10 best karaoke machines to unleash your inner pop star

If ever there was a convincing case of “good things come in small packages”, it’s this device. Coming in at just 18cm x 17cm x 16cm, this high-spec karaoke machine packs all the features you could possibly want into its neat dimensions. In fact, after weeks of testing, we are genuinely struggling to pick a fault with it.

Ready to use straight out of the box – you just have to sync it with Bluetooth – it was an instant hit with both little and grown-up testers. One standout feature is the amazing LED light show, which covers the front of the machine while you’re singing. Colourful lights dance away in time to the music, and there are lots of different patterns to switch between, giving cool disco vibes even if the kids are just singing Matilda the Musical songs on repeat.

The sound quality is really impressive – although, if the kids are in charge, watch out for the maximum volume on the microphones, as it can get a bit ear-piercing at times. It comes with two wireless (and rechargeable) microphones, but what really won us over was the built-in mic docks at the top of the machine. This – along with the carry handle – turns the nano into an easily portable unit, perfect for moving around the house or taking to a friend’s place for a group singalong.

The karaoke machine ticks all of our boxes, providing crystal clear audio and a solid build, alongside features such as the flashy light show and funny voice effects, at a great price. Family kitchen discos have just had an upgrade.

The L.O.L. Surprise! obsession is real and our four-year-old tester couldn’t wait to get her hands on this diva karaoke microphone. As the name suggests, it’s a wireless microphone rather than a full karaoke unit but, for kids, it pays to keep things simple, and our young tester loved being able to operate this all on her own.

The unit has controls for volume, music, echo, bass and treble, as well as a power button to turn it on and off. We just had to sync with Bluetooth and then any song we chose was played through the speakers built into the sides of the mic, while our tester sang along. For such a simple setup, we were all really pleased with the level of sound quality and clarity – for less than £20, it’s great value.

The microphone is heavier than a standard wireless mic because the speaker is built-in, but our four-year-old didn’t struggle, and happily danced around blasting out the Sing 2 soundtrack on repeat. The mic is rechargeable via USB (the cable is included) and the battery is said to last for up to five hours – so far, the microphone is still going strong on one single charge, so we have no complaints there. Straightforward to operate, easily portable and coming in at a great price, we think this is a fantastic budget option.

Now, we know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but the moment we laid eyes on this cool-looking karaoke machine we were won over. With a built-in rotating disco light at the top and an amazing colour change LED front panel that dances in time to the music, it does a very good job of transforming your living room into a party central space.

Setup is super-quick – you just need to connect your phone or tablet via Bluetooth, then load up your tunes using YouTube (which is a goldmine for finding amazing karaoke versions of your favourite songs). If you prefer linking to your laptop, you can hook it up via audio inputs on the back of the unit.

Our younger testers both loved the wireless microphone (you can choose a set of two for an additional £30), which gave them the freedom to dance around the room while performing their favourites. Even George Ezra would have been impressed with our seven-year-old’s enthusiastic rendition of “Shotgun”, that’s for sure.

With a rechargeable battery and a leather carry handle to move from room to room, it’s definitely a karaoke machine made to last. Offering endless music choices via the Bluetooth connection, simple setup and excellent sound quality that almost made us sound like semi-decent singers, we think this is a great buy to suit the whole family.

If you’re looking for a high-spec, excellent-quality all-rounder, the Lenco PA-100BK is a great choice. While not marketed specifically as a karaoke machine, this party speaker is an amazing addition to any karaoke-loving household, school or club. What’s instantly noticeable about the Lenco is the sound quality. It’s honestly top-notch, with both music and vocals – via the wireless microphone included – proving to be crisp and clear.

We easily synced with Bluetooth to stream some karaoke songs through our phone, and we thought the fact the built-in carry handle doubled up as a phone/tablet holder was a really clever touch for reading the lyrics hands-free. If live music is more your thing, you can even plug a guitar into the speaker for some collaborative karaoke.

