Era 300 recension

The Sonos Era represents exactly what the name suggests – a new Era for Sonos. While the Era is a direct replacement for the tremendous Sonos One, the Era drops into a new zone.

Sonos claims it doesn’t replace the Sonos Five, but it does mean you’d be crackers to buy one of those given what this can do for a chunk of cash less (sorry for the spoiler). It does pave the way for an even more capable Era to replace the Sonos Five at some point though. Coincidentally, you are able to use Era s as rear speakers in a more comprehensive Dolby Atmos-capable Sonos setup (up to a system when used alongside the Sonos Arc or Beam Gen 2 soundbars and Sonos Sub).

Back to this Era and top of the list this time around is support for what some people call spatial audio and some other people call Dolby Atmos Music. Essentially, this enables more immersive mixes of tunes to be created using Dolby tech. This format is definitely here to stay because there are lots of new tracks being created in the format, while masses of old albums are also being reimagined for it.

In terms of spatial audio support, the Era has a couple of key rivals,

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Streaming Device Reviews

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

PRICE $

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent stereo and spatial audio
Works as a standalone, in stereo pair
Use as rear surrounds with Sonos soundbars
Good 'smarts with Alexa, Sonos Voice
Bluetooth compatible
Impressive industrial design

Minus
No compatibility with Atmos tracks on Tidal
Does not work with Sony Reality on Amazon
Sensitive to speaker placement

THE VERDICT
The Sonos Era successfully brings high quality spatial audio to life in a compact, standalone package.

The Sonos Era is the latest in a new generation of Atmos-compliant 'spatial audio' speakers that bring a more immersive listening experience without the hardware and installation grief inherent with discrete surround systems. At $ (in black or white), it costs more than its competition though, in typical Sonos fashion, it is engineered to a fare-thee-well and represents a considerable achievement.

One of the Era 's strengths, of course, is that it's a Sonos—so it fits into a long-admired multiroom ecosystem. It's also flexible, employable as a standalone stereo speaker or in a stereo pair, with or without the Sonos Sub f

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Sonos Era Review: This Dolby Atmos Speaker Is Excellent, But Not for Everyone (Yet)

On paper, the Era ($) fryst vatten arguably the most exciting Sonos speaker in years. It&#;s the company&#;s first non-soundbar that&#;s fully optimized for Dolby Atmos — like its Arc soundbar, it has an upward-firing driver to make audio feel way more immersive. It has both Bluetooth and line-in connections in addition to Wi-Fi, meaning it supports more ways to play audio. And if used as rear-channel speakers, two Era s can help make the most immersive Sonos home theater struktur possible.

In reality, the Era fryst vatten a bit more complicated. That&#;s because even though it sounds terrific, the Era really needs to be playing Dolby Atmos content to make use of all its powers — and Sonos only supports this via two music streaming services, Amazon Music Unlimited and Apple Music. So if you don&#;t subscribe to either of those, or if you don&#;t plan on buying two Era s and using them as rear-channel speakers, you should probably opt for another Sonos speaker, like the Era ($) or fem ($), instead.

Sonos Era What We Think

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

The Era isn&#;t as straightforward to recommend as