So the Sonos Era 100 was announced along side the larger Sonos Era 300 which has dolby atmos support. Now the Era 100 doesn’t have dolby atmos support, but its still a great sounding speaker. Nonetheless lets see how the Sonos Era 100 stacks up to the HomePod Gen 2 and the Bose Portable smart speaker.
Regarding pricing, the Era 100 is the most affordable speaker here retailing for $250. Next up there’s the HomePod Gen 2 which retails for $300. And finally there’s the Bose Portable smart speaker which is the oldest speaker here and it retails for $400. Now this speaker does cost more than these other two speakers cause it has a built in battery. Now I do expect the bose to go on sale from time to time… but the HomePod and sonos… not so much. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first I think its super important that we talk about connectivity. With the HomePod, this is a speaker that is best used with an iPhone especially cause of it heavy Siri integration, and cause you can only stream music to it with airplay. Now the Sonos is also best used with an iPhone cause it also mainly relies on airplay to stream music to it… but you can still use an android device with the Sonos cause you can either download the Sonos app on your phone and stream music to it through the Sonos app… or you can connect to the Sonos speaker by using bluetooth.
But then theres the bose which plays nice with both iPhone and android. The bose has airplay 2 support so you can stream music to it if your iPhone is connected to the same wifi network as your speaker… but the bose also has chrome cast support, so you can also stream music to it if you’re using an android device. But also, the bose has bluetooth.
Now I know that it sounds very basic that im having to point out that you can connect to either the Sonos or Bose with Bluetooth… but this is a big deal for Sonos cause this is actually new for Sonos. And personally I think having bluetooth on your smart speaker is important, cause this way, if you want to share your speaker with someone, you don’t have to give them your wifi password.
Now continuing on the topic of connectivity, the Sonos is the only speaker here that you can use a wired connection with it. However, in order for you to use a wired connection with this speaker, you have the buy the USB C to audio jack adaptor, which is sold separately, and I think that’s just ridiculous. But with these other two speaker, you can only use them wirelessly.
However, with the HomePod, if you were to get 2 HomePods and if you were to get an apple TV, you can always use them as a home theaters set up, which I am told is pretty underwhelming. Where as with the Sonos, if you have a Sonos soundbar like either an Arc or a beam gen 2, then you can use 2 of the same Sonos speakers as rear satellite speakers… and with the bose, you can’t actually use your bose speaker as a part of your home theater set up if you have a bose soundbar… but you can use it to play music in sync.
Next up there’s the voice assistants on these speakers. The only voice assistant that you can use with the HomePod is Siri… cause its apple, duh. With the Sonos you can use Sonos’s own voice assistant which is going to allow you to control your speaker with just your voice… or you can also use Alexa. But then there’s the Bose where you can use either Alexa or Google Assistant.
But finally, there is one major difference about the bose and that’s, this speaker has a built in battery in it. So you can use it around the house or even outdoors. Where as with these other two speakers, they have to be plugged in. Now the Bose has an advertised battery life of 12 hours, but realistically we’re looking at a battery life of around 8 hours.
Now you can simply have this speaker plugged in all of the time through its USB C port… or you can get Bose’s charging cradle and know that your speaker is always ready to go with a full battery. And the fact that this speaker has a built in battery, it just makes it way more versatile than these other two speakers.
But with compatibility, connectivity, and voice assistants out of the way, we can finally start talking about how these speakers actually sound. Regarding speaker set ups, the Era 100 is a frontward firing speaker, and it has a frontward firing woofer, and dual frontward firing tweeters. Next there’s the HomePod which is a 360 degree speaker and it has an upward firing woofer, and a total of 5 tweeters going all around. And finally there’s the Bose which is also a 360 degree speaker and it has a downward firing woofer and a total of 3 passive radiators.
Now when it comes to placement, ideally you want to place both the HomePod and bose in the center of your room cause these are 360 degree speakers, where as since the era 100 is a frontward firing speaker, you can place this speaker in a cabinet or shelf and it should be fine.
Now before we jump into the soundtest I do have to point out that both the Sonos and Bose sound rather flat when you first take them out of the box. But you can walls adjust the bass and treble on both of these speakers. Now with the Sonos I do like to use it with its bass raised to 50 and I like to use the bose with its bass raised to 30. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test and all of these speakers are playing at 75% volume.
Now first, I think we need to address max volume performance on these speakers. Now in general, all of these speakers are better suited for a small or medium sized room. But the HomePod gets the least loudest here at max volume. Now the bose does get impressively loud for its size, but this speaker does lean towards a brighter sound signature, so at those louder volumes this speaker can sound rather nasally. But finally there’s the Era 100. Not only does this speaker get noticeably louder than the HomePod at max volume… it also sounds fuller at max volume than the Bose. So if max volume performance is very important to you then you’ll want to go with the Era 100.
But now lets talk about the actual sound quality of these speakers. Since the Bose doesn’t have any tweeters on it, I can’t help but notice that this speaker sound the most narrow and has the least impressive instrument separation here. However, the bose does have an impressive amount of physicality its bass, all on its own.
Next up there’s the era 100 and this speaker sounds noticeably more open than the bose and that’s partly due to the tweeters on this speaker which allows it to separate the mids and high. My main critique about this speaker is that there isn’t much physicality in its bass.
However, with this speaker you could always pair one of Sonos’s wireless subwoofers to it and then that way you’re really going to be able to feel your music… but from a costs basis, that doesn’t really make a lot of sense.
But finally there’s the HomePod. Now even though this speaker gets the least loudest here, this speaker does have the best instrument separation here. Making it sound the most open. And unlike the era 100, the HomePod has an impressive amount of physicality in its bass, all on its own. This thing really does like to rattle whatever table its sitting on.
But also, the thing about the HomePod is that its the only speaker here with dolby atoms support. Now what dolby atmos is, instead of your music coming out of the left side and right side of your speaker, and everything just being on the same plane, dolby atmos gives your music a sense of verticality to it. Now everything doesn’t automatically have dolby atmos support, but whether you’re listening to dolby atmos content or not, the HomePod is going to sound noticeably more open than the bose or sonos.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between any of these speakers, the HomePod 2 is the best sounding speaker here. It sounds the most open and it has an impressive amount of physicality in its bass, all on its own. However, this is the quietest speaker here at max volume and it will struggle to fill a large room with sound. And also, keep in mind, this speaker is meant to be used with an iPhone.
Now the Era 100 is also best used with an iPhone… but you can still use an android device with it. Now sound quality wise, this speaker get louder than the HomePod and even at those higher volumes, this speaker still sounds balanced. It doesn’t get nasally like with the Bose. But this speaker doesn’t have as good instrument separation as the HomePod and its bass is a little lacking.
And finally there’s the bose, now this is technically the worst sounding speaker here cause it does sound the most narrow. And at higher volumes, its does sound nasally cause there are no details in the highs. But this is the most versatile speaker here specifically cause it has a built in battery. So this speaker is stuck to a wall outlet like with this other speakers. But also, this speaker plays nice with both iPhone and android cause it has airplay 2 support, it has chromecast, and it also has bluetooth.