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Sonos unveils the Sonos Ace: a $450 pair of Bluetooth headphones, coming June 5th

Sonos announced its long rumored entry into the very competitive market of wireless over ear headphones today with the Sonos Ace. The company is touting this as a major launch, with CEO Patrick Spence saying in earnings calls this product could be what turns the company’s relatively slow financial performance around.

I’m not enough of an finance expert to say whether the Ace are in fact going to become a billion-dollar product for Sonos, or even how today’s announcement will be received by the company’s vocal fanbase, but the Ace are certainly not what I would expect if you told me Sonos was making a pair of headphones, and this launch suggests Sonos is taking a somewhat different approach to courting new customers.

The Specs

The Sonos Ace will cost $449 and go on sale June 5th. They’re bluetooth headphones and offer the features you’d expect for this price class: 40mm drivers, active noise cancellation (which Sonos claims is “world class”), and even AptX Lossless support for Android phones. They also support USB-C line-in like the Era 100, 300 and Move 2, but unlike those speakers you won't need to buy a dongle to connect your phone; a USB-C to C cable will work just fine. Sonos also includes a USB-C to 3.5mm aux cable for any devices you own with headphone jacks. The Ace come in Black or Soft White at launch, and I'm hoping to see more colors released down the line like Sonos did with the Roam.

The construction of the Ace uses plastics and some stainless steel in the headband, though not nearly as much as the Apple AirPods Max. The Ace weighs in at 312 grams compared to the Max at a hefty 385 grams. They're still heavier than the Bose QC Ultra (254 grams) and Sony WH-1000xm5 (249 grams) but Sonos promises that it has nailed the weight distribution here to avoid discomfort. As someone who sold their Airpods Max because of how heavy and uncomfortable they proved to be over time, I’m looking forward to putting the comfort of these to the test. 

The Ace is mainly controlled by a single mechanism on the right earcup Sonos calls the “content key.” It’s a metal button that can also slide up and down, enabling volume and playback control from a single interaction point, similar to the digital crown on the AirPods Max or simplified playback controls on Bose headphones. This is a huge plus in my book over the finicky touch controls brands like Sony prefer. ANC control and power-on also get their own buttons but they’re not as pronounced as the content key so users should have no issue confusing any of them.

The Ace is also the first Sonos device that can be entirely set up without using the Sonos app, ironic given the ongoing controversy Sonos has courted with the app redesign. The Ace will work out of the box with any bluetooth enabled device, and customers can unlock additional functionality like enabling head-tracking for spatial audio or adjusting EQ settings in the app.

The last thing I’ll note here is that while the Sonos Ace are bluetooth headphones and will not connect to your home Wi-Fi network at all, they will offer some integration with users’ Sonos home systems at launch. If you own a Sonos Arc, and only an Arc for now, the Ace will be able to pair to your soundbar and provide an experience that “envelops you in dramatically detailed sound from all directions” according to press materials shown to Pixel Dash. Sonos calls this feature TV audio swap, and this is what sets the Ace apart from all its competitors on paper at least, and if all else is equal, could be the difference maker when buyers pick them up.

The Angle

Sonos seems to be pushing the Ace more as an entryway into its ecosystem than another cog in users' existing setups. It only connects to the company’s most expensive soundbar at launch (the cheaper Beam and Ray soundbars will get Ace support down the road but Sonos only says that's "coming soon"). Wireless, lossless audio listening is limited to android phones capable of AptX Lossless, or use of a USB-C cable.

Without direct Wi-Fi streaming to the Ace from the Sonos app, it's also important to note that listening to Dolby Atmos music for iPhone users could be quite difficult if my past experience with other non-AirPods devices is anything to go off.

I don't want to sound too dismissive of TV audio swapping, just that some Sonos fans may be disappointed that this is the only way the Ace can integrate with a Sonos system. That's not to say Sonos doesn't have an advantage with how this feature has been implemented.

When pairing the Ace with an Arc, the headphones connect over a 5Ghz direct Wi-Fi connection, the same way other Sonos products like a subwoofer or speakers set as surrounds do. This connection is rock-solid and also lossless.

(Edit 5/22- The Verge is reporting that the connection between the Sonos Ace and Arc is 345kbps, or slightly higher than the 320kbps that AAC bluetooth headphones utilize. We'll need to test how aggressive and noticeable the compression is in our review before drawing further conclusions.)

While AirPods can connect to an Apple TV 4K to provide a personal surround soundscape to users as well, they do so over a hyper compressed Bluetooth signal. Roku's long-standing feature to let users connect wired headphones to some of its remotes also leans on Bluetooth. Sonos' implementation should be able to send uncompressed, Dolby Atmos audio to the Ace fed directly from your TV’s eARC port, so hopefully Sonos puts all that extra data to good use.

Sonos added that later this year it’s launching a feature called TrueCinema, which will alter the Ace’s audio processing to make it seem like the surround and Atmos effects are coming from the room instead of the headphones. According to press materials shown to Pixel Dash, “TrueCinema technology will map your space and render a surround sound experience so realistic you'll forget you're wearing headphones.” I’m assuming this will be an expansion on Sonos’ TruePlay technology that will give the Ace enough data to map sound more accurately than they will at launch. Pixel Dash has reached out to Sonos to clarify how exactly TrueCinema will work and will include any response in our review of the Ace.

Sonos is offering a compelling package with the Ace. The price is fairly in line with the rest of the premium headphones market and the features match up as well. Whether or not the added ability to pair to a Sonos Arc will be the difference maker is something only time will tell. If the sound quality and comfort are able to best Sony, Bose, and Apple then that might be enough to make first-time Sonos buyers choose the Ace as their first product, and I’m sure Sonos hopes those buyers will pick up an Arc down the line if they're interested in putting TV audio swapping to the test.

The major question is if existing Sonos customers will buy the Ace in droves as well. Every Sonos fan knows that these systems are built piece by piece with the expansion of your Sonos system becoming somewhat of a habit. The Ace's limitations as a new piece to a Sonos system could leave some users disappointed, but since Sonos says the Ace are its most requested product, I'm willing to bet plenty of existing customers will be placing their pre-orders today.

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Sonos Move 2 Review: A beloved speaker becomes a great one

Ok I get it now. 

The original Sonos Move never caught my eye. Why would I spend $400 on a portable version of a Sonos One, an “ok but not amazing” speaker? That speaker has its fans however, and has been praised for its versatility over the rest of Sonos’ lineup despite its limitations on battery life and connectivity.

