Apple HomePod (1st generation) vs Sonos Era 100
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleHomePod (1st generation) | SonosEra 100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | February 2018 | March 2023 |
| Sound | ||
| Type | Speaker | Speaker |
| Channels | – | Stereo |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | No |
| Drivers | High-excursion woofer; seven horn-loaded tweeters | Two angled tweeters and one mid-woofer |
| Amplifiers | Custom amplifier for the woofer and a separate custom amplifier for each tweeter | Three class-D digital amplifiers |
| Audio formats | Dolby Atmos home cinema with Apple TV 4K was added in software 14.2; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and Apple Music lossless playback were added in 15.1 | – |
| Room tuning | Direct and ambient audio beamforming; computational audio for real-time tuning; internal low-frequency calibration microphone for automatic bass correction; Apple A8 processor | Trueplay (iOS and Android); bass, treble and loudness adjustable in the Sonos app |
| Connections | ||
| Wi-Fi | Yes | Yes |
| Bluetooth | No | Yes |
| AirPlay | Yes | Yes |
| Voice assistants | Siri | Alexa and Sonos Voice Control |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11ac with MIMO | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax), 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 radio; no Bluetooth audio streaming (TechRadar) | Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Ports | Mains power cable; no analogue audio input (TechRadar) | USB-C for line-in (with the Sonos Line-In Adapter) or Ethernet (with the Sonos Combo Adapter); adapters sold separately |
| Streaming | Apple Music, iTunes purchases, iCloud Music Library with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription, supported third-party services, radio and podcasts; AirPlay from iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV or Mac | Apple AirPlay 2; direct control from apps such as Spotify and TIDAL; Sonos Radio |
| Multi-room | AirPlay 2 multi-room audio and stereo pairing with another original HomePod were added in iOS 11.4 after launch | Groups with other Sonos products over Wi-Fi; two make a stereo pair; a pair can be rear surrounds for Ray, Beam, Arc Ultra or Amp |
| App | Home app; initial setup requires a compatible Apple mobile device and Wi-Fi internet access | Sonos app (iOS and Android) |
| Design | ||
| Weight | 2.5 kg | 2.02 kg (better) |
| Controls | Tap to play or pause, double-tap to skip, triple-tap to skip back; touch and hold for Siri; tap or hold + or – for volume | Capacitive touch controls (play, pause, skip, replay, volume, voice mute, grouping); Bluetooth button; microphone switch |
| Microphones | Six-microphone array for far-field Siri; separate internal low-frequency calibration microphone | Far-field microphone array with beamforming and multichannel echo cancellation; switch cuts power to the microphones |
| Mounting | – | Wall mount and stand sold separately |
| Size | 172 mm high, 142 mm wide | 182.5 × 120 × 130.5 mm (H × W × D) |
| Colours | Space Grey, White | Black, White |
| In the box | HomePod, documentation | Era 100, power cable (2 m), documentation |
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