One can’t quite be sure of the most fitting name for the Sonos Era 300’s shape. Sonos calls it a ‘cinched hourglass’, but that’s associated with a slim model and this speaker is anything but slim. Some call it gawky, but there isn’t anything clumsy or awkward to it as such. It’s certainly chunky and squat and that helps it sit firmly wherever you set it down. Without a doubt, the shape is a love-it-or-hate-it characteristic but either way, it ends up blending in wherever you place it. Available in black or white, the Sonos Era 300 is weighty and movable rather than portable.
There are a couple of reasons why the Era 300 costs as much as it does, which is Rs 54,999. It’s roughly comparable to Apple’s HomePod which costs Rs 32,900 and Amazon’s Echo Studio which is Rs 22,999 - and both of these are Spatial Audio enabled. All accessories such as a stand or a cable for wired listening, are extra.
One of those reasons for the high price tag is intrinsic to the Sonos brand which positions itself as premium. Another is that The Era 300 is a specialist in Spatial Audio or Dolby Atmos sound. When the music plays, you can hear sounds coming from different directions, as if there were multiple channels, making it an immersive experience. Most dramatically, if you were to listen to a song like Pink Floyd’s Time, you’d hear clocks from all around, not just right in front of you. It sounds magical. But there’s more than one catch. The streaming service you’re using has to support Spatial Audio. And the tracks you’re listening to have to be remastered to leverage it. Apple Music and Amazon Unlimited have a growing number of Spatial Audio tracks, but you may or may not find your favourite tracks in the collection yet. Also, the multi-directional sound is best experienced when you’re in a sweet spot and attentive. The Era 300 does deliver punchy bass though perhaps not quite as much as Apple’s HomePod does. You can use several Era 300 units for an interesting multi-room setup but essentially this is a standalone speaker that can do Spatial Audio, which Sonos believes is the future of sound.
The Sonos Era 300 uses six drivers to emit that unique directional sound. There are four forward-facing tweeters one facing left, one right, and one upward. The speaker also has mid and bass drivers all creating a wide soundstage with a lot of separation and accuracy for stereo music. The back part of the Era 300 is a dedicated Dolby Atmos speaker and it’s the particular angling of the components that generate its different sound.
The Sonos app can’t be ignored. It’s needed for proper setup and is required to stream Atmos music. You will have to stream Apple Music through the Sonos app. The app itself is fully featured but not everyone is comfortable with it but it is from where you can control multiple sources of music. From the Sonos app, you can also use the equaliser to fine-tune the sound to your liking and configure the speaker to suit the room it’s placed in.
There are beautifully designed touch controls on the speaker, but you can also control music playback with voice commands on the speaker’s voice system. It supports Alexa but not the Google Assistant. For anyone who’s paranoid about the speaker listening in to private conversations, there’s a switch that turns off the microphone. This speaker plays both on WiFi and via Bluetooth 5.0, the latter for the first time. There’s a USB-C port to connect external sources. AirPlay is also supported.
When used with the Sonos Arc soundbar and a subwoofer it can be used as a surround sound system.