As far as kid appeal goes, the LED lighting at the front of the speaker definitely got the thumbs up, but the Lenco really feels like it’s wasted on the children (no offence, kids). This is such an impressive, quality unit, it can more than hold its own with larger groups – we think it’s a great buy for a school or club that’s after a karaoke machine and speaker that can offer the kind of sound quality and longevity of use to make this really decent value for money.

Despite its diminutive size – you can fit it in one hand – this diddy karaoke machine does everything you’d expect and more. Perfect for those who are short on space, the Wowstar can easily be kept in a child’s bedroom or stored away on a shelf without taking up much room. The rechargeable unit may be small, but it’s pretty fancy, with colourful LED lights on the front display and an impressive audio quality – so much so, that our seven-year-old tester kept this in his room and used it as a Bluetooth speaker in between karaoke sessions.

The Wowstar comes with two wireless and rechargeable microphones, which feel perfectly designed for children, thanks to their small size. While the sound quality of the mics wasn’t as crystal clear as some pricier models we tested, it was still powerful. One of the features our little testers adored was the voice effects on the microphones, with the “baby voice” option resulting in regular hysterics. Moving between the voice effects and sound modes does take a little getting used to, with some requiring short clicks and others a quick double click but, once you’re familiar with how the mic works, it shouldn’t cause any issues.

Incredibly lightweight and with its own carry handle, this is such a good karaoke machine for the kids to take to sleepovers or over to the grandparents, to show off their singing. We think it’s an excellent Christmas present, although, our only complaint would be it’s a little overpriced. Somewhere under £50 feels a bit more suitable.

While the double microphone set is currently out of stock, the same model with the one microphone is available at Amazon. (£19.99, Amazon.co.uk)

If you’re looking for a karaoke machine that’s simple enough for children to operate but still has plenty of appeal for grown-ups, you can’t go wrong with the RockJam. Coming in at less than £50, it’s a decent budget option, with the star of the show being the very cool LED disco light ring around the front speaker. The colour-changing lights definitely got full approval from all our testers.

It’s easy to sync with Bluetooth, or there’s the option of connecting to your smartphone/tablet with the cable included. There’s even space for you to insert a USB, to sing along to any songs you’ve pre-loaded. While the sound quality is good, it’s not the crispest in our round-up – but, for the price, we think it did a good job of showing off our power ballad vocals.

What really surprised us was how lightweight the RockJam is – our four-year-old tester carried this around the house with ease, using the in-built plastic carry handle. While the microphones are a good size and weight, and have the added bonus of voice-changing effects (the “chipmunk” effect was, unsurprisingly, a massive hit with the kids), they are wired, so you don’t have quite the same freedom to dance around the living room with these.

The built-in phone holder was a nice touch, though, meaning we could prop up our smartphone to read the lyrics as we sang along to YouTube karaoke classics. Just be aware if you have your phone in landscape, the mic wires will block the screen a little, so best to stick with portrait mode.

While it may not be as all-singing and all-dancing as some of the other karaoke machines in our round-up – reflected by the price – we think it’s a brilliant, affordable option for family parties.

We love a multi-tasker, and the starbar from Mr Entertainer is definitely the hardest-working device in our round-up. A soundbar, Bluetooth speaker and karaoke machine in one, it’s certainly very different to the other options we tested.

There are various options when it comes to connecting it with your TV – take your pick from HDMI ARC, Coaxial or Optical (just note that only the Optical cable is included in the pack). We opted for a Bluetooth wireless connection to our TV, which was really easy to set up, once we’d had a quick flick through the instructions. The starbar can be wall-mountable but you can also place it on the floor or TV cabinet. While the unit itself is sleek and unobtrusive, there’s also a bright blue neon light along the bottom, which you can switch on or off easily, using the remote included.

The beauty of this machine is it comes with two, excellent quality wireless microphones, so all you have to do is get your favourite karaoke tunes up on YouTube to turn your living room into your own Pyramid Stage. Mr Entertainer even has its own YouTube channel with a massive choice of karaoke songs, which we highly recommend.

