Sonos has two new audio system occurring sale Tuesday, March 28, they usually’re each important new fashions that occupy a few key spots within the total Sonos line-up: The Period 100 is basically the alternative for the Sonos One, arguably the ‘default’ starter speaker for anybody seeking to construct out a Sonos system.
The Period 300, its bigger sibling, is the primary Sonos speaker to assist spatial audio, and occupies a spot someplace between the now-defunct Play:3 and the Sonos 5. We took each for a check drive, and located loads of causes to get enthusiastic about Sonos’ Period period.
The fundamentals
The Sonos Period 100 principally drops in as a alternative for the Sonos One within the current product lineup, and it’s bought a design to match. In contrast to the Sonos One, the Period 100 is a real rounded cylinder (as an alternative of a 3D rounded rectangle just like the One) and is barely taller than the One, however with a extra svelte look total due to being extra slender side-to-side.
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The Period 100 connects through Wi-Fi to your Sonos system, and contains Apple AirPlay 2 like its predecessor. It additionally has a mic and helps Sonos’ personal voice management in addition to Amazon Alexa (in contrast to on older units, Google Assistant is not an possibility). It has a bodily swap for disabling the mic on prime of the contact management mute from prior fashions, and the redesigned prime contact floor has a devoted quantity slider, play/pause and skip controls.
New to the Period 100 and the Period 300 are two extra connection choices: Bluetooth, and bodily line-in. These are each welcome, however it’s vital to notice the USB-C port used for line-in on each requires the addition of the Sonos Line-In Adapter for connecting to three.5 mm sources. I believed that because it was USB-C, it will be simple to simply join a supply like a MacBook Professional instantly and have it acknowledged as an exterior audio gadget, however that doesn’t work — nor does utilizing current USB-C-to-3.5 mm audio adapters that I had available.
The Period 100 additionally positive aspects two separate tweeters for the primary time in a speaker this dimension from Sonos, in addition to a bigger subwoofer. The outcome ought to be extra readability and pure sound versus the Sonos One. Extra on how that delivers afterward.
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The Sonos Period 300 is a way more net-new speaker for the corporate, although it roughly occupies the place within the lineup left behind by the discontinuation of the Play:3, which was not instantly changed by one other mannequin at or close to its value level. The Period 300 is kind of totally different, nevertheless, each by way of its design – it appears like an hourglass laid on its facet – and its characteristic set, because it contains assist for spatial audio for the primary time.
Sonos designed the internals of the Period 300, which packs 4 tweeters going through in all instructions however down, in addition to a pair of woofers, to have the ability to fill a room with sound from a single level. It might probably reproduce each stereo and spatial mixes, and doesn’t artificially manipulate stereo audio to sound spatialized, fortunately. Sonos additionally offered the Period 300 with the flexibility to behave as rear audio system for a Sonos encompass setup, which implies when you’ve got a principally limitless finances, you will get two audio system plus an Arc and a Sonos Sub to create a digital 7.1.4 sound system.
After all, each the Period 100 and Period 300 can be a part of an current Sonos setup and acquire entry to all of the synced multi-room playback options that Sonos is thought for. Each additionally characteristic each fast tuning (which makes use of tones to robotically alter sound) and TruePlay tuning, which makes use of the built-in mic to regulate sound to greatest suit your room together with you strolling round your house along with your cell gadget. Additionally, when you’ve got the enter adapters, you may play again audio out of your line-in supply throughout your numerous Sonos audio system.
Design
Each these Sonos audio system obtain new highs for the model by way of design, for my part. The Period 100 is a straight throughout the plate, elementary bookshelf speaker with only a trace of edge due to the rectangular form. It appears extra innocuous in situ throughout a variety of home settings, together with within the kitchen or when arrange as rears due to some delicate tweaks, like the truth that the speaker grill goes nearly all the way in which to the highest of the speaker, in contrast to on the Sonos One, which had a band of stable floor close to the higher edge.
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The brand new quantity rocker indentation is a welcome change and provides some tactile profit to distinguishing it from the ahead/again buttons, and the delicate vertical brand on the entrance grill is a pleasant little bit of branding that doesn’t mar an in any other case very covert look.
