CONTROL, and the music to never stop! This speaker is extremely powerful and has a loud sound and bass capacity to it. 

The MegaBlast is compatible and requires a wifi router and a Bluetooth connection. Enjoy the loud blasts for up to 12 hours and have the time of your life.

Guidance before you Purchase any Speaker

We have already briefed the mechanisms through which Bluetooth Speakers work. Still, to sound more convincing, it is important to go in-depth and give detailed reasons as to why you should buy one.

Although you might still find these speakers to be overrated and prefer your phone to listen to music, you must be aware of the reasons as to why the Bluetooth Speakers are gaining more and more popularity over time. Go through the following factors to ensure that the product you are purchasing meets your needs and will also help you decide why you might need a speaker.

1. Portability

Think of cooking in a kitchen, practicing dance, grilling chicken at a bbq party, jamming with your friends, having guests around, and the list goes on. In these situations, you have a high chance of either the cord from the phone, any other speakers tangling or breaking apart, or even a poor quality of sound.

Do you want to face embarrassment in front of your friend? Via a Bluetooth speaker, all you have to do is to pair devices, and it is portable and can be placed anywhere in the room or moved around easily. It’s a great way through which you can share your music with loved ones and have a fun-filled party!

2. Attend phone calls

If you do business-related work or are just generally busy on a usual basis, attending phone calls is probably a major highlight of your day. Often you put your phone on speaker mode but still don’t hear the other person clearly or loud enough or just like performing other tasks when you attend your calls.

In these cases, a Bluetooth Speaker comes very handily, especially because of its built-in mic that is utilized for hands-free calling. As mentioned earlier frequently, Bluetooth speakers tend to have a better audio quality allowing you to hear the other person efficiently while you perform your tasks

3. Compatibility

This technology is compatible with a diverse range of devices, namely the iPhone, Android, and so on. These speakers now also include NFC that is near field communication that will help build links and communication between devices with just a tap. On top of everything, Bluetooth speakers are also less costly as compared to wifi speakers.

Why you should buy these speakers

The speakers listed above are made to meet all your requirements and needs. They are compatible and safe to travel with due to their portability, water-resistance, and sizes. The noise-canceling features allow you to carry on with your work while attending your important calls or control your smart house and play music of your choice with just your voice control with built-in Alexa.

Buy these speakers to be a party-rocker, amplify songs with a blasting song and carry them anywhere.

Frequently Asked Question about Bluetooth Question

Speakers have revolutionized Bluetooth or Wifi in the ways we enjoy and connect. Where there is a diverse range to choose from, it’s fairly understandable that the purchaser would have any question about the product. For this, we have listed down a couple of FAQs we assume would arise the most in the purchaser’s mind.

How do Portable Speakers with Bluetooth Connection Work?

Usually, speakers work with a cable that plugs in an audio playing source or device. A Bluetooth speaker works without such wired connection and requires a Bluetooth connection to link audio devices. For this, you enable Bluetooth on your audio device, connect the speaker with it, and enjoy your music.

How do you differentiate between Bluetooth and wifi speakers?

We have mentioned many types of speakers above on the list. Some of them are wifi, or some of them are Bluetooth based, whereas others have both of these features. Bluetooth speakers are wireless and are portable.

 Wifi speakers have to be fixed at a certain spot, and they require a wifi connection to work, whereas Bluetooth speakers work with a direct link.

Can the Bluetooth speakers with built-in Alexa be used without Alexa and just Bluetooth connection?

Yes, Bluetooth Speakers with built-in Alexa can be used with Bluetooth connection only if you turn the Alexa off.

Do these speakers work with Spotify and Amazon Music only?

No, as long as you have these speakers connected to another device, be it your mobile phone or something else, you can play music on speaker with a Bluetooth connection. These speakers are made to enjoy audio, the Bluetooth and wifi connection is there so you can pair the devices and play the audio of your choice with no worries.

Can the user play 2 speakers at a time?

You can always buy two speakers at once, hook them up, and enjoy your music. This is a great way of actually using the true power of a speaker, it’ll provide you with more bass, large sound, and audio.

Just go to your device’s settings and tap on dual audio to connect your phone or any other device with two speakers.

Is the battery time listed on these speakers for constant running or just turned on?

The battery time listed is the Lithium-ion battery life. These may vary with the settings you set your speaker on, for instance, the volume, surrounding temperature, and the conditions in which you are using the speaker. If the speaker volume time is set to maximum, the time may vary.

Can you use these speakers while charging?

There’s a side port or a separate charging station for these speakers, whether Bluetooth or Wi-Fi-link. This means that Yes, you can use the speakers while they charge and not worry. This is why they come with a charging cable.

Is there FM radio on any of these speakers?

No, there is no system to play direct FM radio on these speakers. But what you can do is download iHeartRadio on your mobile phone and connect the phone with the Bluetooth speaker to listen to FM radio through the speaker itself. This is an easy way to stream radio on your Bluetooth speakers using your phone.

Why did my speaker turn off automatically?

Some speakers tend to turn off Bluetooth connection, because of their smart power management, when the battery of the speaker is too low.

If your speaker is not pairing as well, be sure it has enough battery or juice. For wifi speakers, the reason can be the same but also be sure of the good wifi connection.