Tag: Sonos

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New Sonos Pro subscription see’s the company venture into commercial spaces

Audio company Sonos has announced Sonos Pro, a new software service that makes using Sonos products easier for businesses.

The new software as a service (SaaS) is a subscription-based offering that includes a dashboard allowing for remote system management across multiple locations.

The service is designed to work with businesses that already operate with existing Sonos hardware, to simplify the process of playing music in public spaces.

The effort to provide a streamlined approach to audio management for businesses marks Sonos’s venture into commercial spaces. Previously, the company was mainly focused on wireless speakers for home audio systems.

Sonos Pro is designed to allow users to manage and monitor their music from anywhere through the virtual dashboard, while also allowing for a sizeable and scalable setup, with subscribers able to add additional Sonos speakers across multiple locations.

Further, users will gain access to Sonos Backgrounds, a commercially licensed music service with music ranging from independent artists to third-party streaming services for those who don’t want to use their own playlists.

Sonos Pro is available now in the United States with additional markets to follow. Subscriptions cost $35 USD per month (approximately $46.84 CAD.)

For a closer look at Sonos’s products, see our review of the new Era 300 and Era 100 speakers.

Source: Sonos

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Sonos and Google set to meet in court this May amid patent dispute

A three-year-long feud between Sonos and Google could be winding down, with both companies set to meet in court on May 8th over a still-active patent dispute.

The upcoming trial stems from accusations from Sonos that Google devices such as Nest and Chromecast infringed on Sonos-owned patents. According to Thurrot, a federal judge ruled after a mixed verdict that both Sonos and Google must meet in court this May, with the trial looking to bring up two patents the judge deemed meaningful for the case.

Two patents in Sonos’s claim have already been deemed invalid, according to Reuters, leaving two other patent claims from the audio company and Google’s counterclaims left to be settled on May 8th.

The judge’s ruling for a set trial date looks to end the ongoing feud between the companies, which started when Sonos filed a lawsuit against Google in 2020. The Sonos patent infringement ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission in January of 2022 went against Google, which resulted in the tech giant being required to stop selling imported products that infringe on the Sonos patents.

Not taking kindly to Sonos’s actions, Google responded with its own lawsuit directed at the audio company in August of 2022 over its then-new ‘Voice Control.’ Google stated that the counter-claim was a result of “an aggressive and misleading campaign against our products, at the expense of our shared customers.”

An attempt to end the ongoing finger-pointing will take place on May 8th, with both companies ordered to appear in court once again.

Source: Thurrot Via: Android Central

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Sonos Era 300 and 100 speakers Hands-on: Reigniting its lineup

It’s now official: Sonos will release two new smart speakers in the Era 300 and Era 100, both of which offer spatial audio and feature new engineering inside to create a bigger soundstage.

I got to see and hear the speakers at a media preview in New York in February, where Sonos made its case for reinvigorating its speaker lineup, which is what the Era line purports to do. The Era 100 ultimately replaces the Sonos One (including the One SL, though the Era 300 won’t completely replace the Sonos Five, which the company says will continue to sell as a pure audio speaker, given how good it still sounds three years later. It’s also one of the only Sonos speakers that doesn’t have voice assistant access.

Part of the story with these two Era speakers is connectivity — both wireless and wired. Sonos will throw a bone to those who want Bluetooth and the ability to plug in for wired playback via the USB-C port in the rear.

New look that’s easier to fix

Unlike other brands, Sonos says it wants to make it easier to disassemble and repair its products, with the Era speakers beginning that trend. The Era 300 has 93 screws inside, removing its use of glue and adhesives for components inside. I got to see a unit exposing how tightly packed everything is under the shell. Both inside and including the outer shell, Sonos says both speakers are made from 45 percent recycled plastic. The reclaimed material means a slight change to a warmer colour tone for the white versions of the speakers.

Taking these steps also helps Sonos get out of its own way, having come under fire in the past for scrapping otherwise functional speakers because it would be too hard (and expensive) to pry them open and fix them. This new focus on extending the hardware’s lifespan through repair should also make it possible for do-it-yourselfers to get the right parts and do the work themselves.

