In the experiment, we used the Sonos ERA-300 network speaker – Sounding the room full

Sonos recently released two new wireless speakers, the Era 100 and the Era 300. The larger Era 300 caught attention at the press conference with its exceptionally convincing and spacious sound. And it’s no wonder.

Text: Teppo Hirvikunnas
Photos: Teppo Hirvikunnas and the manufacturer

The Era 300 is a wireless speaker located at the top of the Sonos range. It is already quite large in size; not a small bedside product, but rather a real speaker that should be placed in the living room. The design is unique but still stylish. The price for the speaker is a hefty 499 euros. The color options are black or white.

Era 300 belongs to Sonos’ reliable ecosystem, meaning it’s used with the Sonos app and can be integrated into the brand’s multi-room system. The app is familiar and easy to use, and of course includes all the most popular online streaming services.

The speaker also has Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, Alexa, and Sonos’ own voice control (in English). The Era 300 can also be connected to a line-level device, but that requires purchasing a separate 25-euro USB-C adapter. Two Era 300 speakers can be connected in stereo pairs, and there is also a wall mount and floor stand available.

Full of stuff

The Sonos Era 300 is a veritable showcase of engineering excellence. The packaging is filled with technology and speakers. Technically, it is a full-fledged two-way speaker alongside broadband speakers designed for spatial audio. It is precisely in these that the Era 300’s ability to create a wide soundscape lies, more of which we’ll discuss later.

The D-class amplifier has six channels. There is no mention of power, but based on the experiment, there is more than enough power for even a larger room.

The speaker was easy to set up with the help of the Sonos app. Using the app is also easy, although it might be a bit slow at times compared to streaming apps. There are also touch buttons on the device for quick volume adjustment and changing tracks.

The Sonos app is familiar and easy to use, although it can sometimes be a bit slow to respond. It includes, of course, all the most popular online music streaming services. The Trueplay function adjusts the playback to the room. You can try it, but we had better sound without it. The room volume can also be adjusted in the app. The sound can also be adjusted using bass and treble controls. With the update, the device now also supports Apple Music Spatial Audio -for room audio playback.

Video of the Sonos Era 300 speaker launch.

Much larger in size

Era 300 sounds absolutely stunning in its class. Somehow, Era 300 just manages to create a much larger sound that also seems to fill the entire room. The spaciousness and listening experience are truly mind-blowing. The sound sounds great almost everywhere in the room. Although it’s not necessarily high-end, the sound is primarily clear, pleasant, and full-bodied. In the bass, there’s a real punch for its size. The sound really fills the entire room and sounds much larger than it actually is, as if it came from somewhere other than the speakers, especially on recordings using spatial audio technology.

Sonos Era 300 is supported Apple Spatial Audio -technique. The spaciousness effect was certainly greater on some recordings than on others, and of course it must be noted that this is, after all, just an ordinary stand-alone speaker. Not exactly a “hi-fi product”. The spatial sound can only really come into its own when placed on a shelf, not shoved into a shelf.

Sonos also uses a software program called Trueplay that uses the speaker’s built-in microphones to measure room acoustics and fine-tune the equalizer. In practice, when you place the Sonos speaker in the desired location, it plays a series of signals and listens to how they reflect in the room. In our testing, Trueplay worked and did its job, but in our experiment the sound quality was better when it was turned off. However, it’s worth adjusting the setting and then deciding whether it’s beneficial to do so.

Further information: Sonos.com