Sonos “Era 100” was released on March 28
Affordable Sonos is Here
Home speakers in Japan started with Bluetooth speakers and progressed to smart speakers. On the other hand, in the United States, Sonos was early to support AirPlay and Chromecast Audio in the context of home network speakers, and it has become widespread.
The number of users is gradually increasing in Japan, but on March 28, the smart speaker “Era 300” (69,800 yen) is compatible with Dolby Atmos and the “Era 100”, which is a model upgrade from the current smart speaker “Sonos One ” (39,800 yen) was released.
“Era 300” (left) and “Era 100” (right)
This time, we will take the “Era 100”, which is the successor of the “Sonos One”, which was popular for its small size but high efficiency.
In this series, we have covered Devialet’s first portable speaker “Mania” and BANG & OLUFSEN’s thin speaker “Beosound Emerge”. I believe there is a growing trend towards demanding “more than smart speakers” with compact and new forms and high quality sound.
From such a trend, it seems that the relatively reasonable “Era 100”, although not compatible with Dolby Atmos, can be evaluated in the same field. I borrowed two Era 100s, so let’s check the sound in a stereo pair.
Quite elaborate acoustic measurements
Use the “Sonos” smartphone app to set up this unit. At the time of writing, the product is still in pre-launch, so the app is also in beta. Note that the product version may behave slightly differently.
When you register your product in the app, Trueplay will recommend tuning first. In terms of types, iOS has two patterns of quick tuning and advanced tuning, but Android only has quick tuning.
Two types of tuning types can be selected on iOS
Quick tuning is a simple method where the speaker emits a measured sound on the spot and it is picked up by the microphone itself and measured. Since it finishes quickly in terms of time, it is convenient when you change the location in the same room.
Advanced Noise picks up the measured sound emitted by the speaker using the iPhone’s microphone and measures it in a way that scans throughout the room. This usually takes about a minute.
Shake the iPhone while watching how to measure in the video
The sound does not change immediately after the tuning is completed, and when the music is played after the measurement, the tuning seems to advance a little at a time as it is fed. back through the microphone.
Playable music services require an account in the Sonos app. Of course, you can subscribe to services that are familiar in Japan, such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music, and you can connect to music services around the world, including Internet radio services. Various Internet radio stations are also registered in the original Sonos Radio. You can also listen to some, but not all, of community FM by region.
music services cater for a significant number
Sonos Radio for Internet Radio
For music playback, if you open and play the registered service from within the Sonos app, it will automatically play on the Era 100. When playing from a music service app, you need to specify the playback destination using Airplay or similar.
Plenty of bass for this size
Let’s check the sound of the unit first. This time, we’ll be sound checking with the only remaining “Dizrhythmia” album from “Dizrhythmia” on Apple Music. The sound is a fusion of Western and Indian music with the participation of current King Crimson singer/guitarist Jakko Jakszyk, and the album has a high clarity of complex percussion and strings.
As for the sound balance, there is no peculiarity in the midrange, and the sound is simple with a high sense of resolution. The bass is solid for the body size, and you can feel the goodness of the amplifier’s performance and design. If you listen with your eyes closed, you’d think it’s coming from a speaker with twice the volume.
This isn’t the kind of speaker that lets you listen to reflected sound, so the stereo effect isn’t that great. If you put it alone in your room, you can clearly say, “Ah, the sound is coming from that place.” In this area, speakers that support spatial sound have a stronger feeling of “rolling” the sound.
Let’s play this as a stereo pair. After pairing, I did a quick tune with Trueplay and then an audition.
If you use two units, it is natural that the stereo image will increase depending on the position of the left and right, but the sound will greatly emphasize the stereo feeling. In terms of frequency characteristics, it is not that different from what I listen to as a single, and the balance is not lost. Although there is a feeling that the center is a little lost, the overall sound is very rich and beautiful, and the satisfaction is high.
I usually pair two Amazon Echo Studios and listen in stereo, but pairing the Era 100 is clearer and the sound is flashier. Although it doesn’t support surround sound, it’s a very satisfying system for those who say that most of the music they listen to often doesn’t support surround sound.
Also, stability of pairing settings is better with Sonos. When unpaired and reconfigured, the Echo Studio can sometimes make weird noises about not having the same Wi-Fi access point, or even when paired, only one will ring, which Sonos doesn’t have any such mysterious behavior and it is very stable.
High stability of the matching setup
general comments
Although the body is compact, the type of speaker that needs a power supply and can play music from the Internet service has appeared one by one recently. People who have tolerated smart speakers until now are paying attention to products that satisfy the desire to listen with a slightly more robust sound because they do not have to respond to voice commands.
Many smart speakers are also monastic, and recently small stereo products have finally appeared. However, if you’re going to buy a new one anyway, some people might think it’s a bit more appropriate as a sound system. Devialet and BANG & OLUFSEN are top tier European brands, but West Coast brand Sonos is another option to keep in mind.
On its own, it’s slightly more expensive than the Echo Studio, but it’s more compact and sounds better. If you buy it as a stereo pair, it’s a modern speaker with a reasonable price.