For the Period 300, Sonos clearly went a bit extra adventurous, arising with a form that tapers to the center after which flares again out in direction of the again. That is seemingly not less than partly practical in addition to aesthetic to offer the Period 300 with its spatial audio and top channel encompass capabilities. It makes for a way more placing design vs. the Period 100, however it’s one which I feel works fairly effectively in a variety of settings. It’s positively a bit extra attention-grabbing, however because it finally ends up wanting like a contemporary architectural mini sculpture, that’s by no means a foul factor. In actual fact, I might say the Period 300 is possibly the best-looking speaker Sonos has ever made.
Options & Efficiency
Let’s get the fundamentals out of the way in which first: Sonos’ new audio system are simply as dependable by way of the core Sonos magic as any which have come earlier than. They supply rock-solid, multi-room synced audio playback, and can combine immediately along with your current setup ought to you may have one.
Okay, with that out of the way in which, let’s discuss what these audio system uniquely present that Sonos’ current lineup hasn’t supplied.
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The Period 100 has inner {hardware} adjustments that the corporate claims gives higher sound than the Sonos One. Primarily based on testing, that does certainly appear to be the case, with a pair caveats. The primary is that I might say in the event you’re wanting to make use of an Period 100 by itself, you positively get so much higher audio high quality versus a Sonos One performing solo. The added tweeter and larger woofer do ship extra correct sound with much less muddied mixes, particularly at decrease volumes.
For those who’re debating whether or not or to not improve an current Sonos One pair to Period 100s, I feel issues get much more murky. The actual fact is that in most settings, for many setups, you seemingly received’t get sufficient of a distinction in total skilled audio high quality to justify the value of upgrading. However in the event you’re coming to it new, or upgrading from a a lot older pair of Play:1s, it’s positively a great-sounding speaker — alone or collectively.
As for the Period 300, it’s far simpler to advocate this extra broadly, partly as a result of there’s nothing actually equal in Sonos’ latest historical past to match it towards. It genuinely gives terrific, room-filling sound with stunning readability and class given its footprint and dimension. The Period 300 is a superb sole speaker for any room the place you need audio (versus having a soundbar or dwelling theater system for a TV), and I discovered it was even akin to the costlier and wonderful Sonos 5 that the corporate nonetheless sells, by way of total high quality.
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After all, the Sonos Period 300’s massive, fancy new characteristic is assist for spatial audio, which it gives in the event you use Amazon Music Limitless as a supply, or Apple Music through a forthcoming replace, for tracks mastered with Dolby Atmos Audio. I examined this with suitable tracks from Amazon Music Limitless and located that it does certainly make a distinction and sounds nice — I simply couldn’t actually say for sure that it sounds higher than the identical music rendered in stereo solely.
To be honest, that’s usually been the case for me and spatial audio: with Apple’s AirPod lineup and Apple Music, I can positively inform the distinction, however can’t often say definitively that I favor one over the opposite. I wouldn’t make spatial audio assist the deciding think about a purchase order, however your mileage might differ there relying on how you’re feeling concerning the expertise.
Backside line
Sonos has hardly ever had an actual miss with its product lineup, and each the Period 100 and the Period 300 stand as clear hits. The Period 100 is a brilliant and delicate evolution of the corporate’s ‘default’ starter providing and the Period 300 is a novel and outperforming product in a sea of choices that features Apple’s just-updated HomePod. Whereas every sounds nice in its personal proper, the differentiator for Sonos will all the time be the pliability of its multi-room audio expertise, and that continues to be an enormous spotlight of each of those merchandise that you could’t actually get wherever else.
I want that Sonos had both simply made the aux inputs on the again 3.5mm (the argument towards being that with USB-C, in addition they assist Ethernet adapters for wired community connections), or that they’d included their proprietary adapters within the field. However the truth that they’ve these choices, in addition to Bluetooth, is a serious nice-to-have improve that has been missing in most of Sonos’ lineup for years.
You received’t be disillusioned with both of those audio system, and as all the time with Sonos merchandise, in the event you’ve bought the cash, they carry out much more spectacularly in stereo pairs. The Period 300, particularly, is an excellent robust providing with few actual rivals on the market.
