These are the new Sonos Era speakers
The Sonos One, the Move, and the Five: An Efficient Home Theater System for Smart Speakers and Other Portable Audio Devices
Sonos has built out a large collection of products that includes smart speakers, soundbars, subwoofers, portable devices, and more. And we can’t forget about the many Symfonisk speakers that the company has released in partnership with Ikea.
Despite its relatively compact size, the Sonos One produces a nicely balanced dynamic sound. But like most other speakers on this list, you can fine-tune its performance with Sonos’ Trueplay feature. Once the One is placed, you can walk around the room with an app on your phone that will take microphone measures to improve it’s audio profile.
The Arc includes mics for voice assistants and smart speaker functionality, but you can optionally purchase the Arc SL from Costco if you’d prefer to go without them. If you’re serious about your home theater system and want the best, most powerful soundbar that Sonos offers, the Arc is the move. You’ll quickly get over the steep price once you hear it.
Sonos’ original Bluetooth speaker isn’t “portable” in the same sense as the much smaller Roam, but it’s easy enough to lug around different rooms of your home or haul out to the backyard for a party. The speaker is hefty at over 6 pounds and has a handle molded into the back to make it easier to carry.
The Move is off its wireless charging base which allows for up to 10 hours of continuous on-screen entertainment. You can use the app to listen to music on the speakers. You can pair any audio source with the Move, for example a phone or laptop, and then flip the switch on the back of the switch to hear it from another place.
Aside from its powerful, enveloping sound, the Five has one relatively unique hardware feature among the Sonos lineup: there’s a 3.5mm aux input that can be used for plugging in a record player or another audio device of your choosing. The Amp and Port are only two of the Sonos devices with line-in functions.
The Dolby Atmos Soundbar: Where to find the Arc and How to Get Better Results from Your Home Theaters? A Comparative Study
You can only expect to get a small sound quality from the Roam. It outputs clean, detailed audio and can fill small rooms, but the bass and overall presence are no match for something like the Sonos Move. If you want to experience a more immersive listening experience you can always link two Roams together.
At $899, the Sonos Arc soundbar doesn’t come cheap. But this Dolby Atmos soundbar is a true powerhouse that will bring out the most from the latest Hollywood blockbusters or your Netflix streams. With 11 drivers in all (including two up-firing height speakers), the Arc delivers truly immersive home theater audio. The company has continued to improve its flagship soundbar with firmware updates that have focused on clearer dialogue and other enhancements.
If you step down from the mid-level level, you won’t be stuck with lackluster sound. The second-gen Beam does an impressive job of virtualizing those channels in a way that is convincing to your ears, especially in small- to mid-size rooms. The inclusion of eARC means you don’t have to worry about any lip sync issues when watching movies or playing video games.
The second Beam is similar in size and weight but has a plastic grille instead of the hard-to- clean fabric of the original model. It’s cheaper than the Arc on your wallet.
The Symfonisk Picture Frame Speaker: Camouflage Tech for the Sonos Home Theater – The Era 100 and The Verge
If you want to unleash the full potential of any Sonos home theater setup, the Sub is an essential piece of kit. It’s got plenty of boom and floor-shaking power (if you want it) for those blockbuster action sequences, and the Sub also adds another layer of depth when you’re playing music through your system.
The Sub Mini still has plenty of boom that can make you feel like you’re in low-end bass territory, even though it isn’t as powerful as the flagship Sub.
The bookshelf speaker is a great deal, but it still looks like a speaker. If you are looking for a way to camouflage tech in your home, then the Symfonisk picture frame speaker is for you. It looks like an artwork when mounted on the wall, but the power cord is at the bottom. Ikea sells replacement art panels if you don’t love the default pattern, like the painting of theMona Lisa or the record player print.
Behind the front piece of art are Sonos drivers and waveguides that help distribute sound from the picture frame speaker throughout a room. There are many possibilities and potential use cases for this thing: you can mount two picture frame speakers together on the same wall for surround sound with any Sonos soundbar. And when the TV’s off, they fit into the room better than any traditional speaker can.
Much of what I reported back in August (including Bluetooth audio playback and USB-C line-in) can again be confirmed for the Era 300. Additionally, I can now report that the Era 100 will also offer both of these conveniences, making it far more versatile than the Sonos One. You’ll be able to run external sources like a turntable directly through an Era 100, which wasn’t possible with its predecessor. You can see this in the below image, where a second cable is running into the speaker on the left.
The company plans to launch three other categories in the future, as well as a brand new product by the end of the year, so it is just the beginning of their plans.
Both speakers have support for AirPlay 2 and wi-fi 6. There’s no built-in jack on either of the Sonos devices, but they will sell a line-in audio and combo plugs.
As you can see from the photos, The Verge’s original mockup of the Era 300 remains accurate, and while the Era 100 borrows design traits from the One, it has a rounder overall shape. Sonos has tweaked volume controls with a new, indented bar that should be easier to feel for and slide your finger across.
Both speakers will have a speech bubble button on the standard controls that will let you temporarily mute the built-in microphones, as well as a physical switch on the back of each speaker that will cut power to the mics completely. Voice assistant options should include Sonos Voice Control and Amazon Alexa; it is unclear at this stage whether Google Assistant will continue to be supported. The internal marketing materials mention the speaker, but not the assistant. It is possible that there is a reason that so many people still don’t know about the service.
Do you know more about upcoming hardware from Sonos and other companies? I showed a number of devices before their official announcement. These include the Roam, Ray, Sonos Voice Control, Sub Mini, and now the Era line.
Trusted sources make this reporting possible, and if you have more to share on what’s ahead from Sonos, Bose, Sony, or another tech brand, you can message me confidentially and securely with Signal at 845-445-8455. Alternatively, I can be reached via email at welch@ Theverge.com.
The Era 300 has a total of six speaker drivers, each powered by a Class D amplification block. Sonos being Sonos, the specific amount of power, along with the size and composition of the drivers, is privileged information—but there are a few things we do know: A mid/treble driver faces forward, two more mid/treble drivers fire from the sides of the cabinet to create some stereo width, and a horn-loaded tweeter is directed upward in an effort to deliver the sonic height that’s an essential on the list of Dolby Atmos audio priorities.
A pair of low-frequency woofers face left and right, and their job is to provide the necessary wallop and punch to the sound. The six drivers are trying to spread sound as wide as possible and to avoid the appearance of a sonic point source by resting behind carefully designed waveguides.
