In the constantly evolving battle between our twin desires for greater convenience and sound quality, Sonos has occupied a sweet spot. Its speakers are joyously simple to blend together as a wireless system and always deliver credible, if not always outstanding, levels of sonic aplomb.
Here, though, the firm has upped the ante, with a premium model that brings spatial audio into the mix. It aims to get the party started, either as a standalone speaker, or as part of a bigger Sonos setup.
Let’s make no bones about it, the Sonos Era 300 is not a cheap option but it’s definitely value for money. It offers remarkable sound from a single device and aims to beat the new AppleHomePod at its spatial audio game. Before we dive into this contest, it’s important to first understand the nature of the battle.
Buy now £449, Sonos
What is spatial audio?
Put simply, spatial audio means having more than two audio channels (i.e. like stereo). This has typically been the preserve of home cinema buffs, where these surround-sound effects enable you to enjoy, say, the boom of a fighter jet whizzing overhead as you crunch into popcorn during Top Gun Maverick.
The same concept has recently expanded into music, where an immersive audio experience is promised because the soundstage is spread more widely. To achieve this, you need a speaker able to bounce sound around the room in this way plus a suitable source, generally based on the Dolby Atmos format popularised by home cinema. The Era 300 is the first (and only) Sonos speaker to do this — aside from its newer soundbars — once fed by the spatial audio tracks found on the music-streaming services from Apple or Amazon. Annoyingly, Sonos does not yet play nicely with Tidal’s catalogue of spatial tracks.
Look and feel
The Era 300 retains the same general styling as Sonos speakers. It comes in two colours, black or white, and like most other Sonos gear, is designed to blend into the background of a room rather than draw attention. That said, it has a distinctive shape that tells you upfront to expect something different.
This is because the four tweeters and two woofers inside the Era 300 must each point in different directions at the front to achieve these clever spatial effects — and to keep the overall chassis size down, the rear is smaller. The speaker looks like it has a belt strapped around its middle to pull things tighter.
It's noticeably bigger than the new Apple HomePod, which is unsurprising given that, at £449, it costs £150 more. Broadly speaking, you get exactly what you’d expect in terms of build quality — in a good way.
The setup is mercifully simple. No matter whether you use it as a standalone speaker, as a stereo pair, or blend it with other Sonos speakers. It will mesh with these effortlessly and, unlike the HomePod, this speaker is compatible with Android phones or iPhones. In fact, Sonos’ software is its secret weapon.
The built-in microphones cleverly ‘listen’ to the room and adjust audio appropriately with an auto-tuning feature, called Trueplay. There’s also a version of this in an app, which requires you to walk around your room slowly waving a phone. Both methods work well and you can hear the difference after doing so.
Sound quality
Once tuned into your room, the Era 300 simply sounds great, no matter whether you plonk it next to a sound-absorbing sofa or a reflective glass door. The bass is warmly evident but not overpowering, the vocals are punchy and the mid-notes are entirely present. A high-end hi-fi system will sound even better, but the audio quality is tremendous. It’s way richer and more powerful than expected from a single speaker.
The money shot here, though, is the new wraparound effects of spatial audio. This is where some of the sound is bounced off the ceiling so that it appears to have height as well as breadth, or like it’s also coming from behind you. In a nutshell, it is spookily effective overall.
With classical music, such as Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, instruments sound distinctly placed and clear. Switch to pop and Sam Ryder’s Put a Light on Me reveals real depth and a wider soundstage than you think possible from a single speaker, with a hugely enveloping effect. Similarly, Miracle by Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding has a subtle but enjoyable balance, with Goulding’s voice soaring above the music.
Perhaps the greatest feat here is how coherent the sound remains, no matter how hard you push it and, boy, does this speaker go loud. The Era 300 is larger than the Apple HomePod but the sound is bigger, too. It’s more than enough to fill even a large room.
Set side by side with the second-generation HomePod, the Sonos easily holds its own — and given that the Sonos costs more, so it should. It sounds better than a single HomePod, but lags compared with a stereo pair of HomePods. That said, the stereo separation on a single Sonos Era 300 is also impressive.
Nevertheless, spatial audio is the coming thing, with huge numbers of tracks already available. If you want to immerse yourself in this new ‘wow’ effect, plump for a pair of Era 300 speakers. Brace yourself, though, as for true Dolby Atmos home cinema, you’ll need another set of these for the rear channels and a spatial-ready soundbar such as the Sonos Arc. In this configuration, the wraparound is remarkable but the cost is over £1,700. Think of the money you’ll save by never going out.
Connectivity
The Era 300 is the first mains-powered Sonos speaker to include Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi, which makes it easier to play back music from any smartphone to it; albeit that playback via Wi-Fi usually offers higher quality — with no interruptions if the phone rings. Still, it’s handy for guests determined to share a playlist.
It’s also a smart speaker, with built-in mics that you can easily switch off at the rear if this isn’t your thing. You can even hook up a turntable via an adaptor for analogue sources, which, shamefully, costs extra.
There are currently two sources of spatial audio supported by this speaker: Amazon Music Unlimited and Apple Music (it’s the first non-Apple speaker to support Dolby Atmos tracks from Apple Music). It’s worth mentioning, too, that BBC Sounds and Tidal are inside the Sonos control app for easy listening.
Verdict
If you own some Sonos products already, or want to dive into spatial audio without entering the Apple ecosystem, this is a smart way to take the plunge. Households festooned with Cupertino's finest gizmos may prefer the less expensive HomePod. Of course, there is a whole world of audio options — not least the cheaper Sonos products, such as the new Era 100, which offers fabulous one-box stereo, even though it doesn’t support spatial sound.
Nevertheless, many rivals will be looking aghast at the Sonos Era 300 and thinking: where do we go from here? You can almost hear the sound of the bar being raised.
Buy now £449, Sonos
