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Sonos Announces New 'Era' Speakers and Apple Music Spatial Audio Support

daanodinot said:
Look, The Verge clearly has some kind of source at Sonos. But Apple writing ads for Sonos? I think you underestimate how much is at stake for a publication like The Verge to say “Whatever we’re just going to write an ad for a tech company.” It would ruin their entire reputation; it would destroy livelihoods. Whatever they would get from Sonos, it wouldn’t be worth the risk. Not by a long shot.

Also: these are first-looks. It’s hard to criticize something when you’ve only heard a demo. So wait for the reviews. Then judge.
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Listen to the latest episode of the Vergecast and you may agree with me.
The entire ‘leak’ thing was planned. And I call BS on a publication that had a problem with homepod being priced at 300 but don’t seem to have an issue with Sonos marketing speakers at 900 a pair to be used as discrete rears for an atmos setup. It’s a joke.
 
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darthbane2k said:
Listen to the latest episode of the Vergecast and you may agree with me.
The entire ‘leak’ thing was planned. And I call BS on a publication that had a problem with homepod being priced at 300 but don’t seem to have an issue with Sonos marketing speakers at 900 a pair to be used as discrete rears for an atmos setup. It’s a joke.
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I did. What did you expect Nilay to say/ask? They’ve spend zero time with the products themselves.
 
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Sticking with my HomePods thanks!
 
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Did Sonos announce anything about lossless Apple Music coming to Sonos as well as spatial audio? I don’t have any spatial audio Sonos speakers, but lossless would be great.
 
enc0re said:
Probably closer to 100:HomePod.

I have Sonos Ones (predecessor to 100) and they are of comparable size and sound almost as good as my HomePod. Of course, HomePod supports Spatial Audio (to a point) and the 100 will not.
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I agree. The One isn't quite up to the Homepod. I wonder if the 100 will be.
 
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Having read and listened to The Verge since the Engadget days, the coverage of Sonos for the last year or two definitely has sounded ad-like in terms of the language used and only mentioning upsides. Likewise the exclusive leaks have been detailed and included a lot of internal CAD as well as marketing copy.

To me, it definitely reads like tacit cooperation. Whether that’s official at the editorial level (I doubt Nilay would risk his reputation like that) or just by a reporter, I of course have no idea.

I own a lot of Sonos and plan to add to it, but at this point I would not trust The Verge to have a journalistic opinion of the brand. It’s more like MacRumors (for example). A fan publication.
 
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enc0re said:
To me, it definitely reads like tacit cooperation. Whether that’s official at the editorial level (I doubt Nilay would risk his reputation like that) or just by a reporter, I of course have no idea.
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Chris Welch has an ‘arrangement’ with Sonos. I’m sure of it.
 
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enc0re said:
Probably closer to 100:HomePod.

I have Sonos Ones (predecessor to 100) and they are of comparable size and sound almost as good as my HomePod. Of course, HomePod supports Spatial Audio (to a point) and the 100 will not.
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makes sense. I owned Sonos Sub/Beam and 2 One's as satellite speakers. The system was far superior to stereo paired homepods, but it was also $600 vs $1400. For $600 I'm pretty happy with the stereo paired situation.
 
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contacos said:
I hardly notice anything TBH and I even got Tidal HiFi with „Atmos“ „Master“ and „360 Real Audio“ (supported by my Sony Headphoned)

Marketing always tells me I am supposed to feel like I am „emerging“ into the music as if I am standing in a musical hall but nope. Play me „basic“ Spotify on 320 kbs instead and I wouldn’t even notice
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Is this method of "quoting" like the new uber cool thing or is this a geographic issue? Found it distracting and then curious as to what the point is.
 
TotalMacMove said:
Would be really nice to be able to set these speakers as "default" via apple tv like the homepod.
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Sonos’ answer to that would be to use a Sonos Arc or Beam, which are designed to work with TVs (via HDMI eARC). There’s nothing to switch, no hoping the Apple TV gets it right, any sound sent to the TV (from Apple TV or elsewhere) just automatically plays through the soundbar (and surrounds and sub if you have them). Works a treat.
 
darthbane2k said:
The Verge’s coverage of this sounds suspiciously like an Ad
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A slight tweak to better represent my experiences with The Verge in the last few years

I noticed just the other day that they still can’t stop talking about NFTs

Also almost time for a Patel + Steve Aoki promotional follow up to get the latest BS from the “AokiVerse”

So much of what they cover, and how, leads one to wonder who’s paying who behind the scenes.
 
Why won’t anyone solve the problem that we need fixed the most. A way to play hi res lossless Apple Music with out using headphones and a DAC?
Come on Apple. If you don’t want to let a third party do it, then just fix the Apple TV.
 
Z6128 said:
Does anyone else find spatial audio for music to be a bit lacking? It’s amazing for movies. But every time I try and listen to Atmos music on my Sonos soundbars or AirPods, I end up turning it off and going back to regular stereo.
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It’s hit or miss. Older stuff sounds not so good because it wasn’t mixed and all that for Spatial but Newer albums like Beyoncé, Orville Peck, and Angel Olsen sound cool because instead of trying to show off the new tech it’s used subtly and just fills it out more. Gimmick for sure but when used right it can be cool. But a turd still can’t be polished.
 
mrCrumbSnatcher said:
It really depends on the album. There are a lot that are not mixed well.... most likely auto-generated Spatial or something. But there are some albums that sound absolutely amazing. Some of my favorites:

  • Rumors - Fleetwood Mac
  • Thriller - Michael Jackson
  • Pyromania - Def Leppard
  • Various Beatles albums
For the younger crowd, I've stumbled across various tracks by The Weekend, Billie Elish (sp?), etc. That sound really neat.

But as mentioned, there are many albums that did Spatial a disservice (I'm looking at you, Faith no More - Epic).

Edit: Just to clarify - I have the Arc, Sub and two Ones in my setup.
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Great comment. This has always been the case, whether you are listening to an 8 track, cassette, vinyl, CD etc.; the quality of the recording---and the person mixing the audio in the studio---has huge impact on sound going into our human two channel receiver (our ears). This post is a great list...I would add Heart Like a Wheel by Linda Ronstadt on vinyl as one of best recordings ever.
 
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