Rumors had been going around for a while, but Sonos officially announced its Era 300 and Era 100 speakers today. These are two high-end audio products that consumers can get their hands on starting March 28 this year.
Sonos is revamping its immensely popular Sonos One with the Era 100 and providing the market with a new high-end speaker in the field of Spatial Audio with the Era 300. Time to get well acquainted.
Sonos introduces Era 100 and Era 300
Sonos is launching not one but two smart speakers today. The Era 100 is the remastered successor to the One. The Era 300 immediately takes a different approach.
What immediately stands out is the different design of the speakers. The company really wants to go in a new direction with this.
This is the Sonos Era 100
The Era 100 is slightly larger than the Sonos One. Unlike the old speaker, this one has two directional tweeters that send high frequencies to the left and right. A larger midwoofer produces hefty bass.
Do you have two Era 100 speakers? Then you can add them as background speakers to your Sonos soundbar. Trueplay allows the microphones in the speaker to match the sound exactly to the room. You do this through the dedicated app.
The Era 300: more expensive but better
Where the Era 100 is really the entry-level model, the Sonos Era 300 gives you just a bit more features. These speakers are really designed for spatial sound, or Spatial Audio, which spreads music and audio even better throughout the room.
In addition, the Sonos Era 300 also supports surround sound. In combination with an Arc or Beam, this creates a nice Dolby Atmos experience. Ideal for when you want to spend an evening watching movies and series.
But you can also enjoy music just fine with this new speaker. Sonos has worked with the community to fine-tune this speaker, making your music experience even better.
It should sound just like in the studio, so you experience the music exactly as the artist intended.
Sonos also announced that it is adding support for spatial audio to Apple Music starting March 28, 2023. Apple Music with spatial audio will be available on the Arc and Beam (Gen 2) in addition to the Era 300.
Pricing and availability
Okay. Now for the painful part. Both the Era 100 and Era 300 will be available for order in the Netherlands starting March 28. But how many pennies does Sonos want from you?
For that first speaker, you pay a fee of 279 euros. If you want a step up in terms of quality, logically you also put down a little more. The Era 300 will cost you 499 euros in the Netherlands.