A New Era for Sonos

Sonos has always been known for its high-quality audio products. Now they are set to release its newest flagship speaker, the Sonos Era 300. According to a recent report by Scharon Harding at Ars Technica, the Era 300 will focus on spatial audio, offering users a 3D sound experience without the need for additional speakers.

Compared to other Sonos speakers like the Sonos One and the Sonos Five, the Era 300 will stand out in key ways. It will reportedly use a combination of sensors and software to create a more immersive audio experience. This looks to be their flavor of Spacial Audio, allowing users to hear sound from all directions. This is similar to the HomePod's function and I hope it's automatic. The current Sonos TruePlay calibration is a manual exercise. The Era 300 will also be competing with Apple's re-debuted HomePod, which also features spatial audio technology. Here is more from Harding's report.

Should the Era 300 truly debut soon, it will face competition from Apple's recent $299, full-sized HomePod revival, which supports spatial audio with Dolby Atmos with Apple apps and Apple TV 4K. Besides superior audio quality, a new Sonos flagship could score points with shoppers by playing better with non-Apple devices, such as by including Bluetooth and by besting the Apple speaker's Wi-Fi 4 support.

Ars Technica

I've been a big fan of Sonos' offerings for many years. My Play:5 speaker has worked really well not only as a standalone speaker but also as the output device for my turntable. Meanwhile, my Play:3 hasn't had much use over the past few years. I hate to say it but the speaker works fantastically well as an overkill white noise machine. When I pair it with Sonos radio stations, the speaker has some purpose for me instead of getting stuck in a closet.

The Era 300 looks interesting. Just as I was finishing this article, more leaks came through over at 9to5Mac via Michael Potuck's reporting. The Era will have a really interesting cylindrical design and is bowed in the middle. Additionally, it will have a line-in port, AirPlay 2, and WiFi 6.

The price is earmarked to be about $450, which is a lot. I hope it is actually lower and I look forward to seeing more of this when it hits the shelves.