With the Move 2, a $450 successor, Sonos is hoping to make more people convert to the original speaker’s philosophy. The new speaker is now capable of true stereo playback like the Era 100, plus it integrates the more modern approach to Bluetooth connectivity introduced with the Sonos Roam. Add on 24-hour battery life (more than double the Sonos Move’s), plus USB-C connectivity and design tweaks to catch up with Sonos’ Era speakers, and the Move 2 comes out to be one of the best rounded standalone speakers I’ve ever tested. It’s not a perfect product, but it is a nearly perfect execution of the original Move’s mission.

The Ideal Use Case

I’ll start by saying what the Move 2 isn’t, and why this assumption is what kept me away from its predecessor. The Move 2 is not intended to sit places you would otherwise use an Era 100. The two speakers do offer very comparable audio experiences, and they’re both able to be used as Alexa smart speakers if you need, but the Move 2 is also larger and more expensive than the Era 100. If you want to grab multiple speakers for each room, the Era 100 is still the way to go. 

I found the Move 2 best suited for the places you listen to music often but not always, or somewhere you’d appreciate good music but may not have the space to squat an always plugged-in speaker. It’s a complimentary speaker to a growing Sonos system. 

In my case, I kept the Move 2 on its charging dock in our kitchen for the majority of my testing, and would often take it by its integrated interior grip to the bathroom for podcast-listening in the shower. This wasn’t so much to evaluate critical listening as it was to test the versatility so many Move fans raved about. I found the Move 2 to be much more enjoyable to use here compared to my Sonos Roam, mainly because the Move 2 is always on and the Roam rarely is unless you leave it plugged in to a USB-C cable or buy Sonos’ $50 magnetic wireless charging pad (the Roam works with any Qi pad but it’s not as elegant). This makes connecting to the Move 2 a quicker, more seamless process than the Roam, which takes about a minute to wake up. I also have occasional connectivity issues with the Roam that are absent with the Move 2.

Hardware Changes

My biggest gripe with the Move 2’s hardware is its charging solution. The charging base itself is fine, if not a bit large, but the 45W power adapter Sonos includes is just too large. This charger is smaller than the original Move’s but it still juts out too far from the wall to be hidden behind furniture. There are some flat-profile chargers out there that use gallium-nitride that would have been a better fit for the Move 2, and Sonos should have included one here. While it’s good you can connect the charging base to any third-party charger now, this shouldn’t be a problem users need to solve.

The Move 2’s Type-C port is upgraded over the original, now capable of accepting audio inputs from Sonos’ line-in adapter. You can also use the Move 2 as a battery bank for your smartphone with a direct Type-C connection, but power is all you can get out of the Move 2 on your phone. Sonos still doesn’t let you use the Move 2 as a USB audio device and forces users to pay for an adapter. It’s an even more disappointing limitation here than it was on the Era 100 and 300 speakers. With those speakers, the primary intent of the USB-C port is to let you connect to a record or CD player. If Sonos wants us to take the Move 2 outside, why not let us send music directly from our phones without a dongle too?

Bluetooth is arguably the biggest usability upgrade with the Move 2. The original required you to flip a switch on the speaker to go between WiFi and Bluetooth mode. Now, just like the Roam and Era speakers, Bluetooth can be enabled while still keeping the speaker on WiFi. This means you can use the Move 2 as a Bluetooth receiver for your whole home system if a friend wants to share music from their device without hopping on to your WiFi network. Bluetooth connections are snappy to initiate, with the Move 2 appearing in my phone’s Bluetooth menu within seconds, just like the Era speakers. 

Great sound for everywhere you go

Audio quality from the Move 2 is predictably comparable to the Era 100 but not identical. Both speakers showcase Sonos’ typical audio tuning choices with clear vocals and rich-not-boomy bass. The stereo tweeters really do produce pleasing highs and mids, with female vocals benefitting the most over the company’s older mono speakers. This isn’t a speaker anyone would buy for critical listening to scratch their HiFi itch, but it will impress the average listener far more than most off the shelf Bluetooth speakers.

While the Move 2 isn’t the most elegant speaker to take on a quick hike, it does sound amazingly clear outdoors. Think of it more as the campout speaker in your pack, with the Roam being the one that makes the hike. Outdoor testing was when I most appreciated the Move 2’s always-on Auto TruePlay. The speaker is loud enough alone to overcome the rush of my shower water without adjustments, but outdoors it’s doing a lot more work to sound good. I could play the Move 2 at much lower volumes than I assumed I’d need to and still appreciate the playlist my fianceé had curated for our picnic date in the park. There are LOTS of loud and large Bluetooth speakers out there meant for this use case, but the Move 2 is the only one that can blend in as a home speaker when you get back.

A great speaker, caveats and all

If you’re hoping to use the Move 2 in most places you’d otherwise use an Era 100, it is mostly up to that task save for some key limitations. The most obvious to me in my testing is that the bass on the Move 2 isn’t quite as impactful at high volumes. At volume level 80, there’s a noticeable roll off in the bass compared to the Era 100, and you can tell the mid-woofer is no longer proportionally increasing volume with the tweeters. This leaves music feeling a bit empty at high volumes which will be a problem in larger spaces. I suspected this was a limitation brought on by the Move 2’s battery housing, and that Sonos needs to limit the woofer to protect the more delicate parts of the enclosure. Sonos confirmed to Pixel Dash that the bass roll off is intentional to "protect the power system and sound experience."

Another use case you should avoid with the Move 2 is stereo pairing. Yes, it works, but at $900 Sonos has some superior alternatives. If you just want a stereo pair of speakers for stereo music playback, two Era 100s will serve you best for $500, and provide better bass output at high volumes. If you can afford to drop $900 on your sound system, a pair of Era 300s will sound infinitely better than a pair of Move 2s and offer compatibility with Dolby Atmos tracks to boot. Plus, both the Era 100 and 300 systems can be paired with a Sonos Sub down the line, where a pair of Move 2s is locked out of Sub compatibility. 

I can wholeheartedly recommend the Move 2 to anyone who had their doubts about the original Move, like myself, who is looking at outfitting their home with several Sonos speakers. The Move 2 is a great alternative for those more occasional spaces, while Sonos’ wall-powered speakers should be your anchor in the spaces you always want sound available. The Move 2 will fit well in your home as well as any Sonos speaker, while offering unparalleled flexibility. This also makes it a great starter speaker for anyone looking to get into the Sonos ecosystem, provided you can afford its asking price. The Move 2 marks the end of a very exciting year for Sonos fans and leaves the company’s core offerings stronger than ever as it expands into more new markets going forward. 

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Fall audio products preview

Apple may only have a USB-C update to its AirPods lineup in the immediate works but the rest of the world of consumer audio products isn’t resting. Here are two announced and one rumored product launch that have me excited from some of my favorite brands in the space. 

You can expect reviews on nearly all of these products as I secure units.

