When our friends invited us to breakfast at their new house a few weeks ago, they played a small, inconspicuous speaker that impressed me with its sound quality. Prosince we are currently furnishing our new house, it was clear that this was the oneA small speaker will provide us with atmospheric sound throughout the house, so we used the Sonos ERA 100 to sound it, and that's how I entered the world of Sonos for the first time.
Elegant and unobtrusive design
Pro For eco-lovers, the ladies and gentlemen of Sonos have prepared packaging made from recycled materials that ensures that nothing will happen to your speaker on the way home. nestane. In addition to the speaker itself, you will find a power cable and relevant documentation.
The speaker itself surprises with its weight, which is quite high considering the dimensions, and although of course it does not in itself guarantee quality listening, it is usually the rule. The lower part of the speakers is equipped with a rubber pad. Roughly 2/3 of the cylindrical body is made up of the speaker grille. The upper part is then intended for the controls, which, quite frankly, you will never use in your life, because you will control everything through the phone. But if you want them, they're here, and they work very nicely, especially with the finger groove to change the speaker volume.
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With a compact body and either an all-black or all-white design, you basically don't even know it's a speaker. The grille is so tiny that you won't even notice it, making the speakers a truly elegant addition to your home.
If you're worried about someone eavesdropping on your smart speakers, what you'll definitely like is the physical button to turn off the microphone right on the speaker. You can disable voice assistants, but you are no longer really at risk of eavesdropping.
One, two or multiroom, no problem
If you buy just one Sonos ERA 100, it will serve as a classic Bluetooth or AirPlay speaker. However, once you get more of them, you have the option to create a stereo pair from two speakers, or a multiroom, where you can have a stereo pair of speakers in each room of the house, a single speaker, or independent speakers on top of each other, it's all up to you.
If you connect a pair of speakers into a stereo pair, then you have the option to use, for example, a firmware update for both speakers at the same time, and Trueplay is also performed for both speakers at the same time. Thanks to Trueplay, they will not only learn information about the room they are playing in, but also where they are located in relation to themselves. Everything is completely intuitive, simple and extremely fast.
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Trueplay will improve listening
Trueplay is a feature in the Sonos app that lets you fine-tune the sound of your speaker to maximum of what it can do. If you activate the function, your phone will start making a sound similar to parking sensors and the app will instruct you to walk around the room. The speaker listens to the sounds coming from the phone using its internal microphone and creates an image of the room and where the sound should be directed. Trueplay can of course also be used for a stereo pair of speakers, and they will learn information about the space they are supposed to fill, but also about where each speaker is located in relation to each other. If you are installing Sonos, Trueplay is definitely worth setting up. It will take you a few minutes of your time and the effect is immediately noticeable.
Perfect ratio of price, size and sound
The main reason why you buy a speaker is of course the sound, and the one offered by the Sonos Era 100 is simply perfect. Of course, as always, even in this case it is necessary to take the above sentence in relation to the size and especially the price of the speaker.
The sound is really great, but you have to take into account that it is a very digital sound, which is simply "perfect" and may not suit everyone. This also corresponds to the fact that the sound is balanced and does not favor highs, mids or bass. If you listen to music from a large wooden speaker, Sonos will simply be different for you. I personally use it as a background speaker when cooking, cleaning and similar activities. In the same way, we use Sonos when we sit by the fireplace in the evening and talk, and jazz plays from the speakers to perfectly complement the crackling of the fire.
Personally, I don't consider the Sonos Era 100 to be the main speaker for listening to music, where you focus 100% on the music and enjoy every note. On the contrary, I haven't experienced anything better than the Sonos Era XNUMX for drawing, listening to podcasts, watching videos and movies when you don't have a home theater. It's great for placing around the house and for listening whenever and wherever you happen to be at home.
At home, I have a Bang Ol because of the large living room, which is over 70 square meters.ufsen A9 and it is not possible to compare the Sonos Era 100 with this speaker, because while the A9 can fill the entire room so that you don't actually know where the sound is coming from and it will surround you perfectly, in the case of the Sonos Era 100 you will always perceive the space from which the sound is coming. In addition, if you use only one speaker, you will always have the feeling of mono playback. Of course, this is logical when you have one speaker, but on the other hand, for example, with the A9 you don't notice it at all. However, you also need to take into account that its price is twelve times higher.
A pair of Sonos Era 100 as a sound system for Apple TV? Sure!
Thanks to the ability to create a stereo pair of two Sonos speakers, I used them in this setup to power the TV until we get around to a proper home theater with IMAX sound. Of course, Sonos directly offers a home theater and also separate speakers more suitable for this purpose, but given that I plan to install a theater in about a year and will then have a use for the Sonos ERA 10, it is more than enough for me for now and you will at least find out whether a pair of these speakers can be used to power the TV.
It is necessary to take into account that you can only connect Sonos to the TV via AirPlay, which I don't mind because I use it exclusively for watching Apple TVOn the other hand, some applications such as iBroadcast may not work with AirPlay correctly and the sound is delayed. Fortunately, Netflix, HBO Go and Voyo, which we watch 99% of the time when we have the TV on, work with Sonos in AirPlays absolutely great and there is no lag.
Sonos ERA 100: a great addition to your home!
Honestly, even though I've had the opportunity to listen to hundreds of speakers over the past 15 years, from those costing hundreds of crowns to those costing millions, I would have a hard time finding one that offers me such a great price-quality ratio as Sonos. It's incredible what the people at Sonos have managed to offer for sound from a box that costs around 6000 crowns, and if you're looking for an active speaker with AirPlay and want to play great quality music around your house for great money, then the Sonos ERA 100 is exactly what you're looking for.
As I mentioned, you have to expect digital sound, which has no coloration and is simply different from the classic wooden boxes. However, the sound is top-notch and exactly what you expect. It is the sound you want to listen to.chat while cooking, cleaning, showering and similar situations. Of course, Sonos somehow assumes that when you sit down in your favorite chair with a glass of Petrus in the evening, you will be playing music on something completely different with a wink. But anytime else, when you want great listening at a great price throughout the house, there is the Sonos Era 100, which I can only recommend and I have truly never experienced a better price-performance ratio.
Sonos is fine. I myself use it for underdrawing in rooms where there is no listening system. But it is far from perfect and top-quality sound.
Prothere's a sentence there that the sound is top-notch for listening to while cooking, cleaning, etc. :) besides, reviews are always written with the price and category of the product in mind. I don't know what top-notch listening setup you have, but I firmly believe it cost more than 6000 CZK, right?
True, true.
Anyway, for how small it is, it has a pretty good sound, and it doesn't mind the stupid placement in the corner, as in the photo. I have the same thing in the bathroom. A similar placement would acoustically kill a box for a million.