Sound is a vital part of our technology experience and these days, there is no excuse for not having great sound wherever you are. In this month’s PCMag Readers’ Choice Awards survey, we asked you about four key devices for delivering audio to your ears: your PC speakers; speaker docks for your smartphones, music players and tablets; wireless speakers for untethered listening over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi; and headphones, earbuds, and more for listening in your own private space, no matter where you are.

Most smartphones and desktop PCs ship with headphones and speakers, respectively, yet the vast majority of our respondents had upgraded from the manufacturers’ standard equipment. In fact, 86 percent of PC users reported using speakers that they bought separately. Eighty-two percent of respondents to the headphones portion of the survey rated headphones they purchased separately as well.

There are dozens of brands to choose from in all of these categories, but only in the headphone section have a substantial number been able to get any traction among PCMag readers. Whereas 11 headphone companies received enough responses to be included in our analysis, less than five manufacturers qualified in the speaker categories. Only one company, Bose(Opens in a new window), made its presence felt in all four categories and as you’ll see, it’s a player to be reckoned with in each one.

Respondents were asked to rate several aspects of satisfaction with their devices. First, they were asked to rate their overall satisfaction. From there, they were asked about the device’s reliability. One of the most important questions for our analysis is the likelihood to recommend the brand of product that the respondent uses. In addition, respondents were asked drill-down questions such as satisfaction with using the device for gaming, listening to music and podcasts, and chatting. All questions were asked on a scale from 0, which represents extremely dissatisfied, to 10 for extremely satisfied.

Should you upgrade your audio equipment? Based on the responses to our survey, it’s clear that choosing the right brand can lead to a very satisfying experience. Let PCMag readers’ feedback help you make the sound decision.

The PCMag Readers’ Choice survey for Speakers & Headphones was in the field from June 4, 2014 through June 30, 2014. For more information on how the survey is conducted, read the survey methodology.

Each person who completed the survey was entered into a drawing to win a 16GB Apple iPad mini with Retina Display valued at $399.

You can win, too! Want to participate in future survey sweepstakes? Click here and sign up for the Readers’ Choice survey email list to receive invitations.

PC Speakers

PC Speakers

You don’t have to spend a lot of money these days to get a desktop or laptop that can display your videos and games in beautiful, high-definition quality. Your PC speakers should provide as rich of an experience. Upgrading your speakers can get you there. According to PCMag readers, the best upgrade you can make is to add a set of Bose speakers to your system. Bose dominated our PC speaker category and wins the PCMag Readers’ Choice Award.

Readers’ Choice 2014 PC Speakers-Overall ■ Red—Readers’ Choice Winner. ■ Blue—Honorable Mention.

Bose earned the highest ratings on every one of our satisfaction questions. The company received an overall satisfaction score of 9.0 and a likelihood to recommend rating of 9.1. Several other ratings were at 9.0 or above, including overall reliability, which was a very impressive 9.3, and satisfaction with listening to music (9.0), listening to podcasts (9.0) and listening to the audio in videos (9.1). Bose’s lowest rating was for satisfaction with gaming, but at 8.5, it was still substantially higher than its closest competitor on that measure, Logitech (7.9). The only chink in Bose’s armor was the 4 percent of units that needed repairs in the last 12 months. No other competitor rated had more than 2 percent needing repairs.

Bose makes a variety of PC speakers from the $100 Companion 2 Series III to the $400 Companion 5. But Bose isn’t the only game in town. Harman Kardon(Opens in a new window), which makes the otherworldly SoundSticks III, a PCMag Editors’ Choice, among other speakers, also received very good ratings from our readers and earns an honorable mention. The company improved over its 2013 ratings in several key areas. Overall satisfaction improved from 8.3 to 8.7, while satisfaction with reliability went from 8.8 to 9.0. Satisfaction with listening to music also went up from 8.3 to 8.7. Surprisingly, though, despite higher satisfaction, Harman Kardon’s likelihood to recommend rating remained unchanged at 8.4.

Altec Lansing(Opens in a new window) also improved in many areas this year. Overall satisfaction improved from 8.0 in 2013 to 8.2, overall reliability went from 8.0 to 8.3, and satisfaction with reliability went up slightly from 8.6 to 8.7. Respondents didn’t rate Altec Lansing favorably for gaming—the company only received a 7.5 on this measure. Also, like Harman Kardon, despite the improvement in overall satisfaction, Altec Lansing’s likelihood to recommend rating was unchanged at 8.2.