Sonos Moves 2 a more exciting portable offering

The Sonos Move was a product that I could never recommend for a multitude of reasons despite its rabid fanbase. It was expensive, heavy, and had limited functionality as a portable, plus subpar battery life. So why am I excited about the Move 2?

The Move 2 is $50 more expensive than its predecessor at $449 and still quite heavy thanks to its 44Wh battery (all in it weighs the same as the original Move). But, with this generation, I feel Sonos has done enough to warrant not only the price increase, but also entirely justify the concept the original Move was trying to meet.

The Move 2, like the Era 100, makes the jump to stereo tweeters over its predecessor, but has the same sized midwoofer as the Move. I found the Era 100 to provide more detailed sound than the Sonos One, even if it still can’t provide much stereo separation, thanks to the nixing of downmixing stereo tracks to mono output. I expect many of the same benefits to carry over to the Move 2, and Sonos has confirmed to me that Era 100 owners looking at a Move 2 should expect comparable sound quality out of both products. 

The increase of battery life from 11 to 24 hours will likely be the biggest reason most users upgrade or finally grab a Move 2. The JBL Xtreme series, arguably the default “large portable speaker” in the minds of most consumers, had the original Move’s battery life beat by 5 hours. Ultimate Ears’ Megaboom 3 was pushing 20 hours of battery. Sonos now has nearly all of its closest size competitors beat with a claimed 24 hours of battery, matching the massive JBL Boombox 3. I greatly look forward to testing Sonos’ claims. 

Sonos has also upgraded the wireless capabilities of the Move 2 to be on par with the Sonos Roam. Bluetooth can now be used alongside Wi-Fi, allowing you to use the Move 2 as a Bluetooth transmitter for the rest of your Sonos system (the previous generation made you switch between Bluetooth or Wi-Fi). The upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 should also make wireless connections more reliable on crowded networks provided you have a compatible router.

If Sonos meets expectations it could have the ultimate kitchen speaker on its hands. A great sounding speaker that is meant to live in one place but can easily be brought anywhere you’d like music in a pinch, with reliable battery life for longer days.

Bose (possibly) rectifies its headphone offering

Thanks to the always intrepid Chris Welch, we were treated to some photos of Bose’s upcoming wireless headphones courtesy of The Verge: the QuietComfort Ultra. These headphones look like the true update to the iconic QuietComfort headphone silhouette Bose should have shipped instead of the bold but ultimately compromised NC 700. 

The NC 700 were a direct response to the rapid rise of Sony’s WH-1000xm line, and were the kickoff to the annoying trend of wireless headphones ditching the ability to fold into a compact carrying case. Now, Bose is returning to a refreshed design that is clearly in-step with the current QC45 headphones, but with premium touches and updates to the tried and true profile. 

Welch also reports that Bose will be showcasing its take on the spatial audio trend. I’m immediately skeptical of this without confirmation the headphones will actually be decoding Dolby Atmos audio. If Bose is just messing with stereo tracks, I’m doubtful this will be more than a gimmick people quickly disable in their control apps, but I’ll need to get my hands on a unit once Bose actually confirms a release. 

Welch was also able to confirm a successor to the incredible QuietComfort Earbuds II is in the works, also taking on the Ultra branding. These won’t be a design refresh but will adopt Bose’s spatial audio implementation.

The QC45 are still the most comfortable wireless headphones you can buy and I’m thrilled to see that Bose is sticking with what works as it fills the premium gap in its lineup the NC 700 never quite satisfied. We’ll have to wait for Bose’s official announcement to learn more.

Jabra takes its shot at the AirPods Pro

Jabra announced its new flagship wireless earbuds at IFA with the Jarba Elite 8 ($199) and Elite 10 ($249)- true successors to the Elite 85t. The Elite 8 look like they could be the natural evolution of the compact earbud shape Jabra has been tweaking since the Elite 7 Pro came out two years ago. They’re insanely durable, with ratings that go above and beyond what we typically see from earbud manufacturers. They’re IP68 rated for full water submersion and dust resistance, but also meet the U.S. Military Standard for ruggedized electronics at (810H according to Jabra). They’ve also undergone HACT testing for exposure to corrosive environments like high heat, humidity, and salt water. If you live by a beach and find that your daily runs near the ocean are taking a toll on your gadgets, the Elite 8 have the certifications to show they should earn your confidence. 

The Elite 10 are more of a next-step in Jabra’s design, with a primary focus on comfort and sound quality being their big draw. Jabra says the buds fit by sitting near the outside of your ear instead of needing to be twisted in your canal for a good seal, while still promising the best ANC the company has ever delivered. Hefty claims for sure, and the Elite 10 bears the price tag to match, going head to head with the second gen AirPods Pro at $249. This is definitely the pair from Jabra I’m most eager to review. Jabra has always offered outstanding earbuds for those on a budget, so let’s see what it can do at the top end of the market. 

Both the Elite 8 and 10 offer various implementations of Dolby Atmos, with the Elite 10 offering Dolby head tracking to round out the experience. Like with Bose, you can color me skeptical until proven otherwise here, but it’s at least good to see that Jabra worked with Dolby on these implementations instead of going it alone like we’ve seen from other brands that offer “3D” sound profiles. 

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Sonos Era 100 review: the only good "smart" speaker

The Sonos Era 100 may not have gotten all the hype its big brother, the Era 300, received, but it's arguably the most important speaker Sonos has released in years.

The Era 100 is a thoughtful update to the iconic Sonos One speaker and, like that speaker, offers the advantages of a smart speaker without having to sacrifice on terrific sound quality. It brings a brand new design, meaningfully upgraded audio quality, and modern touches to Sonos' tried and true hardware features.

While any of Sonos' microphone-equipped speakers can be installed with Amazon Alexa for smart home control or asking for the weather report, I'm not sure how many people are planning to run their smart homes off an Era 300 or Sonos Arc.

The Era 100, then, finds itself alone in a crowded field of the smart speakers that do make sense to run your whole home from. This is the only smart speaker that actually sounds great, and that goes a long way.

Smart speaker prowess

I'll start by clarifying I am not the biggest fan of Amazon Alexa on principle (I use Apple HomeKit despite its limitations). The company's record on privacy and police compliance is abysmal, and I'm not keen in giving Amazon an ear to my home. But if you are deep in the Alexa ecosystem, the Era 100 will be a great tool for expanding your voice-enabled access points.

The Era 100 lacks a thread radio and isn't Matter compatible yet, so you will still need an Alexa-enabled device that can also act as your smart home hub, but the 100 gives you the choice to make sure the rest of the ways you interact with your smart home are also great speakers.

The Era 100's microphone array was easily able to pick up my voice from across the room and requests were processed by Alexa without issue. If you want to hide your Alexa hub away and fill your home with Era 100s instead, you shouldn't have an issue.

