It’s perhaps not a huge astonishment that Sonos has more speakers on the way, but a new report unveils what the next models of the organization probably look like, as well as some of the specs and approximate cost. The Sonos Era 300 and 100 are slated to come in late March. The latter is claimed to effectively be an alternative for the Sonos One, which has been around since from the year 2017.
The Era 100 seems identical to the One, though it has a more spherical design. The physical controls, meanwhile, appear to be on an indented bar. The Era 100 could be a little more costly than the $219 One (Sonos is claimed to have bandied around a cost of $250), but it assuredly has extra features, like:
- Bluetooth audio
- USB-C line-in support
It’s considered that the Era 100 won’t have upward-firing drivers, though it should build on the Sonos One’s performance by putting a second tweeter (to assist deliver stereo audio) and a bigger mid-woofer for stronger bass.
Sonos accidentally shipped clients more speakers and charged them for it
The drum-style Era 300, meanwhile, appears to have similarly indented controls and seems to be made with spatial audio in mind. It is laced with six drivers. The Verge indicated that when a pair of the Era 300 speakers are paired with the Arc or Beam (Gen 2) soundbar — executed as rear surround speakers in this case — they’ll definitely produce Atmos surround sound with upward-firing audio. Like the Era 100, the 300 is claimed to support:
- Bluetooth audio
- USB-C line-in.
It’s expected that the cost of Era 300 will be around $450, which is not less than the Sonos Five.
However, the speaker assuredly supports spatial audio from Amazon Music Unlimited, it’s considered that Sonos has not reached an agreement to stream Apple Music’s Dolby Atmos tracks directly on an Era 300. There are workarounds involving an Apple TV 4K and Sonos’ soundbars, though for the time being, it seems that standalone Apple Music Dolby Atmos playback will remain an exclusive HomePod feature.
Both Era speakers are said to have:
- WiFi 6
- Bluetooth 5.0
- AirPlay 2 support
The report states they’ll collaborate with Trueplay calibration on Android phones. They’d be the first Sonos gadgets to do so.
Meanwhile, it’s expected that Sonos will separately sell a line-in adaptor for USB-C audio. It’s also understood that you’ll require to purchase a so-called combo adapter if you desire to plug in an Ethernet cable as neither speaker has a built-in port. In any case, we must try to get more explanations about both speakers in the upcoming weeks.
