Sonos' HomePod competitor just leaked... and it looks awesome

(Image credit: Sonos)

published 21 February 2023

It's official: Sonos' new Era 300 and Era 100 speakers are coming for Apple's HomePod and HomePod mini. Marketing images of the new speakers have leaked alongside details of likely pricing and availability, and if you're a Sonos fan there's lots to be excited about.

The news comes via Engadget, which got its hands on leaked promo pictures showing the Sonos One-style Era 100 and the Sonos Five-style Era 300. Sonos is apparently planning a launch in March 2023, which isn't very far away.

So what's so great about these new Sonos speakers? Given that Sonos already makes some of the very best smart speakers you can buy, any new model is going to be a big deal. Here's what we know so far.

Sonos Era 100 and Sonos Era 300: what we know so far

According to Engadget, the Era 300 is focused on room-filling Spatial Audio sound and is expected to have a price of around $450, which is lower than the current Sonos Five. It has six drivers directing sound forward, to the sides and above you and can work alongside the Sonos Arc and Sonos Beam (2nd gen) in a surround sound setup. Spatial Audio support may be patchy at first, however: Amazon Music Unlimited will have it but Sonos hasn't yet inked a deal with Apple for Apple Music's Dolby Atmos library.

The Era 100 is designed to replace the Sonos One, and it's going up slightly in price: $250 compared to the current $219. But you'll get more for your money. It's not a spatial audio device; it's a more advanced One that promises better performance.

These speakers are designed to be very flexible, so there's USB-C line-in and Bluetooth audio as well as the familiar Wi-FI. You'll be able to connect external audio sources such as turntables directly to the Era 100 – something you can't do with a Sonos One – and there's Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, Trueplay tuning and AirPlay 2.

This is really good news for Sonos fans: not only are these significant improvements on the current models, but those models will no doubt start getting pretty significant discounts when the Era 100 and Era 300 ship. And Sonos promises more goodies in 2023: its promised a brand new device in a brand new product category later this year.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).