When I concluded my testing with Alexa, I fell back to relying on Sonos' in-house voice assistant for the remainder of the review period. The Sonos voice control requests are processed locally on your speaker and the assistant is rather limited in functionality, although it makes up for it in speed. All you can do is ask for music and timers, plus controlling your whole Sonos system if you want to move music around the house. If you don't care about smart home control, or use another platform for that purpose, Sonos' solution is simple, secure, and incredibly fast. Requests for songs are handled without issue and playback starts immediately.

Design

The Era 100's design, while not as radical as the Era 300's is perhaps its most welcome upgrade. Gone is the blocky look of the Sonos One and in is this slightly ovular cylinder. It's one of the cleanest looking speakers Sonos has ever made and it looks great just about anywhere in my home.

I prefer the soft white color to black, but if you do get an Era 100 in white I suggest wiping of the rubber feet of the speaker before setting it down. My dresser has quite a few stains on it now from the Era 100, similar to those the white Apple Homepod was leaving on unfinished wood surfaces. It's a preventable issue but still a minor annoyance.

The speaker's top is adorned with Sonos' new control scheme: a play/pause button flanked by skip forward and back buttons, plus the new volume slider also found on the Era 300. There's also a button to quickly disable the speaker's voice assistant. The top is certainly busier than the Sonos One's but it also makes the controls easier to understand for first time users.

Around back is the switch to physically disconnect the 100's microphone if you'd like to totally cut off access for any reason, which is a welcome addition.

Upgraded sound

Inside the Era 100 is where the real magic happens. The Sonos One was a mono speaker with a single tweeter and woofer. The Era 100 adds a second tweeter for true stereo playback, plus a new mid-woofer that's 25% larger according to Sonos.

While the added tweeter doesn't mean you'll get real stereo separation from the single Era 100, it's no longer downscaling tracks to mono like the One, thus bringing a noticeable uplift in clarity. I noticed female vocals to be the greatest beneficiaries of the 100's new hardware, with a great sense of sparkle and detail the Sonos One just couldn't provide. The twin tweeters are also equipped with waveguides to better disperse sound evenly throughout the room, and Sonos utilizes them well here. There's definitely still a sweet spot the closer you get to the front of the speaker, but songs manage to fill out the room without too much loss in detail that I've experienced with other waveguide-equipped speakers.

The results from the new mid-woofer were less dramatic in comparison. While low-end capability is expanded here, the 100 is by no means outputting bass you can feel in your chest, much like the Sonos One.

Due to some cosmetic issues with my first Era 100 review unit requiring a replacement, I briefly had the chance to test a stereo pair of the speakers while I waited to return that initial unit. Much like the Sonos One, this is when the Era 100 turned from a great to a downright amazing music experience. Two mid-woofers working together is always better than one, which is what made a twin pair of Sonos One speakers such a treat to the ears. With an extra set of the Era 100's new tweeters in the mix, plus some distance between the units for true stereo separation this is going to be a very popular choice for people wanting a barebones audio setup that doesn't sacrifice on quality. I can also see them being a dream for amateur vinyl collectors who want a simple way to start listening to their records.

Better wireless and new features

The 100 packs in some new tricks for overall usability along with the Era 300. The most welcome is sure to be Bluetooth, which can easily be activated at the press of a button. Sonos pitches this as a quick way to let guests play music on your system without having to join your WiFi network.

Much like any Bluetooth speaker, once you connect your device it will reconnect automatically the next time you turn it on. It can also only maintain a single Bluetooth connection at a time, but does retain memory of previously connected devices. While the Era 100 was paired to my iPad over Bluetooth, all it took was tapping on the speaker from my iPhone's Bluetooth settings to quickly reconnect. Adding new devices is also really quick, with the speaker showing up in devices' Bluetooth menus as soon as I long-pressed the 100's Bluetooth button.

Sonos has also shipped the Era 100 with WiFi 6, and with it dropped support for SonosNet, a long-standing protocol that allowed Sonos devices to create a stable mesh-network when one speaker was connected to Ethernet. Even products as new as the Sonos Arc and Beam (Gen 2) supported SonosNet. Those soundbars released in the 2020s but only supported WiFi 4, which was adopted in 2008. SonosNet was needed to provide stability and multi-device support that WiFi just couldn't before WiFi 6. While the change is controversial I don't think users will be missing it when they grab a new Sonos speaker and have a sufficiently modern router. WiFi 6 is incredibly stable and finally offers the functionality Sonos had to handle itself for ages.

Frustratingly limited USB-C

I'm giving the USB-C port on the Era 100 (and 300) its own section because I find Sonos' use of the port to be extremely frustrating.

As of today you can use the type-C port for playing music over line-in with Sonos' $20 adapter accessory, or for connecting the speaker to Ethernet if you need to.

Basically, Sonos only wants you to use the type-C port for connecting a record player (or anything else you'd want to use line-in for) today and pay an extra $20 for the privilege. While you can connect your phone via an aux cable using this adapter, there's no real added convenience here over streaming or Bluetooth.

The Sonos Five ($550) has had a 3.5mm line-in jack for years, no adapter required, and adding one to the Era 100 and 300 probably would've been cheaper than a USB controller, if only by a few cents per part.

It's frustrating to see Sonos install such a versatile port to this speaker without taking full advantage of that versatility. The Sonos Combo Adapter ($40) allows both line-in and ethernet signals to be fed to the speaker? Cool, but there's so much more that could have been done here.

Instead it seems a waste that you can't connect a computer or tablet via a standard USB-C to C cable to the Era 100 for low-latency audio. I can easily see customers buying a pair of these to add music to their home office and upgrade their PC's audio. Why not connect a tablet to a pair of Era 300s over USB so you can experience hi-res lossless audio directly without worrying about streaming compression?

Right now it seems the Era 100 and 300's Type-C ports exist to sell customers more dongles, but I hope to see the option to use these speakers as USB-audio devices unlocked in a future update. While there is a lot of work needed to build the right drivers to allow these to interface with any computer over USB, it would be a genuinely useful upgrade if that functionality ever arrives.

Smart, but a speaker first

The Era 100 is the speaker you should fill your home with if you want the music you ask your smart assistant for to actually sound good. Whatever parts-bin Echo speaker Amazon churns out next won't come close. The aging Google Nest Audio has been seemingly abandoned by Google, and comes nowhere close to the Era 100 in depth and detail. The Era 100 is more expensive than most of its rivals' offerings, but that cost is directly reflected in the quality of the product.

On the higher-end, Apple's $350 full-size HomePod puts out noticeably more impactful bass, but costs $100 more and the Era 100 still wins out on overall clarity and detail to my ear. You're also limited to Siri with the HomePod.

