Sonos Era 300 and 100 speakers Hands-on: Reigniting its lineup

It’s now official: Sonos will launch two new sensible audio system within the Period 300 and Period 100, each of which supply spatial audio and have new engineering inside to create an even bigger soundstage.

I received to see and listen to the audio system at a media preview in New York in February, the place Sonos made its case for reinvigorating its speaker lineup, which is what the Period line purports to do. The Period 100 finally replaces the Sonos One (together with the One SL, although the Period 300 gained’t utterly substitute the Sonos 5, which the corporate says will proceed to promote as a pure audio speaker, given how good it nonetheless sounds three years later. It’s additionally one of many solely Sonos audio system that doesn’t have voice assistant entry.

A part of the story with these two Period audio system is connectivity — each wi-fi and wired. Sonos will throw a bone to those that need Bluetooth and the flexibility to plug in for wired playback by way of the USB-C port within the rear.

New look that’s simpler to repair

In contrast to different manufacturers, Sonos says it desires to make it simpler to disassemble and restore its merchandise, with the Period audio system starting that development. The Period 300 has 93 screws inside, eradicating its use of glue and adhesives for elements inside. I received to see a unit exposing how tightly packed every little thing is underneath the shell. Each inside and together with the outer shell, Sonos says each audio system are created from 45 % recycled plastic. The reclaimed materials means a slight change to a hotter color tone for the white variations of the audio system.

Taking these steps additionally helps Sonos get out of its personal approach, having come underneath fireplace prior to now for scrapping in any other case purposeful audio system as a result of it could be too arduous (and costly) to pry them open and repair them. This new concentrate on extending the {hardware}’s lifespan by restore must also make it doable for do-it-yourselfers to get the proper elements and do the work themselves.

Whereas the Period 100 borrows closely from the design ideas of the Sonos One, the Period 300 strikes an all-new look with a concave housing constructed to raised distribute the Dolby Atmos spatial audio it will possibly pump out. Which means six drivers distributed to fireside up, ahead, left and proper. After I requested, Sonos made it clear to me that it doesn’t see the Period 300 as a TV speaker — it’s constructed for tunes.

You’ll be able to stereo pair two of them collectively for separate left and proper channels, splitting the bass response to create a deeper rumble within the course of. The TV ingredient can are available in if you happen to use two Period 300s as rears in a encompass setup with a Sonos Arc or Beam 2. All of this is applicable to the Period 100 as properly, besides rear 300s nonetheless have multi-channel encompass to offer a extra enveloping presentation in comparison with what the 100s can do.

Two Period 100s within the rear will work so much just like the One, with virtualized upward-firing Atmos 7.1.4 encompass sound in a lot the identical approach Beam Gen 2 does. Sonos say this permits the peak info to tackle a entrance and rear depth that’s a lot better than preserving the peak content material to solely the entrance stage.

Listening clearly to cascading sound

Sonos considers the transfer to spatial audio to be as impactful because the sonic transition from mono to stereo. That continues to be to be seen, however spatial audio does have a proverbial foot within the door as a result of digital encompass and spatial audio for tv isn’t all that novel anymore.

Even so, the audio system nonetheless have a candy spot regardless of the digital encompass impact. It was spectacular to listen to it come by and sound as spacious because it did with a floor-to-ceiling glass window behind me. Glass doesn’t mirror sound the identical approach customary partitions do, however placement is a bit more versatile with these two audio system. You’ll be able to nonetheless really feel the impact sitting off to the aspect, however my impression is that you’d need to put both speaker nearer to a wall and energy outlet. Neither speaker is wi-fi, so it issues the place you park it.

The demos included totally different musical genres, additionally at totally different volumes, to get an thought of how every speaker sounds. There’s little question the Period 300 is significantly extra highly effective than its smaller sibling, but it surely was straightforward to inform the Period 100 sounds deeper and crisper than the Sonos One does. It’s arduous to actually get a real sense of the sound till I attempt it in my own residence, however I’m optimistic in regards to the outcomes.

Talking of “true,” Sonos’ Trueplay tuning software program is again, and this time, Android customers get one thing to work with — properly, type of. You gained’t have the ability to wave your Android cellphone round the best way you would an iPhone to tune the sound primarily based on the room’s format. As a substitute, these two audio system will do it mechanically through the use of audible tones mirrored again to the onboard microphones to nearly measure the room’s dimensions and tune every little thing accordingly. Sonos reps admitted to me that this technique gained’t be nearly as good because the extra guide iPhone course of, so the outdated technique of borrowing a good friend’s iPhone to do the job continues to be an choice.

The demos have been clearly fine-tuned for the small room they have been positioned in, and it was clear to my ears both speaker might get fairly loud and keep away from distortion. Bass is thick, however not overtly so, and engineers paid explicit consideration to the mids to ship a balanced sound profile that stands out, even if you happen to’re simply taking part in stereo tunes.

Making connections

On high of the usual Wi-Fi multiroom assist typical of Sonos audio system, the Period 300 and Period 100 additionally include Bluetooth assist, persevering with a development that beforehand began with the Transfer. The one caveat is it’s unclear what the codecs are, and Sonos has but to verify them. SBC is a given, as that’s customary, and AAC is prone to cater to iOS customers, however regardless of a concentrate on higher-resolution audio, don’t anticipate the likes of Qualcomm’s aptX or Sony’s LDAC codecs right here. Bluetooth seems to be extra of a concession than a callout characteristic.

Spatial audio can be contingent on the supply it’s coming from. Spotify doesn’t have it. Tidal has it underneath its HiFi tier. Apple Music has it, solely gained’t be appropriate with these audio system at launch. Amazon Music Limitless gives it and it’s absolutely appropriate. Not all tracks out there on the platform are in spatial audio, and Amazon doesn’t disclose what number of precise songs embody it, so it’s arduous to quantify how huge the distinct catalog is.

Handy wi-fi options, like AirPlay 2 and direct connections from streaming providers, are again once more. The USB-C port within the rear for each audio system wants an adapter to make use of both Ethernet or Aux-In, as neither port exists right here. Sonos will promote a dual-adapter that comes with each the Ethernet and Aux-In ports collectively, in addition to one other adapter that solely has an Ethernet port.

It’s possible you’ll have to make the most of any one in every of these mixtures if you happen to plan to attach both the Period 300 or Period 100 to a different system, be it a router or playback system. It’s technically doable to attach a DAC (digital-to-analog converter) if you wish to tinker with hi-res and lossless playback, however I can’t be certain how the mix would work. You’ll be able to plug in a turntable, in case you might have a type of kicking round.

What is clear is Alexa would be the solely voice assistant out there. Google Assistant is out, and Sonos claims the reason being “technical” associated to how Google certifies units operating its voice assistant. Given the authorized points between the 2 corporations, I discover that tough to consider, however I did get the sense Sonos just isn’t shutting the door on together with that assist in a future replace. In spite of everything, the elements inside are already able to operating it. There’s a workaround the place you should utilize a Google Nest Mini to ship audio over to the speaker, but it surely’s not going to be as seamless as a built-in setup.

Able to go

Each audio system will probably be out there beginning March 28, with the Sonos Era 300 going for $559.99 and Era 100 at $319.99. They’ll are available in black and white variants, and no plans for any potential third colors, as has occurred earlier than with different fashions within the firm’s lineup.