Initially hitting the market in 2013, the Sonos Play:1 offered nice sound the corporate is thought for in a compact and cheap bundle. The follow-up, Sonos One in 2017, constructed on that profitable components with improved sound and assist for digital assistants.
The compact speaker is evolving as soon as once more with the introduction of the Period 100. We had been invited to New York in late February to try the brand new speaker at a particular media occasion. Listed below are our hands-on ideas.
The writer’s journey to the media occasion was paid for by Sonos. Sonos didn’t affect protection in any manner.
Shifting Ahead With the Sonos Period 100
The Period 100 takes a giant leap ahead in a number of methods. Most significantly, it sports activities a dual-tweeter structure. Meaning it’s going to present stereo separation in a single speaker. Beforehand, you wanted two Sonos One audio system for a stereo expertise. That’s not the one audio enchancment; the midwoofer is 25% bigger to supply deeper bass.
Sonos Vice President of Sound Expertise, Giles Martin, mentioned that enhancing on the successful components of the Sonos One was ultimately extra of a battle than creating the brand-new Period 300 (try our first impressions of the Period 300.)
“I can go right into a espresso store and listen to music and say, ‘that’s a One,’” he mentioned. “It’s a extremely pure, sincere speaker. So one of many largest challenges with the Period 100 was including stereo and directness. I needed the audio to be at totally different places.”
The important thing, in accordance with Martin, is to make audio system that aren’t annoying and that mix into your property. After adapting to the problem, Martin mentioned he’s more than happy with the audio from the Period 100.
“The factor about sound, identical to lots of different issues, is that you just don’t actually know what you’re lacking till you hear it,” he mentioned. “I can inform after I’m now listening to the Period 100. It’s a deeper and extra open sound.”
The brand new options don’t cease there. When you can nonetheless use Sonos Voice Management or Amazon Alexa to play music and different audio content material by way of Wi-Fi, the speaker now provides Bluetooth functionality.
This implies you may simply pair any Bluetooth system with only a button press. That makes the speaker extremely versatile, permitting you to stream music from all kinds of gadgets. For instance, when guests come to your property, they’ll join their telephone on to the Sonos Period 100 as a substitute of getting to connect with your Wi-Fi.
On the rear of the speaker is a USB-C line in port. With an optionally available Sonos line-in adapter and auxiliary cable, you may also join different audio sources like a turntable or different wired tools.
Identical to earlier fashions, the Period 100 is appropriate with Apple’s AirPlay 2 protocol over Wi-Fi. As all the time, you may also nonetheless use the speaker as a part of a house theater setup.
Our First Impressions of the Sonos Period 100
Whereas the brand new speaker appears a bit totally different from its predecessors, it nonetheless sports activities that very same acquainted rounded form and mesh grill. It’s about an inch taller than the Sonos One, largely because of the bigger midwoofer for improved bass.
On high of the speaker is a revamped interface with a capacitive quantity slider that’s straightforward to grasp and use.
Through the media occasion, we got a preview of how the Period 100 sounds. Different audio system had been backing the audio from the Period 100. We heard numerous songs together with Cooped Up by Submit Malone and About Rattling Time by Lizzo.
Despite the fact that the managed atmosphere was designed to supply the absolute best audio expertise, I might positively discern the much-improved sound from the Period 100. At 70% quantity, the stereo soundscape from the twin tweeters was wealthy and crammed the complete room. In bass-heavy parts of songs, the bigger woofer helped present an additional punch in comparison with my Sonos One at residence.
The Sonos Period 100 and 300 Supply Trueplay for Android Customers
Trueplay is likely one of the greatest options for a lot of Sonos audio system. Anybody with a appropriate iPhone or iPad can use the Sonos app as a part of the tuning course of, which takes round three minutes. You stroll across the room and comply with the app’s directions. With that info, Trueplay adjusts the Sonos audio to greatest match the room it is positioned in. You may re-run Trueplay at anytime.
It lives as much as its billing and rather more. I’ve used the function many occasions when shifting or including a Sonos speaker to my setup, just like the Sonos Sub Mini (see our overview of the Sonos Sub Mini), and the outcomes are spectacular.
Even so, there’s all the time been one draw back—it wasn’t obtainable to Android customers. However that’s now altering with the Period 100 and Period 300. The Android Trueplay expertise will use the microphones on the speaker to fine-tune the sound to your room.
Customers with an iPhone or iPad can select to do the identical Fast Tuning possibility, or nonetheless reap the benefits of the Superior Tuning possibility that makes use of the microphones in your smartphone or pill.
It’s good to see Sonos convey the nice function to Android customers. Hopefully, the Fast Tuning possibility will convey nearly as good of outcomes because the iOS-exclusive possibility.
Sonos Period 100 Pricing and Availability
The Period 100 formally lands on March 28, 2023 and can retail for $249. You may select from the acquainted black or white choices.
With that worth, the one true competitor appears to be Apple’s second-generation HomePod. In case you’re nicely entrenched within the Apple ecosystem, the HomePod does a powerful job offering top-notch sound mixed with Siri. It might probably additionally play spatial audio from Apple Music.
Nonetheless, the Period 100 is shaping as much as be compelling. It offers extra enter choices in whereas providing a real stereo playback expertise in a single speaker. That versatility is certainly enticing in right this moment’s wi-fi sensible speaker market.
We’ll have an interest to see how the Period 100 sounds in real-world experiences, whereas additionally evaluating it to the HomePod and different sensible audio system.
The Evolution of a Nice Speaker
The Sonos One has all the time been among the best methods to harness the Sonos sound and its whole-home audio expertise with out spending tons within the course of. The Period 100 is seeking to take the successful components and make it even higher.
