It's perhaps not a huge surprise that Sonos has more speakers on the way, but a new report reveals what the company's next models probably look like, as well as some of the specs and approximate pricing. The Sonos Era 300 and 100 are slated to arrive in late March, according to The Verge. The latter is said to effectively be a replacement for the Sonos One, which has been around since 2017.
The Era 100 looks similar to the One, though it has a more spherical design. The physical controls, meanwhile, appear to be on an indented bar. The Era 100 could be a little more expensive than the $219 One (Sonos is said to have bandied around a price of $250), but it reportedly has extra features, such as Bluetooth audio and USB-C line-in support. It's believed that the Era 100 won't have upward-firing drivers, though it should build on the Sonos One's performance by including a second tweeter (to help deliver stereo audio) and larger mid-woofer for stronger bass.
The drum-style Era 300, meanwhile, appears to have similarly indented controls and seems to be designed with spatial audio in mind. It reportedly has six drivers. The Verge indicated that, when a pair of the Era 300 speakers are combined with the Arc or Beam (Gen 2) soundbar — used as rear surround speakers in this case — they'll deliver Atmos surround sound with upward-firing audio. Like the Era 100, the 300 is said to support Bluetooth audio and USB-C line-in. It's anticipated that the Era 300 will cost around $450, which is less than the Sonos Five.
While the speaker reportedly supports spatial audio from Amazon Music Unlimited, it's believed that Sonos has not reached an agreement to stream Apple Music’s Dolby Atmos tracks directly on an Era 300. There are workarounds involving an Apple TV 4K and Sonos' soundbars, though for the time being, it seems that standalone Apple Music Dolby Atmos playback will remain an exclusive HomePod feature.
Both Era speakers are said to have WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 and AirPlay 2 support. The report suggests they'll work with Trueplay calibration on Android phones. They'd be the first Sonos devices to do so.
Meanwhile, it's expected that Sonos will separately sell a line-in adaptor for USB-C audio. It's also understood that you'll need to buy a so-called combo adapter if you want to plug in an Ethernet cable as neither speaker has a built-in port. In any case, we should find out more details about both speakers in the coming weeks.
