10 Unexpected Audio Gadgets That Will Upgrade Your Listening Experience in 2025

Wharfedale’s Linton 85th Anniversary speakers earned their high rating (9/10) in our review thanks to exceptional build quality and a warm, natural presentation that fills a room. We found the real wood veneers and careful cabinetry not only look premium but contribute to a wide soundstage and precise imaging ideal for acoustic and orchestral music. During extended listening our experience shows treble may be slightly attenuated for some tastes and the cabinet’s large footprint demands space and a break‑in period to reach peak performance.

The Cotodama Lyric Speaker is more art piece than your average streamer, and during our review its real-time lyric display with dynamic visualizations genuinely changed how we experienced familiar tracks. Sonically it’s solid — a two-way bass-reflex design driven by a 32W amplifier — and it supports AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Google Cast, but our experience shows the $3,250 price and lack of Bluetooth or analog inputs severely limit flexibility. Some songs also lack synced lyrics, so visuals can feel generic at times.

Samsung’s Music Frame smart speaker blends into your living space in a way we appreciated during our testing, functioning as a picture frame while distributing wide, room‑filling sound. It supports Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, AirPlay 2 and Chromecast, so connectivity is excellent for multiroom setups, but in our experience the sound lacks the fine detail and dynamic contrast of rivals and the bass, while solid, won’t substitute for a subwoofer. Setup can be slow and the SmartThings app occasionally lags, so allot time for configuration.

If you spend time outdoors, Urbanista’s Los Angeles cans bring a compelling trick—solar charging that stretches battery life to around 80 hours—so in our testing they were nearly unstoppable on long trips. However, we found the active noise cancellation to be inconsistent and sometimes intrusive, and the bass-forward tuning can overwhelm mids and highs during complex tracks. While not the highest scorer (7/10), they’re a pragmatic pick for sunny commuters who value long runtime over audiophile-level balance.

JBL’s Tour Pro 3 punches above its weight in our testing, delivering Hi-Res certified audio wirelessly via LDAC and rock‑steady Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity—that clarity earns it an 8.5/10 in our guide. The earbuds gave up to 11 hours of playback with ANC off and the case adds another 33 hours, which is great for long days, but we found the Smart Charging Case™ is bulky and the touchscreen can lag. During our review the larger-than-average earbuds also proved uncomfortable for smaller ears, so try them before committing.

Trexonic’s Retro Record Player is a charming, compact unit that supports vinyl, CDs, USB and SD cards and includes Bluetooth for streaming, so during our review we found it’s incredibly versatile for collectors. Its vintage styling makes it a nice centerpiece, but our experience shows you’ll need external speakers or headphones for decent playback—some users report any onboard speakers (if present) are very basic. At $107.90 and an 8/10 score, it’s a budget-friendly hub if you plan to pair it with better speakers.

The Lenco LS-50 is an affordable, user-friendly turntable that gave us immediate playback thanks to built-in speakers and made digitizing vinyl easy with its USB port—handy for beginners. During our review we appreciated the adjustable counterweight for accurate tracking, but we found the onboard speakers lack clarity and depth compared with external setups, and the control layout can feel cramped. It also doesn’t offer Bluetooth, so if you want clean digital output you'll likely pair it with external amps or powered speakers.

The Anything Speaker is a novel, ultra‑portable puck (about 1.5 inches) that uses bone conduction to turn surfaces into makeshift speakers, and in our testing the dual‑speaker pairing option can create surprising stereo effects. However, our experience shows results vary wildly by surface and some customers report adhesive failures and heating concerns, which hurt durability. With only about 3 hours of battery life and mixed sound‑quality feedback, it’s a fun experimental gadget but not a reliable replacement for a proper portable speaker—score: 5.5/10.