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Home / Audio / Reviews


WHO MAKES THE BEST DOLBY ATMOS WIRELESS SPEAKER?



A deep into what separates the two most popular wireless speakers that support
Dolby Atmos: the Sonos Era 300 and Apple HomePod.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol


By Tucker Bowe

Published May 18, 2024

·

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Every product is carefully selected by our editors. If you buy from a link, we
may earn a commission. Learn more

If you talk to anybody in the audio world, they’ll likely tell you that spatial
audio is the future. Unlike regular stereo that plays two-channel audio, spatial
audio tricks your brain into thinking that sounds are coming from all around
you. It creates a far more immersive, 360-degree listening experience.

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is a real-world benefit of proper fueling. Here are the keys to doing it right.



That said, we’re still in the early days of spatial audio — especially when it
comes to music. That’s because even though there are tens of thousands of
digital tracks that are rendered for spatial audio and Dolby Atmos (more on the
differences between the two below), only three music streaming services actually
support them: Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and Tidal.

There are a lot of headphones, soundbars and home theater systems that support
Dolby Atmos. When it comes to wireless speakers, though, not so much — or at
least they’re not able to play it properly. This is because most wireless
speakers aren’t able to create the virtual high channels necessary to really
bring Dolby Atmos content to live. But that’s starting to change.



THESE TWO SPEAKERS LEAD THE PACK

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Right now, arguably the two most popular wireless speakers that support spatial
audio and Dolby Atmos are Apple’s second-generation HomePod ($299) and the Sonos
Era 300 ($449). But they’re both smart speakers — and that means they work with
different apps and devices, and support different music streaming services.
Basically, deciding which is best goes way deeper than just “which speaker
sounds better?”

Apple’s second-generation HomePod is its newest full-sized smart speaker. It’s
essentially a larger and better-sounding version of the HomePod mini, but it
comes with some exclusive features — like support for spatial audio and Dolby
Atmos.

The Sonos Era 300, meanwhile, is the company’s first standalone wireless speaker
that’s specifically designed to play Dolby Atmos content — it has an
upward-firing tweeter for creating virtual height channels. Aside from that, it
works very similar to other Sonos speakers, especially the Era 100.




WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DOLBY ATMOS AND SPATIAL AUDIO?

Both Apple Music (shown) and Amazon Music Unlimited have dedicated playlists for
spatial audio with Dolby Atmos. The only other streaming service with support
for Dolby Atmos is Tidal, but the HomePod and Era 300 don’t support those
tracks. Tucker Bowe

Even if you haven’t heard of spatial audio, you’ve likely heard of Dolby Atmos.
The two terms are often used interchangeably, but it’s important to know that
the two are not the same. Not exactly, at least.

Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology that creates virtual height, side and
rear channels so that it seems like sound is coming from all around you. It’s a
really popular technology for soundbars and home theater systems to support
because it really makes it sound like you’re in the movie. For music that
supports Dolby Atmos, it creates an immersive sound that makes you feel like
you’re at a live show.

Spatial audio, meanwhile, is a 360-degree audio technology that’s very similar
to Dolby Atmos — in fact, it piggybacks off Dolby Atmos content (because it’s so
popular) and takes it one step further. It uses Dolby Atmos’s virtual channels,
but then also adjusts the sound based on a person’s movement within that 3D
space.



Spatial audio uses the sensors (specifically, the accelerometers and gyroscopes)
in your AirPods Pro, Beats Fit Pro or AirPods Max to adjust sound based on your
head’s movement. Rather than making it sound like you’re at a concert, spatial
audio makes it feel like you’re moving around at a concert. That’s neat.

The catch is that this kind of spatial audio — which Apple calls Spatial Audio
with Dolby Atmos — is dependent on having wireless headphones or earbuds that
support it. Obviously, wireless speakers, like the HomePod, aren’t able to
adjust sound the same way because they’re stationary and don’t move around like
headphones do when they’re on your head. So when you’re talking about spatial
audio and Dolby Atmos in the context of playing music on a wireless speaker,
they’re basically the same thing.


APPLE HOMEPOD VS. SONOS ERA 300: SIMILARITIES

Tucker Bowe

On paper, the HomePod and the Sonos Era 300 have quite a bit in common. They’re
both smart speakers. They both support stereo pairing with another of the same
model speaker (so two HomePods or two Era 300s).

They support multi-room audio, so you can group the HomePod with other HomePods
or the Era 300 with other Sonos speakers. And they both can play lossless audio
(up to 24-bit/48kHz).