While the Era 100 borrows heavily from the design principles of the Sonos One, the Era 300 strikes an all-new look with a concave housing built to better distribute the Dolby Atmos spatial audio it can pump out. That means six drivers distributed to fire up, forward, left and right. When I asked, Sonos made it clear to me that it doesn’t see the Era 300 as a TV speaker — it’s built for tunes.

You can stereo pair two of them together for separate left and right channels, splitting the bass response to create a deeper rumble in the process. The TV element can come in if you use two Era 300s as rears in a surround setup with a Sonos Arc or Beam 2. All of this applies to the Era 100 as well, except rear 300s still have multi-channel surround to provide a more enveloping presentation compared to what the 100s can do.

Two Era 100s in the rear will work a lot like the One, with virtualized upward-firing Atmos 7.1.4 surround sound in much the same way Beam Gen 2 does. Sonos say this allows the height information to take on a front and rear depth that’s much better than keeping the height content to only the front stage.

Listening clearly to cascading sound

Sonos considers the move to spatial audio to be as impactful as the sonic transition from mono to stereo. That remains to be seen, but spatial audio does have a proverbial foot in the door because virtual surround and spatial audio for television isn’t all that novel anymore.

Even so, the speakers still have a sweet spot despite the virtual surround effect. It was impressive to hear it come through and sound as spacious as it did with a floor-to-ceiling glass window behind me. Glass doesn’t reflect sound the same way standard walls do, but placement is a little more versatile with these two speakers. You can still feel the effect sitting off to the side, but my impression is that you would want to put either speaker closer to a wall and power outlet. Neither speaker is wireless, so it matters where you park it.

The demos included different musical genres, also at different volumes, to get an idea of how each speaker sounds. There’s no doubt the Era 300 is considerably more powerful than its smaller sibling, but it was easy to tell the Era 100 sounds deeper and crisper than the Sonos One does. It’s hard to really get a true sense of the sound until I try it in my own home, but I’m optimistic about the results.

Speaking of “true,” Sonos’ Trueplay tuning software is back, and this time, Android users get something to work with — well, sort of. You won’t be able to wave your Android phone around the way you could an iPhone to tune the sound based on the room’s layout. Instead, these two speakers will do it automatically by using audible tones reflected back to the onboard microphones to virtually measure the room’s dimensions and tune everything accordingly. Sonos reps admitted to me that this method won’t be as good as the more manual iPhone process, so the old method of borrowing a friend’s iPhone to do the job is still an option.

The demos were clearly fine-tuned for the small room they were placed in, and it was clear to my ears either speaker could get pretty loud and avoid distortion. Bass is thick, but not overtly so, and engineers paid particular attention to the mids to deliver a balanced sound profile that stands out, even if you’re just playing stereo tunes.

Making connections

On top of the standard Wi-Fi multiroom support typical of Sonos speakers, the Era 300 and Era 100 also come with Bluetooth support, continuing a trend that previously started with the Move. The only caveat is it’s unclear what the codecs are, and Sonos has yet to confirm them. SBC is a given, as that’s standard, and AAC is likely to cater to iOS users, but despite a focus on higher-resolution audio, don’t expect the likes of Qualcomm’s aptX or Sony’s LDAC codecs here. Bluetooth appears to be more of a concession than a callout feature.

Spatial audio is also contingent on the source it’s coming from. Spotify doesn’t have it. Tidal has it under its HiFi tier. Apple Music has it, only won’t be compatible with these speakers at launch. Amazon Music Unlimited offers it and it’s fully compatible. Not all tracks available on the platform are in spatial audio, and Amazon doesn’t disclose how many actual songs include it, so it’s hard to quantify how big the distinct catalog is.

Convenient wireless features, like AirPlay 2 and direct connections from streaming services, are back again. The USB-C port in the rear for both speakers needs an adapter to use either Ethernet or Aux-In, as neither port exists here. Sonos will sell a dual-adapter that comes with both the Ethernet and Aux-In ports together, as well as another adapter that only has an Ethernet port.

You may need to utilize any one of these combinations if you plan to connect either the Era 300 or Era 100 to another device, be it a router or playback device. It is technically possible to connect a DAC (digital-to-analog converter) if you want to tinker with hi-res and lossless playback, but I can’t be sure how the combination would work. You can plug in a turntable, in case you have one of those kicking around.

