New Sonos Era 100 and 300 speakers sound good, don’t look at the price

After weeks of rumours and endless speculation, Sonos has finally confirmed the release of its all-new speakers. These devices arrive packed with upgraded features, a rebooted look and even a new Era name. When they launch later this month there will be two new music makers to choose from including the more compact Era 100 and bigger Era 300 which gets a radical concaved look and the addition of Dolby Atmos audio technology.

Both of these speakers now include an easier-to-fix design which means they should last a lot longer on your shelf and there’s now the ability to plug in accessories such as record players via a USB-C line plus they finally include a Bluetooth connection which means they can be used without the need for Wi-Fi.. hooray!

If you want the biggest sound then the Era 300 looks like the speaker to buy with this device packing six class-D digital amplifiers and two woofers inside its eco-friendly shell.

Owners will also get stunning Dolby Atmos support for a more immersive music experience and you can pair two up with a Sonos Arc or Beam soundbar for a full surround sound movie night.

There is also the usual Truplay technology that makes sure the speaker produces the perfect noise for the room it’s placed in and it has full support for Alexa so you can ask it to play music or set timers. It doesn’t appear that the Google Assistant is included for now although that may change with a future software update.

Sonos reckons that it has worked closely with its community of leading artists and creators – including Sonos Soundboard members – to meticulously fine-tune the Era 300. This should mean listeners can enjoy audio straight from the studio that’s true to the artist’s intent. We’ll have to wait for the reviews to appear before we know if that’s true.

The Era 300 costs £449 and will be available later this month. Sonos has confirmed that this device isn’t replacing any of the other speakers in that current price range with the Sonos Five remaining on sale for the usual £499.

If that sounds a bit pricey then it might be worth checking out the new Era 100. Unlike the 300, this speaker is taking the place of the popular Sonos One which will be discontinued when stock runs out.

Sonos is promising that this new entry-level music maker will offer much-improved audio over its predecessor thanks to a more advanced processor and better bass performance.

In fact, thanks to a 25 percent larger woofer than the Sonos One, the US firm says that the Era 100 fills rooms with noticeably deeper bass.

There are also dual-angled tweeters which are capable of sending crisp high frequencies left and right for a stereo experience.

On the outside, there’s a compact design and a new touch bar which runs across the top for easy access to controls such as volume.

Just like the Era 300, there’s also Trueplay tuning plus two can be paired with any Sonos soundbar for a surround sound experience.

It will also go on sale later this month and costs £249 which is around £50 more than the current Sonos One.