After weeks of advance notice, Sonos has finally put an end to speculation and revealed a new series of Era smart speakers that will be officially launched on March 28. The new series consists of two models, the Era 100 and the Era 300. The feature set of both models seems to rival some of the best smart speakers, including the new Apple HomePod 2, and both models are destined to become essential parts of many next-generation sonos setups.

Here we outline our first impressions of the Sonos Era 300 after our recent hands-on, which gave us an early sense of how the Sonos Era 300 will position itself against the best smart speakers this year.

Here are my first impressions of the Era 300's design, performance, and new features.

The Sonos Era 300 will cost $449 USD / £449 GBP / $749 AUD when it goes on sale on March 28. Meanwhile, it can be pre-ordered starting today (March 7) on the Sonos website (opens in a new tab) in black or white.

By comparison, the Era 300 sits just below the Sonos Five ($549), the ongoing flagship premium speaker.

The Sonos Era 300's design is an interesting form factor and one of the most striking speakers we've seen in a while. The hourglass shape serves the acoustic purpose of allowing sound from multiple speaker drivers to radiate freely, resulting in a speaker cabinet with an elegant waistline.

The unusual cabinet shape is no accident. It was developed not only to experience 7.1.4 sound when paired with the Sonos Arc soundbar, which plays Dolby Atmos content in a home theater, but also to make the most of spatial audio music content.

The Era 300 certainly looks like no other smart speaker, and despite its relatively compact size (measuring 6.30 x 10.24 x 7.28 inches and weighing 9.85 pounds), it is equipped with six custom speakers and features a single speaker unit to create a 5.1 ch sound experience. A midrange/tweeter handles the directional music element and is angled to the left and right to support stereo reproduction. Bass output is assisted by a directional horn, and an upward-facing tweeter reflects sound back to the ceiling when playing Dolby Atmos content.

At the time of my hands-on, the Era 300 only supported spatial audio music content via Amazon Music Unlimited. However, according to Sonos, the Era 300 will support spatial audio with Apple Music, which will be available on March 28.

It includes Trueplay and adjustable EQ and is compatible with both iOS and Android devices; for Android devices, Trueplay uses the microphone built into the Era 300 speaker. iOS device owners can use this method (called Quick Tuning in the Sonos app) or the traditional method (called Advanced Tuning) that uses the iPhone or iPad microphone and requires moving around the room.

The Era 300 supports wired networks and supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth connectivity. It also works with AirPlay 2 on Apple devices using iOS 11.4 or later. Instead of an Ethernet port, the Era 300 has a USB-C port on the back. Sonos plans to sell an adapter that can provide an Ethernet connection and line input for compatibility with line-level turntables. A combo adapter that provides Ethernet and 3.5mm line input costs $39.99, while a USB-C line input adapter costs $19.99.

The Sonos Era 300 supports Alexa and its own voice assistant. The microphone on the Era 300 can be removed with a switch on the back.

In my hands-on, I played an Amazon Music Unlimited spatial audio track on one Era 300. Two Era 300s were then used as rear surrounds in a Sonos home theater.

The opening spatial audio track was the song "Marigold" by M.I.A. Next was Paul McCartney's "Deep Deep Feeling," an M.I.A. song where the main vocals and backing chorus seemed to come from somewhere above and to the side of the speakers, while the guitar sounds were contained in their own acoustic space. I enjoyed it. On the Paul McCartney track, the drums were also pushed forward, with the main vocals placed just behind them.

The immersive feel of the home theater was also impressive in the movie demo, with the Sonos Era 300 helping to create an intense atmosphere by creating a sound bubble around us while we watched an excerpt from the film A Quiet Place.

Given Sonos' consistently high standards for speaker systems, there is much to be excited about with the arrival of the Sonos Era 300 smart speaker. Not only does it look completely different from previous smart speakers, but it is the first time we have encountered a speaker specifically designed to maximize the immersive experience of spatial audio music. Perhaps due to the ongoing litigation between the two companies over smart speaker and voice control technology, support for spatial audio content via Apple Music will be supported with the launch of the Era 300, as well as support for Google Assistant, which may be offered through a future firmware update may provide this support.

While we won't make a formal recommendation until we properly experience this speaker's capabilities in our own homes, its flexible design certainly represents a new era of smart speakers everywhere.