Logitech(Opens in a new window) received the lowest overall satisfaction rating from our readers: 8.2, the same as last year. Logitech didn’t excel on any measure, yet the company must have a certain je ne sais quoi with its customers since it is as likely to recommend Logitech (8.4) as Harman Kardon. In fact, Logitech’s Net Promoter Score, which looks at the difference between the percent of customers that rate the company a 9 or 10 and those who rate it 0 through 6, was actually much higher than Harman Kardon and Altec Lansing (47 percent compared to 37 percent and 36 percent, respectively).

See all of our survey results for Speakers.

WINNERS: PC SPEAKERS

Readers’ Choice 2010 Award

Bose
Bose may not be as well known for its computer speakers as it is for its other products, but our readers loved what they deliver for the PC, giving the company the highest satisfaction ratings on every measure.

Readers’ Choice 2010 Honorable Mention

Harmon Kardon
Harman Kardon speakers match very good sound with innovative design. Satisfaction with the company’s speakers improved nicely this year, separating it from the pack.

Wireless Speakers

Wireless Speakers

Bose knows wireless speakers. The company makes an extensive line of speakers that let you enjoy music untethered, including versions of its popular SoundDock and Wave radio. Bose gets to add another trophy to its mantle, winning the PCMag Readers’ Choice Award for wireless speakers as it did in 2013, the first year that we surveyed this category.

Bose posted several scores of 9.0 or better on our 0 to 10 scale. Neither of the competitors that garnered enough responses to be included in our analysis, Jawbone and Logitech, had a single rating above 8.6.

Readers’ Choice 2014 WirelessSpeakers-Overall ■ Red—Readers’ Choice Winner.

Bose earns a 9.0 for overall satisfaction this year, up slightly from the 8.9 it got last year. Satisfaction with reliability also improved from 9.1 to 9.2, while likelihood to recommend stayed at 9.1. Bose also received a 9.2 for satisfaction with the speaker for listening to music and a 9.0 for listening to the audio in videos.

Jawbone(Opens in a new window), which used to be known primarily for its Bluetooth headsets, has used its knowledge of Bluetooth and audio to make a name for itself in portable wireless speakers. However, readers weren’t as happy with their various flavors of Jawbone Jambox as they were last year when the company earned an honorable mention in our survey. Overall satisfaction dropped from 8.6 to 8.3, while satisfaction with reliability went from 9.1 to 8.6. Respondents are less likely to recommend Jawbone for wireless speakers than they were in 2013, too. Their score on this measure dropped from 8.7 to 8.3.

PCMag reviewers have liked Logitech wireless speakers, some of which have earned our Editors’ Choice in the past, but the company didn’t fare as well with our readers in 2013’s inaugural survey. Logitech still trails Bose and Jambox this year, but it saw healthy improvement in its satisfaction scores, improving from 7.7 to 8.0 in overall satisfaction, and going from 8.2 to 8.6 for reliability, and even receiving a minor bump in likelihood to recommend from 8.1 to 8.2. Unlike its competitors, Logitech earned higher ratings from the users of its speakers in satisfaction with listening to podcasts (8.5) and listening to audio in videos (8.4) than it received for listening to music (8.3).

See all of our survey results for Speakers.

WINNERS: WIRELESS SPEAKERS

Readers’ Choice 2010 Award

Bose
Bose does it again, earning a Readers’ Choice for the second time in a row for its diverse line of wireless speakers, receiving satisfaction scores from our readers that none of its competitors could touch.

Speaker Docks

Speaker Docks

Speaker docks, those all-in-one speakers in which you could place your audio player or smartphone to play your music, may not be as popular as they once were—wireless speakers have made it far too easy to untether devices. But a speaker dock with a directly connected device will typically produce better sound than an equivalent wireless device and they can often charge your device while it sits in the player.

Readers’ Choice 2014-SpeakerDocks-Overall ■ Red—Readers’ Choice Winner.

As in our other speaker categories, Bose dominates the speaker dock category and earns our PCMag Readers’ Choice Award, repeating its achievement from last year. This is the only category in which Bose earned less than a 9.0 in overall satisfaction from our survey respondents. Still, the company’s overall satisfaction of 8.9 is none too shabby and identical to its 2013 score. Not all of Bose’s scores were stagnant, however. Satisfaction with reliability improved from 9.1 to 9.3 and likelihood to recommend went from 9.1 to 9.2. Most impressively, Bose received a rating of 9.5 for satisfaction with listening to music, the highest rating on this measure in any of our speaker categories.