Aesthetically, they both also come in black and light / white colors and only
require plugging in a single power cable to work.




APPLE HOMEPOD VS. SONOS ERA 300: HOW THEY DIFFER

The HomePod and its beautiful edge-to-edge display. Tucker Bowe Top view of the
Era 300, which has a rear upward-firing tweeter for creating virtual height
channels. Tucker Bowe

The two speakers are quite a bit different, as well. The HomePod only works with
Siri, and requires you to subscribe to Apple Music. The Era 300 can work with
either Alexa or Sonos Voice Assistant, and you can select between a number of
music services to set as your default. In addition to streaming over Wi-Fi, the
Era 300 supports Bluetooth and line-in (via USB-C) connections, both which the
HomePod lacks.

As far as listening to tracks that support Dolby Atmos, the HomePod only works
with Apple Music. The Sonos Era 300 supports Dolby Atmos tracks on Apple Music
or Amazon Music Unlimited. Tidal HiFi is the other big service that supports
Dolby Atmos audio, but neither the HomePod or Era 300 can properly play its
immersive content.


LISTENING TO DOLBY ATMOS MUSIC SUPER SIMPLE ON THE APPLE HOMEPOD

Listening to Dolby Atmos tracks on the HomePod is really easy. You can use a
Siri voice command or stream tracks straight from your iPhone.Tucker Bowe The
one caveat is that you’ll want to make sure that you have Dolby Atmos turned on
in your HomePod’s settings. Tucker Bowe

The HomePod is a smart speaker that’s very much tied to Apple’s ecosystem — if
you don’t have an iPhone and you don’t subscribe to Apple Music, you shouldn’t
consider getting a HomePod. But if you do have an iPhone and subscribe to Apple
Music, the HomePod works great — especially for listening to spatial audio and
Dolby Atmos.



The reason for this is, there really is no effort involved on your part. If you
ask Siri to play a song and it’s available in Dolby Atmos, Apple Music (and thus
your HomePod) will automatically play that version. The same is true if you
stream a song from Apple Music to the HomePod from your iPhone. As long as
there’s a track that’s rendered for Dolby Atmos, your HomePod will play that
version. That’s great.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIP: (Note: In order for this to work properly, you’ll want to make sure that
you have Dolby Atmos turned on for your HomePod. To do this: open the Home app
on iPhone or iPad > select the Home button > select Home Settings > select your
profile name > select Apple Music > turn Dolby Atmos on.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


THE SONOS ERA 300 DOESN’T MAKE LISTENING TO DOLBY ATMOS MUSIC AS EASY

The only way to listen to Dolby Atmos tracks on the Era 300 (other than in a
home theater system) is to stream them to the speaker directly from the Sonos
app. Note that Sonos has updated its app user interface since these images were
captured. Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol The Era 300 can play Dolby Atmos
tracks from either Amazon Music Unlimited or Apple Music. Note that Sonos has
updated its app user interface since these images were captured. Tucker Bowe

My biggest gripe with the Sonos Era 300 is that it’s a speaker specifically
designed for listening to Dolby Atmos tracks…but it’s actually not that easy to
do this. You can’t request a song with your voice with either Alexa or Sonos
Voice Control, and you can’t stream Dolby Atmos tracks from your smartphone to
the Era 300 via AirPlay or Bluetooth. In fact, the only way you can get Dolby
Atmos tracks to play on the Era 300 is by going through the Sonos app. You need
to open the Sonos app, select a track that supports Dolby Atmos and then play it
on the Era 300.

As a long-time Sonos speaker owner, this is frustrating because it’s not that
intuitive, at least to me. I rarely ever use the Sonos app. I only use it for
setting up, tuning and grouping my Sonos speakers.

To listen to music, I simply stream from my smartphone or use a voice command,
but neither of these methods can get the speaker playing Dolby Atmos tracks.

I used to think many people operated in the same way, although recent
controversies surrounding Sonos’s major app update has shown that plenty of
customers engage with the app differently.




STILL, THE SONOS ERA 300 IS THE BIGGER, BETTER-SOUNDING DOLBY ATMOS SPEAKER

The Era 300 (right) is a more traditional front-firing speaker that, unlike the
HomePod (left), also has a dedicated upward-firing driver for achieving height
channels.Tucker Bowe

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that when comparing one HomePod against one Era
300, the latter is the better-sounding Dolby Atmos speaker. The Era 300 is a
bigger and more directional speaker — it’s front-firing, rather than the
360-degree HomePod — and it crucially has a dedicated upward-firing tweeter for
bouncing audio off the ceiling and really helping create those virtual high
channels. Let’s not forget that the Era 300 is also considerably more expensive.

