STACK #223 May 2023

TECH FEATURE

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bass. The soundstage from such a compact device is amazing; wherever you’re positioned in the room, or moving about, the Era 300 always sounds like it’s in close proximity, keeping you wrapped in a spacious soundstage. We tested its performance with a range of music genres, from concert hall classical and stadium rock, to pop and movie soundtracks, and all were wonderfully reproduced and enhanced by the Era 300’s detailed soundscape. We were also impressed by the Era 300’s truly immersive 3D spatial audio, which brings the power and directional sound of Dolby Atmos to supported music content, enhancing the fine details and often creating a new experience in the process – especially when listening to familiar tracks. It pushes the vocals forward, isolates instruments in different sound spaces, and washes you in waves of deep bass. We heard subtle nuances never noticed before. The Era 300’s spatial audio capability allows the listener to fully experience – and gain a greater appreciation of – the way musicians and artists ingeniously mix elements to achieve directional sound. Content that supports Dolby Atmos is required to achieve the full effect, and it’s also important to remember that spatial audio playback isn’t possible when using Bluetooth or Apple AirPlay. A quick check of the Sonos app The Era 300 offers the flexibility of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The Wi-Fi pairing is enabled during the set-up process, and to connect to Bluetooth, simply tap the Bluetooth button on the rear and you’re good to stream your tunes from a connected smartphone. There's also a USB-C Line-in at the rear of the speaker if you want to connect it directly to a turntable. The expansion option Finally, movie buffs will love the option to add a pair of Era 300s to a Sonos Arc or Beam (Gen 2) soundbar to function as rear speakers in a home theatre surround system, delivering 7.1.4 channel immersion during those big and loud action scenes. will confirm if Atmos is being output. The right connections

The new Sonos Era 300 brings spatial audio home in a big way, with a wide and detailed soundstage that consistently envelops you wherever you are in a room. Here are five things we love about this powerful smart speaker. Words Scott Hocking EXPERIENCE SOUND ALL AROUND WITH THE SONOS ERA 300

music and audiobook streaming services in the app for quick and easy access. On top of the speaker is where you’ll find a volume slider along with play/pause/

The look Sporting a big front and wraparound speaker configuration and

considerable weight, the Era 300 looks and feels powerful even before you plug in and play, and its unique cinched design is a real beauty. The simple set-up

skip-track controls,

or simply tap the voice bubble icon to activate

voice assistants for even more convenient operation – there’s also a microphone switch at the rear that can be set to on/off. The Sound This is the important bit. The Era 300’s six powerful speakers comprise four tweeters – including an upward firing one – and two woofers that deliver mighty

Just like other members of the Sonos family, the Sonos app does all the set-up and calibration for you, using Sonos Trueplay. Simply download the Sonos app; select a room location, and Trueplay will quickly auto-tune the Era 300’s speakers to suit the acoustics of the room. It’s a location-specific optimisation, so be sure to retune it if you move it. The in-app EQ lets you make further refinements, including adjusting the height channel for supported spatial audio/Dolby Atmos content. And you can set your preferred

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MAY 2023

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