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  1. Table of Contents
  2. Top
  3. Main Differences
  4. Design
    1. Pictures
    2. Style
    3. Portability
    4. Build Quality
    5. Controls
    6. In The Box
  5. Sound
    1. Frequency Response Accuracy
    2. Raw Frequency Response
    3. Soundstage
    4. Dynamics
  6. Active Features
    1. Battery
    2. Voice Assistant
    3. App
  7. Connectivity
    1. Wired
    2. Bluetooth
    3. Wi-Fi
  8. Comments

Bose Home Speaker 500 vs Sonos Era 300

Side-by-Side Comparison

Products

Bose Home Speaker 500
Sonos Era 300

Tested using Methodology v0.8

Updated Nov 28, 2024 07:50 PM

SEE PRICE
Amazon.com

Tested using Methodology v0.8

Updated Jan 10, 2025 01:28 PM

SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Bose Home Speaker 500 Picture
Sonos Era 300 Picture
  1. Recommended in 5 articles:
  2. Home
  3. Alexa
  4. Brands
  5. Smart
  6. Sonos

Variants

  • Home Speaker 500 (Luxe Silver)
  • Home Speaker 500 (Triple Black)
  • Era 300 (Black)
  • Era 300 (White)

Our Verdict

Bose Home Speaker 500

Sonos Era 300

The Sonos Era 300 and the Bose Home Speaker 500 are both premium home speakers with similar feature sets. They're both reasonably well-built, can get quite loud, and feature both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. However, the Sonos has a more balanced default sound profile and features Trueplay Advanced Tuning room correction to get the most out of your acoustic space. While the two have a comparable soundstage performance, the Sonos supports Dolby Atmos Music for an extra immersive sound via certain subscription services. That said, the Bose has less compression present at max volume and has better voice assistant integration, with built-in support for both Google Assistant and Alexa.

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Check Price

Luxe Silver
Home Speaker 500
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Triple Black
Home Speaker 500
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com

Main Differences for

Threshold 

0.10

Music 

7.3
7.7

Frequency Response Accuracy 
 

6.9
7.8

Dynamics 
 

7.2
6.3

Full Comparison

Design

Style  

Style Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Style Photo
Sonos Era 300 Style Photo

RGB Lights  

No
No

Show text

Portability 
 

4.3
3.9

Dimensions Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Dimensions Photo
Sonos Era 300 Dimensions Photo

Volume 
 

226 in³ (3,702 cm³)
494 in³ (8,088 cm³)

Weight 
 

4.9 lbs (2.2 kg)
9.9 lbs (4.5 kg)

Power Source 
 

AC Only
AC Only

One-Hand Carry 
 

No
No

Show text

Build Quality 
 

6.7
6.4

Build Quality Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Build Quality Photo
Sonos Era 300 Build Quality Photo

Material Quality 
 

Great
Good

Water Resistance 
 

No
No

Dust Resistance 
 

Unspecified
Unspecified

Impact Resistance 
 

Unspecified
No

Floats In Water 
 

No
No

Show text

Controls 
 

8.0
7.0

Controls Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Controls Photo
Sonos Era 300 Controls Photo

Controls Photo 2  

Bose Home Speaker 500 Controls Photo 2
Sonos Era 300 Controls Photo 2

Ease Of Use 
 

Great
Great

Feedback 
 

Great
Great

Music Play/Pause 
 

Yes (Tactile)
Yes (Tactile)

Call Answer/End 
 

No
No

Volume Up/Down 
 

Yes (Tactile)
Yes (Tactile)

Track Next/Previous 
 

Yes
Yes (Tactile)

Microphone On/Off 
 

Yes (Tactile)
No

Additional Controls 
 

Yes
Yes

Show text

In The Box 
 

In The Box Photo  

Bose Home Speaker 500 In The Box Photo
Sonos Era 300 In The Box Photo

Show text

Sound

Frequency Response Accuracy 
 

6.9
7.8

Frequency Response Graph  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

Slope 
 

-0.62
0.22

Std. Err. 
 

3.50 dB
1.93 dB

Low-Frequency Extension 
 

55.0 Hz
40.6 Hz

High-Frequency Extension 
 

17.0 kHz
15.8 kHz

Show text

Raw Frequency Response 
 

Raw Frequency Response Graph  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

Binaural Recording @ 1m 
 

Binaural Recording @ 2m 
 

Soundstage 
 

8.7
8.6

Directivity Graph  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

Directivity Index 
 

2.41 dB
2.68 dB

Stereo 
 

Yes
Yes

Show text

Dynamics 
 

7.2
6.3

Dynamic Range Compression  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

SPL @ Max Volume 
 

90.5 dB SPL
90.9 dB SPL

DRC @ Max Volume 
 

2.19 dB
4.01 dB

Show text

Active Features

Battery 
 

0.0
0.0

Battery Life 
 

N/A
N/A

Charge Time 
 

N/A
N/A

Power Saving 
 

No
No

Charging Port 
 

No Battery
No Battery

Battery Powered 
 

No
No

Show text

Voice Assistant 
 

10
9.4

Alexa 
 

Built-in (Wi-Fi Only)
Built-in (Wi-Fi Only)

Google Assistant 
 

Built-in (Wi-Fi Only)
No

Speakerphone 
 

No
No

Siri 
 

No
No

Voice Assistant 
 

Yes
Yes

Voice Activation 
 

Yes
Yes

Microphone Mute 
 

Yes
Yes

Far-Field Performance 
 

Excellent
Excellent

Ambient Noise Performance 
 

Excellent
Great

Show text

App 
 

7.7
9.3

App Picture  

Bose Home Speaker 500 App Picture
Sonos Era 300 App Picture

App Name 
 

Bose Music
Sonos S2

iOS 
 

Yes
Yes

Android 
 

Yes
Yes

EQ 
 

Bass/Treble
Bass/Treble

Stereo Pair Mode 
 

No
Yes

Party Mode 
 

Yes
Yes

Multi-Room 
 

Yes
Yes

Show text

Connectivity

Wired 
 

Aux Input 
 

Yes
No

USB Audio 
 

No
No

Other Ports 
 

Yes
No

Show text

Bluetooth 
 

8.2
7.1

Bluetooth 
 

Yes
Yes

Bluetooth Version 
 

4.2
5.0

Bluetooth iOS Latency 
 

57 ms
160 ms

Bluetooth Android Latency 
 

88 ms
206 ms

Bluetooth Range 
 

195.2 ft (59.5 m)
334.6 ft (102.0 m)

Multi-Device Pairing 
 

No
No

Show text

Wi-Fi 
 

8.1
7.7

Wi-Fi Version 
 

Unspecified
Wi-Fi 6

Wi-Fi Frequency Band 
 

2.4GHz & 5GHz
2.4GHz & 5GHz

Wi-Fi 
 

Yes
Yes

Apple AirPlay 
 

Yes
Yes

AirPlay Latency 
 

45 ms
130 ms

Google Chromecast 
 

Yes
No

Chromecast Latency 
 

N/A
N/A

Show text

Check Price

Luxe Silver
Home Speaker 500
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Triple Black
Home Speaker 500
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com

Bose Home Speaker 500

Sonos Era 300

Comments

  1. Comparison

Bose Home Speaker 500 vs Sonos Era 300: Main Discussion

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