The Music

THE SONOS Era 300 is the latest in a new generation of Atmos-compliant 'spatial audio' speakers that bring a more immersive listening experience without the hardware and installation grief inherent with discrete surround systems.

- Rob Sabin

At $449 (in black or white), it costs more than its competition though, in typical Sonos fashion, it is engineered to a fare-thee-well and represents a considerable achievement.

One of the Era 300's strengths, of course, is that it's a Sonos-so it fits into a long-admired multiroom ecosystem. It's also flexible, employable as a standalone stereo speaker or in a stereo pair, with or without the Sonos Sub for low-bass support. Or, you can mate a pair with the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) or Arc Atmos soundbar as rear channels.

I use the Arc in my family room, so watch for my upcoming report on the full 5.1.4 Atmos home theater. For this Quick Take, I listened to the Era 300 as a single speaker and in a stereo pair, with and without the Sub, to get a feel for its music prowess.

Resembling an oval cylinder that's been cinched corset-like around its midsection, the Era 300 is a distinctive package measuring 10.24 x 7.28 x 6.3 inches (WHD) and weighing 10 pounds. There are grilles on the front and also fully surrounding the angled rear baffle.

Its six drivers include a single mid-tweeter on the front, another firing up from the top for height effects, and a pair of side-firing mid tweeters left and right, each mated with an oval woofer. Horns and custom waveguides are employed to improve dispersion or directionality.

Of course, control is most easily executed from the excellent Sonos app, but there are also basic touch controls on the front-top of the Era 300. They include three easily discerned buttons for Play/Pause, Previous Track and Next Track. I particularly liked the recessed ridge behind these that functioned for Volume Up/Down but also featured Vol +/- endpoints for more granular control.