Sonos Era 100 Vs One Gen 2 - Should You Upgrade Now?

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Enter the new era 100 from Sonos. They retail for £249 at launch. And if you already have the Sonos One speakers, the question you might have is, are they worth replacing?

To keep it simple. If you have the Sonos One Gen 1 speakers...then yes. They will be noticeably better in every single area. I highly recommend you upgrade.

Now, if you have the newer Sonos One Gen 2 as a stand-alone speaker, stereo pair, or as rear speaker channels in a home cinema setup, the audio improvements will be noticeable. But hear me out before you make your decision.

Why it's better?

Here is why they're better. The new Sonos Era 100's have 3 class d amps powering three drivers. The old configuration on the Sonos One consisted of two amps for its single forward-firing tweeter and another for the bass woofer...and that's a standard setup for a compact speaker.

But it's a new era for Sonos, and some significant hardware upgrades have been made to improve the sound output.

The Era 100s has 3 amps that power two tweeters and the woofer. The tweeters are angled outwards, delivering a wider high-frequency sound field. And the woofer is larger now, 25 per cent larger. So if you don't have a Sonos Sub, the low-frequency bass sound improvements would also be noticeable.

And it's not just the new larger woofer and additional amp and tweeters that make the difference. Sonos has also had over 5 years to improve the waveguide in front of them. Which will further assist the sound dispersion. And this further enhances the room-filling sound.

And listen here, now you can calibrate the speaker's sound signature based on where it is positioned in the room...even if you don't have an iPhone or iPad. Because now, you can carry out the true play calibration on Android. This was an iOS-exclusive feature in the past.

You can count on them sounding better, but you should also consider the usability performance upgrades before you get the calculator out and decide if they'll be worth spending.

Usability upgrades

So here's what's new & improved on the usability front. The capacitive play pause and skip are similar to the Sonos one, but there is the new addition of the ai assistant button and the volume slider groove.

So now you can slide your finger up and down to adjust the sound levels, and you tap on either side for more micro-volume adjustments. On the back are two unique user controls: a physical button and a physical switch.

The switch is essential to most normal people, and especially for privileged people like Prince Harry and Megan Markle. It is the privacy switch. Which turns on or off all the far-field mics. and these are the four dots you see here on top.

And the button is a new feature upgrade. It is a Bluetooth pairing button for connectivity over BT 5.0. This is not the best way to play audio to them, but it is an option now. And it will work even if you're WiFi messes up. So I think of it as a backup.

For those that care about audio fidelity, I'd always suggest playing to the Era speakers via the Sonos app...and this takes me onto the

Connectivity upgrades.

And if you are familiar with the Sonos Ones, you'll notice that Sonos has scrapped the ethernet port on the back, probably because the new Era speakers support WiFi 6. If you need to figure out what WiFi 6 is or if your router supports it. Stick around & I'll help you with that.

You'll notice there is now just a single USB C port, which is a multifunctional USB C port specifically for the Sonos audio jack adapter, which costs £19 or the combo adapter, which is the audio jack and the ethernet in one and costs £39. They'll be affiliate links to everything in this video in the description, which will show you the most up-to-date prices.

Anyway, let's go back to some more invisible upgrades. As mentioned earlier, the best way to play music to Era 100s is via the app, but also now Apple Airplay 2 is supported, which is also an excellent way to get the full quality audio to the speaker.

My Personal Opinion

Here's what I think about possibly upgrading from existing Sonos ones to the new era 100s. And the best to explain this is to you is to tell you about my own thought process here. Because I do have two Sonos ones as rear speakers in my home cinema setup. So I have had to tackle this dilemma myself.

“ If I splash out and spend £500 on two new speakers that I seemingly might not need. What am I'm actually getting for the money? ”

To keep it simple. The Era 100s are louder, deliver detail & have a more expansive sound field, and their bass output is noticeably better.

They also look better, and they're easier to use.

And more importantly, even though I'd be replacing something that already sounds good...It might not make sense on paper, but I thought about it while watching The Fast Furious 7. I realised I'd be freeing up two Sonos one's speakers that I could still use stand-alone or as pair two somewhere else in the house.

So really, it's not so much replacing...it's more like upgrading and expanding the family! And if you have ever learnt anything from the fast and furious franchise...you'll know that's what it's all about... and so is the Sonos ecosystem it seems.

And on that note, if you want to take things to new heights, you got to check out the Sonos era 300s with Dolby Atmos, and if you're interested in WiFi 6 check out this Netgear video...it might eye an opener for ya.