Sonos Era future-proof?

  • 15 September 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 365 views
L

Hello everyone!

Thank you for having me. Please excuse me if my English is not perfect, it is not my native language.

I want to purchase two Sonos Era 300 speakers. I listened to them, and they were fantastic, but I am not sure if they will be worth it in the future.
I don't want to buy new speakers next year after making such a significant investment. I'm not an expert in this topic, please forgive me mistakes, but a few things got my attention, and I would like to discuss it with you all and hear other opinions.

Bluetooth technology has undergone a complete overhaul with the release of Bluetooth 5.2 LE after a long period of inactivity. The latest upgrade offers a clearer sound quality with low power usage. 
In the past, audio quality was subpar till Bluetooth 5.1, especially with expensive speakers and headphones where the difference can be easily noticeable. Regrettably, the Sonos Era currently only supports Bluetooth 5.1.

The situation is similar with WiFi, where a new frequency range has been introduced for better speed and latency: 6 GHz. However, to use it, you need WiFi 6E, which the Sonos Era unfortunately doesn't support.

Chromecast, which would have provided high-fidelity (96KHz/24bit) sound transmission, is also missing. This resolution is much better than Apple Airplay, for instance. Developing this feature appears to be relatively easy. An open source music playback developer informed me that ready-made libraries are likely available, and there are no costs involved (perhaps only because it is non-commercial?). It is saddening and unclear to me why this feature is left out, considering the numerous Android users who would benefit from it.

I was thrilled to see that the device had a USB-C port, but I later found out that I couldn't use it as intended.

My plan was to connect my phone and computer directly to the Sonos Era using a digital signal, which requires a digital-to-analog converter at the end to produce sound. Unfortunately, that's not possible. Instead, you need to purchase an extra USB-C adapter for your smartphone or computer and insert it into the analog port on your device.

This is a problem because the signal goes through three conversions since it entails converting the signal from digital to analog on the device and then converting it from analog to digital with the Sonos adapter before converting it back to analog using the loudspeaker's converter.

Each step of converting causes a significant decrease in quality. It's unclear why the option of directly connecting digitally through USB-C into the speaker isn't available. It wouldn't cost more since the necessary components are already built into it. In fact, the consumer would save money by not having to purchase an extra adapter.

I'm conflicted and believe that the loudspeaker could have been made perfect if better decisions were made during design and planning. The price would then be absolutely reasonable.

What are your thoughts? Some of the issues could potentially be resolved with an update since the components may already exist. However, there's been no news or communication from Sonos, leading me to believe that it may not be a priority as they make enough profit.


Warm greetings!

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3 replies

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @laratrois 

Welcome to the Sonos Community! And thank you for your interest in our Era 300 speakers.

Bluetooth technology has undergone a complete overhaul with the release of Bluetooth 5.2 LE after a long period of inactivity. The latest upgrade offers a clearer sound quality with low power usage. 
In the past, audio quality was subpar till Bluetooth 5.1, especially with expensive speakers and headphones where the difference can be easily noticeable. Regrettably, the Sonos Era currently only supports Bluetooth 5.1.

The situation is similar with WiFi, where a new frequency range has been introduced for better speed and latency: 6 GHz. However, to use it, you need WiFi 6E, which the Sonos Era unfortunately doesn't support.

As more people upgrade to WiFi 6-enabled routers, the Era 100 and Era 300 will be able to take advantage of the new standard's increased bandwidth and other WiFi optimizations. The chipsets in the Era 100 and Era 300 also support WiFi 6e and Bluetooth 5.2, and as these technologies mature and become mainstream, we can provide software updates for the Era 100 and Era 300 to add new features.

So in this respect, Era is indeed "future-proof”, but we are currently waiting till the new technologies mature to the point where we will be comfortable with adding trouble-free features to the speakers.

Chromecast, which would have provided high-fidelity (96KHz/24bit) sound transmission, is also missing. This resolution is much better than Apple Airplay, for instance. Developing this feature appears to be relatively easy. An open source music playback developer informed me that ready-made libraries are likely available, and there are no costs involved (perhaps only because it is non-commercial?). It is saddening and unclear to me why this feature is left out, considering the numerous Android users who would benefit from it.

I don’t have any official messaging regarding this, but I assume this is due to a lack of interest from our customer base. You could create a new topic as a feature request - if it gets enough interest, perhaps this feature will be added at a later date.

Note that we don’t currently support 96KHz sampling from any sources. Sonos S2 already supports 24bit audio from local and some online sources.

I was thrilled to see that the device had a USB-C port, but I later found out that I couldn't use it as intended.

My plan was to connect my phone and computer directly to the Sonos Era using a digital signal, which requires a digital-to-analog converter at the end to produce sound. Unfortunately, that's not possible. Instead, you need to purchase an extra USB-C adapter for your smartphone or computer and insert it into the analog port on your device.

This is a problem because the signal goes through three conversions since it entails converting the signal from digital to analog on the device and then converting it from analog to digital with the Sonos adapter before converting it back to analog using the loudspeaker's converter.

Each step of converting causes a significant decrease in quality. It's unclear why the option of directly connecting digitally through USB-C into the speaker isn't available. It wouldn't cost more since the necessary components are already built into it. In fact, the consumer would save money by not having to purchase an extra adapter.

Digital USB audio is not ubiquitous - often, audio over USB actually entails changing the function of pins in the USB socket to provide an analogue signal rather than a digital one. I don’t know for sure if this is the reason that USB audio is not supported on Era, but my guess is that it was a contributing factor - it’s just not universal enough. Some USB audio would be supported, and some would not, and the difference likely being difficult to determine for some users.

In addition, line-in audio is buffered so that it can be shared across the network and played in sync. This results in a delay of at least 75ms, rendering line-in as unsuitable for sources that are not audio-only. You would be better-off with a soundbar like Ray, Beam or Arc, connected to your PC via optical, or to your PC via a TV’s HDMI-ARC/eARC connection.

Of course, we included a USB port on these speakers so that more options could be made available with the addition of new adaptors - it’s possible we could add a digital input at a later date, which would be another way in which the Era speakers are more future-proof than earlier models.

 

I'm conflicted and believe that the loudspeaker could have been made perfect if better decisions were made during design and planning. The price would then be absolutely reasonable.

Era 300 has 6 audio drivers, fantastic sound and a lot of features - it’s already fairly reasonably priced, in my opinion.

What are your thoughts? Some of the issues could potentially be resolved with an update since the components may already exist. However, there's been no news or communication from Sonos, leading me to believe that it may not be a priority as they make enough profit.

We rarely say anything about future products or features yet to be released, but we are always working on them. As mentioned, Era speakers have more potential to have features added than any Sonos product previously released.

I hope this helps.

 

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Airgetlam

Just as an additional note, Sonos has not made these, or any other speakers yet, to be computer speakers, due to that software based line in sync issue that @Corry P  mentioned. Since that is part of the fundamental difference between Sonos and many of its competitors, it’s hard to see that as going away in the near future. 

Bruce
buzz

High tech items are obsolete before they leave the production line. For example, the new, just released iPhones do not support WiFi7.

If the current ERA 300’s don’t support the technology that you need, I suggest that you wait for the introduction of an ERA 300 ver2. Based on previous SONOS new model release history, a ver2 model could be available in three to four years.

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