Sonos Era 300 Bluetooth Speaker Review

Editor's Update Note (March 30, 2023): Google Assistant is not supported by Sonos and a recent app update has removed it as an option during voice assistant setup. We have removed it from the review.

About the Sonos Era 300

• Price: $449
• Dimensions (HWD): 6.3 x 10.24 x 7.28 inches
• Weight: 9.85 lbs
• Colors: Black, White
• Speakers/drivers: One up-firing tweeter, one front-firing mid-tweeter, two side-firing mid-tweeters, two side-firing woofers
• Amplification: Six Class-D amplifiers
• Wireless Connection: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 2.4GHz/5GHz), Bluetooth 5.0
• Wired Connection: USB-C, 3.5mm with optional line-in adapter, Ethernet with optional combo adapter
• Smart Assistants: Amazon Alexa, Sonos Voice Control
• Special features: Apple AirPlay 2

Sonos has been putting some serious thought into its sustainability over the past few years and it comes across in its packaging design. The Era 300 comes in a box made of sustainably sourced recycled paper (even the cable wraps are made of paper) and post-consumer recycled plastic. After unclipping each side, the entire box top and sides lift off to reveal the Era 300 wrapped in cloth. With no box sides in the way it’s easy to lift the speaker off its pedestal and begin setup.

The only cable included is the speaker’s power cable. There’s a USB-C input on the back where you can connect an optional adapter—one that is line-in only and one that includes both line-in and Ethernet connectivity. Having the adapter hang out the back isn’t the most elegant solution, but Sonos banks on you getting your content via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. A Wi-Fi connection and the Sonos app are necessary for the setup process. The app is also the easiest way to control the Era 300, although the newly designed capacitive transport buttons and volume slider function well.

Sonos offers stands and wall mounts specifically designed for the Era 300. Sonos sent along stands for my setup and they’re easy to put together and look pretty slick once the Era 300 is attached. They also put the speaker at the perfect height when used in a Dolby home theater system (more on that later). Sanus (no relation) offers stands designed for the Era 300 as well that have a rectangular base as opposed to the circular base on the Sonos stands.

What we like

Easy setup and tuning

I’m not sure how Sonos could streamline the set up process more than it already has. Once you plug in the speaker and open the app, a box pops up asking if you want to add it to your Sonos system and where the speaker is located (there are a couple dozen locations to choose from). The speaker then plays a tone for your mobile device to hear, and that’s it. The speaker connects to the Wi-Fi network your device is on (you’ll only have to enter the password for the first Sonos speaker you connect) and performs any necessary updates.

Trueplay tuning can be done one of two ways, Quick or Advanced. For the Quick tuning, the speaker uses its own built-in microphones to profile the room and adjust the sound in about 15 seconds. Advanced tuning requires you to walk around your room for 45 seconds, waving your iOS device around (carefully) as it uses its mic to calibrate the sound to your room. Advanced tuning isn’t available with Android devices.

For my space, I didn’t hear a drastic difference between the two, so Android users aren’t missing out on much between the two tuning options. I’ll point out, though, that if you’re adding two Era 300 speakers to your home theater system (as I talk about below), Advanced tuning is the only Trueplay option available so an iOS device will be required.

Big, impactful sound

The Era 300 delivers sound far bigger than you’d expect from its size. In my moderately sized living room I didn’t feel much need to go above 60% on the volume slider, so there’s significant headroom. When I did venture to higher volumes during testing, the music stayed distortion- and vibration-free.

Across the frequency spectrum, instruments were clear and vocals were able to shine through. The Era 300 produced an impressive amount of bass in particular. John Bonham’s kick drum and John Paul Jones’ dancing bassline through the chorus of “Celebration Day” were wonderfully heavy and dirty. The Trueplay tuning was a tad bass-heavy for my ears (I ran into the same issue in my Sonos Era 100 review), so I backed the bass off to -1 in the EQ. I generally prefer to have more granular control over EQ than the limited bass and treble controls in the Sonos app, but with the Era 300 it wasn’t a huge concern.

Dolby Atmos music has incredible depth

Dolby Atmos music is still a niche market, but when done right with a good Dolby mix, the soundfield can achieve excellent depth and spatial placement. The Era 300 does Dolby Atmos right, although it should be stated it’s only supported through the Sonos app with Amazon Music Unlimited and Apple Music (although Apple Music support wasn’t yet available during testing).

Instrument placement is more refined in the Dolby Atmos mixes I listened to. The background vocals in St. Vincent’s stellar “Pay Your Way In Pain” back to the right behind her main vocals and there’s slight separation between the hi-hat and snare of the drums, all shining through thanks to the Era 300.

