Sonos updated its iPhone and iPad apps this week to support playback of Apple Music spatial audio on compatible Sonos speakers and bars (Including the newly announced Era 300, Arc and Arc SL and the second-generation Beam).

Apple Music offers thousands of spatial audio songs that are now available on the App Store after being updated to version 15.2 with the Dolby Atmos logo in the Sonos app.

Sonos Era 100 (left) and Sonos Era 300 (right)

Spatial audio is a multi-dimensional, immersive sound experience that gives users a live music experience right at home, and is quickly becoming the primary recording format used by big-name artists, music producers and engineers. Available on models like the Arc and Beam (Gen2) and Sonos Era 300, Apple Music with spatial audio support puts listeners right in the heart of the action. Carefully designed playlists include works by well-known artists from all genres, and the number of tracks continues to grow.

Since Sonos Arc, Sonos has supported Dolby panoramic sound for rich, true-to-life 3D sound. With the addition of Apple Music spatial audio, Sonos users can also experience the magic of 3D sound in pure audio. Plus Sonos’ patented Trueplay tuning technology – which adjusts the sound to the unique acoustic characteristics of the room so that playback is true to the original sound, restoring pure sound in any environment for immersive spatial surround sound with rich, authentic Apple Music spatial audio music. Instantly transform your home into a live music venue.

Sonos’ latest Era 300 and Era 100 speakers support AirPlay 2 for wireless audio transfer from Apple devices.

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Sonos Era 100 (left) and Sonos Era 300 (right)

Spatial audio, which provides a multi-dimensional immersive sound experience that allows users to experience live music at home, is quickly becoming the primary recording format used by big-name artists, music producers and engineers. Available on models like the Arc and Beam (Gen2) and Sonos Era 300, Apple Music with spatial audio support puts listeners right in the heart of the action. Carefully designed playlists include works by well-known artists from all genres, and the number of tracks continues to grow.

Since Sonos Arc, Sonos has supported Dolby panoramic sound for rich, true-to-life 3D sound. With the addition of Apple Music spatial audio, Sonos users can also experience the magic of 3D sound in pure audio. Plus Sonos’ patented Trueplay tuning technology – adjusts the sound to the unique acoustics of the room so that playback is true to the original, restoring pure sound in any environment for immersive spatial surround sound with rich, authentic Apple Music spatial audio music. Instantly transforms your home into a live music venue.

The post Apple Music Spatial Audio Available for Sonos Speaker Users Starting March 28 appeared first on TechGoing.

The new Sonos Era 100 (left) and Sonos Era 300 (right)

The Era 300 has a unique shape, with six built-in Class D digital amplifiers, six powerful drivers, two woofers and four tweeters capable of sending sound forward, up, left and right. In addition to creating a wide stereo effect, the Era 300’s tweeters are able to reflect sound off walls and ceilings for the unit’s brightest feature — immersive Dolby Atmos spatial audio. For a larger soundstage, the Era 300 can also be paired with Sonos Arc bars as rear speakers to create a very powerful 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos home theatre system.

The device also has a new user interface that includes a capacitive volume slider, dedicated skip and playback controls, and a Bluetooth button for connecting devices to the speakers. The speaker supports Sonos Voice Control and Alexa Assistant, though not Google Assistant, likely due to a long-running legal dispute between Sonos and Google. Privacy-conscious users can temporarily turn off their voice assistant by tapping the newly added Voice Bubble Control button or completely power off the built-in microphone via a switch on the back of the device. The device also supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Apple AirPlay 2 and USB-C input.

Unlike the Sonos 5, the Era 300 does not have a dedicated 3.5 mm input but can be connected to other audio devices via the separately sold Sonos Line-In Adapter and auxiliary cable.

The speaker has Sonos’ Trueplay setup built-in, which measures the acoustic characteristics of the room and automatically adjusts the equalizer to optimize the output of the space. Marroquin has worked with stars like Alicia Keys, Kanye West and John Legend.

Sonos also announced today the more compact, traditional-looking Era 100, which offers stereo sound thanks to a tilted dual tweeter layout in a larger enclosure, and a 25% larger mid-woofer for better low-frequency performance.

The Era 100 does not support spatial audio, and connectivity is the same as the Era 300, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Airplay 2 streaming, and USB-C input.

It’s worth noting that with the introduction of the new Era 300 and Era 100 speakers, Sonos also announced that starting March 28, some Sonos speakers will support spatial audio.

The Sonos Era 300 will cost $449 (currently about RMB 3116), while the Era 100 will cost $249 (currently about RMB 1728), and both speakers will be available on March 28, 2023.

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Sonos Era 300

The high-end Era 300 will indeed feature the unique dual-horn design shown in the renders revealed earlier this year, and will be a competitor to the HomePod 2 when it hits the market. The speaker is sized between the current Sonos One and Sonos Five, and includes a total of six drivers that can fire sound forward, left, right and up. Other features include WiFi 6, Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, a built-in microphone, an automatic equalizer, and USB-C audio line input.

While the Era 300 supports Dolby Atmos spatial audio, it is unlikely that Apple Music’s Dolby Atmos library will be supported.

Thanks to HomeKit / AirPlay 2 compatibility, the speaker should be able to support Siri like other Sonos speakers. however, in the legal battle with Google, the speaker may not support Google Assistant.

The Era 300 speaker can also act as a surround for Sonos Arc and Beam soundbars for an immersive Dolby Atmos setup. While there is no built-in Ethernet, Sonos will sell a USB-C to Audio + Ethernet dongle to provide support for hardwiring.

According to sources close to Sonos, the Era 300 will cost about $450 (currently about RMB 3,996) and will be available in March.

Sonos Era 100
While the Era 100 was initially thought to also support spatial audio, it turns out it does not. Compared to the Sonos One, the Era 100 has a larger mid-woofer for improved bass, and two tweeters for “true stereo” support.

It will come with the same connectivity features as the Era 300, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB-C input. The Sonos Era 100 is said to cost around $250 (currently about RMB 1,720) and is expected to launch in March alongside the higher-end 300 models.

Trueplay update
Another upgrade to the Era speaker is the built-in auto-tune feature, which uses its built-in microphone to perform room analysis and then auto-tune. This is still available as “Advanced Tuning” and is still exclusive to the iPhone and iPad.

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3D renderings of Sonos speakers from The Verge
The Verge says the speakers will offer “the richest single-speaker fidelity” in Sonos’ history, and other features will include USB-C input, Wi-Fi 6 support, and low-power Bluetooth.

There are fewer details about the Era 100, but both new speakers will have a new design that supports auto-tuning and sound optimization.

The new Era speaker launch date and price are still unknown, Sonos is also developing a second generation of “Move” speakers and plans to launch a new product category in 2023, but the details are not yet clear.

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