In fact, it's around the same price as the Amazon Echo Show 10 (3rd generation), which has a 10-inch screen. But the Era 100 sounds bigger, is more detailed and more open, digs deeper into the bass and simply blows the One away sonically.Īlso again, competition here is fierce. It's better than the outgoing Sonos One in nearly every way – although the latter is still a decent buy if you get a great deal. This one is rather straightforward: if you want an entry point into the Sonos ecosystem, the new Era 100 is a terrific way in. You can pair two Era 100s together, and they can also be used as rear speakers with the Arc, Beam Gen 1 and Beam Gen 2, and Ray Sonos soundbars. Inside are three class D amplifiers powering two angled tweeters with custom waveguides and a 25 per cent bigger woofer for a fuller low end. This is still an upgrade over the Sonos One though, which was only mono. That's because it's designed to deliver stereo sound, but can't handle spatial audio. Also like the Era 300, it can handle audio files up to 24-bit/48kHz, and has the same new top panel interface with touch capacitive controls.īut the design is a lot more conservative. It too has Bluetooth 5.0, wi-fi 6, AirPlay 2, Sonos voice control and Alexa support, as well as a USB-C line-in. The new five-star Era 100 replaces the five-star Sonos One, and shares many of the same abilities as the Era 300 (above). Here's why one writer believes the Era 300’s spatial audio isn't a gimmick.Op-ed: The Era 300 is everything I want, but it’s just too expensive.Full comparison: Sonos Era 300 vs Apple HomePod 2.Read our Sonos Era 300 review for the full verdict.If you can stretch to it, you won't be disappointed. Though as we say, at £449 / $449 / €499 / AU$749, the Era 300 is very expensive. It outdoes even the Apple HomePod 2 (£299 / $299 / AU$479) in terms of sonics – Apple's smart speaker sounds positively small next to the Era 300. Is it the best smart speaker at its price? And it's a shame you have to pay extra for an adapter in order to plug in wired sources – it costs £19 / $19 / AU$35. It's Sonos's most impressive speaker yet, with an immersive sound, fantastic versatility thanks to its Bluetooth and feature-packed app, and a unique design. There's no support for spatial audio via Tidal yet though. The Sonos Arc and Beam (Gen 2) soundbars are also gaining this feature. That makes it the first speaker to do so outside of Apple's own devices. It supports Dolby Atmos-powered spatial audio from Amazon Music, as well as spatial audio via Apple Music. Of course it wouldn't be much use if the Era 300 didn't support spatial audio via streaming services, but thankfully it does. The Era 300 can also be used as Dolby Atmos rears in a surround system with the Sonos Arc or Beam Gen 2 soundbars and a Sub. Each of these drivers is powered by its own class D amplifier. Its unique hourglass cinched design houses six drivers (four tweeters, two woofers) with custom waveguides that fire sound out forwards, upwards, left and right to surround you with music. The Era 300 is built to show off spatial audio with Dolby Atmos tracks. But the two are quite different propositions. This speaker shares all these traits with its cheaper brethren, the Era 100 (see below).
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