![]() ![]() The other big sell of the Era 300 is that it has both Bluetooth 5.0 and a USB-C line-in port, making it the first Sonos mains-powered speaker to offer both. Not yet, anyway – Sonos says it "will continue to add more listening choices and partners", so it could be coming at some point in the future. It also supports Dolby Atmos Music via Amazon Music Unlimited, but not Tidal. Because the Era 300 was designed with spatial audio with Dolby Atmos very much at the forefront, it even plays Apple Music Spatial Audio tracks, becoming the first non-Apple-made device capable of doing so. Inside are six drivers (four tweeters, two woofers, all powered by dedicated Class D amps), which fire sound in all different directions to create a truly room-filling sound. Spatial audio is the feather in the new Era 300's cap. You'd have to make sure there's ample space on your shelf to accommodate it, though.īeing top-end Sonos speakers, these both come packed to the gills with features. Used on its own, the Five is intended to be positioned in landscape orientation, but you can prop it up in portrait, especially if you want to use a pair of them for true stereo sound. Like all Sonos products, though, the Five is finished to a high standard, and comes in the standard black or white colourways. It's also quite a lot larger than the Era 300, which is the more compact and interesting-looking of the two. It's very similar to its predecessors from which it evolved, and considering the first-generation Play:5 launched in 2009, we're looking at quite an old design. Both Era 300 and Five have touch controls that are responsive, too. The control panel on the top has an enhanced volume slider (which is recessed like a trough), and it works seamlessly with other Sonos speakers. ![]() It's a far cry from Sonos's other devices, with a unique cinched hourglass design that helps it deliver spatial audio, firing sound out in all directions to create a truly room-filling acoustic experience. It is worth considering the other Sonos speakers available though - such as the Beam that also sounds great but improves your TV sound too, or the Sonos Move which is around the same size as the Sonos Play:3 but portable with Bluetooth connectivity.The Era 300 looks like no other smart speaker that's gone before it. Is the Play:3 worth buying if you can get hold of it? If you don't mind the slightly older design, then yes, because it still sounds great Sonos is always updating its speakers with software updates, constantly improving them years after they are released. Eight years on, we still use the Play:3 and we still love it. ![]() ![]() The Sonos Play:3 is not widely available these days (we can only find it second hand), and it has been replaced by more appealing speakers within the Sonos portfolio, but it's still a great sounding speaker.Īs with all Sonos speakers, the Play:3 offers easy setup, plenty of features from stereo pairing and Trueplay tuning, to voice control with a compatible Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant device. With so much choice out there, not just from within the Sonos system itself, but from competitors too, is the Play:3 still worth considering if you can get your hands on one? Here's our review. ![]()
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