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The Sonos Play puts the best parts of the Era 100 in a portable speaker

Sonos has just announced its first new products since 2024, when the companys plans went sideways after a disastrous update to its app . First up is the Sonos Play, the companys latest portable speaker. Long-time Sonos watchers will recognize the name from the old Play:1, Play:3 and Play:5 speakers, but this new model has little to do with those products of the past. The $299 Play is a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker that sits between the $179 Roam 2 and $499 Move 2 and could be the goldilocks speaker in the companys portable lineup, at least based on what I know so far. The closest comparison for the Play is the excellent Era 100 , which Sonos released back in 2023. At 7.6 tall, 4.4 wide and 3 deep, its much thinner than the Era 100 which is over 5 inches deep. And compared to the Move 2 (9.5 x 6.3 x 5) its much more portable. That goes for weight, too the Play is less than 3 pounds, compared to over 6.5 pounds for the Move 2. Its not the kind of speaker youll throw in your bag and forget about, like the tiny Roam 2, but its far more portable than the Move 2. Finally, the Play is IP67 rated, just like the Roam 2. That means it can be submerged in up to a meter of water for up to 30 minutes; its also dustproof. The grab handle on the back of the Sonos Play. Sonos From a speaker component perspective, its again quite similar to the Era 100. It has two tweeters positioned at a 90-degree angle for stereo separation paired with one midwoofer; it also has two additional passive radiators to increase the bass response in its relatively small case. The Era 100 lacks those passive radiators but is otherwise identical. Obviously, well have to listen to the Play before saying how closely it compares to the Era 100, but this speaker should significantly outperform the Roam 2 simply due to the increased size of its components. The Move 2, on the other hand, is extremely loud and will likely still be the best choice for people who want a speaker to cover a large outdoor space. Youll find familiar controls on the Sonos Play, which comes in black or white. (Fingers crossed for future color options like the lovely trio that Sonos offers on the Roam.) On the top surface are buttons for play/pause, volume up and down and a microphone toggle. On the back is a power button, a Bluetooth button and a physical switch that disconnects the microphone for increased security. Finally, theres a new feature here: a removable plastic grab loop. Sonos was keen to note that the Play is a full-featured member of the Sonos ecosystem. Like all of its other speakers, that means youll see all Sonos speakers in the app and can group them as you see fit, or have different music playing on different speakers throughout the house. You can also pair two of these in stereo. If you remove one from your network (say youre outside and away from Wi-Fi), youll need to re-pair them though. In addition to controlling playback via the Sonos app (which, in my testing, is functioning fine and recovered from the 2024 debacle), you can stream music via AirPlay 2 or Spotify Connect. The Sonos Voice Assistant as well as Amazon Alexa are also on board here for anyone who likes to shout at their speakers. The Sonos Play on its wireless charging base. Sonos Theres a new trick here for both the Play and Move 2, as well. For the first time, you can group Sonos speakers together through Bluetooth. After pairing a Play to your phone via Bluetooth, you can press and hold the play/pause button on three more Play or Move 2 speakers to add them to the group. If you want to cover a larger outdoor space with multiple speakers, this sounds like a pretty handy way to do so. The Play also has line-in via its USB-C port, and you can use it for Ethernet as well; both features require a separate adapter. You can even use the USB-C port to top up your phone if youre so inclined. And while you can also charge via the USB-C port, the Play comes with a wireless charging dock which makes for a nice home base for the speakers primary location. Annoyingly, Sonos did not include a charger, so youll need to provide your own USB-C brick. A pair of Sonos Era 100 SL speakers with a turntable. Sonos Sonos is also adding a second, much simpler speaker to its lineup today: the Era 100 SL. Like the One SL before it , the Era 100 SL is identical to the Era 100 with one key difference. There are no microphones on it at all. As such, the Era 100 SL is also a bit cheaper, coming in at $189 compared to $219 for the standard model. Otherwise, there are no differences in acoustic architecture or feature set here. As its most affordable speaker besides the portable Roam 2, Sonos is positioning the Era 100 SL as the ideal entry point into its products. I cant really argue with that, as the Era 100 still sounds outstanding and is also quite flexible with features like line-in and Bluetooth as well as all the standard streaming options. Both versions of the Era 100 are compatible with each other, too so if you get an SL and then decide you want a stereo pair, a standard Era 100 with a mic will work there and bring voice control to your system as well. Both the $299 Play and $189 Era 100 SL are up for pre-order now, and Sonos says theyll be shipping on March 31. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/the-sonos-play-puts-the-best-parts-of-the-era-100-in-a-portable-speaker-133000129.html?src=rss

10 Mar 2026 7:00 pm