Sonos Father's Day Sale Introduces Big Discounts on Arc Ultra Soundbar and More

[Cuesca]

Where did you hear such thing? It’s overpriced and underwhelming. And lately it’s been widely criticised for its software issues to the point the CEO had to resign.

A while back they used to be very premium, I'd assume that hasn't change. I'll try them out and if the speakers doesn't work out I'll return them. That being said besides parroting everyone, why do you personally think they are bad? It seems they have fixed the app issue, and besides forcing you to sign in I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

[yoheywut]

I snagged two Sonos 100's to serve as rear speakers for my Arc. Costco had a better price than this Sonos sale, with the added benefit of of Costco's return polices.

 

[User 6502]

I lerso

A while back they used to be very premium, I'd assume that hasn't change. I'll try them out and if the speakers doesn't work out I'll return them. That being said besides parroting everyone, why do you personally think they are bad? It seems they have fixed the app issue, and besides forcing you to sign in I don't see anything wrong with it.

I personally think it’s very bad to own a speaker you can’t use as you want but have to go through a proprietary app and software, and this compounds with the fact the audio quality is embarrassing compared to speakers of the same price band or often cheaper. Will it work? Of course, if not there’s warranty. Will it be good? It depends on what you find good, but it’ll definitely sound worse than alternatives which don’t lock you into a specific ecosystem.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I love my Sonos gear. Never had complaints about the software because I never use it - it's all got Airplay, what do I need the app for?

 

[Student of Life]

I got to try out the headphones, they are not bad at all. If you are in the Sonos ecosystem I get it, it makes sense. If you already have AirPods Max it is more of a pass.

 

[Godspeed8230]

I love my Sonos gear. Never had complaints about the software because I never use it - it's all got Airplay, what do I need the app for?

Well, for setting up the system (you were using it then), for making adjustmens and if your are not using AirPlay, for selecting the music service.

 

[beanbaguk]

Ah yes; Because apparently Father’s Day isn’t about appreciation any more, but about buying ridiculously expensive gifts.

 

[Cuesca]

I lerso

I personally think it’s very bad to own a speaker you can’t use as you want but have to go through a proprietary app and software, and this compounds with the fact the audio quality is embarrassing compared to speakers of the same price band or often cheaper. Will it work? Of course, if not there’s warranty. Will it be good? It depends on what you find good, but it’ll definitely sound worse than alternatives which don’t lock you into a specific ecosystem.

Well it arrived and after probably 10-12 hours with it; doing various things like music, video and gaming(Dune Awakening for 3-4 of those hours) I don't think your assessment is correct. First of all it acts as a normal bluetooth speaker, the delay for bluetooth is 75ms that's at the lowest lag setting. With it set to 75ms the audio quality is better than the Edifier R1280T its replacing. The negative is that there's a slight difference in quality between 75ms and 2000ms. That being said when connected via Airplay MacOS will delay the video to catch up with the sound and depending on the content the speaker will adjust accordingly from lossless to compressed. This feature is not available on Windows where everything will just be played with the most amount of compression.

In regard to it forcing you to use a proprietary app, you can still listen to music from various sources be it Apple Music or Spotify, however if you want to utilize the Dolby Atmos you would need to use their app. That being said, if you already have an Apple Music playlist you can just start the app and point to the playlist. Unfortunately some of the songs unless specified by Apple Music as Dolby Atmos will be normal stereo and you would need to either replace them or add their Dolby Atmos remixes manually. I'd generally just make a 2nd playlist for Dolby Atmos because they do sound different from their original Stereo version. Is it annoying having to go through the App? Yes the app is not as intuitive as Apple Music or Spotify, is it worth it for Dolby Atmos? Yes, as a non-audiophile this is the best listening experience I've had at home, and plus its something I can also fine tune to my specific taste.

Prior to the ERA 300 I've had the Edifier R1280T which I've tried to replace before with Homepod 2s, and those do work great with a Mac however they do not work at all with Windows and I needed it to work with both OSes. I do think the ERA 300s sound much better than the Homepod 2 as well because prior to returning the Homepod 2s. There are a few videos on youtube pitting the ERA 300 against Homepod 2s if you want a more in depth review. I've also recently return a Kanto Yu2, simply because again they do not sound any better than the Edifiers. That being said I think the Yu2's direct competitor is the ERA 100s. Overall I think this review is saying a lot more about the Edifier R1280T than the ERA 300s especially since the only pair of speakers that managed to beat it(HP2/ERA300) costs nearly 4-8 times the price.

So yea I guess I do find ERA 300s good. Would I buy these if they weren't on sale? I don't know, will I be keeping them? Yea, probably. Also you did say there are better alternatives but failed to list any.