Sonos Era 100 review: Packs a punch

Sonos Era 100

There are so many Bluetooth speakers these days that it becomes challenging to pick the right one. That’s true more for the budget segment though. If you are shopping in the slightly premium category, then certain names stand out — Sonos is one such brand. Known for its audio prowess, Sonos has quite a few offerings in the Indian market now. Joining the ranks is Sonos Era 100 — a smart speaker that succeeds the well-regarded Sonos One. We spent the past few weeks living with the Era 100, and here's a breakdown of how it fares.

The Era 100 ditches the cylindrical shape of the Sonos One for a more elliptical design. It feels surprisingly weighty for its size, a testament to the quality build materials. The all-white (or all-black) matte finish exudes a minimalist elegance that seamlessly blends into any home environment. The capacitive touch controls on the top are responsive and intuitive, allowing for play/pause, volume adjustments, and track skipping. A new indented bar for volume control is a welcome addition, offering a more tactile experience.

Setting up the Era 100 is not a breeze — at least it wasn’t for me. Pairing it with the iPhone 15 Pro Max proved to be a rather frustrating exercise. Despite being on the same Wi-Fi network, and downloading the app multiple times, the Sonos Era just wasn’t discoverable on the iPhone app. Connecting with Bluetooth was rather easy and swift and support for Apple AirPlay is a godsend for iPhone users.

App connectivity is essential to get the best out of the speaker, so a few attempts were again made. This time on an Android phone and that worked. Within the app, there are a lot of customisation options available. You will find that you can directly play music from the app as it supports Spotify and Apple Music.

Sonos Era 100 needs to be connected to a power socket and has a room scanning feature. It is something that is also on Apple HomePod and allows you to create a better sound stage depending on where you place the speaker.

Sonos has packed in impressive specs in the Era 100. For starters, the woofer is now 25% larger which delivers deeper and richer bass. There are three amps, two tweeters and one woofer which combine to deliver a rather impressive audio experience on the Era 100.

Listen to “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish on the Era 100 and you can feel the thumping bass and it doesn’t muddy the overall soundscape. Those who like bass-heavy songs will certainly appreciate what the Sonos Era 100 has to offer.

There’s a Willie Nelson version of “Unchained Melody”-- not as good as The Righteous Brothers version -- but still very good. Nelson's vocals sound nice and clear on the Era 100.

Pink Floyd’s “Time” is a song with a rather complex soundscape and here’s where the Sonos Era 100 kind of sweats. While the instrument separation was done nicely, the soundscape was a bit muddled. This is when on the Apple HomePod, it sounds really nice and clear. The same song on Amazon Echo Show 10 also struggles quite a bit when played at high volumes.

Overall, the Era 100 does manage to impress but in some songs — especially at loud volumes — you can feel a slight strain on the speaker.

Sonos Era 100 offers Amazon Alexa support which can be used to get weather updates, play music, and even control smart home devices. The microphones are good enough to understand voice commands at mid to low volume levels.

Sonos has been making improvements with each new speaker it launches in India and the Era 100 is a testament to that. For instance, it is much better than the Sonos Roam — which is more portable and slightly cheaper as well.

Priced at Rs 29,999, the Sonos Era 100 gets a lot of things right. The bass is much deeper, the design is sleep and the capacitive touch controls add a bit of something extra. The Amazon Alexa integration might tilt the scales in its favour as well.

Having said that, the price point might not just work in Sonos’ favour. The Marshall Middleton costs around Rs 31,000 and gives the Era 100 stiff competition. The HomePod — might be low on ‘smartness’ — at Rs 32,900 offers consistently good audio. The Sonos Era 100 is a good option if you don’t want to spend more than Rs 30,000 as the sound profile is balanced and offers versatility in terms of features and audio output.