HomePod Spatial Audio on Sonos era 300

[grandM]

I am thinking of buying the era 300 as I can get it for 70USD more than the HomePod 2. At the moment I am still using Spotify due to the worthless Apple Music algorithm. I do find the sound quality of AM superior to Spotify by the way.

Now I read that the combination AM guarantees Spatial Audio while it is a hassle to get it working on the era 300.
Can someone enlighten me?

PS: Is it true the era 300 produces a much better audio quality than the HomePod 2?

 

[dsaponaro]

maybe I misread your question but…

I have several homepods and Sonos speakers. I have no problem getting Spatial Audio on either. Sounds great on both. I guess if I was just judging sound quality I’d say better on era 300 for sure but then again I don’t listen to it all that often as 1 speaker by itself. I have it paired with another era and connected to an arc for surround. Initially when purchased I tested it solo briefly and it did sound a bit better in my opinion though. I am sure there are several reviews pitting them solo against each other.

As for ease of use with spatial. both work great but I do have my Sonos connected to an Apple TV. if I’m not mistaken, in order to get spatial to the Sonos it has to be played through the Sonos app or from an Apple TV that is connected to your sonos. If I simply airplay directly to the Sonos,say from my iPhone, it reverts to stereo pcm.

Maybe someone can chime in to confirm?

 

[erihp]

get an apple airport express gen 2 and use whatever speakers you want/have/can afford/like

no 'spatial', but it will sound as good as the speakers you hook up to it.