The era of spatial audio is here: From streaming shows to streaming music, there is a plethora of content out there mixed in 360-degree sound. But don’t pick up a laptop or a natty pair of AirPods to enjoy it. The Sonos Era 300 is one of a new breed of speakers designed to make the most of spatial music — for those mixes which add the dimension of height — and do it in a compact, desktop format.
The $249 Era 100 is a slam-dunk recommendation — being an evolution of the already-great One speaker, but the Era 300 isn’t quite an upgrade to the excellent-but-discontinued Play:3. Firstly, the Era 300 is a little more quirky and this starts with its striking knucklebone design. Yes, its flared ridge at the back does have a real purpose: this is a Dolby Atmos speaker with dedicated height drivers. I imagine the elevator pitch for the Era 300 went something like, “It’s the Sonos Arc in a desktop speaker but for music!”
Does Dolby Atmos for music even have a future? Speakers like the Sonos Era 300 and services like Apple Music can certainly make it sound good. And if you want room-filling music — either of the stereo or multichannel kind — then the Era 300 is able to offer more sophisticated sound quality than competitors like the Echo Studio. If you’re looking for an upgrade from the Sonos One, with bigger, better audio, then the Era 300 is an excellent buy.