Sonos Era 300 + 100 - The Future for Sonos? | Let's Chat Ep. 2

Welcome to Episode 2 of Let's Chat where we go over our thoughts on the newly announced Sonos Era 100 & Sonos Era 300 as well as cover how we think these speakers hold up against the One (Gen 2), the Sonos Five and the Apple HomePod 2. Make sure to comment down below what you want to hear from us next, and share your thoughts on the conversation!
00:00 - Intro
01:35 - Thoughts on Era reception
03:31 - Era 100 Thoughts
07:39 - Toggling on Era products between music and movies
09:31 - Delay on Era 100
12:02 - Trueplay and Google Assistant
14:55 - Longevity with Sonos Support
16:22 - Era 100 vs HomePod
20:07 - Era 300
23:42 - Dolby Atmos Thoughts
29:32 - Spatial Audio
32:28 - Is Spatial Audio the future?
41:02 - Era 300 vs 5 vs HomePod
44:42 - Future of Era products? (Era 200)

[@kindion]

Chill, informative, unbiased discussion… thx guys!

[@richarddutchholland4780]

I would have snapped up a pair of the ERA300 if they would have worked as a standalone 2 channel system for the TV.

[@Hamish.]

Or this with the beam as a center channel

[@FLX-II]

Finally found the channel! Will watch in a bit. Already loving my Era 300s

[@unit_16]

Hope you enjoy! 😁

[@laynesmith9077]

Hi guys, I love the format of this btw, i truly wish sonos could make the era 300's work like or similar to what sony did with the Ht-A9 having four era 300s two for the front stage and two for the rears. I would just think having a wider front stage would be a dare I say " game changer." I just feel like they could really take the era 300s to a whole new level!

[@robertweekes5783]

You can pair a front 300 set as L/R then pair them with the sound bar set, but it would be nice if the software made it an official set

[@ColinZimmerman]

For a podcast about audio - you guys are recorded on incredibly low levels and I have to max out my headphones to hear this conversation and when I went to the next podcast I blew my ears out. Turn up those mics : )

[@SE7ENAC]

Thanks for talking about an ERA 200. That would have been perfect for us on a budget .

[@5cent27]

I’m apple all the way (phone, music, tv 4K, etc) and I still choose Sonos. Just added 300s as surrounds to my arc and dual sub setup. I’m a little surprised Apple hasn’t bought Sonos.

[@i_Lunardi_LFC]

They probably will buy them

[@504cool]

Sitting on that desk The Era 300 looks like a Tie Fighter from Star Wars lol. It looks huge sitting on that desk. I wish they would have made an Atmos speaker the size of the 100's as an in between. Hell, call them Era 200's.

[@thejose24]

Great discussion. Greetings from Los Angeles! We need more of this! Thank you!

[@unit_16]

Glad you enjoyed it! 😀

[@sarahneedham]

Regarding the ERA 300 when used as surrounds, Sonos have confirmed that the front firing tweeter is turned off. Would have been nice for this to have been common knowledge before launch I think (even though I don't have this speaker).

[@xguy9999]

I have the era 300s as rears ( I have an Arc and sub too) and you won't even notice the front firing tweeters being turned off in this setting. Played many dolby atmos movies and songs and it's so immersive. Also sound good playing 7.1 and 5.1 surround sounds movies as well.

[@billmulvihill8452]

@@xguy9999 But for regular music Sonos 5 is better….

[@globalsoundconcerts]

@@xguy9999 any benefit to just using the 300’s plus sub for music or does the ARC added sound even better for atmos music tracks?

[@remco3819]

​@@xguy9999i hear a lot of different stories about that. But most often that you can bearly hear them as surrounds and that's the main reason i am not going to buy them. I rather have a era 100 that functions well as surround then a speaker that sort of half works.

[@michaelbakhtiar9256]

Excellent convo!! Would you ever consider one Era 300 vs two Homepod2 with Apple Music?

[@michaelbakhtiar9256]

Hi there. I bought a pair of Era 300s for music only. I may get a sub mini to enhance or free up the mids. My question is I’m still finding the vocals lean toward which speaker I’m closest (sitting on right side of sofa and I hear vocals on right speaker instead of in center). Even after TruePlay, I was hoping for more smart triangular sound placement. Any ideas? Also do you recommend TruePlay after pairing as stereo or before. Any ideas including EQ are welcome. Thanks!!

[@Dando-1983]

It’s great you can listen to just Stereo on the Era 300.. and toggle on Spatial Dolby Atmos audio.. will be a great way of comparing songs and albums.. I guess you can kind of be your own music critic on whether they did a great job with the mix

[@69JYI]

Thanks for this talk. Having own a stereo pair of 300s, I was wondering if adding a sub mini is even necessary. At the moment I listen just for music but I plan to add the 300s as rears once I buy a beam gen 2 or arc. For the moment I have stereo pair of 2 Fives and 2 Era 300s. Do I still need a sub mini? Space is only a 17 square meter apartment living room, and I got mostly elderly neighbours.

