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

Sonos just announced its first new products since 2024, when the company’s plans were derailed after a disastrous update to its app. First up is the Sonos Play, the company’s latest portable speaker. Longtime Sonos watchers will recognize the name from the old Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5 speakers, but this new model has little in common with those products of the past. The $299 Play is a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker that slots between the $179 Roam 2 and the $499 Move 2 and could be the “Goldilocks” speaker of the company’s portable line, at least from what I know so far.

The closest comparison for the Play is the excellent Era 100, which Sonos launched in 2023. At 7.6″ tall, 4.4″ wide, and 3″ deep, it’s much thinner than the Era 100 which measures over 5 inches deep. And compared to the Move 2 (9.5″ 3 pounds, compared to the Move 2’s more than 6.5 pounds. It’s not the kind of speaker you’ll throw in your bag and forget about, like the smaller Roam 2, but it’s much 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 three feet of water for up to 30 minutes;

From a speaker component perspective, it’s again quite similar to the Era 100. It has two tweeters positioned at a 90-degree angle for stereo separation, paired with a midwoofer; it also has two additional passive radiators to increase bass response in its relatively small body. The Era 100 does not have these passive radiators but is otherwise identical. You’ll obviously have to listen to the Play before telling how close it is to the Era 100, but this speaker should vastly outperform the Roam 2 simply because of the increased size of its components. The Move 2, on the other hand, is extremely loud and will likely remain the better choice for people who want a speaker to cover a large outdoor space.

You’ll find familiar controls on the Sonos Play, available in black or white. (Fingers crossed for future color options like the lovely trio 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 added security. Finally, there’s a new feature here: a removable plastic retaining loop.

Sonos wanted to emphasize that the Play is a complete member of the Sonos ecosystem. Like all of its other speakers, this means you’ll see all Sonos speakers in the app and can group them together however you like, or play different music on different speakers throughout the house. You can also pair two in stereo. If you remove one from your network (let’s say you’re outside and away from Wi-Fi), you’ll need to re-pair it, though. In addition to controlling playback via the Sonos app (which, in my testing, works well and has 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 present here for anyone who likes to shout into their speakers.

There’s also a new trick here for Play and Move 2. For the first time, you can group Sonos speakers together via Bluetooth. After pairing a Play to your phone via Bluetooth, you can press and hold the play/pause button on three other Play or Move 2 speakers to add them to the group. If you want to cover a larger outdoor space with multiple speakers, this seems like a very convenient way to do it.

The Play also has a line-in through 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 charge your phone if you want. And while you can also charge via the USB-C port, the Play comes with a wireless charging dock that makes a great base for the speaker’s main location. Unfortunately, Sonos doesn’t include a charger, so you’ll need to supply your own USB-C brick.

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’s no microphone on it. As such, the Era 100 SL is also a bit cheaper, at $189 compared to $219 for the standard model.

Otherwise, there is no difference in the acoustic architecture or features defined here. As the most affordable speaker outside of the portable Roam 2, Sonos positions the Era 100 SL as the ideal entry point into its products. I can’t really argue with that, as the Era 100 still sounds great 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 also compatible with each other – so if you buy an SL and then decide you want a stereo pair, a standard Era 100 with a mic will work there and also bring voice control to your system.

The $299 Play and $189 Era 100 SL are up for pre-order now, and Sonos says they’ll ship on March 31.