Today, Sonos officially announced their new Era line of devices with the Sonos Era 300 and Era 100 speakers.
The audio company has been taking aim at a new audience since last year’s launch of the Sonos Ray and Roam, bringing more digestible prices—and sizes—to consumers, allowing for a new generation of audiophiles to dive into Sonos. CGMagazine got the chance to talk to Principal Product Manager, Hardware at Sonos, Ryan Moore, about the new devices and who exactly they are aimed at,
“I think with the Era 100, we see that as a great both an entry point to the platform for people, as a first speaker or for people that have bought a soundbar and want to complete their home theatre setup or looking are to fill a smallish space with sound. Then on the Era 300, it’s really someone that’s looking for this great spatial audio experience or if you’re trying to fill a larger room with sound.”
That being said, the Sonos Era 300 speaker is meant to add to or begin your home theatre setup, complimenting the Sonos Arc and Sub. This means the Era 300 will continue to be sold alongside the Five. The Era 100, however, will be replacing the current Sonos One.
Moore assured me that there is still time to check out the Sonos One if you want to, “The Era 100 will replace the Sonos One and the One SL, but it’ll they’ll be available on the market for the next several months. So for people that want to complete a home theatre setup or have an existing one that they want to pair stereo, they can buy those for the next few months.”
The Sonos Era 300 speaker is definitely the showstopper here, changing the formula for Sonos’ signature sound. The new device features Dolby Atmos sound, and with two 300s paired with the Arc or Beam (Gen 2), you can create a 7.1.4 sound experience. Having experienced the Era 300 firsthand, I can attest to the depth of sound the speaker produces with its 6 amplifiers, 4 tweeters and 2 woofers. Pairing two in a home theatre setup uses spatial audio to create an immersive experience.
When asked about the ideal Sonos home theatre setup, Moore said it would include “an Arc plus one or two subs, really, depending on the size of your room, and two of the Era 300s. He went on to say that if the Era 300s are too much or too close to where you might be sitting, swapping them out for two Era 100s might be the way to go. Sonos will also be releasing floor and wall mounts for the units to help perfect your home theatre.
Sonos Era 300 Specs
- Dimensions 6.30 x 10.24 x 7.28 in
- Weight: 9.85 lbs
- 6 class-D digital amplifiers
- 4 tweeters, 1 forward-firing, 2 side-firing, and 1 upward-firing
- 2 woofers, angled left and right
- Far-field microphone array
- Adjustable EQ via the Sonos app
- Trueplay, measuring the acoustics of the room to tune itself. Now available on Android
- Wi-Fi 6 compatible
- Bluetooth 5.0
- Available in Black or White
- Priced at $449 USD
Sonos Era 100 Specs
- Dimensions: 7.18 x 4.72 x 5.14 in
- Weight: 4.44 lbs
- 3 class-D digital amplifiers
- 2 angled tweeters
- 1 mid-woofer
- Far-field microphone array
- Adjustable EQ via the Sonos app
- Trueplay, measuring the acoustics of the room to tune itself. Now available on Android
- Wi-Fi 6 compatible
- Bluetooth 5.0
- Available in Black or White
- Priced at $249 USD
Sonos’ new era includes not only these two new ways to listen, but also creating “more sustainable sound” with PCR plastic and sustainably sourced paper for packaging, designing devices to reduce power consumption, eliminating adhesives, and using recycled materials wherever possible.
What are the differences between the Sonos Era 300 and the Five?
These two units are not really comparable. The Era 300 is not meant to replace the Five, and both have their place in your audio ecosystem. The Five is best for high fidelity listening and unparalleled bass, while the Era 300 is meant for a more immersive experience with its Dolby Atmos sound, bringing spatial audio into the home. The Five can also be placed in any position, while the 300 cannot be rotated.
The Sonos Era 300 offers stereo and Dolby Atmos sound, is voice-enabled, allows for USB-C line-in (with additional parts), and has Bluetooth connectivity, which the Five does not. The Five also sits at a price point of $549 USD and the Era 300 sits at $449 USD.
What are the differences between the Sonos Era 100 and the One?
While the Era 300 is not meant to replace the Five, the new Era 100 is. It will be replacing the Sonos One speaker in stores soon. The Sonos Era 100 features two tweeters instead of the single tweeter in the One, and the One is also slightly lighter than the 100 at 4.08 pounds. The Sonos One does not currently offer Bluetooth connectivity or Wi-Fi 6 support, and Trueplay is only available on iOS. You will also find a jump in price from $219 USD for the One to $249 USD for the Era 100 speaker.
Sonos Finally Caters to the Android User—Sort of
Another major announcement is that Sonos will now be extending its Trueplay capabilities for Android users, not just iOS. Moore described a little about how that process will differ from the current Trueplay,
“So, true play before, that experience will still exist. When you’re setting up the Era 100 or the Era 300, you’ll get prompted to run Trueplay. If you have an iOS device, it’ll ask you if you want to use Quick Tune or Advanced Tunes—the one that makes you wave your phone up and down and move around the room. And then Quick Tune just plays 20 or 30 seconds of the test tones, and the speakers listen to it. If you’re an Android user, you’ll now see just the Quick Tune option that’ll play the test tones, and you’re good to go.”
So though Trueplay will be available on Android, it seems that it is not as thorough as iOS, being primarily automatic, and how it performs remains to be seen.
Although Bluetooth is an important addition to Sonos‘ non-portable speakers, Wi-Fi is still the way to go for the best sound quality: “The advantage of Wi-Fi is that you get the highest quality stream from Apple, Amazon, or whatever music service you’re using. The caveat with Bluetooth is that you can’t stream Atmos music content over Bluetooth,” Moore noted.
Moore also confirmed that the jump to Wi-Fi 6 does not mean they have forgotten about the upcoming Wi-Fi 7, “You can think of these as upgradeable,” implying that software updates in the future will enable Wi-Fi 7 as well as Bluetooth 5.2.
Sonos remains dedicated to bringing quality audio to its audience. Now was the right time to dive into Dolby Atmos, arguably the future of sound, and adding features like Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi 6 just makes sense.
The devices will be available starting March 28, 2023. Pre-order the Sonos Era 100 here and the Sonos Era 300 here today!
