Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 evaluation: The upcoming technology of wonderful, trusted multi-place seem
Sonos has two new speakers heading on sale Tuesday, March 28, and they are the two substantial new products that occupy a few of crucial spots in the total Sonos line-up: The Era 100 is primarily the replacement for the Sonos One, arguably the ‘default’ starter speaker for any one seeking to develop out a Sonos process.
The Period 300, its bigger sibling, is the first Sonos speaker to guidance spatial audio, and occupies a position somewhere in between the now-defunct Enjoy:3 and the Sonos Five. We took both equally for a check generate, and uncovered a great deal of factors to get psyched about Sonos’ Period period.
The basic principles
The Sonos Era 100 in essence drops in as a alternative for the Sonos One particular in the existing product or service lineup, and it is got a layout to match. Contrary to the Sonos 1, the Period 100 is a accurate rounded cylinder (rather of a 3D rounded rectangle like the A person) and is a bit taller than the Just one, but with a a lot more svelte look in general many thanks to remaining a lot more slim aspect-to-facet.
The Era 100 connects by way of Wi-Fi to your Sonos program, and consists of Apple AirPlay 2 like its predecessor. It also has a mic and supports Sonos’ very own voice regulate as well as Amazon Alexa (not like on more mature units, Google Assistant is no extended an alternative). It has a actual physical change for disabling the mic on leading of the touch control mute from prior models, and the redesigned top touch floor has a devoted volume slider, play/pause and skip controls.
New to the Era 100 and the Period 300 are two more relationship selections: Bluetooth, and actual physical line-in. These are each welcome, but it’s important to note the USB-C port made use of for line-in on the two necessitates the addition of the Sonos Line-In Adapter for connecting to 3.5 mm sources. I thought that because it was USB-C, it would be simple to just hook up a supply like a MacBook Professional right and have it recognized as an exterior audio gadget, but that doesn’t do the job — nor does employing existing USB-C-to-3.5 mm audio adapters that I experienced on hand.
The Era 100 also gains two individual tweeters for the initial time in a speaker this measurement from Sonos, as perfectly as a larger sized subwoofer. The result ought to be additional clarity and natural audio as opposed to the Sonos A single. Additional on how that provides later on on.
The Sonos Era 300 is a much extra web-new speaker for the company, however it approximately occupies the put in the lineup still left at the rear of by the discontinuation of the Engage in:3, which was not promptly replaced by an additional product at or in the vicinity of its selling price issue. The Period 300 is quite different, nevertheless, each in terms of its style – it seems like an hourglass laid on its aspect – and its characteristic set, considering that it incorporates guidance for spatial audio for the initial time.
Sonos designed the internals of the Era 300, which packs 4 tweeters struggling with in all directions but down, as perfectly as a pair of woofers, to be ready to fill a place with sound from a one stage. It can reproduce both of those stereo and spatial mixes, and does not artificially manipulate stereo audio to sound spatialized, luckily. Sonos also furnished the Period 300 with the ability to act as rear speakers for a Sonos encompass set up, which usually means if you have a fundamentally endless price range, you can get two speakers moreover an Arc and a Sonos Sub to create a digital 7.1.4 seem system.
Of class, equally the Period 100 and Era 300 can be part of an present Sonos setup and gain obtain to all the synced multi-area playback options that Sonos is known for. Each also feature auto-TruePlay tuning, which takes advantage of the developed-in mic to modify audio to very best healthy your area. Also, if you have the enter adapters, you can participate in back audio from your line-in resource throughout your numerous Sonos speakers.
Style and design
Both of those these Sonos speakers achieve new highs for the brand name in phrases of design and style, in my opinion. The Period 100 is a straight throughout the plate, fundamental bookshelf speaker with just a hint of edge thanks to the oblong form. It appears to be far more innocuous in situ throughout a range of domestic settings, like in the kitchen area or when established up as rears many thanks to some delicate tweaks, like the point that the speaker grill goes almost all the way to the top of the speaker, compared with on the Sonos A single, which experienced a band of reliable surface in close proximity to the upper edge.
The new quantity rocker indentation is a welcome change and adds some tactile profit to distinguishing it from the forward/back again buttons, and the refined vertical brand on the front grill is a nice bit of branding that doesn’t mar an if not very covert look.
