The Sonos Era series comprises the spatial audio-focused Era 300 and the Era 100 smart speaker.

The new Era speaker siblings share many features, as you would expect, including wi-fi 6, AirPlay 2, Sonos voice control and Alexa support. Interestingly, for the first time in non-portable Sonos speakers, there is also Bluetooth 5.0 alongside a USB-C line-in port, enabling hard-wired connection to a source.

If you want to hook up some 'legacy' hi-fi to the Sonos Era speakers, say a turntable or CD player, add the Line-In Adapter and Sonos Combo Adapter to your shopping list. Thankfully, they only cost £19 and come in black or white to match the speakers.

As well as going solo, the Era 100 and Era 300 can be used as stereo pairs, as surround rears in a home theatre set-up, and handle audio files up to 24-bit/48kHz from Qobuz and Amazon Music streaming services.

Physical control of the Era speakers is via a new top panel interface featuring capacitive touch controls and a funky volume slider or 'trough'. Naturally, you can also use the Sonos S2 app, and access even more features, including multi-room system grouping with other Sonos products, music playback from supported streaming services and Sonos Radio. Furthermore, Trueplay room is now also available to Android users as well as the iOS crowd.

SONOS ERA 300

We are told that Era 300 was designed specifically for spatial audio playback using Dolby Atmos tracks. This explains the Era 300's form-follows-function cinched hourglass design thanks to the speaker's internal acoustic architecture.

The Sonos Era 300 contains six drivers (four tweeters, two woofers) with custom waveguides that fire audio out forwards, upwards, left and right, surrounding you with music. Each of the six drivers is powered by its own class D amplifier.

Anyone wondering if this means that the Era 300 could be employed as Dolby Atmos rears in a surround system with, say, a Sonos Arc or Beam Gen 2 soundbar and a Sub – the answer is yes, according to Sonos.

Sonos states the Era 300 “currently supports Dolby Atmos Music via Amazon Music Unlimited”. However, Apple Music is on its way for spatial audio fans in ANZ, where Sonos customers will have access to spatial audio on Apple Music from March 29, 2023. We are taking it that this will also roll out to other territories. Still, no word as to if this will be opened up to TIDAL's Dolby Atmos or Qobuz's spatial audio catalogue as well, though.

SONOS ERA 100

The Era 100 is the new Sonos One replacement, and rather than being a refresh, there is nothing left of the Sonos One in the Era 100.

Some might say it is about time, as the One Gen 2 was released in 2017, but it is always tricky approaching your best-selling product as any significant changes could quickly alter those fortunes.

The Era 100 delivers stereo sound instead of the One's mono output, so that's a good start. Sound is supplied by two angled tweeters with custom waveguides designed to deliver “detailed stereo separation” and a 25 per cent bigger woofer that promises deeper bass. Three class D amplifiers power the drivers.

Owing to its smaller form factor, Sonos says Era 100 won't do justice to spatial audio/Dolby Atmos tracks; that's the job of the Era 300. However, you can still use the Era 100 as rear speakers with a whole range of Sonos soundbars: Arc, Beam Gen 1 and Beam Gen 2, and Ray.

GREEN ERA

Sonos says its new products' sustainability and longevity were paramount when designing them. The result is that the Era speakers can be more easily repaired and fully serviced by Sonos thanks to more screws than glue used in the construction; they are made with “a high percentage of” post-consumer recycled plastic (more than 40 per cent, claims Sonos); and they use less power (under 2 watts) when in idle mode.

Both models are available in black or white from March 28, with the Sonos Era 300 priced at £449/ €499, while the Era 100 costs £249/ €279.

Visit Sonos for more information