The market for multi-room speakers has grown significantly in recent years, but there are some brands that have been doing the work for many years, like Sonos. The company has been around for over two decades and offers one of the best app platforms out there, with support for many of the big streaming services.
There are several speakers within the Sonos sound system range, and there are three soundbars and two wireless subwoofers too. Let us help you work out which is the best Sonos speaker(s) or soundbar for you.
Our recommendations: Which is the best Sonos speaker to buy?
We’ve reviewed – or seen and heard – the entire Sonos line up and these are the three products we would highly recommend buying if you’re in the market for a Sonos speaker or soundbar.
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Sonos Era 100
The Sonos Era 100 is one of the newest Sonos speakers available, replacing the excellent Sonos One. It delivers excellent sound quality for it size, offers a lovely design and there are plenty of features on board. The Era 100 is the perfect starting place to a Sonos system, or a great addition to an existing one.
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Sonos Roam
The Sonos Roam is a portable Bluetooth speaker, whilst also serving as a traditional Sonos speaker when on Wi-Fi. Despite its small size, it offers great sound, along with a range of features like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, as well as Sound Swap. It’s an excellent 2-in-1 speaker and there are a range of colour options too.
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Sonos Beam (Gen 2)
The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) isn’t as fully fledged as the Sonos Arc soundbar, but it offers virtual Dolby Atmos, a lovely compact design and it comes in two colour options of white or black like most Sonos speakers. There are also plenty of features on board, like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, and it’s a great price.
While the above are our top recommendations, it of course depends on what you are looking for. With that in mind, here’s a run down of the products you’ll find within the Sonos range and why you might buy them depending on what you are looking for.
Sonos Era 100
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Sonos Era 100
Great starting point
The Sonos Era 100 is one of the newest Sonos speakers available, replacing the excellent Sonos One. It delivers excellent sound quality for it size (from what we have heard so far), offers a lovely design and there are plenty of features on board. The Era 100 is the perfect starting place to a Sonos system, as well as a great addition to an existing one.
- Lovely compact design
- New intuitive controls
- Great performance
- No Google Assistant
- More expensive than Sonos One
The Sonos Era 100 is one of the newest speakers within the Sonos portfolio, replacing the Sonos One and One SL. It’s more expensive than the outgoing One and One SL, but you get a range of extra features, including Bluetooth capabilities, stereo sound instead of mono and a fresh design that’s more modern and seamless.
There’s no Google Assistant on the Era 100 – with just Alexa and Sonos Voice Control on board, and it doesn’t support spatial audio and Dolby Atmos like the larger Era 300, but the Era 100 sounds great and offers brilliant sound performance from its size. It also has all the standard Sonos features, like AirPlay 2, the ability to adapt EQ, support for over 100 music streaming services, and Trueplay tuning.
Sonos Era 300
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Sonos Era 300
Dolby Atmos support
The Sonos Era 300 has a unique design. Some will love it, others might not be so sure, but you can’t deny it’s different and we love a bit of different. It’s not just about what it looks like though. The Era 300 sounds great and it’s packed full of features, including Bluetooth and Dolby Atmos support.
- Unique design
- Great performance
- Bluetooth and USB-C line-in
- Quite expensive
- No Google Assistant
The Sonos Era 300 is the company’s all-singing, all-dancing speaker that launched alongside the smaller Era 100 a little higher up this list. It features a slightly different design to your average speaker, though it has the same control panel at the top as the Era 100 and there’s a USB-C line-in port on the rear too, as well as Bluetooth capabilities. It’s smaller than the Sonos Five below, but it offers support for spatial audio and Dolby Atmos content, designed to offer a more immersive experience when listening to compatible content.
The Era 300 also features AirPlay 2 support, along with Alexa and Sonos Voice Control and it comes in black and white colour options. You can stereo pair two together and they can be used as rear surrounds with a Sonos Arc and a Sonos Sub for a 7.1.4 multi-channel setup.