The percussion on “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye builds in from the left to develop one of the best grooves in music with strings soaring from the right. All with Gaye’s soaring heartfelt vocals driving home the question we still have yet to answer.

Can be used as rear Atmos speakers

Sonos sent along a second Era 300, Arc, and Sub (Gen 3) so I could experience a full 7.1.4 Atmos surround sound setup—and what an experience it was. Reviewed readers will already know that the Sonos Arc is our best overall soundbar. While on its own it delivers convincing height to the sound, it’s still a single soundbar and struggles with providing a fully encompassing sonic experience, as all single soundbars do.

Adding in two Era 300 speakers at the rear of my room filled in the missing surround the Arc just isn’t capable of and made movie watching a treat. Excellent Atmos mixes, such as The Force Awakens and Blade Runner 2049, were elevated by the Era 300. TIE fighters flew above my head from the left of my TV past the back of my room; to my left and right I heard rumbles from explosions outside the Millennium Falcon as Rey and Finn frantically try to get airborne; and the Los Angeles rain surrounds K as he flies out towards the San Diego district.

While you’d hope that speakers from the same brand would match, it isn’t always the case. The Sonos have none of those troubles. The blend from one speaker to the next is immaculate. The sound canopy above my head wasn’t quite as fully continuous as you get with ceiling speakers, but this is a very minor sonic nitpick and if I wasn’t specifically listening for it I would never have noticed.

Going all in for the Ultimate Immersive Set (as they call it) is a bit daunting, with a total price of $2,471. Still, if you’re looking to go all in on an Atmos system without the need for ceiling speakers and be a part of the Sonos ecosystem, it’s worth consideration. For existing Sonos Arc owners that want to expand their Atmos movie experience, a pair of Era 300s is a no brainer.

Improved connectivity over previous Sonos speakers

While the amount of available streaming services in the Sonos app has always been impressive, the lack of Bluetooth connectivity has been a thorn in the side of Sonos smart speaker users for years. Thankfully that has been corrected with the two new Era speakers. The Era 300 supports Bluetooth 5.0 (an upgrade to 5.2 will happen some time in the future) and pairing is quick. The pairing button is on the back of the speaker at the top, so it’s easy to access.

A single USB-C port on the back can be used with one of two adapters (mentioned above) to provide line-in capabilities, and of course Wi-Fi connectivity is supported—Sonos’ bread and butter for functionality.

There’s a mic shut-off switch for privacy

Our lives are constantly getting more interconnected, and while that can be helpful, the fact that everything is listening all the time is a bit concerning. There’s a button on the top of the Era 300 that will turn off the built-in microphone used for whichever smart assistant you choose—the speaker supports Alexa and Sonos Voice Control. But when that’s not enough to ease your mind, a switch on the back disconnects power to the smart mic. It’s a nice privacy touch that we don’t see on every smart speaker we test.

What we don’t like

The Sonos app can be confusing

For all of the excellent functionality and easy setup offered by the Sonos app, it can be confusing to navigate once you’re up and running. Searching for an album or song will bring up options from whichever apps you have connected, but the top results are sometimes unexpected and finding what you want can become time consuming. For instance, when looking for the Marvin Gaye classic “What’s Going On” in the Songs tab, the two options displayed for Amazon Music were “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes (yes, I took the opportunity to listen to it) and “inside the club” by What’s Going On. I needed to select Amazon Music to expand the results, the next 46 of which were Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” from various compilations.

Also, a couple times during testing the audio signal stopped playing from the speaker even though it continued to play in the app. Closing and reopening the app was enough to fix it, but it’s an issue I’ve run into previously with other Sonos speakers so it isn’t unique to the Era 300.

Should you buy the Sonos Era 300?

Yes, for fans of Atmos and Sonos

The Sonos Era 300 promises incredible spatial audio performance from a single compact speaker and it absolutely delivers. Its sound is rich and full while still providing vocal clarity. Dolby Atmos music has an even greater depth that helps draw you in as a listener. The ability to use the Era 300 as a rear surrounds in an Atmos home theater system and the addition of Bluetooth connectivity add to its overall value.

It’s more expensive than our favorite smart speakers, but its sound is far superior to those as well. When it comes to whole-home music integration, the Bluesound Pulse M is the same price and uses the BluOS ecosystem, arguably providing a smoother and more intuitive user experience (we’ll have a comparison of the two soon). But while the Pulse M’s sound is stellar, it doesn’t support Dolby Atmos tracks and doesn’t work as a rear speaker.

Even though the Sonos Five continues to be available, the Era 300 is poised to become its flagship single speaker. For anyone looking to expand their Sonos system, either throughout their home or as part of their home theater, the Era 300 is the Sonos speaker to get.