If you're looking for a great Alexa-enabled speaker, or just something that can quickly play the music you'd like with Sonos voice control, the Era 100 appeals to the widest breadth of music listeners and smart home enthusiasts without compromising it's appeal to either camp. This is the speaker you buy to last and love for ages.

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Sonos Era 300 Review: These speakers are strongest together

(The following is an archive from my newsletter. Follow this blog for more reviews from my newsletter.)

by Samuel Polay

I have conflicted feelings with the recommendation I’m going to make in this review, mainly because of the price tag that recommendation comes with.

Much has been written about the $450 Era 300: the first standalone speaker from Sonos capable of playing back spatial audio music: namely Dolby Atmos music tracks. I’m going to try and avoid those well-worn paths in this review. I won’t bury the lead either. The Era 300 is a marvel of acoustic engineering that sounds great by itself, and incredible in a pair, but the solo configuration of the speaker is concerningly weak when playing stereo tracks instead of those mixed for Dolby Atmos. If you’re ready to buy Sonos’ most advanced speaker yet, make sure you understand those key limitations. 

Struggling to discover

Lots of reviews about spatial audio products get bogged down reiterating that many spatial audio mixes of songs are not good. That is still true but it is also not Sonos’ fault or any other end-user device maker’s. That burden of criticism should fall more on streaming services and studios for publishing and distributing subpar Atmos tracks that sully the reputation of the format. 

If you have an issue with the Atmos mix of Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” or Ciara’s “One, Two Step” (unfathomably awful mixes) bring it up with whoever greenlit those mixes. You should complain that  streaming services don’t exercise some level of quality control and default to playing the stereo mixes of those songs until they’re mixed better. I’m not opposed to putting out a “Bad Atmos Tracks” naming and shaming list myself, but this review is not the venue for that.

Sonos can play Atmos tracks from Apple Music and Amazon Music. Tidal offers Atmos as well but not yet through Sonos, and Sonos would not share if users can expect Atmos support from Tidal any time soon. In terms of delivering music to users on its end, Sonos has a lot of work to do to improve the experience since the Sonos app is the primary way to initiate playback of Atmos tracks since Airplay doesn’t support the format.. 

The Sonos app’s search and browsing experience has long been awful, but those shortcomings stand out all the more when you’re forced to use the app for all of your music playback in order to initiate Atmos playback. While searching has been slightly improved (you no longer need to specify if you’re searching by album, track, artist, etc), the actual browsing of results is still comically bad.

If you search for “Taylor Swift” and tap her artist page, you’re not greeted by a reverse chronological list of her albums (the bare minimum any app should offer). Instead, Sonos shows an incomprehensibly sorted list of singles, remixes, and obscure live studio sessions with her actual studio albums peppered throughout. Swift’s most recent album, Midnights, is 96 (ninety-six!) album covers down on her Sonos artist page. Now, imagine if you had no idea who Taylor Swift was and the Sonos app was the primary way you tried to discover new music. 

When you do get to the album or playlist you want to play, you have no way to tell which songs, if any, are mixed for Dolby Atmos. You just have to press play and hope you found the right one. This makes listening to older artists who have their catalog remixed for Atmos very confusing, as many of these artists keep their stereo albums around alongside the remixed version. 

Sonos puts much of the blame for both of these app shortcomings on the way music service providers integrate with its platform, in my case Apple Music. A representative for Sonos did say that the company is working with providers to better integrate their catalogs with search, similar to the steps it’s taken to make browsing a service’s page in the Sonos app better. This explanation also covers the absence of Atmos labels for songs and albums. Until these issues are resolved, you’ll need to know in advance exactly what album or song you’d like to experience in Atmos before using the Sonos app or asking whichever voice assistant you’ve installed on the Era 300.

Looks that match sound

The Era 300 hardware also marks the coming of a bunch of changes for the Sonos lineup as a whole, but I’ll save most of my commentary on those hardware changes for my Era 100 review, as many of them are shared with the Era 300. To summarize, I think the addition of Bluetooth is a long time coming, while Sonos’ choices involving the shift to USB-C line-in on these speakers are somewhat questionable. 

To speak of the 300’s hardware specifically, I’ll say the hourglass form-factor has grown on me in my time with it. It’s a pretty small speaker compared to the Sonos Five, which remains in the lineup for $550, and looks right at home on even a smaller console table. This speaker certainly looks unconventional but it is not ugly when you see it in person. 

My review unit is black and I feel this color just isn’t suited for a living room. Black audio equipment is great for a dark home theater where you don’t want your hardware to stand out. If I’m putting something in a bright, open space though, I want it to look nice. I have an Era 100 review unit in Sonos’ new white plastic, which is manufactured in a more environmentally friendly manner. It looks so much better in my home and is just more pleasing to see around. It also hides dust collection much longer than the 300, which I feel like I’m blowing dust off daily. If you plan on buying the Era 300 for music listening, break from the pack and get one in white. 

A remarkable speaker

When you do manage to find and start listening to a good Atmos mix on the Era 300 you will be astounded by how it speaker performs. While Sonos isn’t able to replicate the all-enveloping experience of listening to Atmos music on a full surround system (including its own soundbars) or even a pair of second-gen AirPods Pro, a single Era 300 does achieve the ability to fill a whole room with the surround effects all evident, even if they can’t be placed behind you thanks to those pesky laws of physics.

This is all thanks to the hardware Sonos has packed inside the 300. This speaker has a total of four tweeters, one front facing, two angled on the sides, and the fourth on the top of the speaker inside a cone to disperse height effects. Two mid-woofers drive impressive, room-filling bass for a speaker of this size, but nothing close to the three larger mid-woofers inside the stereo-only Sonos Five. Acoustic waveguides on all of the tweeters help to disperse sound evenly throughout the room, but thankfully these don’t detract from the detail of music as much as on other waveguide-equipped speakers I’ve used like the Ikea Symphonisk Table Lamp.

Listening to the Atmos mix of Daft Punk’s “Lose Yourself to Dance” gives a great example of the 300’s limitations. The breakdown of that song is an absolute blast to listen to on any Atmos-capable device. On a pair of second-gen AirPods Pro or my Sonos Arc system, the backing vocal-synth track singing “c’mon, c’mon” over and over passes from left to right and above me and becomes more and more enveloping as more tracks are layered on as the song progresses. It’s incredibly impactful and the song stands as one of my favorite Atmos remixes to-date.