[@joppe99999]

The volume is really low. Hope thats fixed in future episodes.

[@Dando-1983]

With the Sonos upgrade program you can save around 15% on the Era 300 so that brings the price to under £385.00 then I ask myself is the Era 300 worth paying £85.00 more than a HomePod.. yep!! 😊

[@globalsoundconcerts]

How do atmos music tracks sound on the home theatre set up with arc/sub/300 rears? Is there a benefit to just using the 300’s + sub for atmos music tracks?

[@ChrisTonge]

Nice podcast guys

[@scabbyjoe21]

Can you set up using Trueplay once two Eras have been stereo paired or must it be done before pairing?

[@neohq]

It will ask again for Trueplay setup once you pair them as stereo

[@Dando-1983]

Great Channel gives a different more detailed perspective on your thoughts outside of the SHS reviews. Conversations are important. Thanks 🙏🏼 ^__^=

[@unit_16]

Thanks for your comments! Glad you enjoyed this episode 😊

[@Dando-1983]

@@unit_16 it was really good

[@MrCarlos2011]

Is the sonos arc 2 coming out soon? I get the feeling it is with this big sale going on right now

[@user-os5fb9vj4w]

Yes yes!

[@jasperverkroost]

Can you make the audio tracks of your videos a bit louder next time? It is hard to hear even with the volume of my laptop at max.

[@unit_16]

Hi Jasper, thank you for the feedback. We’ll look into this for future episodes. Hope you enjoyed 😊

[@jasperverkroost]

@@unit_16 Yes I did, looking forward to future podcasts!

[@jakesilv]

Tried a pair of Era 300’s and was not able to establish reliable performance after many hours of trouble shooting. I have 9 other Sonos products that have no issues. Cannot recommend the Era 300’s yet, hopefully Sonos resolves communication issues. The Era series does not support Sonos net which is a mistake! Era 300 are wasted as rear surrounds so don’t bother there. Go with One’s or One SL for rear surrounds.

[@garylikely1019]

Stereo pair fives for me all day long

[@morufudeen]

2 Era 300s and a sub gen 3 purely for music. Yummy

[@user-os5fb9vj4w]

Sonos is not future proof for two reasons- Many of their products are not compatible with their past products, so there is always a risk. Secondly, they still use WIFI3 in Sub gen 3 and in many other products...

[@TheTechnicalRecruiter]

Can hardly hear you guys

[@unit_16]

Hi Matt, thanks for letting us know! We’ll look into this for future episodes 👍

[@stevel4329]

I want to hear good music and dont really care about these stupid assistants. What ever happened about it being about the music first! If I have a ARC with two subs and two play ones and buy two 300's can I set then up separately for music listening and leave the other set up for TV?

[@jjermaine33]

So you would most likely set up two different pairings,set up a group with the tv,and then pair the era 300s as a group,when you play music you would need to check both products for them all to play music,it's quite easy and you don't have to dive deep into settings to do so.

[@stevel4329]

@@jjermaine33 thank you

[@jjermaine33]

No problem, but if you buy the two 300s I would try them as surrounds, and using the play ones elsewhere. I just upgraded my two ones to the era 300s and if I were to keep the ones I would put them elsewhere because the 300s sound so much better with my arc and sub. I have a sonos beam in my bedroom and I use Spotify, when I want to play music in both my livingroom and bedroom I just check both off in Sonos app. Hope this helps..

[@stevel4329]

@@jjermaine33 ok thanks for that insight. I know what your saying so might do it that way then.

[@meowmeow1733]

I hate the sweep in vocal setting they're using on the sound card. It's so annoying. The fade in is so annoying and unnatural. I click off all videos with people who use this setting.

[@kurtinez]

Hi guys, Sorry, I couldn't find a way to contact you directly so please excuse my lengthy comment. I'm pleased I came across this video - Really interesting discussion! I work as a Dolby Atmos Mix Engineer at a studio in central London. When Spatial Audio first launched some of the record labels rushed to put out content and the few mixers at that time didn't have a great deal of time for trial and error. When mixing in Atmos you're actually creating 2 versions - One that sounds great in the room on a 9.1.4 system for example, and one that translates in headphones. Like Andrew says, I think the ball was dropped on those initial mixes, particularly for headphones. I'm due to try out the Era 300 myself as a tool for mix referencing (which is what lead me to this video). If you'd like to come down the studio some time for a demo and a bit more of an insight into Atmos mixing you'd be very welcome. Feel free to DM me on Instagram at @kurtmartinez. Best regards, Kurt

[@unit_16]

Hi Kurt, Great to hear you're enjoying the content! Thank you very much for your comment, it's very interesting to get hear your insight on Atmos mixing and we'd love to be able to talk in more detail. We've sent you a DM on instagram from our official @smarthomesounds instagram account. Cheers 👍

[@artistadrtm]

serios men, talking about toy spekers. ok.

[@unit_16]

Serious men and woman? Serious man trolling? ok.