So we asked Sonos to loan us a prelaunch sample to get an early look at the feature. The new Apple HomePod and revised Amazon Echo Studio also offer a spatial audio feature, so it seems like spatial audio is having a moment. “It’s three-dimensional audio,” Martin said in an interview with Consumer Reports. That delivers sound to the sides while also filling in a “phantom” center because there’s no actual center channel speaker. That’s different from a conventional stereo setup, which in most cases, uses drivers in two speakers directed toward the listener. The Era 300 has six drivers that direct the sound left, right, forward, and upward. But unlike other Sonos products, it can play spatial audio tracks in Dolby Atmos, producing a huge soundstage akin to stereo on steroids. Like the Five, the 300 does single-box stereo and can be paired for a more conventional stereo setup. The 300 will replace the legendary Sonos Five, which has sat near the very top of Consumer Reports’ wireless speaker ratings in various incarnations for the better part of a decade.
The $449 smart speaker is part of a major revamp of Sonos’ home speaker line. But if Mick asked the same question today, Martin could point to a number of less pricey one-box smart speakers, including the new Sonos Era 300.
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