Sound quality is really exceptional here, whether used as a standalone soundbar for your TV or for your karaoke sessions. We loved how it negates the need for any further setup, so, when the karaoke mood strikes, you’re good to go. Once in place, it isn’t the kind of karaoke machine you’ll want to move around, but if you’re happy with your house being karaoke HQ, you’re sorted.

Once we’d completed the initial setup, it was so easy for our young testers to use the starbar for their karaoke parties. The novelty of having what’s essentially a built-in karaoke machine has still not worn off for them. It’s not cheap but we think it’s more than worth the money.

Karaoke fans may already be familiar with Lucky Voice’s amazing private room karaoke bars throughout London and Brighton, but now you can get the experience in the comfort of your own home, with this rather swanky karaoke kit.

We were instantly won over by the rose-gold microphone, which felt pleasingly weighty and gave off some serious “professional singer” vibes – although, you’ll have to pay extra for an additional microphone, starting at £24.99. But, digging further into the box, we were a bit worried about the number of different wires inside. Thankfully, the instructions were very clear, and it took just minutes to set up everything.

To use the kit at home, you’ll need a computer (PC, Mac or laptop) or iPad, and some amplified speakers (either through your TV or hi-fi, an iPod speaker dock or external computer speakers). We found it really straightforward to use with our Mac and TV speakers and set up everything before the kids got restless.

To access all the songs, you need to sign up as a member (costing £6.99 a month) but you’ll receive a code for a free month’s trial with your kit. The song catalogue is huge, and we loved how you can search through categories, such as “kids” or “duets”, to find the type of song you’re after. There’s everything here from the belt-it-out “Shallow”(sadly a star was not born with our rendition) to the crowd-pleasing “Jolene”, but for our little testers it was the inclusion of the Peppa Pig classic “The Bing Bong Song” that set off mass hysteria. We can confidently say there’s something for everyone here.

We had a queue of little testers lining up to give this fun VTech number a try. Essentially a karaoke machine and DJ mixer in one, it’s super quick and easy to set up and manages to pack in a huge amount of features – so much so, that we’re still discovering more, weeks into testing.

The stand was a huge selling point for our testers, who loved taking turns to unleash their inner pop star. We loved how the stand is height adjustable, simply by removing sections, which meant we could make it the perfect height for our seven-year-old tester as well as our four-year-old. It also, thankfully, has a small footprint, so can fit neatly into the corner of the room when you’re not using it. It’s battery-powered, but the four batteries are included, so you can get started straight away.

Another thing our testers loved was the impressive colour-changing disco lights, which really lit up the room as they flashed in time with the music. The machine comes with a selection of pre-loaded songs – these are all VTech originals, but our testers spent so much time playing with the machine that they now know all the words (as do we). It doesn’t have a Bluetooth connection, but if you want to sing along to your own songs, you can plug in a battery-powered music player, using the audio cable supplied.

The unit has different songs for your kids to DJ along to, adding their own scratch sound effects or different beats, and there’s a record function to listen to their own creations, too. While our older tester liked to experiment with this, it was the voice effects – you can change your voice from a squeaky mouse to a robot at the touch of a button – that got used the most.

Not all karaoke machines are made equal, and this epic offering from the karaoke pros at Mr Entertainer is something else. With a fancy touchscreen, two wireless microphones and a built-in speaker, you have everything you need to put on one heck of a karaoke night, with zero effort.

Although it’s relatively compact – measuring 35cm x 26cm x 32cm – it’s quite heavy (thanks to its wooden cabinet exterior, which helps with acoustics), and we were initially concerned setup would be complicated with a piece of kit this high-spec. In reality, it was as straightforward as putting batteries in the mics, connecting the machine to our wifi and familiarising ourselves with the touch-screen. The digibox also comes with a power adapter to charge the unit but, once fully charged, battery life runs for about two hours.

There are a whopping 80 kid-friendly songs pre-loaded, so our little testers were able to try these out straight away, but this karaoke machine really feels more suited to adults – or at least requires adult supervision, as it’s far from a toy.

We loved searching through the pre-installed apps, such as Spotify and YouTube and were genuinely impressed with the sound quality. If you’re really into karaoke, and your budget allows it, this is a fantastic buy.