While waterproof and water-resistant aren't synonymous, they roughly translate to 'water won't ruin it'.
When hunting for the best waterproof speaker for the great outdoors, look for its IP rating. This is how water resistance gadgets are categorized. You'll see that IP mark, followed by two numbers – IP67 is one of the most common, and means the speaker can be submerged in water for up to 30 minutes. This is the one you want and means it's a great option for waterproofing and one of the best outdoor speakers your money can buy.
Waterproof is the better of the two, as it usually carries an IP67 rating that means it can withstand to float in around a meter of water for a half-hour before it bites the dust.
Water-resistant, on the other hand, means it could survive a splash or two, but it's not the kind of thing you'd just want to casually throw in the pool.
Of course waterproofing isn't the only thing we looked for when picking out this list of the best outdoor speakers. We also considered factors such as sound quality, price and feature set, all of which helped establish a set of criteria that we could measure all speakers against. What you see above is the result of that effort – our definitive list of the best waterproof speakers.