The main reason why using AirPlay to turn your Sonos speakers into Mac speakers isn't a great option is the connection will constantly get disrupted. Next, you can use the Sonos One, Sonos SL, or Sonos Move paired directly with your soundbar (though indirectly with your TV). These will enhance the audio quality in your surround sound speaker system as you connect them all through the Sonos App.

Sonos officially discontinue PLAY:3 - the details Sonos officially discontinue PLAY:3 - the details

Sound is still definitely positional – the Play:3 can produce serious volume, but it’s not hard to pinpoint where the sound’s coming from compared with the larger Play:5. This ensures it can’t replace a full hi-fi on its own, but Sonos has a solution for that too. Be mindful, though, that not all speakers are Bluetooth compatible as the Sonos speaker system was meant to provide a Wi-Fi enabled method of connecting your home’s surround sound speaker system. And talking of positioning, the fact that the Play:3 can be oriented vertically or horizontally means it will fit in almost any space.

This might seem like a roundabout way to connect your speakers, but it really is pretty simple once you have both the transmitter and your speakers enabled. Gone are the days of having to maneuver your speakers between the perfect outlet and the perfect placement for sound quality. Multiple Sonos speakers are connected to one another via Wi-Fi, so they do not require a cabled connection between the speaker system. APTX BT transmitter as an audio receiver that plugs into the TV without needing a wired connection to your speakers. Instead of having to plug your speakers in, you will connect them via Bluetooth to this transmitter.

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There's no Google Assistant, however. Sonos says this is due to a change in the technical requirements for Google Assistant on third-party devices. The company told us in a statement: "We’re evaluating these requirements, but it’s a heavy engineering lift and we’ll continue to prioritize work that builds on our vision of voice assistants all working concurrently. We remain hopeful that Google Assistant will be part of this ecosystem one day, but that’s really up to Google." As well as being used for music, the Era 300 can be used as a rear surround with the Sonos Arcor Beam Gen 2soundbars to work as part of a Dolby Atmos home cinema system.

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There are some neat touches. The control panel on the top has an enhanced volume slider (which is recessed like a trough), and it works seamlessly with other Sonos speakers. Both Era 300 and Five have touch controls that are responsive, too. Plus, since you can connect the majority of your speakers in your surround sound speaker system to the main speaker via Wi-Fi and then just connect that one to the transmitter, you will not need to go through too many hoops.