Chris Welch is a senior reviewer who has worked at The Verge since its founding in 2011. His coverage areas include audio (Sonos, Apple, Bose, Sony, etc.), home theater, smartphones, photography, and more.
Sonos is lowering the price of two products in an effort to boost hardware sales amid a continued slump. The company’s Era 100 smart speaker and entry-level Ray soundbar now both cost $199. That’s a $50 drop for the Era 100, which launched at $249. And it’s an even more substantial $80 cut for the Ray; the soundbar was released nearly three years ago at an MSRP of $279. Both products have regularly been available for less during sales and retailer discounts, but now the price drop is permanent. (Credit to my friends in the Sonos subreddit who spotted this; I’ve now confirmed it with Sonos directly.)
The Era 100 is Sonos’ mainstream home speaker and improves upon the prior Sonos One (and Play:1 before that) with stereo sound, line-in and Bluetooth audio support, plus more intuitive physical controls. Its original price felt reasonable, but at $199, it’s an even better deal and a good gateway into the Sonos ecosystem.
I’m usually less quick to recommend the Ray. Unlike the more expensive Arc Ultra and Beam (Gen 2), it lacks HDMI connectivity altogether — and thus offers no Dolby Atmos surround sound. Still, the compact soundbar easily outperforms built-in TV speakers, so it’s a solid no-frills option for smaller rooms or secondary TVs. (Some owners have also come to enjoy it as a desk speaker, but that’s not the primary purpose.) Former Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said in past earnings calls that the Ray underperformed Sonos’ early expectations. $199 is certainly a fairer price for what you’re getting.
Sonos remains locked in an effort to improve the performance and reliability of its mobile app after last year’s embarrassing stumble. The company is releasing updates to the software at a steady cadence and continues to maintain a public Trello board of upcoming fixes. Sonos recently cancelled what was to be its next major hardware release, a streaming video player, in another sign that it’s reprioritizing the product roadmap and getting back to basics.
