Sonos Era 300 Review

Sonos has launched a pair of new products, which includes the Era 300. The lower price of the Era 100 might give it more popularity, but it is the Era 300 that is the most interesting. It comes with the same connectivity options in the form of line-in and Bluetooth, but also comes with a major physical redesign and spatial audio support.

Design and build

The Era 300 has been released by Sonosfor replacing the Play:3, but it is not just a basic upgrade. Sonos opted to change things from scratch and this is apparent right away. The Era 300 looks quite unusual, as it has an hourglass design, expanding out the back and front, but tapering from the middle. It has been given the shape of a flute to maximize the spatial output.

Of the six speakers, one of them has been angled upwards slightly, so audio is blasted out into the room instead of just forward. It comes in white and black options and boasts a small logo in the front. The touch controls have also been revamped, as the track change and play/pause buttons are positioned at the front. The back has a voice control button and there is a tactile trough where volume control buttons can be found.

The speaker’s construction has also been changed, as Sonos has opted for screws instead of glue, which makes the Era 300 more eco-friendly.

Connectivity

Since it is a Sonos speaker, it is understood that the Era 300 works over Wi-Fi. But, the good news is that the Bluetooth option is also available. In addition, aux line-in support has also been included, but you will have to buy a dongle for connecting to the USB-C port. This is sold separately and you will have to purchase it if you do not intend to go wireless all the time.

Sound quality

The sound quality of the speaker can be split into spatial and stereo. The Era 300 downright excels when you use it for listening to regular stereo recordings. It is able to cover the entire spectrum in a good way, thanks to six speakers, which include two woofers and four tweeters. The speaker is powerful enough to fill even big rooms. You can see crisp separation even when the volume is high. As far as the spatial audio is also a welcome addition, but not enough to make you want to upgrade.

Smart features

There are some built-in smart features in the Era 300, just like other speakers from Sonos. You can control it through the official Sonos app and this enables you to tweak sound, manage settings and hook the speaker to your Sonos setup. You can also use the app for music playback. Voice controls are also included in the speaker, which means Alexa returns and Sonos has also added its own voice assistant. But, there is no Google Assistant, given the legal squabbles between the two companies.