Question about wifi-speaker for laptop setup
So I'm moving from a PC setup at my desk towards just a laptop that I can use around my 1 room apartment. I'm not sure what I should do for my audio setup though. I looked into wifi-speakers, from what I read they are the home setup alternative to bluetooth speakers, whose purpose is more particularly for mobile use. Wifi speakers also have the advantage of usually coming with a power cord, instead of a battery. My use case for the speakers would be to listen to music and to have decent sound when watching videos. I have some questions though.
- Would such speakers work with Ubuntu, which is what I run on my laptop. Do I need any speakers in particular, or would all be compatible?
- What advice could you give me on what speakers to buy. A lot of what I see has built in 'smart home' bullshit which I want nothing to do with. I would just want plain and simple speakers, that I could connect to through wifi.
- Is this even the smart thing to choose, or should I go for something like a docking station instead and just link up regular speakers to the docking station? That would feel a bit weird, considering that I would probably only hook up the speakers through the docking station and nothing else. I don't want a second monitor or anything like that, and I'm fine with internet through wifi. Also with a docking station I wouldn't be able to use the laptop around the room, or atleast not with sound.
Any advice is welcome. Please consider that I am not tech savvy in the slightest.
You could start cheap and see if it covers your needs.
An Anker Soundcore 2 has decent sound quality to fill a small room.
The 2 has a 3.5mm jack that you can permanently connect (with USB adapter if required).
Can be paired with a second unit for stereo sound.
Portable in a laptop bag, and 15-20hr playtime per charge.
You'll be just fine with any modern Bluetooth speakers, anything after Bluetooth 5 has high quality audio codecs. And 10+ meter range. Look for one with multi point audio so you can connect your laptop and phone at the same time.
I've got a pair of Eris 4.5bt studio monitors next to my PC and they would do you very well in a small space. Incredible sound quality. With both wired and Bluetooth options, you can add a sub later if you feel you need it... Eris Media Reference Monitor Pairs – PreSonus https://www.presonus.com/collections/eris-media-reference-pairs?page=1
Bud you are really over thinking it.
Just use blue tooth speakers and keep them plugged in.
You'd probably be interested in active speakers that could connect to your laptop by 3.5mm or USB to optical, as well as supporting BT to your phone
Do you have a budget, and just to be clear would you only be needing to hear at your desk?
Edit: for an office, something like the Edifier R1380DB looks decent. Can pick them up for under £150 here. Connect to laptop through USB to optical or 3.5mm to line in. Supports BT 5.1
I am not sure about your budget, but when I had a similar dilemma a few weeks ago, I decided to spend a bit more and eventually came up with a Denon Wi-Fi speaker. It has Bluetooth, several streaming plugins, Internet radio and even a physical audio port.
I mostly use Spotify and bluetooth for my own music collection. Spotify connect works well from within the web client. Also, the sound quality is excellent.
The price was decent, about €270.
Bluetooth speakers might be a pain because you might have to manually connect them every time you wake your laptop from suspend.
Really iiv never had to do that with any speaker iv ever owned. They always just reconnect when the lab becomes avaiable