A New "Era" of Sonos Speakers

Losing Google Assistant would be very bad, especially since neither Alexa nor SVC work in my native language (dutch).

Doing a quick search, there are tons of dongles out there that convert USB C to 3.5mm jacks or RCA, so I suspect this won’t be an issue.  Also, I would guess that you can connect android phones with USB-C  ports to the Era speakers without a dongle.  Since Apple is supposed to switch to USB C in the near future, those too.  Of course, with airplay and bluetooth, this doesn’t seem 100% necessary, unless the wired connection handle can do things that wireless cannot.

On the same subject, although nothing is confirmed yet, history would tell us that the USB-C input, and bluetooth are unlikely to be turned on when the Era speakers are used as rear surround speakers.  Again though, nothing is confirmed.  I just wouldn’t assume that to be true.

The bigger question is if this will be a true zero latency line-in or if it will still be a 75ms minimum delay because of the Sonos software.

This seems odd at first. but makes more sense the more I think about it. A Five with spatial audio would likely be way more than needed for rear surrounds  and likely cost $600+.   I don’t know that I’d pay that much for rear surrounds, or for music only ‘front’ speakers.  A smaller speaker makes more sense for rears and would cover a fairly big music only room.  The question is, is there room for an Era 300 and Fives in the lineup?  The play:3 did not get a 2nd generation, so maybe not.

Overall, I’m not terribly excited. about this news.  I was hoping, though doubtful, that the Era 300 would be Five sized output and can be used as separate front speakers. Seems extremely unlikely.  That was a huge ask anyway, so I can’t say I’m disappointed...just not excited.  Then again, the perhaps atmos music is less in need of stereo separation in the front speakers...I don’t know.  Atmos music over the Arc sounds amazing.  

I’ll likely get the Era 300, but I don’t know whether I’ll use it as rears or a separate music room.  A lot depends on how it’s packaged in sets perhaps, or what information is yet to come on the product.

The Era 100, seems like it’s a great new entry product.  I have little need for aux inputs, as I never use them, and the extra tweeter isn’t that big of draw to me since I always stereo pair.  But if you have no Sonos speakers, are not comfortable with WiFi streaming, this seems like a really good place to start.

Compact soundbars and rear speakers are a nice convenience and are a great choice for the mass’s. It’s a much smaller market, but I prefer full size, well placed speakers. If these new speakers perform similarly to FIVE’s I’d welcome them in a full L/C/R/surround with some discrete height channels overhead. I realize that this is not for everyone.

Do you mean for playback in the specific room, or in grouped rooms?  

If USB-C is also used for power, will the power supply be external? That would not be very nice.

Just something plugged directly into the speaker and not grouped.  You cannot use a Five right now without a 75ms latency even if something is plugged directly into it and it’s not grouped/wireless.  I’m hoping this move to a USB-C input allows actual zero-latency (or close) operation.

There are many latency threads.

The image from the Verge shows two cords running to the rear of the right Era 100, so I don’t think the USB-C is power, it’s a designed input, an looks to be on the top.

https://duet-cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0x0:3000x1916/750x479/filters:focal(1500x958:1501x959):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24444824/era100black.jpg

This twitter image shows the rear of the Era 100 and there is a clear USB-C above where it looks like the power cord is running in the Verge image.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FpcQWw6WcAI2yEu?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

There are some more shots of the product on twitter, and they show separate power ports.  The Era 100 has the  power connection underneath, like the Sonos One, while the Era 300 has the power port in the back.  The USB port, and a mic switch, are on the back of both products.  It also looks like they have thread bolt insert (whatever it’s called) on the bottom for mounting.

Edit:  The screenshots also show a bluetooth button on the back of both speakers.