The new Sonos Era 300 is a bold new speaker design for the company, built to deliver the largest, most impactful sound. Sonos claims the Era 300 is able to reproduce spatial audio with Dolby Atmos as a single speaker - which is in itself a preclusion - or when used in multichannel immersive configurations - which is the most interesting aspect.
We will never know if any of the technology in the Era 300 had any contributions from the Mayht acquisition in April 2022 - but that's not to be expected, or likely given the development time involved for this project, which had frequent, deliberate "leaks," and was known to be ongoing for more than 3 years. Also, the exploded views of the speaker shows somewhat conventional looking drivers, even if custom-designed and combined with some unusual waveguides. Clearly the product of an intense modeling and simulation exercise, which needs to be commended.
Sonos' marketing says that the Ear speakers are "Tuned by award-winning artists and engineers," and expands on the connectivity and Trueplay technology without accentuating what typically would be a much better selling point. Familiar to Sonos' users but not for everyone else, Trueplay is the technology that the company pioneered to measure the room and fine tune the response to make sure it sounds great no matter where the speakers are placed. Until now, Trueplay required using an iPhone app and the actual microphones on the iPhone, which were the only ones consistent enough to be used for the purpose. Now, using the built-in microphone array in the Era 100 and Era 300, Trueplay is able to optimize the sound with the support of an iOS or Android app. This is actually a major selling point for Sonos speakers.
"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 favorite music and audio content," says Patrick Spence, CEO of Sonos. "The Era family is the next generation of smart speakers, epitomizing our commitment to sound innovation, responsible design and a deep connection to the creator community."
Unprecedented for a single compact speaker, the new Era 300 boasts six powerful drivers that direct sound left, right, forward and upward, all with the intent of maximizing the performance as a single speaker and being able to deliver a different experience with Dolby Atmos source material, movies or music.
Still, as the marketing departments mandate these days, the nonsense continues regarding the ability to generate "spatial audio" from a single speaker. As Kevin J. Yeaman, President and CEO of Dolby Laboratories states, "Dolby Atmos created a new way for music and audio entertainment to be experienced. Sounds and music come alive with unparalleled clarity and depth. Era 300’s sound innovation with Dolby Atmos creates a completely immersive music experience."
The reason for all the Spatial references is related with the fact that Sonos also announced it will add support for spatial audio on Apple Music, an important official endorsement. Apple Music with spatial audio is available on the new Sonos Era 300, and also on the Arc, and Beam (Gen 2) soundbars.
Yes, but users should be aware that is not the same as Dolby Atmos in the movies, if they just use one speaker. And with music signals (even if remixed for Dolby Atmos Music), it sounds basically as an omnidirectional speaker would, removing the stage and enhancing the tridimensional "bling" - which is not exactly how music should sound. And the reason why the "spatial" effect is little more than "bling" should be obvious from the acoustic design.
Spatial marketing aside, the Era 300 design wraps its complex acoustic architecture in an elegantly cinched hourglass design, with every angle, proportion and perforation enhancing the direction and dispersion of sound. As Sonos highlights, the Era 300 is the brand’s first speaker that is also designed to be part of a multichannel surround sound setup, when used as home theater rears. Users can pair two speakers with Arc or Beam (Gen 2) and a Sonos Sub to create a surround sound system that correctly decodes the Dolby Atmos soundtrack into what can basically be described as 4.1 system - or 5.1 at best. Dolby Atmos would require additional ceiling or height speakers. Sonos says some of the drivers on the Era 300 do actually act as upfiring height channels - but the result will depend greatly on the room size and ceiling materials.
Reinventing A Category-Leading Icon
With all the spatial audio nonsense, Sonos is not helping a lot to highlight the real merits of the Era 300. And even worse, the simultaneously launch of the Era 100, is kind of unfair. Being slightly larger than its predecessor Sonos One, the new Sonos Era 100 features all-new hardware and software, with next-gen acoustics and design that should deliver improved stereo sound and deep bass. Particularly stereo.
In the new Era 100, two angled tweeters send crisp high frequencies left and right for a richer stereo experience form a single source, while a larger midwoofer creates better bass - unexpected from a single compact speaker. Sonos also catered for the possibility that smart users - more important than smart speakers - will actually buy two Era 100 speakers and use them as a stereo pair for music, or as rear surrounds with a soundbar to create a home theater experience during movie night.
The new slim, modern design also makes it a great option as a general use speaker for the kitchen, desk or nightstand, where it will benefit from its ability to adjust to multiple acoustic environments, and the ability to be optimized for content such as podcasts, where the last thing needed is boomy bass.
The new Era 300 and Era 100 are also the first speakers built to Sonos’ new responsible design standards. Both speakers are made with post consumer recycled (PCR) plastic and packaged in 100% sustainably sourced paper, while also engineered to reduce power consumption with under two watts idle power consumption and a new advanced sleep function. Designed to live in the home environment for years, both speakers are built for serviceability by reducing the use of adhesives and transitioning to screws for easy disassembly and repair.
"We bring the same forward-thinking mindset to responsible design as we do to creating powerful new listening experiences," says Kitty Suidman, Design Director, Product Sustainability. "Our commitment to sustainability is embedded in our design process from the start, with the Era family marking a major step forward in our journey to create products that last beyond expectation, perform more efficiently, and use safer and circular materials."
An important aspect of the new Era 100 and Era 300 is the new intuitive user interface, including a new capacitive volume slider for simple control that complements quick and private control of the music with Sonos Voice Control, the Sonos app, Apple AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth. Both speakers support direct streaming via Wi-Fi or from external Bluetooth devices, and can be connected to other audio devices such as a turntable using an auxiliary cable and the Sonos Line-In Adapter (USB-C).
Both speakers also work with Sonos own Sonos Voice Control system. For those concerned with voice recognition features and loss of privacy, Sonos has added a switch on both new designs, which should reassure users that the microphones are off. This way, it doesn't need to add a separate non-voice model as it did with the Sonos One SL.
Both Era 300 ($449 USD) and Era 100 ($249 USD) will be available globally on March 28, 2023. Both models are affordable for the technology they contain.
www.sonos.com
