Multi-room

Sonos Era 100: Stereo Sound in a Compact Package

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The Sonos One set a standard in 2019 as a compact, versatile wireless speaker. Enter the Sonos Era 100, which aims to build on its predecessor with several key improvements.

Design and Build

The Era 100 introduces a new oval design, moving away from the Sonos One’s rounded square shape. It’s slightly taller and heavier but maintains a compact footprint. Available in matte black and white, the design is sleek with a wraparound grille. Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by its substantial feel—indicative of its robust build quality.

Enhanced Sound and Connectivity

A major upgrade is the shift from mono to stereo sound. The Era 100 features two angled tweeters and a larger woofer, each powered by its own Class D amplifier, delivering improved bass and sound separation. The sound quality, with its signature Sonos richness and strong bass, is impressive for such a compact package. It surpasses the Sonos One Gen 2 and even rivals the older Play:3.

Bluetooth 5.0 has been added, enhancing connectivity alongside wi-fi capabilities, allowing for easier pairing and stable connections.

Features

The speaker works seamlessly with the Sonos S2 platform, supporting a wide range of music sources and settings. Voice control includes Sonos’s assistant and Amazon Alexa, though Google Assistant is not supported. Installation was straightforward, and Spotify Connect functions smoothly through the Spotify app.

Trueplay tuning, now available for Android users, optimizes sound based on room acoustics. The Era 100 can also pair with another unit for stereo sound or serve as rear speakers in a home theater setup.

Addressing Critiques

Sonos has faced criticism for the sound quality of the Roam and bugs in the new app. However, with the Era 100, they seem to have addressed these issues effectively. The sound quality is robust, and the app experience during setup and use has been smooth.

Pricing

The Sonos Era 100 launched at £249 / $249 / €279 / AU$399. This represents a modest increase from the Sonos One’s original price, reflecting the new features and enhancements.

Performance

The Era 100 offers a larger soundstage than the Sonos One, with more detailed bass and clarity. It provides a robust sound experience, though the Apple HomePod 2 may offer slightly more nuanced detail.

Position in the Sonos Lineup

Within the Sonos lineup, the Era 100 serves as a versatile, mid-range option, bridging the gap between more basic models and the advanced Era 300. While the Era 100 focuses on stereo sound and compact design, the Era 300 offers spatial audio capabilities for an immersive experience, catering to different audio preferences and room setups.

Conclusion

The Sonos Era 100 brings notable improvements over the Sonos One, focusing on enhanced sound and connectivity. Despite previous critiques, Sonos has effectively addressed these with the Era 100, making it a strong choice for those invested in the Sonos ecosystem or seeking a versatile wireless speaker.

Multi-room

Sonos for when you want to Roam the streets

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So Sonos will finally release a true mobile speaker, Sonos Roam. One key element to mobility is weight and Sonos Move is not that mobile, due to its size and weight, 6.61 lb / 3 kg. So even if Roam will not output quite the same sound quality, you can actually bring it with you. It weighs just 0.95 lb / 430 gram.

At home, Roam is a WiFi speaker, part of the ordinary Sonos speaker setup. Also using AirPlay 2. On the go, you will have to use Bluetooth (5.0) to play on it. It has 10h battery life, Drop resistant and IP67 Waterproof (Sonos Move is only IP56). Roam also has voice control.

Roam is a mono speaker, like Sonos One and can be paired with another Roam for stereo. It has Trueplay technology for adapting the sound to the surroundings.

Sonos Roam has, compared to Sonos other speakers, a lower price of 169$.

It comes with a charging cable and can be upgraded to a snap on wireless charger with an additional 59$ (Totals 218$ for the speaker and the wireless charger).

Sonos Roam starts to ship on 20th April.

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Sonos AMP with more power and options

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The Sonos AMP has a new look and a bunch of added features compared to Play:Amp. The AMP also better fits the needs of professional custom installers with dimensions that fit a hi-fi rack and can be stacked on top of each other in a central location with speaker cables running to different rooms.

Sons AMP

In addition to the connections that the Connect:Amp had, two pairs of speakers, a subwoofer out, two ethernet ports and an analogue input. The AMP also has a HDMI port.

With the HDMI, it gets the TV integration features of the Sonos Beam, like automatic switching to TV audio when required and volume control via the TV remote.

The AMP now powers connected speakers with 125W instead of 55W. The AMP does not have a built-in speaker for alexa commands. It supports all the Sonos streaming functionality that the system (S2 version) has.