Sonos Five
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Sonos Five
Superb sound
The Sonos Five doesn’t have Bluetooth, Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant support like some other Sonos speakers, but those are about the only downsides we can leverage at this otherwise superb speaker. The Five shows what two decades of experience can deliver. It’s an ideal way to start a Sonos multi-room system, or add a badass centrepiece to an existing one.
- Excellent sound quality
- Great features
- Solid build quality
- Expensive
- No Bluetooth
- No direct Amazon Alexa/Google Assistant support
The Sonos Five is the biggest speaker in the Sonos line-up. It features capacitive touch controls and can be positioned vertically or horizontally. There is no built-in voice control from Alexa or Google Assistant, and there’s no Bluetooth or Dolby Atmos support like the Era 300, but there is Apple AirPlay 2 compatibility and superb sound performance.
As with other Sonos speakers, you get the same option to pair two Five speakers together for a full-fledged stereo pair, have multi-room audio, combine it with Sonos soundbars for surround sound, place the speaker where you choose when connected to the Wi-Fi mesh network, as well as the streaming options and app features.
Sonos Ray
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Sonos Ray
Great value
The Sonos Ray is a soundbar that offers a lovely design, great sound quality for its size and a range of excellent features, largely thanks to being part of the wider Sonos system.You’ll make some compromises by opting for the Sonos Ray over its more expensive siblings and there is a smaller soundstage overall, but the Ray is still well worth considering in the right setup.
- Compact design
- Good range of features
- Quick setup
- Not as strong at lower volumes
- No HDMI ARC or eARC
The Sonos Ray is the company’s budget soundbar and while it misses out on some features compared to the Sonos Beam, it’s a great upgrade to your TV sound for a good price. It uses optical instead of HDMI so it’s compatible with older TVs and it can be a standalone Sonos speaker when not in use, offering a number of Sonos features.
There are no smart assistants on board and the soundstage isn’t as wide as the Beam, nor are there features like Atmos, but the Ray is a fantastic soundbar for its size.
Sonos Beam (Gen 2)
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Sonos Beam (2nd Gen)
Great performance, compact design
- Compact size and excellent sound
- Virtual Dolby Atmos support enhances immersion
- Multiple voice assistants supported
- Not as good when at lower volumes
- More expensive than original Beam
- Adding additional speakers for true surround is pricey
The Sonos Beam (2nd Gen) is an upgrade to the original Beam compact soundbar, adding support for virtual Dolby Atmos, a speaker grille that matches the Arc and support for not just HDMI ARC but HDMI eARC too, like the Arc. It offers all the features of a Sonos speaker but TV smarts too, like the original Beam and Ray, while there’s built-in Alexa and Google Assistant voice control, as well as AirPlay 2 support too.
The Sonos Beam (2nd Gen) works with all other Sonos products in a multi-room setup and can also be paired with the Sub and other speakers – except Move and Roam – for a 5.1 surround sound setup, but perhaps the most attractive element is that it’s much cheaper than the Arc.
Sonos Arc
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Sonos Arc
Great for Dolby Atmos
The Sonos Arc presents an exemplary sound experience even without Dolby Atmos. With Alexa and Google Assistant built-in, plus AirPlay 2 and Sonos’ own feature-filled music platform, you have yourself a very compelling speaker system to elevate your entertainment no end, even if it is on the pricey side.
- Excellent Atmos experience
- Alexa and Google Assistant on board
- Easy to setup and integrate with Sonos multiroom solution
- Requires compatible TV for Dolby Atmos support
- No source input
- Only single-band (2.4GHz) Wi-Fi
The Sonos Arc is a 5.0.2 bar with HDMI eARC and a completely re-tuned experience over the Playbar, which it replaced in the line-up. It comes with a newer design aesthetic, with sleek, curved edges and rounded ends that look similar to the Sonos Move speaker if you look at that from above, tying it in with the rest of the Sonos family.
There are a stack of speaker drivers inside, with centre, left and right channels, plus a couple angled for a wider surround effect than the Beam (for example). Two additional drivers are angled upwards to send Dolby Atmos extra channels to your ceiling and down to the seating position to envelope you in immersive audio. You can add two Sonos Era 300 speakers as surrounds for a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos experience.