The two competitors that received enough responses to be considered in our survey analysis, Sony and iHome, both dropped slightly in overall satisfaction from last year. Sony went from an 8.3 to 8.2 while iHome’s score is down to 7.5 from a 7.6 in 2013. Sony did receive an impressive rating of 8.8 for satisfaction with listening to music, the highest rating on this measure for a company other than Bose in any of the speaker categories surveyed. Logitech received an 8.0 on this measure, the only rating that it had above 7.9.

See all of our survey results for Speakers.

WINNERS: SPEAKER DOCKS

Readers’ Choice 2010 Award

Bose
According to our readers, no speakers provide as satisfying an experience for listening to music as Bose speaker docks, earning the company a Readers’ Choice for the second year in a row.

Headphones

Headphones

B is for headphones. One B, Beats Electronics, was all over the news recently for being purchased by Apple for a cool $3 billion (with a B). Beats headphones may be as cool as that purchase price, but the B that impresses our readers most is Bose, which once again wins our PCMag Readers’ Choice Award for headphones, making it a clean sweep for the company across all of the audio categories in this month’s survey.

Bose earned its most impressive satisfaction ratings in the headphone category with ratings of 9.0 or higher on eight measures in our survey, including overall satisfaction (9.3), satisfaction with reliability (9.4) and likelihood to recommend (9.4). Satisfaction with listening to music rated 9.6 while satisfaction with the headphones’ noise-canceling features got a 9.4. Even more impressive, Bose had the highest rating on every question in the survey. Only one of those rating, satisfaction with audio for gaming, was a tie—8.5 with Beats. Wow.

Readers’ Choice 2014 Headphones-Overall ■ Red—Readers’ Choice Winner. ■ Blue—Honorable Mention.

However, Bose isn’t the only company that knows how to make a great pair of headphones, according to our readers. Klipsch(Opens in a new window), which has been in the audio business since 1946, even longer than Bose, also earns a PCMag Readers’ Choice Award for its headphones. Klipsch may not be as well known as Bose, but the company received a rating above 9.0 on every question that had sufficient responses. Overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend were both 9.1 while satisfaction with listening to music was a 9.3. The overall satisfaction and music ratings are both improvements over last year’s scores while the recommendation rating remains unchanged.

The German company Sennheiser(Opens in a new window) has been around a year longer than Klipsch, having been founded in 1945 shortly after the end of World War II. Sennheiser’s ratings were nearly identical to those it earned in our 2013 survey and in general they’re quite good, earning the company an honorable mention. Sennheiser’s ratings for overall satisfaction (8.8), satisfaction with reliability (9.0), likelihood to recommend (9.0) and satisfaction with listening to music (9.2) are all the same as last year.

Among the rest of the headphone companies, all of the aftermarket brands received overall satisfaction ratings over 8.0, led by Beats and Koss at 8.7 each. The two companies also had ratings of 9.0 or higher for satisfaction with listening to music (Beats—9.2; Koss—9.0) and listening to audio in videos (Beats—9.0; Koss—9.1).

Shortly after Apple’s Beats acquisition, Beats co-founder, Jimmy Iovine, was quoted as saying that Apple made the EarPods included with Apple iPhones and iPods “just to see if the device works.” Perhaps he’s right. A number of respondents are still using the headphones that came with their Apple and Samsung smartphones and music players, but they’re not nearly as happy with them as are users who have upgraded. Apple’s overall satisfaction rating was only 7.7 while Samsung was even worse at 7.6. Apple managed to break 8.0 for satisfaction with listening to music, earning an 8.1, but that was well behind all of the aftermarket companies, the worst of which still received an 8.6 on this measure. Samsung rated even worse for listening to music at 7.9.

Clearly, if you care about your music, upgrade.

See all of our survey results for Headphones.

WINNERS: HEADPHONES

Readers’ Choice 2010 Award

Bose
Our readers have spoken. When it comes to satisfying headphone customers, Bose sets the standard.

Readers’ Choice 2010 Award

Klipsch
Klipsch is on the move, improving on last year’s ratings and giving Bose a run for your money.

Readers’ Choice 2010 Honorable Mention

Sennheiser
Survey respondents were very happy with Sennheiser’s headphones, rating the company 9.0 or better on several measures.