The Sonos Era 100 launched in March 2023 as the direct replacement for the long-running Sonos One, and it brought several meaningful upgrades: a stereo driver layout, Bluetooth 5.3 streaming, WiFi 6 support, and a USB-C line-in port. Currently priced at around £199 in the UK (prices vary by retailer), it sits comfortably in the mid-range smart speaker market. If you've been considering your first Sonos speaker or wondering whether to upgrade, this review covers everything you need to know.
Sonos Era 100 Specifications
The Era 100 uses a three-driver configuration: two angled tweeters and one mid-woofer, each driven by its own class-D digital amplifier. This stereo arrangement is a substantial departure from the single-tweeter, mono design of the Sonos One and One SL.
Connectivity is where the Era 100 pulls furthest ahead of its predecessor. It supports Bluetooth 5.3 for direct audio streaming from phones and tablets — something the original Sonos One never offered. The speaker is also compatible with WiFi 6 (802.11ax), which helps in busy home networks with many connected devices. On the rear panel you'll find a USB-C port that supports analogue line-in via the Sonos Line-In Adapter (sold separately, around £19).
Trueplay acoustic tuning is built in. Using the Sonos app on iOS, it measures the room's acoustics and adjusts the EQ accordingly — a useful feature if you're placing the speaker in an awkward spot or near a wall.
Setup and the Sonos App
Setting up the Era 100 takes under five minutes. Download the Sonos S2 app (iOS or Android), plug the speaker in, and follow the in-app steps to connect it to your WiFi network. The WiFi 6 connection is noticeably stable — useful in homes with dense 2.4 GHz congestion from smart home devices.
Once connected, the Era 100 appears alongside any other Sonos speakers in your system. You can group it for multiroom audio, adjust EQ, enable Loudness, and run Trueplay calibration from the same app. The touch controls on top are capacitive and responsive: a volume bar, play/pause, skip, and a physical mic mute switch.
Smart Assistant Support
The Era 100 includes far-field microphones and supports Amazon Alexa built-in — you can control playback, ask questions, and manage smart home devices with voice commands. Sonos dropped Google Assistant support with this generation, which may disappoint users in the Google ecosystem.
Apple AirPlay 2 is fully supported, so iPhone and Mac users can stream directly via AirPlay without needing the Sonos app. Spotify Connect is also available, letting you stream directly from Spotify without going through the phone's Bluetooth stack.
Stereo Pairing and Home Theatre
One of the more compelling reasons to buy two Era 100s is stereo pairing. In the Sonos app, you can bond two Era 100s as a true stereo pair, with one handling the left channel and the other the right. The result is a noticeably wider soundstage than either speaker alone.
Alternatively, a pair of Era 100s can serve as rear surround speakers for a Sonos soundbar such as the Arc or Beam. This makes them a flexible investment — useful standalone today, expandable into a full home cinema system later. If you're looking at other multiroom options at this price point, see our guide to the best multiroom speakers UK.
Home Assistant Integration
The Era 100 works natively with Home Assistant via the built-in Sonos integration, which communicates over UPnP on your local network (no cloud dependency once configured). The integration requires UPnP to be enabled in the Sonos app and exposes the speaker as a full media_player entity, giving you play/pause, volume, source selection, and group management from automations.
Home Assistant also exposes Sonos-specific actions including sleep timers, queue snapshots, and alarm management. Push-based updates are supported when the speaker can reach Home Assistant on TCP port 1400 — if that's blocked by your network, the integration falls back to polling every 30 seconds.
Practical automations include: turning on background music when you arrive home, pausing playback when a doorbell sensor triggers, or adjusting volume based on time of day. It's one of the more capable smart speaker integrations available in the Home Assistant ecosystem.
Era 100 vs Sonos One SL
The Era 100 is the upgrade most Sonos One SL owners have been waiting for. Here's how they compare:
Sound: The Era 100's dual-tweeter stereo layout produces a wider, more open soundstage than the One SL's single tweeter. Bass response is also improved thanks to the 25% larger woofer.
Connectivity: The Era 100 adds Bluetooth 5.3 and USB-C line-in — neither of which exist on the One SL. However, the Era 100 dropped the Ethernet port that the One SL carries on its rear panel. If you rely on a wired connection for stability, that's a notable regression.
Voice assistants: The One SL has no microphones at all. The Era 100 brings Alexa built-in, though Google Assistant is no longer supported on any Sonos device.
For a detailed look at the older model, see our Sonos One review.
UK Pricing and Where to Buy
The Sonos Era 100 has an RRP of around £199 in the UK, though prices vary by retailer and promotional period. It's available from Sonos directly, John Lewis, Richer Sounds, and Amazon. John Lewis includes a two-year guarantee as standard.
The Sonos Era 100 on Amazon UK is often competitively priced and eligible for Prime delivery.
Verdict
The Sonos Era 100 is the best compact Sonos speaker for most UK buyers. The jump to stereo drivers makes a genuine difference to everyday listening, Bluetooth adds genuine flexibility, and the Home Assistant integration is one of the cleanest in its class. The loss of the Ethernet port is a real trade-off, and the absence of Google Assistant will frustrate some. But if you're building or expanding a Sonos multiroom system, the Era 100 is the right foundation at its current price.