On the 300, the movement of sounds in 3D space just isn’t as impactful. If an instrument is placed to the left of you, or above you, you can hear it there clearly with remarkable presence. If the same instrument starts moving around, you will be less impacted by that choice. This is something that can be resolved by adding multiple speakers behind the listener, but Sonos doesn’t offer the ability to pair more than 2 Era 300s together yet, but the speakers can be added as rears to a Sonos home theater setup (expect a review on that experience later). 

Atmos tracks with mostly stationary instrument placement, where the mix is meant more to get you feeling like the song is being performed in the room with you, are much more impactful on the Era 300. the record by boygenius, evermore by Taylor Swift, and many of Giles Martin’s (who happens to be the SVP of sound experience at Sonos) remixes of The Beatles’ stereo albums have been some of my favorites to listen to on the 300. Without instruments moving around the space, the 300’s presentation of the tracks shines. 

evermore’s title track has a few effects of birds chirping that made me pause and rewind the song to be sure I hadn’t heard a bird from outside. The layered vocals of boygenius’ “Letter to an Old Poet” are incredibly entrancing, with instruments laid out to make you feel like you're right in front of the band on stage. Martin’s reverence for his father’s work on those original stereo mixes shines through as he tries to place you in the studio with The Beatles without leaning on flashy tricks like adding instrument tracks that were never there: something other Atmos mixes of classic rock often lean on.

These aren’t game breaking limitations, and I would still take listening on the Era 300 over my AirPods Pro. While those may handle the presentation of flashy mixes better, Sonos wins in the actual clarity and presence of its presentation, and the best mixed songs are well rewarded for their consideration. AirPods Pro offer an impressive experience, but the Era 300 is a truly great music speaker for the shift to Atmos. 

Sonos’ ability to accomplish this level of presentation from a single speaker is perhaps the greatest achievement of the Era 300. No other standalone speaker to date has been this good at presenting Dolby Atmos music, all due respect to the Apple HomePod and Echo Studio, but having real tweeters firing to the side and above you cannot be beat. I won’t dive too deep in to Sonos’ EQ choices or other audiophile jargon, there are much better reviewers if you’re looking for that. What’s important is the Era 300 presents most Atmos tracks quite well and sounds great doing it.

Struggling with stereo

The Era 300’s biggest flaw is that it just isn’t great at playing back stereo tracks by itself. Compared to even the Era 100, the Era 300’s presentation of stereo music is dull and lacks impact. This is in spite of being objectively capable of putting out a wider soundstage and more bass output than the lone Era 100. 

As far as I can tell, when playing stereo tracks on a lone Era 300, the center tweeter is seemingly not utilized at all, or at least not in any way that helps. To my ear, it seems Sonos sends the left and right channels to the left and right tweeters on the sides of the 300, and leans on the waveguides for the song to fill out the space. You can tell by placing your ear close to all sides of the 300 when playing music. In Atmos playback you can hear all four tweeters doing something depending on what is required by the song, but for stereo tracks the front and top tweeter seemingly go quiet.

I asked Sonos about this and the company claims that all four tweeters are utilized for stereo tracks but did not directly address the issue I have with the front-firing tweeter. Here’s the company’s full response: “Era 300 delivers wide, immersive sound regardless of the music format. Even when playing stereo tracks, all of the speaker's drivers are actively delivering sound sideways and forward. The upfiring driver is leveraged to deliver an added sense of spaciousness. All of this creates an immersive listening experience that can be enjoyed from anywhere in the room.”

If the front and upfiring drivers are being used, I can’t hear it. Regardless of how these drivers are working, the stereo music experience offered today just isn’t what users should be getting for $450. Sonos needs to rethink and retune the speaker’s stereo track performance.

A jaw dropping pair

Sonos did send me a second Era 300 to use for home theater testing, so I was also able to test how the 300 performs in a stereo pair, and the stereo pair fittingly made all the issues with the single speaker with stereo music totally disappear.

Stereo music tracks sounded night and day better on the 300 pair. The front-facing tweeters are fully utilized and tracks filled the space with remarkable depth and clarity.

Unsurprisingly the Dolby Atmos experience was also enhanced by the second speaker. The soundstage was expanded slightly, vocals became noticeably clearer, and having two more mid-woofers yielded bass response rich enough to make me forget wanting to test the system out with my home theater’s Sub Gen 3. The 300 pair still however struggled with the same moving effects the single speaker did, although placement of moving effects was a tad more precise. There wasn't a dramatic increase to immersion but the enhancements to musical quality made this a impressive upgrade.

Unfortunately TruePlay quick tuning, a feature new to the Era series where the speakers can calibrate themselves to the room, is not yet available for stereo pairs of the 100 or 300. Users are forced to use “advanced tuning”, or the old fashioned way of waving your iPhone around the room to calibrate the speaker. 

I asked Sonos about bringing quick tuning to stereo pairs and the company responded that “our team is always working to expand access to new product features, like quick tuning, to as many listeners as possible. Stay tuned!” It’s good to know this feature is being worked on actively but if you’re preparing to shell out $900 for a pair of 300s for music listening, be aware of this limitation for the time being.

Pixel Dash’s recommendation

If you don’t want to buy two speakers for whatever reason, be it financial or aesthetic, then I unfortunately cannot recommend picking up a lone Era 300 at this time. If Sonos does improve stereo track performance to better utilize the forward facing driver, then I will re-evaluate the speakers. For the time being, the Era 300 is a testament to the company’s design and audio-engineering prowess that unfortunately doesn’t deliver the well-rounded experience its users expect. 

My recommendation to anyone considering the Era 300 as a speaker for music listening is to save up for the stereo pair, or wait for Sonos to finish the Era transition and replace the Sonos Five with a (presumable) Era 500 if you’d prefer to only need one speaker in your space. Hopefully that speaker will be better designed to deliver every music format instead of being hyper optimized for Atmos. 

Using a speaker like this should be completely worry-free. You should be able to start your favorite playlist at a party without caring if particular tracks are mixed in Dolby Atmos or not, and just have the confidence that the speaker you spent your hard earned money on will deliver an incredible experience no matter what format it’s playing back.

The pair of Era 300s is the best sounding music experience Sonos has ever delivered and should make anyone who buys it more than happy. This is the jack-of-all-trades music experience users should expect when buying an Atmos-designed music speaker: one that doesn’t require compromising the types music you choose to listen to. If you can foot the $900 bill for a pair of these you won't be disappointed.

[pixeldashblog]

Ikea's Ömsesidig panels for the Symfonisk picture frame finally fulfill the speaker's promise

I've had two Ikea Symfonisk Picture Frame speakers since they launched nearly two years ago and have been extremely satisfied with their performance in my Sonos home theater as rears. I wrote in length about my experience for Input if you'd like to read that review.

