Haineux
1 de julio de 2026
Better than HomePods. Near-perfect. Setup easy enough for even the most tech-challenged.
So I bought two Sonos Era 100 SL speakers. These are about 6 inch tall by 4 inch diameter cylinders, and look OK, like typical tech. SL means “No Microphones” — I got these because I run HomeKit and not Google or Amazon home stuff. If you have Google or Amazon, you want the "Sonos Era 100" speakers instead.The packaging is A+ (Apple’s is A++). You need to run the Sonos app on your iPhone to do anything. I set them up in 15 minutes. The Sonos app is perfect at setting them up, and the only part where it didn’t hold my hand was that you have to set each speaker up one at a time, and then mash the obvious “Make Stereo Pair” button. (It didn’t detect two speakers and set them both up and make them a stereo pair automagically, which would have been “chef’s kiss” perfection, but it was easy-peasy. Almost no thought required.)It took a search of Sonos’s help site to figure out how to add them to HomeKit, because Apple Home is almost helpful but not quite. (You hit “Add Accessory” and then you hit “More Options” instead of scanning something, and then, scrolled off the bottom of the pop-up windowlet (YAY) is a speaker that looks greyed out, but is not. Click it, and it’s part of HomeKit. This is an Apple problem, not a Sonos problem.) Note that the speakers are not HomeKit Hubs, which means that you need something else (a phone, iPad, AppleTV, or HomePod) to be the hub. Without the hub, everything stops.Once it’s connected, it works perfectly, but for one thing: You have to say “Hey Siri, play <whatever> IN THE BEDROOM” (Siri/HomeKit defaults to the HomeKit hub speaker, which is currently in the bathroom.)But saying “Play Everywhere” works good, all of my speakers (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room (a Denon amp, also HomeKit compatible), bedroom (Sonos)) all play in unison and work good.Sound is better than HomePod mini, and not as bass-boomy as HomePod Original Recipe. Really nice sound.I can now sit at my computer in the bedroom, shout instructions to Siri in the bathroom, and stuff works, except that I might not be able to hear Siri’s response, and of course, Siri mis-recognizes stuff pretty often. So I can whip out my iPhone and talk to that. For shame, Apple, Watch cannot do "Play <stuff> in the Bedroom" and doesn't pass it off to a hub that can.I am delighted at the overall experience, and it’s worth the extra money to get better sound from speakers that presumably aren’t going to self destruct as soon as the warranty is over. (I'm looking right at you, HomePod minis.)Ver másVer menos
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