Sonos Era 300

Sonos's new Era 300 is an immensely immersive experience

“The goal with Era 300 was really to create the best standalone spatial audio experience of any single speaker.” As far as intentions go, it’s a bold statement from Sonos.

Sonos’s Era 300 is a wireless smart speaker that comes packing all the goodness and seamlessness of a Sonos system, with a key stand-out feature that Sonos believes is the next generation of sound: spatial audio.

Spatial audio has been in the spotlight in recent years, featuring in Dolby Atmos-soundtracked movies, TV shows and now music. Spearheaded by Apple, ‘spatial audio’ has turned into a catch-all term that covers any music that uses the Dolby Atmos format to create multiple channels of audio (beyond the standard two) to deliver a greater sense of immersion. For music, which has been in good ol’ stereo for many decades, that’s quite a big change.

Apple led the charge this year with its spatial audio-toting HomePod 2 smart speaker, which impressed us with its musical talents across the board. Will the bigger, more expensive Sonos Era 300 beat Apple at its own game? And, more importantly, deliver an enjoyable sonic experience beyond just spatial audio?

Sonos has priced the Era 300 at the premium end of the smart speaker market, clocking in at £449. That’s quite a hefty sum to pay – in comparison, the closest rival Apple HomePod 2 costs £299.

It’s still £50 shy of the most expensive wireless speaker that Sonos makes, which is the Sonos Five at £499. The big difference between the two is that the Five delivers stereo music; Sonos’s Era 300 ups the ante with an all-new design and spatial audio output.

Attention-grabbing design