The new Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 usher in a new generation of wireless speakers for the company, and our first impressions were pretty good. They also close a gaping hole that has plagued a pretty large segment of users. Android users no longer are left out of the Trueplay feature.
Custom tuning of speakers for their environments isn’t particularly new. Google has done it with its Nest Hub Max. Apple does it with the HomePod. But Sonos has always required a phone to do the listening for ambient sound and fine-tuning the speakers. And to date, that phone always has had to be an iPhone (unless you have a portable Sonos Move, but that’s almost a different product category at this point. Stay with us here).
It’s as simple as that, and Sonos keeps its messaging about the change just as simple in its press release. “Using the microphone array in Era 100 and Era 300, Trueplay optimizes the sound for the unique acoustics of your space with just a tap in the Sonos app.”
It’s worth at least acknowledging that while having Trueplay in the new generation of Sonos speakers fixes things going forward, it doesn’t change the status quo for Android users who already have a Sonos speaker. Even the old Sonos Play:1 allows for Trueplay — again, only if you have an iPhone — and the new hardware does nothing to change that fact.
But if you’ve got an Android phone and are in the market for a new Sonos speaker, you’ll at least no longer be left out of the Trueplay fold.
The new Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 are available for preorder now and will be available on March 28. The Era 100 runs $249, and the Era 300 costs $449.
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