For the Period 300, Sonos naturally went a little bit extra adventurous, coming up with a shape that tapers to the center and then flares again out towards the again. This is very likely at the very least in element useful as properly as aesthetic to present the Period 300 with its spatial audio and peak channel encompass capabilities. It would make for a a lot far more placing style vs. the Period 100, but it is one that I consider operates rather very well in a assortment of options. It’s certainly a bit extra awareness-grabbing, but considering the fact that it ends up wanting like a modern day architectural mini sculpture, that is not at all a negative matter. In truth, I would say the Period 300 is perhaps the ideal-searching speaker Sonos has at any time created.
Options & Functionality
Let’s get the principles out of the way first: Sonos’ new speakers are just as trusted in conditions of the core Sonos magic as any that have arrive before. They deliver rock-solid, multi-place synced audio playback, and will combine quickly with your existing setup should you have a person.
Alright, with that out of the way, let us communicate about what these speakers uniquely provide that Sonos’ present lineup hasn’t available.
The Era 100 has internal hardware changes that the firm statements presents greater seem than the Sonos One. Primarily based on testing, that does indeed look to be the scenario, with a pair caveats. The to start with is that I would say if you are hunting to use an Era 100 on its very own, you unquestionably get a lot greater audio quality versus a Sonos A person performing solo. The included tweeter and greater woofer do provide extra accurate sound with much less muddied mixes, in particular at reduce volumes.
If you are debating whether or not or not to update an current Sonos A person pair to Period 100s, I believe points get a large amount additional murky. The point is that in most configurations, for most setups, you probable won’t get plenty of of a variation in general experienced audio top quality to justify the cost of upgrading. But if you are coming to it new, or upgrading from a a great deal older pair of Engage in:1s, it is unquestionably a wonderful-sounding speaker — alone or alongside one another.
As for the Period 300, it is considerably less difficult to recommend this much more broadly, in element due to the fact there’s practically nothing actually equivalent in Sonos’ new historical past to look at it against. It genuinely delivers great, area-filling audio with surprising clarity and sophistication presented its footprint and size. The Era 300 is a wonderful sole speaker for any place wherever you want audio (as opposed to possessing a soundbar or dwelling theater system for a Television), and I uncovered it was even equivalent to the a lot more pricey and exceptional Sonos 5 that the organization nevertheless sells, in phrases of all round excellent.
Of program, the Sonos Period 300’s major, fancy new characteristic is assistance for spatial audio, which it supplies if you use Amazon Music Unlimited as a supply, or Apple Tunes by using a forthcoming update, for tracks mastered with Dolby Atmos Audio. I analyzed this with appropriate tracks from Amazon Audio Endless and identified that it does in truth make a difference and seems great — I just couldn’t definitely say for certain that it sounds improved than the very same music rendered in stereo only.
To be reasonable, which is commonly been the scenario for me and spatial audio: with Apple’s AirPod lineup and Apple Audio, I can definitely convey to the variation, but just cannot normally say definitively that I choose just one about the other. I would not make spatial audio support the determining variable in a order, but your mileage could range there dependent on how you really feel about the technologies.
Base line
Sonos has seldom experienced a actual overlook with its merchandise lineup, and both of those the Era 100 and the Period 300 stand as crystal clear hits. The Period 100 is a wise and delicate evolution of the company’s ‘default’ starter featuring and the Period 300 is a one of a kind and outperforming product in a sea of possibilities that incorporates Apple’s just-up to date HomePod. Whilst each and every seems fantastic in its have suitable, the differentiator for Sonos will generally be the versatility of its multi-room audio engineering, and that continues to be a huge highlight of both of those of these products and solutions that you cannot truly get any place else.
I would like that Sonos had possibly just created the aux inputs on the back 3.5mm (the argument towards getting that with USB-C, they also aid Ethernet adapters for wired network connections), or that they’d provided their proprietary adapters in the box. But the actuality that they have these selections, as very well as Bluetooth, is a key good-to-have update that has been missing in most of Sonos’ lineup for several years.
You won’t be unhappy with both of these speakers, and as constantly with Sonos solutions, if you’ve obtained the dollars, they execute even additional spectacularly in stereo pairs. The Era 300, in unique, is a super sturdy presenting with couple authentic competitors out there.