Sonos Era 300 - It's Good...But, How Good?
/First Gen 1, then 2 Gen, and now it's a new Era for Sonos wireless speakers. This is the first of its name, To Sonos Era 300. My plan for this video is to trim the fat and highlight only facts you need to know if you're considering buying one. And a little bit of foreshadowing here. I believe "Era 300 is the missing piece of the puzzle. If you want to build the ultimate Sonos Home theatre setup," We'll return to that.
Price & Availability
Let's start with the price. A single Sonos Era 300 costs 450 in the US and UK & 499 euros at launch. The description will have a link to check the most up-to-date price. You never know when Sonos is going to run a promo.
And if you're wondering about colours, it's black and white. And you can buy black or white floor stands from Sonos for £150 each. Wall mounting is possible & also available in black and white. They cost £129 for the pair…but if you go for that option, you better have strong walls because the Era 300 weighs 4.4 kg.
Ports
Now you are probably wondering about the physical ports on the Sonos Era 300. If you love minimalist tech. Life really doesn't get much simpler than this. On the back is a Figure 8 power port, but the provided cable is nicely designed so that the speaker can rest close to a wall, and the power lead's length is approximately 2 metres. And it does a single USB C port, specifically Sonos's adaptors.
With the correct adapter, you can hard wire in an ethernet cable if your wifi is not good and you've got some retro audio tech that you want to wire in via a 3.5mm audio jack. That is an option too. The Audio jack adapter is £19, but the better option, in my opinion, is the combo adapter with both ethernet and Audio jack inputs.
Controls
Now let's talk about how to use the Era 300 with your hands like a caveman from the 80s. The user interface styling is so subtle anyone walking past the speaker could easily miss it. But once you know, you know.
All the capacitive controls are on the top, with a recessed area to slide your finger across to adjust the volume. It recognises tap inputs on either side as well.
Play, pause and skip forward and back buttons have individual placements, and you'll notice a button labelled with a speech bubble. This is to summon your Ai if you don't feel like using your voice to wake it…and now I know what you're thinking. What if I want complete privacy? You don't need to go on a world tour looking for it. It's quite simple, really… It's the only physical switch on the Era 300. And there is a physical Bluetooth button too. And that takes me nicely on to the wireless connectivity features.
Wireless connectivity
The physical button is the BT button that puts the Era into BT pairing mode. Which is not the best way to play Audio to the Era 300. But BT 5.0 is an option, with AAC being the best codec it supports here. But honestly, if you get one of these and want to listen to the Era 300 at its best, I'd recommend always playing Audio via Apple's Airplay 2 or via your home WiFi network via the app.
Because that is the very best way to get the maximum audio bit depth to the speaker, and also you don't have to worry about the BT range. And if you get a phone call, you don't end up broadcasting it to everyone in the room.
And What makes the wifi connection even better is that the Sonos Era 300’s can connect via wifi 6 to your router, but… only if you have a wifi 6 capable router & if you don't have one… I've got a good one I recommend to you. I'll link it at the end.
And if you are wondering what streaming service is best suited to use with the new Era 300's, Pretty much everything is supported but it is Apple’s Music that is the best, and I'll explain why in a few moments…but don't worry, it uses another HiFi streaming service. It will sound spectacular. We'll come back to that.
The Sonos App
So now, let's quickly run through the Sonos App. Sonos specialises in its ecosystem's connectivity, and the Sonos app is the keystone. And just like the Sonos speakers before it, you can calibrate the sound signature for the space it's placed in. And it really works.
But previously, you could only do it with an Apple Device. Well, Android fans can rejoice because now the Sonos TruePlay tuning feature is also available on Android.
Also, you probably already know this within the app, but just in case, you don't. You can group speakers and adjust EQs and even access your streaming services without having to load up their individual apps and, of course, you can set up Alexa as your Ai or Siri, and if you do that, then you can use your voice to ask for whatever track you feel like without having to lift a finger.
Design & Drivers
The Era 300 has several good selling points, but first and foremost is it's spatial audio / Dolby Atmos capabilities. And this is what makes this single speaker so impressive. Stand alone. It sounds phenomenal. Get a stereo pair for music, and it will sound even better! But It's how it introduces verticality into the Audio that takes everything up a level…You could say the listening experience is taken to new heights.
But going back to my foreshadowing in the intro…and why this might be the piece of the puzzle you've been waiting for. Let's say you're loaded and have a bulletproof wallet. You could add two Era 300s to a Sonos Arc sound bar as the rear channels….And now, if you get a Sonos Sub. You'll have a 7.4.1 Dolby Atmos home theatre setup... that's four upwards firing drivers. 2 in the arc and 2 from the 300’s.
And that's why these are the missing pieces. Because with these as rear speakers, you will have Sonos's best possible home cinema experience without actually fitting speakers into the ceiling. And if you must max out everything, you could even have two Sonos subs.
Now listen. Even stand-alone, the Era 300 is impressive. It has 6 class D amps which are Electronic amps. One for each one of its 6 drivers. Which have each been placed in a well thought configuration. There's a woofer and a tweeter on each side, a forward-firing tweeter with a custom Sonos waveguide in front of it.
And the Era 300's secret weapon is the upward-firing tweeter with a horn-shaped cone that bounces sound off the ceiling. And you can hear the vertical Audio straight away when playing back regular Audio tracks, and it sounds even more prominent with 360 reality audio tracks…but remember what I said about Apple Music is the best service to use with this? Well at present, the only way to play authentic Dolby Atmos Music to the Era 300 is directly from Apple Music via the Sonos App, which connects directly to the Apple servers...Airplay 2 doesn't support it. And that's probably why you get a 3-month free trial with Apple Music if you buy the Era 300.
So where does the Era 300 live in the Sonos audio ecosystem? Stand-alone, it's more than a 1 up from the Gen 2 Sonos Ones. It is one of the nicest-sounding stand-alone speakers Sonos have to offer. And sits between the Sonos Move & the Sonos 5 at its price point…you could make a case that it sounds better than both of them.
Even more so if you opt to set up a stereo pair. If you do the soundstage and high-fidelity playback over wifi would be enough to satisfy most audiophiles…
And as a set of rear speakers for home cinema, they're be like the Sonos Ones or even the new Sonos Era 100's on steroids...they're so good that using them as rears may feel like a little bit of an overkill....but trust me if you can afford to use them that way and you have a room big enough you will not regret it...The word 'epic' springs to mind
And also think of all the money you'll save on going to actual cinema tickets and extortionate popcorn prices...
Is the Sonos Arc better than a 5.1 surround sound system? Well, that's what I wanted to know & that's why I made this video. Sonos Arc Vs 5.1 System review. Also, If you struggle to get Dolby Atmos through your TV's HDMI port. This video might help. Check it out.
