So this is the Sonos Era 300, and as per the CEO… this is a new Era for music. Now without a doubt, the new Sonos Era 300 sounds great… but there’s definitely a lot that you should know about this great sounding speaker before you buy it.
Regarding pricing, the Era 300 retails for $450… and given that this is Sonos, I don’t expect this speaker to go on sale that often and if it does, its not going to go on sale by much. Now if you’re a Sonos fanboy, you’re going to be very happy with this speaker, but if this is your first Sonos speaker, you are going to want to pay attention. Nonetheless, if you want to pick this speaker up, it’ll be linked down below.
Now first, I want to talk about the set up process about this speaker, cause this is just one of the things that I dislike most about Sonos. Before you can actually use this product, you have to connect it to wifi and get it registered to your account. Personally, I just hate that this is a thing. And in general, this is a wifi first type of speaker, meaning, that wherever you plan on placing this speaker, just make sure that its going to have a solid wifi connection. Cause if not, you’re going to have a bad time. Also, since this speaker has upwards firing tweeters, you’re not going to want to place this speaker somewhere where its top is obstructed. Which means you can’t put this speaker in a cabinet, you want to put it somewhere where its going to have a direct line of sight to the ceiling. And also, this thing is pretty dense weighing in at almost 10 pounds… but it doesn’t take up too much surface area.
Now overall, I like the overall look of this speaker, its got a unique design to it, its using matte plastic and its comes in either black or white. So this thing should be able to fit in almost anywhere. And I also really appreciate that it comes with a decently long 6 foot power cable and we’ve got touch controls up top… touch controls that you can deactivate from their app. the only thing that I don’t like about this speaker is how janky this power cable looks, it just sticks out the back. Where as with the Era 100, its neatly tucked away under the speaker.
But now, lets talk about connectivity cause there’s a lot that we have to track down here. Like I mentioned earlier, this is a wifi first speaker, so wherever you place this speaker, you want to make sure that it has a solid wifi connection. Now if you’re an iPhone user, then using this speaker is super easy cause you can just stream music to it cause this speaker has airplay 2 support.
Whereas if you’re an android user, this speaker doesn’t have chrome cast. So if you want to stream music to it, you have to open Sonos’s app, you have to link your streaming service of choice, and then you have to select your music while inside of Sonos’s app. These are just extra steps that I just don’t want to have to do when all I want to do is play music. So I just feel that if you do decide to get this speaker, your life is going to be a little easier if you’re an iPhone user.
However, something that’s new for Sonos here is that this speaker now has bluetooth… I know, it sounds wild to have bluetooth on your speaker. But sometimes, you just need bluetooth. So if you’re an android user you can just use Bluetooth and make your life a little easier… but also, I just think that its important to have bluetooth on your speaker cause this way you can share your speaker with someone, without having to share your wifi password.
But now this leads us to the USB C port on that back of this speaker. Now Sonos says that you’re not supposed to this USB C as a charging port fro your own devices… but I haven’t had any issues… but obviously you’re not going to get any fast charging. However, this USB C port is meant to be used as a line in for this speaker, so you can use it with a wired connection. The problem is, you don’t get a USB C to audio jack adaptor… that’s sold separately. Personally, I do think this is a little ridiculous, I think this speaker should just have a built in audio jack, or at least come included with the adaptor.
But also, Sonos also sells a separate adapter which has both a 3.5 millimeter audio jack, and it also has an ethernet port… just incase you want to hardwire this speaker into your home network. I still think this speaker should have a built in audio jack cause I think a good amount of people will still want to use that… but as for the ethernet port… I do think that’s a much more niche case.
But wait, we’re not done about talking about connectivity with this speaker. Now in general, this speaker doesn’t have a lot of bass to it… but you can always fix that by connecting any of Sonos’s wireless Subs to this speaker. So you’re going to have a lot more physicality in your music.
But also, if you were to get 2 of the same types of speakers… you can always use them as surround sound speakers with your Sonos sound bar. Just keep in mind, you can only do this if you have a Sonos Arc, which I do feel is due for an upgrade, or with the Sonos Beam Gen 2.
But next up there are the voice assistants on this speaker. You can either use Sonos’s own voice assistant and you're going to be able to control your music playback, and you can tell it to groups your speakers together and you can even tell it to play or pause your music in specific rooms. But also, you can use Alexa with this speaker, but unfortunately there is no google assistant here.