What is obvious is Alexa will be the only voice assistant available. Google Assistant is out, and Sonos claims the reason is “technical” related to how Google certifies devices running its voice assistant. Given the legal issues between the two companies, I find that hard to believe, but I did get the sense Sonos is not shutting the door on including that support in a future update. After all, the components inside are already capable of running it. There is a workaround where you can use a Google Nest Mini to send audio over to the speaker, but it’s not going to be as seamless as a built-in setup.

Ready to go

Both speakers will be available starting March 28, with the Sonos Era 300 going for $559.99 and Era 100 at $319.99. They will come in black and white variants, and no plans for any potential third colours, as has happened before with other models in the company’s lineup.

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Upcoming Sonos Era speakers revealed in new leak

Sonos has two new speakers on the way, one set to replace the existing Sonos One and the other slated to showcase spatial audio capabilities.

The Verge detailed the new Era 100 and Era 300 Sonos speakers and shared marketing images it obtained of both speakers. According to the publication, Sonos plans for a March release of both speakers.

The Era 100 will reportedly cost about $250 USD (roughly $337.42 CAD), which The Verge notes is a slight increase over the $219 cost of the Sonos One speaker in the U.S. In Canada, the Sonos One costs $269 CAD — if Sonos follows a similar pricing scheme in Canada, the Era 100 could be $30 to $40 more, putting it in the low $300 range.

On the other hand, the Era 300 speaker will likely cost $450 USD (about $607.37 CAD), coming in under the cost of the Sonos Five speaker. The Verge suggests Sonos will keep the Five in the lineup rather than replace it with the Era 300.

Sonos Era 300 in white

Sonos Era 300 in white | Image credit: The Verge

Both speakers will offer Bluetooth audio playback and USB-C line-in, offering more choice and flexibility for using the speakers. The USB-C line-in will be particularly helpful, allowing people to plug in external sources like a turntable, something that’s not possible with the Sonos One. (One of the marketing images published by The Verge shows a Sonos Era 100 speaker with an extra cable going into it, likely the USB-C line-in.)

Additionally, both speakers will offer Wi-Fi 6 support, Bluetooth 5.0 and AirPlay 2. Sonos also plans to sell a “combo adapter” for plugging in the speakers over ethernet.

Sonos Era 100 with turntable

Two Sonos Era 100 speakers with a turntable | Image credit: The Verge

Interestingly, the Era speakers may be the first to support Trueplay on Android… sort of. Trueplay is Sonos’ tech for tuning speakers for the room they’re in. Currently, users need an iPhone or iPad to tune their speakers, but the Era 100 and 300 will support “quick tuning,” which uses the built-in microphones on the speakers to optimize for the room. The old tuning style, which involves walking around the room holding an iPhone or iPad, will still be available as well, and it will continue to not support Android.

All about spatial audio, but not with Apple

The Verge notes that the Era 100 speaker isn’t geared for spatial audio. It reportedly doesn’t include upward-firing drivers. Instead, it has two tweeters for true stereo sound and an enlarged mid-woofer for more powerful bass. The Verge stresses that the speaker is an evolved Sonos One with better performance.

The Era 300, on the other hand, is all about spatial audio. The size falls between the Sonos One and Five speakers, and the 300 offers six total drivers that push sound forward, left, right and up. When paired with either a Sonos Arc or Beam (Gen 2) as rear surrounds, a stereo pair of Era 300s will deliver immersive Atmos surround sound.

Sonos Era 100 white

Sonos Era 100 speaker in white | Image credit: The Verge

However, it sounds like customers might have some trouble getting access to spatial audio. The Verge reports that spatial audio tracks will be available from Amazon Music Unlimited, but Sonos hasn’t reached an agreement with Apple to use its Apple Music Dolby Atmos library (for now, that functionality remains exclusive to the HomePod, though you can play spatial audio through an Apple TV 4K connected to an Atmos speaker system, such as the Arc or Beam). Of course, this could change before the March release.

