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The Sonos Era 100 is 18% off during Prime Day, bringing the price down from $219 to $179.

Smart speakers are great to have around the house. Whether you place one in your home office, on your bathroom vanity, kitchen counter, or nightstand, they make an excellent addition, especially if you like to have music, podcasts, or audiobooks in the background while you're relaxing at home. 

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The Sonos Era 100 is one of my favorite smart speakers for its privacy-focused design, integrated microphone, great sound, palpable bass response, Apple AirPlay support, and sleek, minimal design. I keep my Era 100 on my kitchen counter, and it's a great companion for listening to music or for amplifying the audio of a YouTube video on my phone via AirPlay while I cook dinner.

The Era 100 speaker has an integrated microphone for voice assistants, and you can set up Amazon Alexa or the Sonos Voice Control. I prefer Sonos Voice Control because it adheres to Sonos's stringent privacy policy. All of the commands are processed on-device, and Sonos vows that your requests and voice aren't transcribed, recorded, or sent to a cloud server. Additionally, you can toggle a physical switch on the back of the Era 100 to be extra sure.

You forgo Sonos's privacy policy if you choose to use Amazon Alexa instead of Sonos Voice Control. However, though Sonos Voice Control has more concern for your privacy, it's quite limited in capability for the same reason. You can summon Sonos Voice Control for basic controls, such as track skip, play, pause, speaker grouping, or queueing a specific song or Sonos playlist.

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Sonos Voice Control can also set timers, which is one of my favorite requests to use when I'm cooking dinner and listening to music on the Era 100. The Era 100 is Sonos's smallest powered Wi-Fi speaker, so its sound is limited to its small frame. Still, with three Class-D amplifiers, two tweeters, and one midwoofer, the Era 100 delivers clear vocals and punchy bass.

Due to its size, the Era 100 doesn't support spatial audio. You'll need two Era 100 speakers paired with a compatible Sonos soundbar to experience Dolby Atmos spatial audio. However, Sonos fitted the Era 100 with TruePlay, its digital tuning software. Though Sonos's speakers only get better when you acquire several, the Era 100 is a great, compact smart speaker that stands on its own and is a great entry point into the Sonos universe.

How I rated this deal 

I rated this deal a 3.5/5 because it's just shy of 20% off, and we prefer at least a 20% discount. Still, the Era 100 is well priced at $179, considering it's a three-year-old product. I use this speaker daily and recommend it as a low-stakes entry point for Sonos-curious consumers.