sonos era 100
New Sonos speakers: They are obviously about to be released and, as in recent years, the US medium The Verge has somehow gotten an exclusive look at the speakers again. There are two models, the Sonos Era 300 and the Sonos Era 100.
Sonos Era 300
The Era 300, which is focused on spatial audio, is currently expected to be in the region of $450, making it more affordable than the flagship Sonos Five. A market launch is predicted for the end of March, so the presentation should take place fairly soon. The Sonos Era 100 is said to be priced at $249, which is more than the US price for the Sonos One, but there are likely improvements over the One as well.
Much of what was already known last year (including Bluetooth audio playback and USB-C connectivity) can again be confirmed for the Era 300. It has a total of six drivers that radiate the sound forward, left, right and up.
As for music, owners of the new Sonos speakers can listen to spatial audio tracks from Amazon Stream Music Unlimited, but according to The Verge, Sonos hasn’t yet reached an agreement with Apple to play Apple Music’s Dolby Atmos library on a standalone Era 300.
In addition, there is now information that the Era 100 will also offer both of these options, making it far more versatile than the Sonos One. Customers will be able to run external sources such as a turntable directly through the Era 100, which was not possible with its predecessor.
Both Era speakers will feature Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 and AirPlay 2 support. Sonos will sell separately a line-in adapter for USB-C audio and a “combo adapter” for connecting over Ethernet; both devices do not have an integrated connector.
Voice assistant options include Sonos Voice Control and Amazon Alexa; It is currently unclear whether the Google Assistant will continue to be supported. Sonos’ internal marketing materials mention Alexa directly, but not the Assistant. Sonos Voice Control and Alexa can work at the same time, so it’s possible that Sonos is giving Google’s service less of a focus for this reason.
Android fans can be happy: With the Era 300 and the Era 100, Sonos supports Trueplay tuning on Android smartphones for the first time. Unlike iOS, however, the speakers carry out the room analysis and sound optimization themselves – with the help of their built-in microphones. Internally, Sonos calls this “Quick Tuning,” while regular tuning, which involves walking your smartphone around the room, is still available as “Advanced Tuning” — and remains exclusive to iPhone and iPad.
Well, if they come out like this and still sound good – then I’m very excited. Especially the Bluetooth and USB-C input story could be a real added value for some households.
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