Apple isn’t the only tech company giving Sonos trouble, though. Thanks to an ongoing legal battle between Sonos and Google, The Verge reports that Google Assistant might not be on the new Era speakers. The company’s internal marketing specifically mentions Amazon Alexa, but not Assistant.

There will also be sustainability improvements built off previous announcements from Sonos.

Those interested can read the full report here.

Header image credit: The Verge

Source: The Verge

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Sonos and Ikea raise the Symfonisk Lamp speaker to new heights

Ikea and Sonos have turned the excellent Symfonisk Lamp into a taller floor lamp.

This new version works with the existing Symfonisk lampshades, so it can be customized to varying degrees and comes in black. It looks like an existing Sonos Symfonisk Lamp, but it features three thin metal legs extending from the base to make it standard floor lamp height.

It’s an interesting choice and it seems like one that was made with low-cost in mind rather than good design. For example, the cable still runs out of the speaker portion, not the lamp’s base. Routing this cable through the leg of the lamp would have gone a long way toward making it look more premium.

Beyond that the new lamp feautres play/pause controls, volume buttons and is wrapped in a premium-looking fabric design.

This new Symfonisk Lamp is set to hit store shelves in Janurary of 2023. You can read our previous reviews of Ikea and Sonos’ colaberations below. It’s unclear how much the Symfonisk Lamp costs in Canada but MobileSyrup has reached out to Ikea for more information.

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Sonos Sub Mini is all about that bass, no treble

If you already own a small Sonos soundbar, then the new Sonos Sub Mini could be a must-buy upgrade for your home theatre.

However, this also depends on what soundbar you have, how ample your space is and what type of content you plan to consume with it. I’m not saying the Sub Mini is bad, but its price, combined with what it adds to an audio experience, might not be for everyone.

There’s a case to be made that the cheaper Sub Mini will push Sonos’s subwoofers out of the high-end home theatre realm into something more approachable, but that didn’t quite happen.

That said, the Sub Mini does solve the main pain point associated with getting a full Sonos 7.1 surround sound setup. Previously, the only Sonos subwoofer you could buy was just under $1,000 in Canada. This pretty much doubles the cost of two surrounds and a Sonos Beam soundbar, which makes it a hard sell for a lot of people.

To remedy that, we now have the slightly more affordable Sonos Sub Mini, which comes in at $549, and still sounds great. I’ve been testing out the unit for a little over a week, and it significantly stepped up the Beam (gen 2) I use with my TV and the Sonos Ray I use for music in my office.

There’s not much else to say about the Sub Mini. The setup is fairly seamless and even moving the sub around my house to different testing environments is easy enough. I did need to disconnect the sub in the app each time and then re-add it to the room I was in, but it always worked, which was convenient.

The subwoofer pairs nicely with the Beam, in my experience, and once the bass is offloaded to the sub, the soundbar becomes clearer and offers a much more compelling sound. The added bass from the larger woofer in the sub is a nice treat when action scenes start. Watching movies with this combo during the day was excellent. At night I often found that the bass could make noisy scenes even louder, which is a bit of an issue, but the Sonos Night Mode works well to level this off.

Using the subwoofer with the Ray is a little less impressive, but since I mainly utilize this combo with music and in a small room, it’s more difficult to feel the benefit since the music doesn’t need to be very loud to fill such a tight space. Before I started testing the Sub Mini, I had the Sonos Move in this room, and it filled it with a great sound all the same.

Sadly, the sub can’t connect to the Move, which makes sense since it’s portable, but it would have been a nice addition since I use the Move so often.

If I had the choice between the Sub Mini + the Ray, or the Sonos Beam (gen 2), I’d go with the Beam. The larger soundbar offers a more complete sound with a welcome touch of Sonos magic. The Ray is a little dryer on its own, and adding the Sub Mini to it is probably only necessary if you crave huge bass hits.

Adding the Sub Mini to the Beam is a nice touch, but like with the Ray, you’ll really want to weigh out how large your room is, and the amount of bass you need to fill it. Also, if you’re in an apartment like me and spend a lot of time with Night Mode, it may not be worth the investment.

There’s a case to be made that as Sonos starts to dip more into the mass market with its lower pricing, its products face stiffer competition, especially in this sub $600 range where you could get a full soundbar and subwoofer for that price.