The HomePod has a less-conventional design. It’s a 360-degree speaker, so it can
be placed in the center of a room and disperse sounds evenly in all directions.
It has the same number of drivers as the Era 300 — six — but lacks a dedicated
upward-firing driver and therefore doesn’t quite achieve the same height and
level of immersiveness as the Era 300.

The HomePod makes up for its lack of a dedicated height speaker with
computational audio. It’s powered by a special processor (Apple’s S7 chip) and
has advanced tuning ability to optimize its sound for the room and space that
it’s in. Since it supports spatial audio and Dolby Atmos tracks, it’s also able
to adjust itself so that it sounds bigger and more immersive than it probably
should.


BOTH SPEAKERS SHINE THE MOST AS PART OF A DOLBY ATMOS HOME THEATER.

If you have an Apple TV, you can use two HomePods as a Dolby Atmos home theater
system.Tucker Bowe

It’s one thing to listen to Dolby Atmos music tracks on the HomePod or Era 300,
but it’s an entirely different thing to integrate them in your home theater.
That’s because there are far fewer complications to think and worry about.



For example, if you have an Apple TV 4K, you can configure two HomePods (or even
just one) as your TV speakers and — boom — you’ve got a pretty good Dolby Atmos
home theater system.

For Sonos, you can configure two Era 300s as rear speakers with an Arc soundbar
and you’ve instantly got a really immersive Dolby Atmos system (pair two of
Sonos’s Subs and you’ve got a 7.1.4 system, which is the best Sonos can
deliver).

When used in the home theater system setup, there are fewer barriers for the
HomePod and Era 300 to work properly. Pretty much everything and anything that
you’re going to watch, stream or play is going to support Dolby Atmos, and
therefore your system — whether it’s with HomePods and Apple TV or a Sonos
soundbar and two Era 300s — is going to sound its best.


THE VERDICT

The HomePod and Era 300 side by side.Tucker Bowe

Apple’s second-generation HomePod and the Sonos Era 300 are two of the
best-sounding smart speakers you can buy. They also both support Dolby Atmos — a
rarity among today’s wireless speakers — but play the immersive audio format in
different ways. The Era 300 is a front-firing speaker with a dedicated
upward-firing tweeter for creating height channels, while HomePod is a smaller
360-degree speaker that uses advanced processing and computational audio.



When it comes to playing music that supports Dolby Atmos, the Sonos Era 300
delivers a warmer, clearer and more immersive sound. It also is significantly
louder. However, the HomePod is the clear winner when it comes to ease of use.
You can play Dolby Atmos tracks on the HomePod through using “Hey Siri” commands
or simply streaming them from Apple Music. With the Era 300, you can only do so
through the Sonos app, which can be tedious.

Ultimately, the HomePod and Sonos Era 300 are very much tied to the devices you
have and music services you subscribe to. The HomePod feels like a great speaker
for anybody under Apple’s umbrella; its ability to play spatial audio with Dolby
Atmos is a cool thing, but probably shouldn’t be the primary reason you buy it.
And honestly that makes it an easier sell.

The Era 300 is a different story. It’s a speaker that you should only buy if
you’re dead set on listening to Dolby Atmos audio and you either subscribe to
Apple Music or Amazon Music Unlimited. I’d say that it’s a more difficult sell
than the HomePod, as well, simply because Sonos makes other speakers that are
either cheaper or sound better (like the Five). In the end, the HomePod takes
the prize for best wireless Dolby Atmos speaker — but not by much.

Apple


APPLE HOMEPOD (2ND GENERATION)

SPECS

Release date February 2023 Drivers 6 (five tweeters, one woofer) Connectivity
Wi-Fi (AirPlay)

PROS

 * It's really easy to listen to Dolby Atmos tracks from Apple Music
 * Works more seamlessly with Apple's other products, especially your iPhone
 * Compelling value-to-cost ratio

CONS

 * Doesn't support Dolby Atmos on Amazon Music Unlimited
 * Only supports Wi-Fi streaming

 * $299.00 at Apple

Sonos


SONOS ERA 300

SPECS

Release date March 2023 Drivers 6 (four tweeters, two woofers) Connectivity
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, line-in (USB-C)

PROS

 * The best rear-channel speaker Sonos makes delivers excellent Dolby Atmos
   sound
 * Supports many ways of playing audio
 * Works with Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited

CONS

 * You need to use the Sonos app to play Dolby Atmos music
 * No Google Assistant support

 * $449.00 at Sonos


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