Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 – A redesigned Sonos One and an all-new spatial audio wireless speaker
Sonos just announced two brand new wireless speakers, Era 100 and Era 300 sitting at $249 and $449 respectively.
The Era 100 and Era 300 are the latest wireless home speakers from Sonos, coming March 28. There are many similarities between the two new speakers. Keep scrolling for the differences between the two.
Connectivity is the same between the Era 100 and Era 300. Both speakers come with WiFi, AirPlay 2, and Bluetooth – a first for a Sonos home speaker. These speakers also come with USB-C for a wired connection to devices like turntables via a $19 Sonos Line-In Adapter.
While the speaker array is different between the two, input is the same, via a far-field microphone array, which uses advanced beamforming and multichannel echo cancellation for voice control and Trueplay technology.
As with all Sonos speakers, set up is quick and easy with the Sonos app. Here you can also adjust the EQ, control music playback, and link your streaming services such as Sonos Radio, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Pandora and TIDAL. Trueplay comes to iPhone and Android, which analyses the acoustics of your space and optimises the EQ.
Playback controls on both comes from touch control on the top of the device or voice controls. A tap or swipe can play, skip, adjust the volume, mute the voice assistant, and group or ungroup Sonos speakers. Voice controls come from Sonos and Amazon. “Hey Sonos” can be used for playback controls, while “Alexa” can additionally be used to control smart home devices, manage your calendar, etc. Unfortunately, these speakers don’t support Google Assistant, so that may be a deal-breaker for those deep in Google’s ecosystem. Tap the speech bubble on top of the speaker to deactivate the voice assistants, while keeping other mic-enabled features like Trueplay still available. Disconnect all power to the microphone hardware with the switch on the back.
Both speakers come in black and white varients. Custom wall mounts and stands for both can be found here.
In an age of constant background noise, quality listening matters more than ever. Our vision is to make listening an experience that is charged with feeling, and help our customers feel joy and vitality through their favourite music and audio content. The Era family is the next generation of smart speakers, epitomising our commitment to sound innovation, responsible design and a deep connection to the creator community.
Patrick Spence, CEO, Sonos
Sonos Era 100
The marjority of the differences between the Era 100 and Era 300 are the internal speaker array, external design and price.
The Era 100 is Sonos’ new compact speaker, launching as a remaster of their hugely popular Sonos One. It’s small, rounded design is ideal for small spaces like a bookshelf, kitchen counter, desk or nightstand. Internally are dual angled tweeters, a woofer and a custom waveguide.
The Sonos Era 100 is $249 for one and $468 for a pair. This places it just above the Sonos One, which is sticking around on Sonos’ line up for a little while longer at $199 for the One SL and $219 for the One. Preorder below!
Sonos Era 300
The Era 300 is Sonos’ larger home speaker, complete with a new hourglass design and spatial audio. Dolby Atmos is available on Amazon Music and Apple Music, the first time Apple have worked with a third-party speaker manufacturer for support.
On the inside you’ll find six drivers around the front, sides and top. This includes tweeters on either side, a centre tweeter, upward-firing tweeter, two woofers and custom waveguides. Use two Era 300s as rear speakers with an Arc or Beam (Gen 2) soundbar for a true spatial audio home theater setup, with Dolby Atmos.
The Sonos Era 300 is $449 for one and $853 for a pair. This places it below Sonos’ top-end Sonos Five at $549. This leads us to believe a Sonos Era 500 will likely be coming in time. Preorder below!