It is limited to a maximum 4.1 speaker setup. Instead of a centrum channel, it augments a “phantom centre channel” on the existing speakers. It supports only up to dolby digital 5.1 sound quality. So it works in a home theater but not for an advanced setup.

Multi-room

Music on the go with Sonos Move

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Sonos has had a blind spot in their speaker lineup, a speaker with an integrated battery. This has finally been fixed with the new Move speaker.

Move charges wirelessly on the indoor charging base. It can then be moved around by its back handle.

At home, it works as any other Sonos unit with network streaming of music. Away from home, it can use Bluetooth instead. Move also supports Apple AirPlay 2. If you want to talk to it, do so with either alexa or google assistant.

Sonos Move is bigger than a Sonos One. It actually weighs a full 3kg. Because of its size and weight, the Move is not really optimal to take with you on trips. It is more suitable to move around the home and outside in the garden or balcony. As a comparison, JBL Charge 4 weighs just 1kg.

The Move has a low level of water resistance, ip56, which is worse than JBL Charge 4 with its IPX7 (can be dropped in water).

So you get a great sounding Sonos speaker that can be moved around the home and outside in the garden. But take it inside if it starts to rain and you will probably not take up half your backpack with it when you go camping. A smaller version with lower weight would be an interesting addition in the future.

The price is 399$ and it ships from september 24.

Multi-room

Audio Pro Addon series

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Sweden’s acclaimed speaker manufacturer Audio Pro has an interesting range of Multi-room products called the addon series. It consists of the midsize speaker addon C5, the larger speaker addon C10, the wireless sub addon C-SUB and the Link 1 which is connected to an existing setup. The brand is known for their sound quality and has been around since the seventies.

All the speakers supports Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay and Bluetooth 4.0. They also support Tidal, TuneIn, Deezer and more through the Audio Pro multiroom app for iOS and Android. Up to five speakers can be grouped together in the app. Supported audio formats are MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC and Apple Lossless. They can be played from a local NAS.


Addon C5 is a mid range speaker with a 40W Digital class D amplifier, 2 x 3⁄4” textile dome tweeters and a 4” long throw woofer. Apart from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth it inputs RCA and 3.5 mm stereo. The speaker was awarded product of the year 2017 by what hifi in the category Best wireless speaker £200-£500.

Addon C10 is the larger speaker with a 80W Digital class D amplifier, 2 x 3⁄4” textile dome tweeters and a 5.25” long throw woofer. It has the same inputs and outputs as C5.

Link 1 is an adapter that attaches to an existing system through 3.5mm stereo or TOSlink optical. Thus enabling wireless music on that system. A cost effective upgrade if you already have invested in a system.

Addon C-SUB delivers even more bass to the system through Wi-Fi or RCA. It connects automatically to the closest speaker in the system. It has a 200W Digital class D amplifier, a 6.5” long throw woofer and 2 x 7.5″ passive radiators.

Conclusion

The Audio Pro system has broad support for the key protocols and services in the multi-room market, is award winning and competitively priced compared to Sonos. So it should be considered when going multi-room.

Multi-room

CES 2018

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This year’s main theme for multi-room products is embedded digital assistants with Google Assistant or Amazons Alexa.

The one and the three from Klipsch will be released with Google assistant.

Altech lansing releases three speakers with Google assistant built-in, GVA1, GVA3 and GVA4.

Bang & Olufsen will launch devices this year with Google Assistant. They will also support other voice assistants when they become available to third parties (Siri) or support multiroom for third-party devices (Alexa).

B&O also announced that 10 of their devices will get AirPlay 2 support, including the Beoplay M3, M5, A9 mk2 and the Beosound range. There will be a software update shortly after the official AirPlay 2 launch.

Smart displays are a new type of products that in some cases could be part of a multi-room music setup through built-in Chromecast support. They do not however have powerful speakers due to their slim design, so a compliment in a kitchen maybe, but not as the main music source in the living room.

JBL Link View is an interesting example with two front-facing 10W speakers and a rear-facing passive radiator for more bass. It also has support for 24-bit HD audio streaming and built-in Chromecast.

Vifas new version of their Copenhagen speaker has Bluetooth, Qualcomm aptX HD audio and Apple AirPlay. It also has a rechargeable battery. With their app Vifa Home, you can play music from Spotify, QQ Music and TuneIn.

 

Multi-room

Google Home Max with Chromecast and Assistant

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google home max

Google Home Max is actually quite a big deal. For the first time, Google releases a speaker that is on pair with the top multiroom speakers on the market in terms of sound quality. Loaded with the Assistant, it has voice commands and is also a hub for controlling other smart home devices.