Sonos Sub Mini
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Sonos Sub Mini
Perfect for extra punch
The Sonos Sub Mini is a lovely looking subwoofer, with a statement design that makes it stand out from the crowd of traditional black boxes for something a little different. It offers great performance, delivering extra depth to music when required and enhancing action scenes in movies with added punch, to offer a more realistic and immersive experience.
- Great design
- Excellent features
- Solid performance
- Limited to Sonos system
- Not the cheapest
- Not necessary for all
The Sonos Sub Mini is designed to be paired with the smaller speakers in the Sonos portfolio, or the smaller soundbars. It’s not as powerful as the larger Sonos Sub, but it still offers a frequency response down to 25Hz, it’s lighter than the larger Sub and it has a lovely neat design.
It can only be positioned upright, but it comes in black and white and it makes a good difference when it comes to watching movies.
Sonos Sub
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Sonos Sub (Gen 3)
Great for bass
The Sonos Sub isn’t for everyone, nor will it be necessary for everyone, but it is a device that is all about sound and it’s an excellent addition to the Sonos system if you can afford it. For those intrigued enough to pay double what you would a regular sub-woofer, you won’t be disappointed.
- Great bass
- Easy setup
- Excellent addition to Sonos system
- Big and heavy
- Will be too loud for some
- Expensive
Like the Sonos Sub Mini, the Sonos Sub is an extension of Sonos speakers and soundbars and its intention is to add more depth to everything you hear by introducing more bass, offering a frequency response down to 25Hz. You can stand the Sonos Sub upright or lay it flat giving it more flexibility than the Sub Mini, and it features built-in rubber feet, as well as optional feet.
Audio settings are automatically adjusted to balance the Sub and the paired Sonos component and like the rest of the Sonos system, the Sub can be controlled using the Sonos app and it will connect wirelessly to your home network so you can place it wherever you choose. It’s more powerful than the Sub Mini, but it’s a lot more money too so you have to really want that extra bass.
Sonos Roam SL
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Sonos Roam SL
Great value
The Sonos Roam SL is a great portable Bluetooth speaker that is perfect for those looking to start a Sonos system but who still want the flexibility to take their speaker out of the home.
- Lovely design
- Great sound performance
- Good price
- Some features missing
- No smart assistants
- Fewer colour options than Roam
The Sonos Roam SL has the same design and sound architecture as the Sonos Roam, but it doesn’t offer a microphone and therefore misses out on a couple of features. There are no smart assistants on board, and the Sonos Roam SL doesn’t have Sound Swap or automatic Trueplay tuning, but it still switches automatically between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and it delivers great sound in a small package.
There’s AirPlay 2 on board, waterproofing and it will switch seamlessly between being part of your Sonos system and being a Bluetooth speaker as you move around.
Sonos Roam
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Sonos Roam
Excellent portability
For those already invested in Sonos, the Roam is a no-brainer as an addition. It allows you to bring your Sonos system with you wherever you go. For those considering a Bluetooth speaker and wondering if the Roam is worth the investment – it delivers everything a Bluetooth speaker should, plus so much more.
- Lightweight and very portable
- Excellent sound quality for size
- Water resistant
- Rubber ends dent
- No accompanying case
- Battery life a little below claimed
The Sonos Roam is the smaller of the portable, Bluetooth speakers from Sonos and the smallest Sonos speaker available (alongside the Roam SL), as well as one of the smartest. It offers automatic switching between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – which the larger Move doesn’t – allowing for a more seamless listening experience when moving from outside to inside, and vice-versa.
Along with all the standard Sonos features, the Roam also has a feature called Sound Swap and it comes with both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, as well as AirPlay 2 and Automatic TruePlay. It can’t be used as surrounds or paired to a Sub, but it is small, light, very portable and sounds great.
Sonos Move
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Sonos Move
Excellent features and performance
There are other great portable Bluetooth speakers out there – including Sonos’ own Roam that is far smaller and better designed for constant portability – but there are none quite like the Sonos Move in terms of sound output and features, especially not for those already invested in the Sonos system.
