Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

While the Sonos Play might be soaking up all the attention, there’s still something to be said for turning what’s already a great speaker into something that’s more accessible. That’s where the $189 Sonos Era 100 SL comes in.

Along with the addition of the Play, Sonos updated its Era 100 lineup with a slightly cheaper Era 100 SL. There’s not much that’s different this go around, but there’s still a lot to like and a few tradeoffs you should know before rushing out to buy one and build out your Sonos system.

Same sound with a little less

The first thing you need to know about the Era 100 SL is that it’s almost exactly the same speaker as the Era 100, which is a wireless speaker (both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi), though it doesn’t have an independent battery. Yes, that means that, like the Era 100, you’ll be plugging the Era 100 SL into the wall.

From an audio perspective, the two speakers also share the same setup: three amplifiers, a mid-woofer, and two angled tweeters. The result? Full, solid sound that I have pretty much zero complaints about. The Era 100 SL pulls its weight in the sound department, with surprisingly punchy bass, and clear/separated mids and highs. I listened to Bobby Charles’ “All the Money,” a funkier rock song, and was impressed by the vocal clarity and the ability to separate saxophones and guitars as well as its acumen in elevating Charles’ talk-singing over the rest of the mix.

In genres that emphasize low-end, the Era 100 SL feels just as sturdy. I listened to Outkast’s “West Savannah” and “Crumblin’ Erb” and was getting plenty of bass without ever feeling like sampled horn lines or vocals were being drowned out. As a standalone speaker, the Era 100 SL is strong, but it feels even stronger when you add it to a Sonos system. I tested the Era 100 SL in tandem with two Sonos Play speakers and loved the way it filled the room (I had two Play speakers coupled as a stereo pair and the Era 100 SL off to the right of my living room). Similar to the Play, setting up the Era 100 SL in the Sonos app and adding it to the speaker group was easy, too, and only took a few minutes.

See Sonos Era 100 SL at Amazon

I don’t have a Sonos soundbar like the Arc, Beam, or Ray, but if I did, the Era 100 SL is compatible as rear speakers, and I could see it being a solid addition to a Sonos home theater system. It’s also worth mentioning here that, while the Era 100 SL doesn’t support Dolby Atmos spatial audio for music playback (it lacks upfiring speakers), it does support Dolby Atmos in a home theater setting and can play surround channels.

If Sonos’ goal was to give people in the Sonos ecosystem a cheaper and satisfying way to build their setups out—which it was—then it succeeded. That being said, if you’re just getting into Sonos hardware and want to use the Era 100 SL as your main speaker, it wouldn’t be a bad option, though there are some differences you should keep in mind.

As is the case with pretty much any gadget that targets a lower price point, there are compromises, and in the Era 100 SL’s case, those have mostly to do with the microphones—the Era 100 SL does not come with any. That means if you had dreams of shouting at your Era 100 SL to change songs or cue up music, you can stop entertaining that fantasy right now. The good news is, if you already have a Sonos speaker with a microphone, it won’t matter.

The lack of a microphone also affects some other features, like Trueplay, though Sonos has a pretty nifty workaround for that. Trueplay, in case you’re not baptized by the church of Sonos yet, is the company’s automated EQing that uses on-device mics to tune the acoustics to your room. Obviously, because the Era 100 SL doesn’t have mics, this speaker can’t do that on its own, but it can still use Trueplay with the help of your iPhone.

By hooking the Era 100 SL to the Sonos app, you can use your iPhone’s microphone to enable Trueplay. The process, which I tried, involves walking around your space while raising and lifting your phone as the speaker plays a noise. By doing that, Trueplay can get a sense for the space you’re in and adjust the Era 100 SL accordingly. If you’re okay with looking a little silly, the feature works just fine and, in my opinion, is a pretty nifty workaround. If you’re on Android, I have bad news—advanced Trueplay tuning on the Era 100 SL is still only supported on iOS at the moment. I didn’t notice a huge difference after using Trueplay on either the Play or the Era 100 SL, but your mileage may vary.

At the end of the day, the lack of a microphone only rules out using the Era 100 SL as a smart speaker for lots of people, which feels like an okay compromise for $30 less than the Era 100, especially if you don’t need the voice assistant support.

A sturdy Sonos speaker

The Era 100 SL can take advantage of pretty much all the stuff you’d expect from a Sonos speaker. If you want a more in-depth rundown on features, you can read my Play review, but the Era 100 SL is Wi-Fi enabled, so it operates best when connected to the Sonos app. From there, you can adjust volume, activate Trueplay, pair with another Sonos Era 100 SL speaker for stereo sound, or control playback. As a note here, like other Sonos speakers, you can only pair with a speaker of the same make (in this case, another Era 100 SL or an Era 100) for stereo sound.

It’s basically everything you can do on the Play, and in my testing, it feels just as seamless.

One of the major differences between the Play and the Era 100 SL is the weight, though. While the Play is designed for portability, weighing 2.87 pounds, the Era 100 SL has some heft since it’s meant to stay put—it clocks in at 4.3 pounds. Controls are also slightly different, with the Era 100 SL opting for touch-sensitive controls instead of physical, pushable buttons.

As far as touch controls go, I really like the level of sensitivity on the Era 100 SL—probably some of the smoothest touch controls I’ve used in recent memory. Like other Sonos speakers, the Era 100 SL keeps things pretty simple in the button department, with a volume slider, track-skipping buttons, and a play/pause button. On the back, there’s also a Bluetooth button for pairing and a USB-C port for wired audio.

Looks-wise, the Era 100 SL is fairly tidy, if a little innocuous. There aren’t any pops of color like on the Play, which has a mint-colored accent on the strap, dock, and bottom, but it will look right at home next to your Era 100 speakers. As is the case with the Era 100, there’s also a thread on the bottom in case you want to mount the Era 100 SL. Sonos, of course, sells first-party mounts, but you can go third-party as well.

Time to start your SL era?

The Era 100 SL might not be the most interesting gadget release of the year, but if you’re looking to expand your Sonos system, it’s a cheaper way of doing that, and it’s hard to argue with cheaper, especially if you don’t care about a speaker with a mic. For $30 less than the Era 100, you’re getting good sound and most of the same features, and you can still use Trueplay if you have an iOS device. If I were in the market for new Sonos speakers to pad my lineup, this would be the first one on my radar.

See Sonos Era 100 SL at Amazon