Sonos Era 100 Speaker

The Sonos Era 100 is a small speaker that fits on a bookshelf and fills a room with sound that has no business coming from something that size. Smooth, rounded rectangle in black or white, it blends into a shelf the way a good speaker should. Sonos figured out multi-room audio before most of its competitors and the Era 100 connects to other Sonos speakers through WiFi rather than Bluetooth. Meaning the audio stays in sync across rooms without the lag that plagues Bluetooth setups. Touch controls on top are capacitive and respond to swipes for volume, and there's a physical mute button with a light indicator for the microphone. I like that the speaker doesn't have a screen or a display because the phone app handles all the configuration. Build quality feels solid at 2.1 kg, and the $250 price positions it above commodity Bluetooth speakers but below serious hi-fi equipment.