The Picture Frame has fluctuated quite a bit in price in its lifetime. When I reviewed it it went for $200, eventually spiking to $260. It's currently on sale for $170 until May 29th if you're interested in it for any of the uses it's designed for. Although the length of the sale does suggest Ikea is trying to clear out inventory for an eventual refresh of the product.

My one gripe with the Picture Frame was always how the thing looked. The default artwork it ships with won't fool anyone, and the power cord will seal it: this is a speaker.

Efforts by Ikea to sell replacement speaker covers never amounted to anything I found attractive. The splatter art and record player designs that launched within a year of the speaker's release were too boring, and a limited run of covers with classic artwork like the "Mona Lisa" and "Starry Night", or the current line of wild animal portrait photographs, were non starters if I ever wanted to change the orientation of the picture frames. My suggestion that Ikea release a line of solid colors or open up a way for owners to print their own photos have yet to be taken up.

Then, a few weeks ago, I got an email from Ikea's US PR team about the Omsesidig collection launch, a collaboration with nine Latin American artists to design various home decor products, including three covers for the Picture Frame speaker.

The covers, designed by artists Trini Guzmán and Diana Ordóñez, were immediately eye catching to me and, most importantly, my partner who had never loved the look of the Picture Frames. So last week I purchased two covers, featuring Guzmán's "Graphical" and Ordóñez's "Mask".

"Graphical"-Trini Guzmán

"Mask"-Diana Ordóñez

I am by no means an art critic and will not pretend to be, but I absolutely love how this art looks on my speakers. The textile of the covers showcases the artwork very well, making sure different types of lighting plays well with the print of each work. The colors are rich and vibrant. Most importantly, they actually make us smile when we walk in to the home theater room.

These pieces were actually designed to be appreciated not just for the gorgeous artwork they feature, but also for the device they'd be sitting on. While I don't expect the Picture Frames to fool my house guests now, they may be fooled just a bit longer than before. And while these speakers are currently in my very dark theater room, my partner is excited for us to move to a space where she can showcase them in an open living room.

My personal favorite is "Graphical" which is shown in a portrait orientation on the Ikea website but looks good in any orientation in my opinion: you can tell Guzmán took extra care to make sure the art design would suit any owner's preference.

I hope Ikea continues to hire real artists to design Picture Frame covers going forward. I feel much better about my purchase knowing the art is original and supports working artists and I think offering a broad selection of Picture Frame covers designed by young artists working today would go a long way to give this line of products a unique story in the tech world. These covers will stay on my walls for a very long time, but if there is a refresh of the Picture Frame speaker in the near future, I hope there's a giant selection of art to choose from for it if I choose to buy more wall art speakers.

[pixeldashblog]

The Sonos Era is here

Big props to Chris Welch and The Verge for absolutley nailing the leaks on the Sonos Era 100 and 300, which were announced today for $249 and $449 respectively. Most of the leaks I talked about last time were confirmed today so I want to focus on which of my own speculations were right and wrong.

First: I was 100% right about how Sonos would utilize the Era 300 in a Sonos Arc-based home theater system. Sonos confirmed the 300's side-firing drivers work in tandem with the Arc to create two virtual channels next to the listener, creating a 7.1.4 setup. This should bring a notable upgrade to the Arc's cinematic prowess. My Arc system is already very good at placing sound effects right next to me for Atmos playback, but I've been unable to experience standard 7.1 mixes from my movie library until now and very much look forward to putting the Era 300-enhanced system through the paces. The two additional height channels should also be a big upgrade to overall immersion from an already impressive soundbar.

Second: I was also right about Sonos claiming to offer a wider soundstage from the upgraded Era 100. The two tweeters allow the single box to produce the unaltered stereo versions of songs, plus increase the listening sweet spot in a stereo pair of Era 100s. I'll be curious to see exactly how large that new sweet spot is, and also if the 100 is as directional as the Sonos One. The 100 looks to be as notable an upgrade as the leaks suggested and should be as much an easy recommendation as the One was.

When it comes to things I was wrong about: Sonos did not see fit to offer Bluetooth LE audio support on these speakers. In fact, these speakers may not even be upgradable to the superior Bluetooth spec. Both speakers are listed as being Bluetooth 5.0 compatible, but LE Audio requires Bluetooth 5.2. It could be that these speakers contain the required hardware but don't offer the features necessary to be certified for Bluetooth 5.2 or 5.3 (the currect spec). Until we know more, expect Bluetooth performance on the Era speakers to be as reliable and solid as any well implemented Bluetooth 5.0 device, just not as next-gen as forthcoming LE Audio based solutions.

It also seems like you won't be able to use the Era 100 or 300 as USB-audio devices quite yet. All material and reporting from Sonos suggests you'll need a line-in adapter for any hardwired device usage. I can't see why this won't be enabled in a future software update but for now, you'll be buying dongles to connect these speakers to your record players or computers.

I only have one big disappointment from today: the omission of Sonosnet support from these speakers, and the seeming hint of the feature's sunsetting. I won't get too bogged down in these details, but it is sad to see Sonos abandoning one of the best features of its platform. While you will be able to connect an Era 100 or 300 to ethernet via a USB-C adapter, that's just for connecting the speakers themselves to the internet instead of Wi-Fi. And the devices won't work on any Sonos network that only uses the Sonosnet protocol. You're being forced to Wi-Fi even if you have poor network conditions in your home.

I understand that Sonosnet is a very old feature, and that few customers probably know it's even available, but it was a reliable way to get your Sonos speakers connected in even the most challenging wireless situations. While Wi-Fi 6's support for hundreds of connected devices on a network probably solves a lot of the problems Sonosnet did, it's still dissapointing to see it gone. I'll be sure to ask Sonos more about this when I get time to review the Era speakers.

Overall I'm quite pleased with today's announcement and look forward to reviewing the speakers myself (probably in April or May). Until then I'll keep my eyes peeled for other outlets' reviews, and finally being able to enjoy native playback of Atmos tracks from Apple Music on my Sonos Arc on March 28th (thank you to the Sonos and Apple Music teams for working that out).

[pixeldashblog]

Thoughs on the new Sonos speaker leaks

Hey there thanks for checking out Pixel Dash on Tumblr. I'm Samuel Polay and I'm a freelance journalist and reviewer covering technology. This is where you'll be able to find my newsletter archive as well as posts on the new developments in the tech world.

Chris Welch at The Verge this week shared the full details on what to expect from Sonos' next-gen speakers: The Sonos Era 300 and Era 100. While Welch's reporting has long supported the Era 300 offering support for spatial audio formats like Dolby Atmos, this report gives us the clearest idea yet of what Sonos has in store for the future, and includes real marketing images from Sonos. The full report is worth reading, as I'm mostly going to focus on my thoughts on this lineup. The speakers are expected to launch in March.

