Spatial Audio Came Home

The Sonos Era 300 costs $449. For that price, you get a speaker that will generate one of two reactions the first time you play something through it: a slow exhale of genuine surprise, or a quiet nod that confirms something you already suspected. I was in the first group.

The design is not what I would call beautiful in a traditional sense. It is sculptural in the way that functional objects sometimes become sculptural: the asymmetric cabinet, angled slightly, positions its six drivers — including two upward-firing — for maximum spatial dispersion. You understand why it is shaped the way it is about fifteen seconds into the first track.

Spatial audio on Apple Music and Tidal is the primary use case, and it delivers. There is a moment in a specific album where a piano appears to exist behind you and slightly above. In a pair of headphones this is interesting. In a living room, through a single speaker on a shelf, it is quietly remarkable.

The Era 300 benefits significantly from pairing: two units in stereo with True Play tuning produce a soundstage that consistently surprises guests. I've had people stop mid-conversation to ask what's playing, which is the highest form of compliment a speaker can receive.

Setup uses the Sonos app, which has been redesigned to the point of polarizing its existing user base. The new app is cleaner and faster, and Sonos has continued restoring the features power users relied on. At present it covers 90% of common use cases with confidence.

The value proposition: the Era 300 does something — room-scale spatial audio from a bookshelf speaker — that nothing else at this price does comparably. If that matters to you, it costs $449. It also makes an excellent premium stereo speaker. But spatial audio is the reason to consider it.