Not the best use cases. Try it on a real atmos 5.1.2setup. Can be really awesome
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Sonos Announces New 'Era' Speakers and Apple Music Spatial Audio Support
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Exactly, when it was first apparent HomePods wouldn’t support lossless, the masses went crazy. Ultimately, they did add support, everybody rejoiced but no one can hear the difference.
The biggest plus for these new Sonos speakers is their alternative inputs (BT and 3.5 mm analogue via adapter) something the Homepad cannot do. I could not care less about Google support, but their Airplay 2 support makes using them easy plus use Alexa support on the Sonos I do own is very good. At the moment I am looking for compact speakers that sound very good ( a primary requirement) and which support alternatives to proprietary digital inputs. As I have mentioned before, support for voice commands is but a nice to have for me. I will order a 300 to see how they sound.
There won't be an SL version because they've introduced a physical switch to turn off the microphone - akin to the silent switch on your iphone. The switch will disconnect the power to the microphone hardware.
Calling out @cast1glion1 who seems to be downvoting all my comments. Do you DENY that the verge had issue with the HomePods price yet oddly see no problem with £900 a pair rear home cinema speakers? Or to be fair a £450 spatial audio speaker?
You don’t see the hypocrisy? It bothers me how The Verge has lost its integrity.
You don’t see the hypocrisy? It bothers me how The Verge has lost its integrity.
I tried a Sonos speaker, 2 homepod minis and a 1st Gen Homepod. I sold the whole lot. I bought a Cambridge Audio TV soundbase, it sounds better than all of them. They sound great, unless you compare to something else, then you realise, actually, stereo seperation is non existant, where's the bass. Any bass seems artificial.
I have a full Sonos HT system and agree that stereo separation from the sound bar is weak. And Sonos refuses to add support for separate L/R front in addition to the sound bar for those who want it.
But on bass: in my opinion, the Sonos Sub is the best speaker they make. That thing is a little marvel: tight, articulated, and with their two opposing woofer magic so clean.
I had a Klipsch 14” sub for my previous system and the Sonos Sub is a joy by comparison. While I don’t use two, bonus points to Sonos for supporting that as well.
Well, spatial audio offers some incredible possibilities. The only real issue is all of the major labels, who haven't a single corporate clue how it should sound, overzealously pressure engineers into producing new mixes that honestly would be trashed by producers of the original releases. While it can be amazing, it's currently a fad–a farce that's being destroyed by the very industry that could truly benefit from it. And Dolby lets it happen....no, they encourage it!
Yes, I agree with you. I've not heard one single spatial audio mix that was better than the immediacy and enveloping, involving stereo version. Not a single one!
Now, if Sonos could fix their dreaded WiFi setup process that only really works well in a basic home. On an office network, it's probably the single worst WiFi setup process invented since command-line-based 300 baud dial-up. Trust me, as a 25+ year Network Engineer veteran, it's the single worst WiFi setup process I've ever dealt with.
Once again I find myself scratching my head on why apple enthusiasts are so against Sonos. Almost everything I have is an apple product but I can still appreciate a solid alternative and a product that isn’t made by apple.
Probably because Sonos speakers no longer play nice with the Apple ecosystem. No Siri voice commands, poor HomeKit integration and if you want to use smart assistants it seems the only choice now with Sonos is Alexa.
Add to this the fact that if you want to play music directly you’re tethered to the Sonos app which is horrendous (especially when dealing with Apple Music)and for some unknown reason the company refuses to update and improve.
If Sonos resolved those issues, I’d consider their speakers again. Despite their horrible app, their speakers are very nice. (Arc is overrated though).
Only think that irks me is how apple constantly get crucified by the tech press for their prices yet seem to give Sonos a pass for a £900 pair of rear speakers in the Era 300.
Ironically, as a user of both multiple HomePods and Sonos speakers, I think Sonos uniquely works best with Apple. The calibration (TruePlay) requires an Apple device. Sonos has also been quite direct in wanting Siri on their speakers. I am confident that Apple is the holdup here.
I have removed Alexa from my home for a variety of reasons. I think it's nice that Sonos has added their own Hey Sonos service to the speakers. Would I prefer Siri? Absolutely! But I will say that for the specific purpose of controlling music, Hey Sonos has advantages, such as the ability to easily skip around a track.
And as someone who has the option to control multi-room music through Apple Music (Sonos has AirPlay2) and the Sonos app, I prefer using the Sonos app.
I have removed Alexa from my home for a variety of reasons. I think it's nice that Sonos has added their own Hey Sonos service to the speakers. Would I prefer Siri? Absolutely! But I will say that for the specific purpose of controlling music, Hey Sonos has advantages, such as the ability to easily skip around a track.
And as someone who has the option to control multi-room music through Apple Music (Sonos has AirPlay2) and the Sonos app, I prefer using the Sonos app.
Some of the people on this site can be pretty tribal about Apple. I certainly like Apple, and own many Apple products, but don’t have any HomePods and instead own a number of Sonos products as they suit my use case much better.
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It seems to be that way on a lot sites now. If you go to a car magazine site and Tesla is mentioned, it is brutal. Both for and against. It feels as if companies hire people (and bots) to trash competition and that is most of the comments. Not saying this is the case on this site…
It’s both.
Apple introduced a way for Siri to be on third party devices but it requires a homepod, HomePod mini or Apple TV (I think) to also be in the home to relay the request, so that’s what Sonos have a problem with.
It’s a big ask for me to give up setting reminders, making HomeKit commands, making phones calls via speaker and intercom. That’s why I’m sticking with homepod until Siri is an option elsewhere.
So let's say I want to skip back 20 seconds because I missed something. Or more complicated, I want to skip back in the kitchen where I am but leave the other rooms running on their current sync. I find that easy with Hey Sonos, but I tend to have trouble getting Siri to play along.
Again, in totality I would prefer Siri on my Sonos and hope one day Apple will allow that. Knowing Apple, they probably won't. But Hey Sonos is good at the main thing I use it for: music and timers.
EDIT: another one where Siri gives me trouble, adding time to an existing timer.
In my opinion Siri is an absolute awful user experience as compared to google and Alexa which is probably a reason why sonos made that decision. You aren’t directly tethered to the Sonos app. I can play on my Sonos speakers directly from the Spotify app.
I use Apple Music and I use Siri on iPhone and iPad , hence my point about Sonos not really playing nice with the Apple ecosystem these days.
Adding time to an existing timer is something Siri can’t do , I think.
But skipping x amount of seconds into a song can be done.
Could you share the link to that information. Especially that it is a hardware and not a software feature.
Edit: Nervermind, found it. Thank you for highlighting this!
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I have a HomePod mini sitting two feet away from my Sonos Arc. It's only there to set reminders, timers, and control the lights, not to play music. If I want music, I use "Hey Sonos...". I'd much prefer a solution where full-blown Siri "lived in" the Arc and I didn't need the HomePod mini (I have the HomePod mini and my Apple TV on the network, and I'd be fine with commands getting relayed through one of those), but Apple and Sonos don't seem to have worked that out yet.