Sonos launches Era 300 speaker with support for Spatial Audio

Shortly after Apple refreshed its home audio lineup with the new HomePod speakers, Sonos is launching an answer in the form of two smart speakers: The Sonos Era 100 and the Sonos Era 300.

The larger and pricier of the two, Sonos Era 300 retails for $449 (499 euros in Europe) and comes with support for Spatial Audio, although not the Apple variety. Instead, it will work best with the Dolby Atmos Music standard, which you can get on parts of Amazon Music Unlimited's catalog.

Good news for Apple Music users, however, is that support for Apple Music is coming very soon: on March 28, which is also the date when these new speakers will become available.

Two woofers, four tweeters, six amps. Credit: Sonos

The Era 300 has six drivers, powered by six amps: two woofers for that deep bass you crave, one forward-firing tweeter, two side-firing tweeters for better stereo separation, and one upward-firing tweeter which Sonos says reflects the sound off the ceiling when playing Dolby Atmos content. An array of mics is there to listen to your voice input, handled by Sonos' Voice Control tech.

Similarly to Apple's HomePod, the Sonos Era 300 works on its own but can also be paired with another Era 300 to get a stereo sound. It also comes in black and white colors only. However, the Era 300 is Sonos' first speaker that can be paired with the company's Arc or Beam soundbars to get a multi-channel surround sound experience.

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The new speaker also has a more intuitive user interface, Sonos says, with a capacitive volume slider, dedicated skip and replay controls, as well as a Bluetooth pairing button. The speech bubble control is there to quickly turn off the voice assistant, should you desire to do so.

Sonos Era 300 can be paired with another Era 300 to get a fuller stereo sound. Credit: Sonos

The Sonos Era 300 will be available in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Colombia, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan on March 28. It'll come to Eastern Europe, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and India at a later date.

The Era 100, on the other hand, is a direct replacement for Sonos One, which will be removed from the company's catalog after all supplies are sold. It costs $249 (279 euros in Europe).

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Sonos Era 100 is a direct replacement for Sonos One. Credit: Sonos

Like its bigger brother, the Era 100 can also be paired with another Era 100 to get a stereo sound. But unlike its predecessor, the Sonos One, the Era 100 has two tweeters and can produce a stereo sound on its own. The Era 100 can also be paired with a Sonos soundbar to get a surround sound. Forget about spatial audio support, though; you'll need to buy the Era 300 to get that.

In terms of design, the Era 100 is slightly taller than the One but otherwise hasn't changed much – it's still a cylinder wrapped in a mesh wire that comes in white or black. The controls on top were refreshed, and the Era 100 now features a capacitive volume and the new button to turn off the voice assistant.

Both the Sonos Era 300 and the Sonos Era 100 can be pre-ordered now on Sonos' website.