Review - Sonos Era 300 Wi-Fi Speaker
The Short Of It…
Hard to find fault with any aspect of this speaker, as much as I tried- Oh, wait, unconventional shape gave me some interesting setup moments, but thankfully the software knows how to deal with slow people. Impeccable build quality and stunning sound.
The Long of It…
Until the SONOS ERA 100, I’d never been fortunate enough to get my hands on this brand, and it’s been a frustrating realization after experiencing the performance of the 100, that I’ve been missing out hugely.
If you haven’t read that review, I encourage you to go here: https://avnews.co.za/sonos-era-100-wireless-speaker/
The ERA 300 is, for lack of a better description, the next step up from the 100. And to be honest, I was so astounded by the sonic presence of the 100, that I was somewhat skeptical that the 300 could be markedly different.
I love unboxing new equipment. I just feel that some brands put so much extra effort into the presentation of the product, that even before you’ve actually had the chance to listen to it, you know your money has been well-spent.
Slide a locking mechanism aside on the box, lift the top off, and inside you’ll find the ERA 300 nestling comfortably, clothed in a protective black cloth.
Thanks to the SONOS App, adding the 300 to the ‘system’ already created by the 100 was effortless. The 300 pops up on the App, and all you do is add it. Could not be simpler. From there you complete setup, including an option to allow the speaker to test the acoustics of your room and adjust settings accordingly. Jeepers, back in my days this was only available with AV receivers with a special microphone, and the test tones used to make my cats run for the hills.
But just before this was my (thankfully) only real setup blunder, which had to do with the orientation of the speaker. I have to admit it…I had a Senile Moment and I placed it…well, not how it was supposed to be placed. So during setup, the SONOS App very politely declined to go further in the process until I had the speaker sitting like it should be sitting. It even showed me a picture.
I could accuse it of being facetious, but alas, I knew I was in the wrong.
Inside the Era 300 are a combined four tweeters and two woofers, all angled in different orientations and assisted by special waveguides to give you that all-round sound feeling. Each of these drivers is powered by its own Class D amplifier.
Of particular interest to many will be the single upward-firing tweeter, which is Dolby Atmos capable, and which can be controlled independently through the SONOS App to set the ‘height’ of the sound. It’s an interesting addition and no doubt has its place in a good home theatre setup where I’d imagine you can use the 300s as rear surrounds to great effect.
Unlike surround sound, which can still sound pretty directional, Dolby Atmos’ decription as ‘spatial’ gives you the answer – if properly set up, it’s near impossible to discern which speaker is providing which sounds.
Apple is also pushing the music side to it, with a growing catalogue of what it refers to as Spatial audio, designed to give you the same experience, but music-wise.
Time will tell if the music aspect takes off or not – I’ve been around long enough to see a number of much-hyped sound formats for music come and go, and good old stereo just keeps on going, unbothered.
It’s also most probably the only negative I can find with the 300 – its choice of audio formats essentially means that if you really want it to perform at its maximum abilities, then (currently, at least) Spotify or TIDAL don’t cut it – you’re going to need subscriptions to Amazon Unlimited or Apple Music. I do wonder if at some point there’s going to be some sort of consumer fatigue over all these formats.
Right, so that’s most of the technical guff out the way. Let’s get onto how the 300 sounds.
I’ve listened to a few wireless speakers in recent times – JBL, PSB, Bluesound and more. And without fail each one has impressed me in its own way with regards sound quality from such a small space. And each step up the ladder with new brands and products has left me increasingly caught off-guard by how phenomenal a ‘single’ device can sound. It shouldn’t be possible, in my mind, and yet technology has made it so.
The 300 is yet another example in this trend. Once properly set up through the SONOS App and utilising the device’s Trueplay option to optimise your listening experience, you’re in for a treat. A funny thing that happened during the review period was that being so fixated on the SONOS App doing everything you needed, I’d forgotten about the touch sensitive controls on the top of the unit itself.
Well, our cat going for a 3 am snack turned it on. Fortunately I’d turned the volume settings right down, else Netcare might have had at least one admission that morning.
The first thing I noticed (playing normal music formats, not Dolby Atmos/Apple Spatial) was that the 300 was more obvious as a source point than the 100. But then I have to temper that observation by pointing out that compared to the 100, the 300 is considerably larger, more powerful, and … pretty funky-looking. It’s by no means discrete, as the images accompanying this review show. So my observation might well need to be taken with a pinch of salt.
But when it comes to musical delivery, you really can’t complain.
This speaker pumps! Where at times you could hear that the 100 was running out of steam on some more demanding tracks, the 300 just keeps going. Having been in the audio business for a few decades, I know the difference between hearing what a speaker can comfortably handle … and just being stupid by trying to see how far it can be pushed.
I ran the 300 most probably around 60% of its actual output abilities for the simple reason that I prefer quality over quantity (power), and at every turn, every genre, this speaker delighted the ears. Treble was clean, never bright, and bass was never boomy, always tight and punchy. Thanks to this, midrange frequencies were allowed to shine through, so that you were at all times listening to the full frequency ranges available on the music.
The result? A wonderful, rich experience. From a single loudspeaker.
Is this then a perfect review? Far from it. The 300 is designed to be part of a full home theatre system, acting as rear speakers. I’d love to hear two of them in action together in a stereo configuration, because I suspect the experience would be great.
To hear them in a full Dolby Atmos system must be simply awesome!
VITAL STATS
| Bluetooth | 5.0 (SBC, AAC) |
| Streaming | AirPlay 2, Wi-Fi 6 |
| Features | Spatial audio with Dolby Atmos, stereo pairing, Sonos voice control, Alexa voice control, Trueplay tuning, adjustable EQ |
| Connections | USB-C line-in |
| Dimensions (HxWxD) | 16 x 26 x 18.5 cm |
| Weight | 4.47 kg |
Story By : Andrew Rowland (AV News)