- Excellent sound quality
- Durable and water resistant design
- Plenty of features
- Heavy so not that portable
- Can’t use as surrounds
- Not the cheapest
The Sonos Move is the larger of the two portable speakers from Sonos, offering Bluetooth audio capabilities alongside Wi-Fi. When in Bluetooth mode – there’s a toggle switch on the rear – the Sonos Move allows you to pair your device to it and stream audio, as you would any other Bluetooth speaker. When in Wi-Fi mode, the Sonos Move offers all the same features you would expect from a Sonos speaker, controlled using the Sonos app.
It offers automatic Trueplay tuning so if you move the Move, it will automatically tune itself to its surroundings, and there is Apple AirPlay 2 on board too. Additionally, the Sonos Move has built-in Google Assistant and Alexa voice control, it is IP56 water and dust resistant so you can bring it wherever you’re going and the battery lasts around 10 hours.
Sonos Ikea Symfonisk range
Sonos and Ikea teamed up together to offer the Symfonisk range of speakers, of which there are a few options. There is the Symfonisk Wi-Fi Book Shelf Speaker, the Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker and the Symfonisk Picture Frame Speaker too.
All offer all the same features as many of the other Sonos speakers, including Trueplay tuning, multi-room audio, compatibility with over 100 music services, the ability to stereo pair two of the same and voice control via an Alexa or Google Assistant-enabled device.
The Sonos Ikea Symfonisk speakers are controlled via the Sonos app but they have dual functions in that the Book Shelf speaker can be a bookshelf too, as well as positioned vertically or horizontally, the Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker is a lamp as well as a speaker and the Picture Frame is a piece of art and a speaker. All are AirPlay 2 compatible.
The Symfonisk Wi-Fi Book Shelf Speaker is the cheapest way to start a Sonos system, offering a decent sound for the price and size. The Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker is more expensive, as is the Symfonisk Picture Frame Speaker, but they both offer good sound and functional designs.
Quick summary
Sonos speakers
The non-portable speakers within the Sonos line up include the Sonos Era 100, Era 300 and the Sonos Five. The Era 100 replaces the Sonos One and One SL and brings Bluetooth capabilities, while the Era 300 sits below the larger Sonos Five, but offers a few extra tricks like Dolby Atmos and spatial audio support. You can read how the Era 100 and Era 300 compare in our separate feature and we’ve also covered how the Era 100 compares to the Sonos One elsewhere. If you’re interested in the standard Sonos Wi-Fi speakers, you can jump straight to more about them by clicking here.
Sonos soundbars
Sonos has three soundbars in its offering, including the budget Sonos Ray, designed for smaller TVs, the Sonos Beam (2021, Gen 2) that has virtual Dolby Atmos support and the all-singing, all-dancing Sonos Arc with full Dolby Atmos support. Within the home theatre line-up, there’s also the Sonos Sub and the Sonos Sub Mini, with the latter offering the same low frequency response but a bit less power than the larger Sub. If you’re interested in the Sonos home theatre products, you can jump straight to more about them by clicking here.
Sonos portable speakers
There are three portable speakers in the Sonos line up. These include the Sonos Move, the Sonos Roam and the Sonos Roam SL. We’ve got a feature comparing the differences between the Sonos Roam and Sonos Move, but in a nutshell, the Roam is an ultra-portable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker that is smaller and cheaper than Move, and the Roam SL is a Roam without the built-in microphones and smart assistants. If you’re interested in the Sonos portable speakers, you can jump straight to more about them by clicking here.
Sonos Ikea Symfonisk speakers
In addition to the portable Sonos speakers and the standard Sonos speakers, the company also collaborated with Ikea to offer the Symfonisk range of speakers. There’s the Wi-Fi Bookshelf Speaker, which is a speaker that doubles up as a bookshelf and the cheapest way to enter the Sonos system. Meanwhile, the Table Lamp Speaker doubles up as a table lamp and the Picture Frame Speaker doubles up as a piece of art. All the Symfonisk speakers work as traditional Sonos speakers. If you’re interested in the Sonos Ikea Symfonisk speakers, you can jump straight to them by clicking here.
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