However, I’ll keep mine attached to my Beam when I want to watch blockbuster movies. Overall, it offers a welcome upgrade, and the modularity of Sonos’ ecosystem means that I’ll be able to find a use for it somewhere in the future.

If you want to upgrade your home theatre, the Sonos Sub Mini costs $549 in Canada.

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This premium record player works effortlessly with Sonos

If you love vinyl records, Sonos speakers, and spending money, then this device is for you.

The new Victrola Stream Carbon is an $800 USD (roughly $1,080 CAD) turntable that wirelessly integrates with Sonos’ multi-room audio system. To use records with a Sonos speaker in the past, you needed to set up a Sonos Port ($549 CAD) or Amp ($899 CAD) to interface your record player to your online Sonos system. These two devices can also do a few other things, which you can find out more about here.

As you can see, it can be pretty pricey to link a Sonos to a turntable. The most cost-effective way would be to get a cheap amplified turntable and a Port, but that’s still pushing up towards $800 CAD and likely won’t be as high-end as the Victrola.

If you’re spending this much to play records, you might as well make sure it slaps.

The Victrola features standard RCA jacks on the rear, so you can use it with a normal amp/receiver/speaker combo, and notably, it offers a cool illuminated volume knob on the front that controls the sound levels of your entire Sonos system once it’s connected. This is a rare feature since most Sonos speakers come with touch-sensitive buttons that are not nearly as satisfying to touch as a solid knob is to turn.

If you want to learn about the more specific audiophile specs, you can view the complete list on Victrola’s website. The high-end turntable starts shipping around the end of October.

Image credit: Victrola

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Sonos is back with a new price conscious subwoofer

After years of people asking, Sonos is finally selling a more affordable subwoofer to pair with its mid-range soundbars.

The device, called Sub Mini ($549), features a cylindrical design as opposed to the giant square look of the original Sub. It’s also $400 cheaper than the $949 Sonos Sub.

The small shape should add a lot of bass to Sonos’ smaller soundbars like the Sonos Ray and Sonos Beam. This means that it’s focused on upgrading your TV watching experiences, but Sonos says that the powerful bass it outputs can add a lot to music too.

Inside, there are two six-inch force-cancelling woofers to produce the bass, and Sonos says that the centre tunnel helps move air through the speakers to maximize output. Beyond that, it offers several other Sonos features like app control and Trueplay tuning with iOS.

However, there are some limitations since you can’t connect the sub to portable Sonos speakers like the Sonos Roam and Sonos Move. It also can’t work with amplified Sonos products like the Sonos Amp.

Sonos generally releases two hardware products per year, so the launch of the Sub Mini is likely its last new device for 2022. Throughout the year, the company has focused on cost-effective home theatre devices with the Sonos Ray soundbar and Sub Mini. Ideally, this rounds out the company’s TV-based speaker ambitions for the next year, and in 2023 we’ll finally see the often rumoured Sonos Headphones.

You can order the $549 Sub Mini from Sonos on October 6th.

Image credit: Sonos

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Google files lawsuits against Sonos over alleged patent infringement

Google launched new lawsuits against Sonos, claiming the company violated several of its smart speaker patents in the latest bout of a long-running legal spat.

So far, Sonos has sued Google multiple times, and Google has sued Sonos once in return — this marks the second suit from Google. Moreover, one ruling has been handed down so far in favour of Sonos, which led to Google removing the ability for users to simultaneously control the volume of a group of Google speakers with their phones.

According to The Verge, the latest lawsuits from Google allege Sonos infringed on seven additional patents. One of the lawsuits focuses on hotword detection and wireless charging — hotword detection refers to a speaker’s ability to wake up and respond to a user query after they say a specific word or phrase. The other lawsuit is about how a group of speakers determines which one should respond to a voice input.

Google filed both lawsuits this morning in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Moreover, the search giant plans to launch similar lawsuits with the U.S. International Trade Commission — the lawsuits will seek a ban on imports of Sonos products that allegedly infringe on the patents.