Now, even though this speaker does have built in microphones so that you can talk to your voice assistant, and also so that I can calibrate itself to your room… if you’re privacy conscious like I am, you can always deactivate the microphones on this speaker but using the switch on the back. And this will disconnect the microphones on this speaker from power, on a hardware level.
But with all of that out of the way, we can finally start talking about how this speaker actually sounds. Now regarding speaker set ups, this speaker has a pair of woofers that shoots out the sides, and then there’s a total of 4 tweeters on this speaker. There’s one frontward firing tweeter, there’s a pair of tweeters that shoot out the sides and there’s one tweeter that shoot upwards. So, just given this speaker’s speaker setup, you do want to place this speaker somewhere where its not going to get obstructed, or get it cluttered with out things around it.
Now before we jump into the soundtest, I do have to point out that through Sonos’s app you can customize its EQ. You can adjust the bass or treble. Now out of the box, this speaker does sound very flat, so I do like to increase its bass by five clicks. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. Now this isn’t an apples to apple comparison, but I do feel that it is a fair comparison, price wise. We’re going to be comparing the Era 300 to the Sony XG500 which has dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And we’re also going to be including the JBL Boombox 3 here which has a frontward firing subwoofer, dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides.
Sound test
Now max volume wise, the Era 300 gets impressively loud for its size, cause when compared to the Boombox 3 and XG500, the Era 300 is very compact. However, in this sound test these other two speakers were playing at a slightly lower volume and in general these other two speakers do get a little louder. But im defeneitly not going to deduct points here for the Era 300, the ear is going to have no problem filling a medium to large sized room with sound.
Now sound performance wise, the Era doesn’t have a ton of physicality in its bass… and personally im not too surprised cause Sonos’s speakers never really have a ton of physicality in their bass… but like I mentioned earlier, you can always connect a Sonos subwoofer to this speaker to compensate for its lack of bass.
However, where the Era 300 really shines is just how natural and life like this speaker can sound. With the Boombox 3, it can sound a little on the brighter side, where as with the XG500, it can sound a little on the warmer side and a little more narrow. But with the Era 300, its right in the middle. Its got prominent vocals but the highs aren’t over emphasized.
However, just given this speaker’s layout, this speaker also does an incredible job of sounding super open. And also, thanks to this speaker’s upwards firing tweeters, that’s what gives this speaker Dobly Atmos support. Now what dolby atmos is, instead of your sound sounding like its just coming out of the left or right side, Dolby Atmos also gives you a sense of verticality in your music. That’s why upward firing tweeters on this speaker is a big deal. But regardless, if you’re listening to dolby atoms content or not, this speaker still sounds really good.
So overall, I can’t deny that this is a great sounding speaker. Thanks to its speaker setup, the Era 300 does an amazing job of evenly filling a room with music, and it also has very impressive instrument separation. And it also gets impressively loud for its compact size. The only thing that I feel that this speaker is lacking in is physicality in its bass.
Nonetheless, the Sonos Era 300 is a great sounding speaker, but you are paying a premium cause its a Sonos speaker and cause its a smart speaker. Now if you already have a Sonos sound bar or any other Sonos speaker, the Era is going to be a great addition to your set up. Or if you plan on buying more Sonos speakers in the future… the Era 300 is a great place to start.
But there are somethings that I feel that you have to keep in mind before buying this speaker. First off, you are going to get a little more out of it is your an iPhone user. Since this is a wifi first speaker, airplay is kind of important. But personally, I dislike how aggressive Sonos is to make you sign in into your Sonos account before you can even use this speaker. Also, if you plan on using a wired connection with this speaker, just be ready to buy that USB C to audio jack adaptor, which is sold separately.
So, if you’re not already heavily invested in Sonos’s eco system, or if you don’t plan on buying more Sonos products in the future, or if you don’t need your speaker to be smart and to connect to your wifi… you can definitely find more affordable solutions that sound great, you can get a bigger bang for your buck by buying some other speaker.
But if you are set on buying the Sonos Era 300, it truly is a great sounding speaker. It does a great job of giving you a life like representation of what you’re listening to. I just feel the you’re paying a Sonos tax for it.