Sonos’ Era 100 is my go-to smart speaker—it’s $49 cheaper on October Prime Day

The Sonos Era 100 achieves what most smart speakers aspire to be: sound great, designed well, and easy to repair. It’s also back down to its cheapest price ever thanks to a deal during Amazon’s October Prime Day (aka Prime Big Deal Days). Remember, if you don’t have an active Amazon Prime subscription, you can sign up for a free, 30-day trial here.

Sonos Era 100 $199 (Was $249)

See It

The Era 100 is Sonos’ latest entry-level speaker, and it was redesigned from the inside out to be a big departure from its predecessor. This speaker can play music in stereo thanks to its multi-driver audio system, though you can connect two for an even wider soundstage. I’ve listened to this speaker regularly for over a year and I’m continually impressed with how good it sounds. Bass frequencies sound deep without distorting, there’s plenty of midrange for vocals, and high frequencies never sound crispy from the speaker’s tweeters. Your mileage may vary depending on how the music you like is mixed and mastered, but the variety of classic and contemporary rock, pop, and jazz I listen to sounds great.

One of the big strides Sonos made with the Era 100 was introducing more means of connectivity. You can still stream music to the speaker over Wi-Fi, but you also have the option to connect to it via Bluetooth if your internet goes down. Sonos also offers a Line In adapter if you’d like to connect the speaker to a turntable or other wired audio source. My sole form of connectivity to the speaker outside of my testing period has been over Wi-Fi from Apple devices using AirPlay 2. Sonos has had trouble with speaker connectivity since the launch of its updated app in May, but I haven’t had any issues. If you rely on Sonos app-specific features, you should be more cautious. The Era 100 supports both Amazon’s Alexa and Sonos’ own smart assistant in case you’d like to operate it hands-free, but I’ve typically used it without either one. Ultimately, the Era 100 is the smart speaker I’ve listened to the most over the past year, and if you want to upgrade from an older model or give Sonos gear a shot, don’t miss this deal.

Even more Sonos Prime Day deals that sound good

• Sonos Ray $169 (Was $279)
• Sonos Sub Mini $343 (Was $429)
• Sonos Beam Gen 2 $399 (Was $499)
• Sonos Sub $639 (Was $799)
• Sonos Arc $719 (Was $899)

Prices are correct at time of posting but subject to change, so act fast.

The best Prime Day deals on everything else

• Get an AnyCubic 3D Printer for up to 43 percent off
• Bluetti solar generators hit their lowest prices of the year for Prime Day
• Snag a rare deal on these Bose noise-canceling earbuds for Prime Day
• Prime Day deal: Save nearly half-off Govee smart lights
• The best Prime Day deals on Jackery solar generators and portable power stations
• We love the Bird Buddy smart bird feeder camera and it’s at its lowest price ever for Prime Day