Sonos Era 300 Buying Guide: Specs, Features, Audio

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The appeal of Sonos speakers is simple — you can build an immersive, whole-home audio system without the need to run speaker wire across the floor. The Sonos lineup ranges from the compact, outdoor-friendly Roam, movie-enhancing soundbars like the Beam, and robust stereo speakers like the Five. Each speaker in the lineup can be controlled over WiFi, making it easy to set up sound that stays with you in every room of the house.

But for the most immersive experience possible, the Era 300 is the one to beat; the Dolby Atmos-enabled speaker brings greater dimension to your music, movies, and more. Here’s what you need to know the Era 300, and why it’s one of Sonos’ most impressive speakers.

Sonos Era 300: Design and Construction

The Era 300 admittedly has a quirky look that stands out from the average speaker, with a rounded hourglass shape. Like most Sonos speakers, it’s available in black or white. The top of the speaker has straightforward controls; there’s a play/pause button, controls to skip back or forth, and a button to activate Alexa.

If you’re not set up with Alexa, you can use Sonos’ built-in voice assistant for basic controls like playback and volume instead. There’s also a volume slider, which adds a satisfying tactile element. You can swipe back and forth to lower and raise the volume. In addition to WiFi, the Era 300 is also compatible with Bluetooth, or it can be used with a wired connection.

It’s a stylish and modern speaker, but as always, it’s what’s inside that counts.

Sonos Era 300: Sound Quality

Aside from Sonos’ soundbars, the Era 300 is the only standalone speaker in Sonos’ lineup that is Dolby Atmos enabled. The Era 300 features four tweeters, including two on the side, one on top, and one mid tweeter in the front. There are also two woofers; they’re placed on the side to help minimize vibration and distortion.

The tweeter on top of the speaker helps fill the room when listening to Dolby Atmos tracks. Once a niche feature, music streaming services like Tidal, Apple, and Amazon Music feature growing libraries of Dolby Atmos content.

Speaker placement is a crucial component of audio quality, particularly with immersive audio such as Dolby Atmo, but it can be hard to get right. That’s why the Era 300 features Trueplay; it uses the built-in microphones to tune the audio based on the room’s acoustics.

Sonos Era 300: Home Theater Solution

The Sonos Era 300 is ideal for enhancing your home theater, particularly if you have a large space. Two Era 300 speakers can be paired with the Arc Ultra soundbar for an immersive home theater experience. Like the Era 300, the Arc Ultra is Dolby Atmos compatible, with sound that bounces off the ceiling to completely surround you.

Whether you’re building a multiroom audio setup for entertaining or looking for a smart theater setup, the Era 300 is an impressive entry point to Sonos’ lineup.