The fact that Sonos is releasing more speakers may not come as a major surprise, but a recent report provides details on the likely appearance, specifications, and likely price of the company’s upcoming products. According to The Verge, the Sonos Era 300 and 100 are expected to ship in late March. According to reports, the latter will essentially take the place of the Sonos One, which has been available since 2017.
Although it has a more spherical form, the Era 100 has a similar appearance to the One. Meanwhile, it appears as though the physical controls are on an indented bar. The Era 100 apparently offers added capabilities including Bluetooth audio and USB-C line-in connectivity, although it may cost a little more than the $219 One (Sonos is claimed to have floated a $250 pricing). The Era 100 is expected to improve on the Sonos One’s performance by adding a second tweeter (to aid offer stereo music) and a larger mid-woofer for more bass. It is anticipated that the Era 100 will not contain upward-firing drivers.
In contrast, the drum-shaped Era 300 seems to contain controls that are similarly indented and was made with spatial audio in mind. Six drivers are said to be present. According to The Verge, a pair of Era 300 speakers utilized as rear surround speakers in conjunction with an Arc or Beam (Gen 2) soundbar will produce upward-firing Atmos surround sound. The Era 300 is supposed to feature Bluetooth audio and USB-C line-in, just like the Era 100. The Era 300 is predicted to be less expensive than the Sonos Five, coming in at roughly $450.
Although the speaker is said to enable spatial audio from Amazon Music Unlimited, it’s thought that Sonos and Apple Music have not yet struck an agreement to allow Dolby Atmos recordings from Apple Music to be streamed directly on an Era 300. Although there are workarounds combining an Apple TV 4K and Sonos soundbars, it appears that solo Apple Music Dolby Atmos playing will continue to be a HomePod-only feature for the time being.
Both Era speakers feature WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, and AirPlay 2. According to the report, they’ll use Trueplay calibration for Android phones. The first Sonos products to achieve this would be them.
In the meanwhile, it’s anticipated that Sonos would sell a line-in converter for USB-C audio separately. It is also acknowledged that neither speaker has a built-in connector, thus you will need to purchase a “combo adaptor” if you want to connect an Ethernet cable. In any event, in the upcoming weeks we ought to learn more information about both speakers.
