Sonos Era 300

Room-filling sound with strong bass depth and bright highs ; Supports Dolby Atmos ; Works with Alexa and Sonos voice commands ; Terrific companion app with room analysis and adjustable EQ ; Wide support for music streaming services

Expensive ; No Google Assistant or Cast support

The Dolby Atmos-compatible Era 300 delivers room-filling spatial audio on its own, or it can be easily integrated with other Sonos speakers for a truly theater-like experience.

Best spatial audio from any standalone speaker ; Extra drivers make a difference for home theater audio ; Bluetooth and line-in offer nice flexibility ; 90-degree power cable doesn’t stick out far

Handily bested by the Sonos Five for stereo music ; Quality of spatial audio music varies to an extreme degree ; Sonos app needs UX improvements — and fast ; Line-in requires USB-C adapter

But unless you’re flush with cash and want the absolute most from your Sonos home theater system, there’s no rush for most people to jump in right at the outset.

Spatial audio sounds great, not gimmicky ; No sacrifice for stereo tracks ; More flexible connectivity ; Boosts Atmos home theater performance

Finding Dolby Atmos music can be frustrating ; Expensive for a stereo pair or theater setup ; No Google Assistant at launch

Dramatic, embracing, and exotic sound from a shockingly small package ; Fantastic as a single speaker, a stereo pair, or as a pair of surround channels reinforcing a Sonos soundbar ; No one does multi-room audio better than Sonos ; A great smart...

Dolby Atmos is the only supported spatial audio format ; Can be tricky to find the best location to place the speaker in a room ; Trueplay Advanced Tuning depends on an iOS device; cross-platform Quick Tune isn’t as effective

The Sonos Era 300 is a party animal that delivers an exciting, atmospheric take on surround sound, by itself, in a pair, or as the surround channels reinforcing a Sonos soundbar.

Great balanced sound with Dolby Atmos support ; Easy-to-use touch controls ; Alexa and Sonos Voice Control can be used simultaneously

No Google Assistant support ; Spatial Audio is only supported on a limited number of streaming services and only via the Sonos app ; Some Sonos app bugginess

Overall, the Sonos Era 300 is a great-sounding speaker with Dolby Atmos but with a not-so-great app.

Back in 2020 I reviewed the then-new Sonos Arc soundbar for Sound & Vision, and it never left my family room. It’s been swapped out multiple times while I reviewed other Atmos-compliant soundbars, and some of these were mighty impressive. But none...

The Era 300 delivers a powerful and dynamic sound with potent bass, creating a three-dimensional soundstage that is unexpectedly large for such a compact speaker.

Although the Era 300 supports Dolby Atmos music playback, you still need a compatible Sonos soundbar to play films and shows in Atmos format.

The Sonos Era 300 is a speaker that could become very popular in the future. With an impressively large, wide and rich soundstage, it will do well as a music player in several different rooms. But it’s when we pair two of these speakers together that...

Clear and powerful performance ; Big soundstage ; Sonos networking fun ; Bluetooth included ; Striking design

Sourcing Dolby Atmos can be a hassle ; No viable way to connect to a TV ; No Google Assistant

Sonos’ new Era 300 is a fantastic new option, providing gripping performance, plenty of ways to connect, and all the convenience of a premium streaming speaker in the Sonos ecosystem. That’s true no matter what you play, or how you play it.

But, there’s my main quibble with the Era 300 — you can’t take advantage of its spatial audio capabilities when watching movies, as you can with the HomePod 2. But if your primary aim is listening to music, then the Era 300 will make your music sing.