Home Max is twenty times more powerful than the original Google Home (that has quite bad sound) and has dual 4.5-inch high-excursion woofers for deep bass. It has Smart Sound, where Google uses artificial intelligence to make Max adapt to the environment it is in, the context, and your preferences. Smart Sound automatically adjusts the listening experience to where it is placed in a room. If it is moved, it will tune itself within a few seconds.

home max inside

Home Max supports all the services that chromecast built-in does, so every mayor one, except Apple Music. It also has Bluetooth and an aux port. So if you absolutely must play Apple Music, use those.

To enable the Assistant to play Spotify with voice commands, open the Google Home app, link your Spotify account and set Spotify as your standard music service. Then your ready to control Spotify with commands like “Ok Google, play Dr. Dre”, “Ok Google, what song is this?” and so on.

In some ways it is strange that it took Google this long to release a great sounding speaker. But it is probably due to them wanting to incorporate the assistant and having a large enough ecosystem around it at launch.

As with Google’s flagship mobiles, now the Pixel 2 series, it shows other manufacturers what could be achieved with Google technology and is also a clean version of their vision for the multi-room market. It will probably lead to more chromecast built-in speakers from other manufacturers that follows in its footsteps, with built-in Google assistants as well.

Multi-room

Sonos One with Alexa voice control

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sonos play one

The Sonos One is basically a Play:1 with integrated Alexa voice recognition. You can play music by simply saying “Alexa, play Ramstein”. If you want to play the music in another zone, simply add the zone name after. Or “everywhere” for playing the same music on all speakers in your home. It has six onboard microphones to be able to capture the commands from any direction.

In some ways Sonos One is a work in progress. It does not have support for voice commands for Spotify at launch, even though it will get it soon after. It does have Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeart Radio, and other. It will get Google Assistant support sometime in 2018.

As with Play:1, Sonos One is a mono speaker but two Sonos Ones can be combined to a stereo pair for filing a room with hi-fi-like sound, or used as surround speakers with a PlayBase or PlayBar and an optional Sub.

sonos one top

To protect privacy, the microphone is disabled with one click. The on board leds indicates if the mic is active or not.

Sonos is challenged by a wide range of new competitors that tries to take a piece of their market. The new speakers from Google, Apple and Amazon are based around voice commands. With Sonos One, the company shows that they won’t give up their market leader position without a fight. Good for them, and the market.

Multi-room

New Marshall speakers with AirPlay, Spotify Connect and Chromecast

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With over 50 years in the speaker and amplifier market, Marshall is a well known brand that now enters the multi-room market. They do so with a three-speaker lineup packed with wireless technology. They all have Chromecast built-in, AirPlay, Spotify Connect and Bluetooth. You can also use the (old school) 3.5 mm socket and RCA input.

Marshall multiroom

Acton multi-room is the smallest one. It has one 30 Watt Class D amplifier for the woofer and two 10 Watt Class D amplifiers for the tweeters.

Stanmore multi-room is the middle speaker and has one 50 Watt Class D amplifier for the woofer and two 15 Watt Class D amplifiers for the tweeters.

Woburn multi-room is the beast of the lineup. It has two 15 Watt Class D amplifiers for the tweeters and two 40 Watt Class D amplifiers for the woofer.

Marshall appYou can control the speakers with the App for iOS and Android, directly from casting apps like Spotify and with the on board sound controls. Apart from volume and balance, the on board control also includes a switch with sevens presets for playlists on Spotify and Internet radio stations.

 

So quite cool speakers from Marshall that are worth considering when adding multi-room to you home.

Multi-room

Harman Kardon Omni+ with Chromecast and Spotify Connect

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Omni+Harman Kardon has upgraded their line of multi-room music speakers and they are now called Omni+. They all have 24Bit/192Khz HD audio, Spotify Connect, Chromecast built-in, Bluetooth and digital and analog input as well.

The previous version, Omni, lacked support for both Spotify Connect and Chromecast which made them almost unusable for most people. Now an Omni+ product, can re-broadcast Spotify Connect to first gen products.

The speakers are set up with the Harman Kardon controller app for iOS and Android.

OMNI 10+ fits small rooms and costs $249.95.

Omni 20+ is for larger rooms and costs $349.95.

Omni 50+ is portable and weatherproof, for use both indoors and outdoors. Has a rechargeable battery. Costs $499.95.

ADAPT+ connects to an existing system and lacks own speakers. Not released yet.