The two biggest updates coming to both speakers are the addition of Bluetooth and a USB-C port replacing the Ethernet jack that's long been a staple of Sonos speakers. You can see this pictured in images shared by leaker _snoopytech_.

Bluetooth is a technology long spurned by Sonos' powered speakers, though its two portable products (Roam and Move) rely on it outside the home. I wouldn't be surprised if Sonos went with LE Audio here for maximum future proofing and audio quality. LE Audio includes support for the LC3 codec, which offers dramitcally higher quality at the same bitrates compared to other wireless codecs. It also allows multiple devices to pair with the same speaker, or multiple headphones to connect to the same source phone. LE Audio in phones is still not widely available but the hardware is present in nearly every new smartphone around, waiting for a software update to enable it. Sonos is known to stay ahead of the curve on this type of support, so I won't be shocked if we see LE Audio enabled out of the gate.

The USB-C port is the more interesting change. Ethernet on Sonos has long been the best way to set your speakers up over relying on Wi-Fi: a feature called Sonos Net. Welch's reporting confirms the type-C port will be capable of accepting line-in audio from a turntable, or connect to Ethernet by way of adapters Sonos will sell. I assume these will work just as well as off-the-shelf USB-C dongles you can buy for the same purpose (and probably less money).

What's not been confirmed by Welch is if these will act as USB audio devices for a computer or mobile device when connected with a standard USB-C cable. If you've always wanted to have Sonos speakers in your office but had issue connecting them to your PC, I can see this being an appealing feature. Just connect your desktop to a Sonos Era 100 and instantly have a high-quality speaker to use for computer audio that also can play music with the rest of your home. Bonus points if Sonos lets connected computers utilize the on-board microphones for video calls. For now we'll be waiting on the official announcement for this to be confirmed.

Welch also confirms that both new speakers will be able to self-tune themselves to the room they're placed in, giving some relief to Android users who've long missed out on TruePlay tuning. However, mobile device-dependent TruePlay tuning will still be the best way to tune your speaker's sound and will remain exclusive to Apple devices.

To focus on the Era 100 specifically, Welch confirms that the speakers insides are just as updated as the outsides, with a new price falling in the ballpark of $250. The 100 will have an additional tweeter for support for stereo sound (instead of downmixing stereo to mono like the Sonos One does), as well as an enlarged mid-woofer (although he did not confirm how large that new woofer would be). The current Sonos One sports a 3.5-inch woofer, and while that speaker sounds ok by itself, a stereo pair of Sonos Ones (or One SL) has consistently been a pleasant way to enjoy music.

I suspect a Stereo pair of Era 100s will offer the most meaningful improvement over comparing two standalone speakers. Having four tweeter in the mix (presumably side-firing) plus two larger woofers should add a wider sound stage and larger sweet spot over what two Sonos Ones can achieve.

Unfortunately, Welch did not confirm if the SL (or microphone free) variant of the Era 100 would be included in the March launch or if we'll be waiting on that speaker. I hope the 100 SL is available at launch as it's a great way to save a bit of money on a stereo pair of speakers since you only need a single microphone-equipped speaker to get voice control.

The biggest letdown of Welch's reporting is the lack of spatial audio support or up-firing drivers on the Era 100. While the speaker will of course work as rears in a Sonos home theater, users will need to pay up for the Era 300 if they want to add additional height channels to their Sonos Arc or Beam system.

Expected to cost in the ballpark of $450, the Sonos Era 300 will be the company's first dedicate music device for spatial audio formats like Dolby Atmos music (Sony's less popular 360 Reality format would also qualify if Sonos supports it). Sporting six drivers total, the 300 is meant to totally fill a room with music. If the reported pricing holds true, the Era 300 will cost a whole $100 less than the flagship Sonos Five, which is also expected to stay in Sonos' lineup unlike the Sonos One. This will undoubtedly spur speculation of an ultra-premium spatial audio speaker in the future to complete the lineup.

The Era 300 will be the first time Sonos has offered a product meant to comprehensively enhance the home theater experience on offer for those who can afford it. Two Era 300s will cost the same as a single Sonos Arc soundbar. At $1800, users will be sacrificing a dedicated subwoofer for the same price as top of the line soundbar systems from companies like Samsung.

Sonos is going to need to offer a massive upgrade for users to justify this premium. Previously a fully kitted Sonos home theater system, with an Arc, Sub, and two One SLs, commanded $2100. If you want to go all out now expect to fork over $2600 for Sonos' best experience.

I don't want to sound too skeptical. While most home theater entusiants will focus on the ability to finally add rear speakers with dedicated height drivers (matching systems from Samsung), it's worth noting that the side-firing drivers in the 300s could be just as important to enhancing an Arc-based home theater. With those drivers wokring in tandem with the Arc's side-firing drivers, it could be possible for Sonos to create two new virtual surround channels. The Arc's ability to place sound right next to me with the aid of stereo rears is already impressive but this could be a major step up. In total, Sonos users could take their Arc systems from a 5.1.2 setup with a single sub and standard surrounds, to a 7.1.4 or 7.2.4 setup by adding Era 300s and one or two Subs depending on their needs.

My home theater is in a fairly small room, and I've found the Arc's surround effects to be more than effective here, but I'd be lying if I wasn't at least curious to see how my system could benefit from the Era 300s. There's no doubt however that the cost is going to be prohibitive for many. If Sonos has an Era 150 or Era 200 in the works, that cuts down on side firing drivers but maintains a height driver for added Atmos performance, I think many Arc customers would choose that first.

The big question for me is the AVR decoder on board the Sonos Arc itself. While the Arc is an impressive product, it's still got the less sophisticated Atmos decoder for soundbars on board. This is a limit put in by Dolby, and while the decoder has gotten leagues better with time, Dolby reserves the most precise decoder for more traditional AV receiver systems. Nakamichi's $3500 Dragon system will be the first wireless soundbar system to include the full-fat Atmos AVR decoder, which Nakamichi claims took years of talks with Dolby for them to secure. I bring this up because if your room is large enough to justify buying a second Sub for your Arc+Era 300 system, you'll be forking over $3400 at that point.

If Sonos wants its products to stand up to extensive cross-shopping, it's going to need to offer more meaningful upgrades now. If the announcement of the Era 300 comes with Sonos confirming it has secured the Dolby AVR decoder and is bringing it to all Arc users at no extra charge, I think that would be the biggest sign to existing users that continued investment in their Sonos systems is worthwhile. I'd be incredibly happy if my Arc got dramatically better at Atmos overnight, and knew that a wilder upgrade was possible with Era 300 down the line.

Thanks again for reading. I'm hoping to be able to review both the Era 300 and Era 100 eventually, but I'll be covering these products more regardless.