Sonos Era 300 Evaluate: It’s not just about the spatial audio

The Sonos Era 300 might be the most uncommon design we’ve seen from any of the model’s audio system, but it surely serves its goal effectively. The solely catch is that it’ll take a while for spatial audio to develop right into a staple characteristic.

This speaker can also be distinctive in that it doesn’t exchange something in Sonos’ present lineup. The draw right here is straightforward: you get the Sonos expertise in a speaker that may play loud and do it in additional methods than one. As vital as the spatial audio a part of the equation is, so is the Era 300’s capacity to play hi-res audio with ease. Put collectively, Sonos’ engineering comes off sounding good in constructing a speaker designed to immerse you in the tunes you need to hear and uncover.

Sonos enters a brand new Era

There’s one thing symbolic about how this speaker seemingly bursts out of itself, however it’s by design, after all. How do you get a single speaker to sound like a number of audio system convincingly sufficient that you just’d need to put down $559 to purchase it? The reply, at the very least to me, isn’t about one explicit characteristic. No matter how a lot Sonos markets it, it’s about how inclusive the speaker seems to be.

Sonos is presiding over a walled backyard that’s now not as tightly managed. The firm continues to make concessions, all of which turn into more and more evident in how the Era 300 works. Take, as an illustration, the USB-C port in the rear, which lets you join different merchandise to it through a $25 adapter with 3.5mm line-in and/or Ethernet ports. The Aux-In connection alone opens up all types of potentialities, like a turntable and even an previous iPod, do you have to need to try this. Why not a DAC (digital-to-analog converter) to play music at even larger bit charges?

This form of integrative method would’ve been unthinkable for a Sonos speaker of this calibre just a few years in the past. It’s now the norm, and I don’t see how the firm goes again on that. This is the identical for Bluetooth, which I imagine will now be customary on all its audio system — save for soundbars — going ahead. Not to say Apple’s Airplay 2, which is actually handy for listening to any audio from iOS gadgets.

That form of openness actually units the tone right here as a result of it means you possibly can view the Era 300 as greater than just a brand new speaker introducing a brand new solution to take heed to music. Using extra recycled supplies and making this speaker (together with the Era 100) simpler to restore are different pivots pointing to the identical shift in perspective. Sonos deserved the criticism it obtained over the years for bricking in any other case purposeful audio system just because it might’ve been too troublesome to repair or refurbish them. The new Era audio system might spell the finish of that point.

Setup and app

On cue, Sonos sticks to its penchant for making setup a breeze, and that’s no totally different right here. It might take barely longer if it’s your first Sonos speaker, however solely as a result of you have to arrange an account to start out. Adding it to my current Sonos system was seamless, taking no various minutes.

The Era 300 is able to tuning itself utilizing a built-in model of Sonos’ Trueplay, which makes use of the onboard microphones to gauge the dimensions and acoustics of a room to get issues just proper. It’s cool, however as I skilled with the Era 100, you’re higher off doing it manually via the app in your iPhone. Android customers nonetheless haven’t any choice on that entrance, so that you’re left with two choices: both let the speaker determine it out by itself or borrow a buddy’s iPhone and do it that means. Once you progress the speaker to a different room, although, you’ll have to do it over once more.

Look via the Era 300 settings in the app, and also you’ll discover spatial audio is on by default. That’s the way it ought to be since the impact solely kicks in when it performs tracks coded in Dolby Atmos. Otherwise, it reverts to stereo for every little thing else. That additionally occurs when you select to purchase two Era 300s and stereo pair them collectively for left and proper channels. Dig deeper into the settings, and you’ll alter the peak parameters so as to add extra output from the upward-firing driver. While the different choices seem restricted, like the EQ, taking part in round with them might yield attention-grabbing outcomes.

On the speaker itself, Sonos addressed a key want by crafting an indented quantity slider, together with contact buttons for playback and voice help.

Speaking of that, you gained’t discover Google Assistant on this speaker, probably owing to the authorized points between Sonos and Google. The guts inside can definitely deal with it, so assuming they mend fences, I can see the characteristic coming in through a future replace, however for now, solely Alexa and Sonos’ personal Voice Control do the speaking. That makes the Era 300 each bit a sensible speaker, albeit a shaky one when you’re enmeshed in the Google ecosystem, so it’s a trade-off you must settle for for the time being. Voice Control can also be nonetheless restricted to Sonos Radio, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer (Pandora is simply in the U.S.), however when you’re down with any of these, you’ll like how clean it really works.

Sounds about proper

There’s actual energy inside the Era 300, although Sonos gained’t disclose precisely how a lot. It’s not the form of speaker you must crank up repeatedly to understand the muscle beneath as a result of it’s merely evident when you play one thing good on it.

You’ll discover spatial audio sounds totally different when you play Dolby Atmos tracks. As of this overview, the listing is restricted to Apple Music and Amazon Music, since Tidal, which has spatial audio, nonetheless isn’t on board but. Either means, while you strive it out, the spectacular depth makes you’re feeling the music in attention-grabbing methods. These tracks have been tuned to make the most of the numerous drivers and tweeters in audio system like the Era 300, so totally different devices or parts cascade out of the speaker for a fuller sound.

I’ve skilled know-how like this in the previous, even going again to 2015, so I understand how the waveforms can propagate as if out of skinny air, besides the distinction this time is we’ve got tracks tuned and coded particularly for such a product. I’m not speaking suspension of disbelief right here; you just must belief your ears. But I’ll admit, you do want to boost the quantity a bit to really feel the impact. Having performed music usually on it going again two months, the subtleties turn into simpler to understand.

That’s additionally why I famous hi-res music deserves some limelight as effectively, and for 2 causes. First, spatial audio continues to be rising — obtainable tracks are restricted to a really small fraction of the large libraries obtainable on the hottest streaming apps. Second, hi-res audio is way extra ample compared, and holds the added advantage of at the very least attempting to make stereo sound even higher. The Era 300 already sounds nice in stereo — and I think you’ll agree while you play hi-res tracks on it as effectively. I do know audiophiles may scoff at such a notion, given Sonos is extra crowd-pleaser than puritanical in catering to the lots, however my ears preferred what they heard.

Could you employ the Era 300 as a TV speaker? There are not any HDMI or Toslink ports, so your solely recourse can be Aux-In via the adapter. I attempted it, and whereas good, I’d solely contemplate it if it’s the solely speaker you could have and also you’re prepared to present it a go. Sonos, for its half, made clear to me that it by no means tuned the speaker to sound pretty much as good with TVs, so take that for what it’s value. If your funds is large enough, you may pair two Era 300s as rears with an Arc to create a reasonably thunderous encompass setup.