Google spokesperson José Castañeda told The Verge that Google filed the lawsuits to “defend [its] technology and challenge Sonos’s clear, continued infringement of [its] patents.” Moreover, Castañeda accused Sonos of starting an “aggressive and misleading campaign” against Google products.

However, Sonos fired back in its own statement to The Verge, calling the lawsuits an “intimidation tactic” and accusing Google of suing in retaliation against Sonos “for speaking out against Google’s monopolistic practices.”

Source: The Verge

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Sonos’ Ray is a decent soundbar lacking the company’s magic

Between now and when Sonos released the Playbar back in 2012, it seems the company has discovered that the TV-based-home-audio market is very lucrative — and now we have the Ray soundbar… for better or worse.

The Ray is a decent soundbar, and possibly a first step into Sonos’ ecosystem for anyone looking to upgrade their TV’s speakers. Having the ambition to build out an entire Sonos home system someday helps justify this speaker too. However, it’s hard not to be somewhat disappointed by its middle-of-the-road sound since most of Sonos’ other products offer better audio quality.

The Ray isn’t bad for its $349 price tag, but without Sonos’ ecosystem to back it up, it’s a fairly standard soundbar.

The most entry-level Sonos yet

When I talked to Sonos representatives at Ray’s release event, they told me that the soundbar is designed to be someone’s first foray into the Sonos ecosystem. It could also work well for a secondary TV that you don’t use much, but still want to be a part of your system.

After spending time with the Ray myself, I’m not sure how necessary it is for a secondary TV unless it features really bad speakers. That said, it’s still a good entry point into the Sonos system. In terms of sound quality, it’s okay and a solid upgrade compared to the basic speakers built into my TCL-Series 6 TV from 2020.

Despite that, it doesn’t give me that classic Sonos magic. If you’ve never used a Sonos Beam or Arc before, you might not notice that.

When listening through the previously mentioned soundbars, the audio sounds fantastic, with above-average detail and clarity. On the Ray, it just sounds louder. The soundbar maintains a powerful, rich sound profile, but doesn’t strike me with astounding clarity like Sonos’ other products.

This was bound to happen as the company moves to enter lower-priced markets, but unless you plan to get more Sonos speakers after the Ray, it’s not really worth it since you can buy a comparable soundbar for $200 or less. That being said, the small size does offer a lot in the way of versatility. It’s also worth noting that it features upward-firing speakers, so it can be placed in a TV stand, unlike the Beam 2 or the Arc.

Other notable features

Like all modern Sonos speakers, it’s also web-connected, so you can group it via the Sonos app with other Sonos speakers or use AirPlay 2 to merge it with other Apple devices. It’s fairly useful and once I’m done testing this speaker as a soundbar, it will likely live on my studio shelf as a boombox for that room or on my desk as a PC soundbar.

You can also control the volume of the Ray with some TV remotes even when your Television is off, which is somewhat useful, but it doesn’t work with my TV’s Roku remote.

The Ray is missing a microphone and the HDMI jack, so the only way to connect it to your TV is with an optical audio cable. You can also use it as a standalone Sonos speaker. However, you’d be better off with three Sonos Ones for the price.

I will concede that Sonos’ wave-splitting hardware does help the speaker punch above its weight class in larger rooms, but without Atmos like the more recent Beam, I wouldn’t call it an immersive experience — I’d just call it louder.

I also felt that the Ray’s range was a little more constrained compared to the Beam, making loud sounds a lot more jarring. To remedy this, I kept the Sonos ‘Night Mode’ enabled — it levels audio to maintain more balance between loud and quiet scenes in a movie.

A soundbar for profit

As a business move, I think the Ray will sell really well. Its lower price point, combined with the fact that it’s a soundbar and not just a speaker, should help attract more people to Sonos’ ecosystem.

I think I’m more likely to push people with a little extra budget up to the Beam 2 or even the very expensive (but amazing) Sonos Arc.

If you already think that the Sonos Ray is a little pricey, I’d go down to the Roku Streambar or something else in the $200 range. Often you can even get soundbars with subwoofers packed in, which offer a notable improvement over the Ray in sound quality. Just be warned that you won’t get access to Sonos’ great app and software, so only go this route if you don’t want to acquire more speakers from the company in the future.

The Sonos Ray costs $349.