Sonos’ new Era starts now

If you’re already a fan of the brand, the Era 100 might look a little familiar. That’s by design – as it is a “remastering” of the company’s popular Sonos One smart speaker. Although this time it’s a little bigger. The One has held a spot in our Top Ten Smart Speakers list for most of its life (and for good reason). We think it’s fair to say public expectations are high.

The Era 100 might look similar on the outside but Sonos has new hardware packed inside. There are three drivers in total, two angled tweeters for mids and highs and a bigger mid-woofer for bass frequencies. Those tweeters are meant to give whatever you listen to greater stereo separation – which is harder to pull off than you might think. Simply having more than one driver usually doesn’t cut it.

With the Era 300, Sonos is flouting its renewed love for Dolby Atmos-flavoured spatial audio. Previously, only the Sonos Arc, Arc SL, and Beam (Gen 2) supported the 3D object-based audio tech. Now the Era 300 joins the list, which partly explains its odd design. It sports six drivers in total, four tweeters (one centre, two sides, one up) and two woofers.

Although Sonos calls this a smart speaker, the Era 300’s new spatial audio support probably performs best when paired with another Era 300 and an Arc or Beam Gen 2 soundbar and used as rear satellites in a home theatre set-up. If you want your music to engulf you, only Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music support that.

Read More: Sonos Beam Gen 2 review – Spot the difference

We’ve always been sceptical about devices that claim to offer spatial audio support, especially when those devices don’t have multiple drivers to back up the claim. We’re still a little apprehensive here but we’re willing to give Sonos the benefit of the doubt.

Make a connection

Both new devices offer the same set of physical and wireless connection options. You’ll want to ditch the cables with these, but they do support a line-in connection. Although you might have to buy the company’s line-in adapter first (sold separately). Both the 100 and 300 support audio from a range of streaming services and have Amazon Alexa functionality built-in.

We’ll have to reserve judgement on how they sound, and if Sonos has hit the mark with its spatial audio implementation until a review unit shows up. But if you have to get yours as soon as possible, they’re supposed to be available from 28 March from the usual places. The Era 100 will cost R6,500 and the Era 300 will ask R11,000.

The post Sonos’ new Era 100 and Era 300 smart speakers finally land, here’s what they’ll cost appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

It’s Beam a while

The Beam slots in below the brand’s flagship Sonos Arc soundbar but brings with it Dolby Atmos, a feature Arc is well-known for. While it’s not full-fledged Dolby Atmos, Sonos does a great job at replicating it without up-firing drivers. 

That’s because the Beam Gen 2 keeps the smaller form factor of its predecessor. In fact, place them alongside each other and you’ll struggle to see many differences from a distance. The Gen 2 features a plastic rather than a woven fabric grille. This makes it easier to clean and brings it in line with the aesthetic of the Arc’s design.

This also means that anyone upgrading from a Beam Gen 1 to a Gen 2 can use the same wall mountings and cable setup. We quickly physically installed the new soundbar and the rest of the setup is just as easy using the Sonos S2 app. While we do give the app some flak for not being super user-friendly, it’s still a seamless process. 

Once it’s connected via the app, your Beam Gen 2 will automatically join your Sonos network of speakers (if you have more than one). The ecosystem works rather well alongside a smart-home setup, especially if you’re using Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa. 

The S2 app also gives you access to the company’s TruePlay tech — this’ll automatically calibrate the soundbar to your room’s dimensions. Unfortunately, however, you’ll have to use an iOS device to enable and set up TruePlay. You only need to borrow an iOS device long enough to complete the setup, at least. 

Beam me up

On to the actual upgrades you’re in for this gen. The new soundbar comes with eARC compatibility, a feature that was missing from the previous generation. 

eARC (enhanced audio return channel) compatibility is made possible by the company’s new processing tech found in the Beam 2 that reportedly even allows for up to 40% better performance over its predecessor. Of course, this isn’t easy to test. We found that Gen 2 performed reasonably well with normal computing tasks like inputs and connectivity. 

eARC allows for increased bandwidth and speed compared to that found in regular ARC connections. This permits Dolby Atmos (the other new feature) signals to be delivered in the advanced Dolby TrueHD format.

This part’s for the audiophiles — as most streaming services deliver Atmos in Dolby Digital+ anyway. If you have a 4K Blue-ray player, though, you’ll have the absolute best time with TrueHD. Trust.

Sonos Beam Gen 2 Verdict

While the upgrades aren’t major, the Beam Gen 2 brings a few features audiophiles would love. The smaller size of the Beam, compared to the beefier Arc, also makes it a good choice for a smaller space. 

You are paying for the name, though. The Sonos Beam Gen 2 currently retails for R10,200, while the Gen 1 variation is still retailing for R9,000. When buying new, the difference of R1k isn’t bad if you look at the upgrades you get. But if you’ve already got a Sonos Beam in the home, it’s a slightly more difficult call to make. 

The post Sonos Beam Gen 2 review – Spot the difference appeared first on Stuff South Africa.