Google Home vs. Sonos Era 100: I’ve used both smart speakers, here’s what I recommend

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Google has just released a new smart speaker, which is a step up from the smaller and more affordable Google Nest speaker and the first from the company in six years. The Google Home Speaker is available for $100 and functions as a Google Home hub, with Gemini Home built-in. By contrast, the Sonos Era 100 costs $220, is one of the smartest speakers available, and includes Amazon Alexa built-in.

Also: After 48 hours with the Google Home Speaker, I can’t stop talking to Gemini

The decision to choose one smart speaker over another depends on the key features that each one offers. Comparing the Google Home Speaker and the Sonos Era 100 goes far beyond their price — you have to consider sound quality, responsiveness, and compatibility. As someone who has thoroughly tested both speakers, I will reveal how their features compare and how you can choose between them.

Details

What it means is sound quality

Winner: Sonos Era 100

The Sonos Era 100 works more like a bookshelf speaker than a typical smart speaker, and its excellent sound quality has earned it the title of best smart speaker on the market right now. The Era 100’s acoustic architecture is behind the speaker’s excellent sound quality, especially for a speaker of this size.

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Sonos has given the Era 100 dual-angled tweeters, a large midwoofer, and three class-D amplifiers. This combination gives the speaker a wider stereo image, the ability to deliver strong bass without distortion, and better clarity at high volumes.

It’s worth noting that the Google Home Speaker is still a great speaker for its size and price, but it has a full 58mm driver. For reference, the old Nest Audio, also priced at $100, had a 75mm midwoofer and a 19mm tweeter. The new Google Home speaker shows improvements in other areas, including Thread 1.3, 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of storage.

In smart home skills

Winner: Google Home speaker

The Google Home Speaker and the Sonos Era 100 are both smart speakers, which means you can use their smart features with your smart home to some extent. The Sonos Era 100 features Alexa built-in so you can talk to Alexa hands-free, just like an Echo speaker.

Unlike most Echo speakers, however, the Sonos Era 100 doesn’t support Alexa+, but we’ll dive into that in the next section.

The Era 100 is a third-party smart speaker made by an audio company, not a smart home company. As a result, the integration of Alexa and smart home is very limited and up to date. The Sonos Era 100 isn’t a smart home hub, so if you’d like to use Alexa to control your smart home with it, you’ll still need a compatible hub to connect your devices.

Also: I switched to a Bose-Sonos hybrid setup for my home audio – and it worked perfectly.

Google Home speaker is something smart home hub that acts as a Thread border router and Matter controller, making the Sonos Era 100 the clear winner in the smart home category. With Google Home Speaker, you can have live conversations with Gemini and native Google apps like Home, Calendar, Gmail, Maps, and more.

As an AI assistant

Winner: Google Home speaker

As I mentioned, the Google Home Speaker uses Gemini as a built-in AI assistant. Gemini uses generative AI to let you have more natural conversations with it, so it understands information without you having to say it carefully, and it can process multiple requests at once.

The Sonos Era 100 features Sonos and Alexa voice assistants for control. The first one can only perform the same functions as the Sonos app, which is that it allows you to control the music playing on the speaker. While Alexa is intended to work on the Era 100 as it does on the Echo device, the speaker does not support Alexa+, Amazon’s AI-powered assistant.

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Without Alexa+, the Era 100 is limited to the classic Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant that was used for years before replacing it with the lively, natural-speaking Alexa+.

As a result, the Google Home Speaker offers a better AI assistant compared to the Sonos Era 100. The Gemini on Google Home Speaker can handle complex commands with multiple device actions very quickly, but it can also answer anything that a regular AI chatbot can do, so you can ask it about the history behind a feature or how to bake a certain recipe.

Author’s choice

Choosing between the Google Home Speaker and the Sonos Era 100 depends on whether you want the best AI assistant and smart home control or a better speaker. If you’re primarily looking for AI-powered voice control, extended smart home networking and automation capabilities, and seamless integration with Google services, you should buy the Google Home Speaker.

If you’re looking for the best sound quality for the price and the ability to control Alexa-enabled devices, then the Sonos Era 100 is the best bet. With the Era 100, sound quality is king — perfect for everyday listening and rich, room-filling sound.

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Personally, I use an Era 100 paired with a Google TV Streamer for audio output, giving me the best of both worlds. The Era 100 delivers the best sound quality and allows me to control Alexa devices throughout my home. Since I have other Echo speakers with Alexa+ around, I don’t mind using the old Alexa on it. Google TV Streamer brings 4K streaming, Matter support, and works as a Thread border router.