2024 has been a tough year for Sonos. The company’s supposed triumphant entry into the crowded headphone market was overshadowed by a disastrous app redesign. In the aftermath of the software update failure, the company decided to delay shipments of products that were ready to ship to give it more time to get back on track. Consumer confidence was eroded, and those who already owned Sonos products were living in a constant cycle of dissatisfaction.
Thanks to numerous rumors, we already knew that one of the pending product releases was Arc Ultra ($999). A few weeks ago, the company decided not to wait any longer. While the design remains largely unchanged from the Arc, which debuted in 2020, there are some key changes under the hood that make it a better all-in-one solution for those who don’t want to add more speakers to their living room setup. It has become. Sonos promises better bass performance thanks to new speaker technology debuting with the Arc Ultra, but just how good?
Sonos/Engadget
Sonos’ latest premium soundbar utilizes new technology to improve audio quality, and the upgrades go beyond just boosting bass.
Pros Improved bass performance Crisp, clear and immersive sound Enhanced audio compatibility Compatible with Ace headphones Cons Still only one HDMI port Expansion is still expensive Large footprint $999 on Sonos
design
The original Arc’s sleek design was a significant upgrade from the Playbar’s design and marked a step up from Sonos’ compact Beam soundbar. Honestly, in my opinion, its beauty is pretty timeless and should age well for years to come. That being said, it makes sense that Sonos would keep the Arc Ultra’s design and just make a few minor changes to its appearance.
Arc Ultra comes in both black and white options, so you can choose the one that best suits your living room or home theater. Sonos has updated the controls to reflect what’s available on the new Era 100 and Era 300 speakers, moving them to an upward-facing bar on the back. There’s a volume slider on the right, and play/pause and skip controls in the middle. The Sonos has microphone controls on the left side, allowing you to mute the built-in microphone if you wish.
This is the only visible design change. The Arc Ultra is slightly shorter than the Arc and slightly wider than its predecessor. There’s not much difference between the two, and it doesn’t significantly change the way you place the speakers under your TV.
Sonos’ new SoundMotion woofer is on the right side of the soundbar (Sonos)
Under the hood, Sonos has redesigned the Arc Ultra to improve audio performance. The biggest part of this overhaul is a new SoundMotion woofer that allows for better bass performance before adding a standalone wireless subwoofer. The result here is that, thanks to the acquisition of audio company Mayht, the new components are laid flat and take up less space than traditional cone-shaped woofers. In addition to doubling the bass output of the original Arc, the Sound Motion drivers also help improve clarity and depth.
Sonos redesigned the entire acoustic architecture of the Arc Ultra in the process of adding a Sound Motion woofer. This soundbar has three more drivers than the Arc, and the list includes seven tweeters (two of which are up-firing), six midrange drivers (which Sonos calls midwoofers), and Includes the aforementioned woofers, for a total of 14. It also features 15 Class D digital amplifiers and a far-field microphone for tuning and voice control.
Since there is still only one HDMI (eARC) port, most modern TVs allow you to control the soundbar’s volume and mute options from the TV remote. Additionally, Arc Ultra is Wi-Fi 6 compatible and has newly added Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity to stream from any device. And of course, AirPlay 2 is still in the specs. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the Arc Ultra doesn’t come with an optical adapter if you want to connect. The company sells one for $25.
Software and features
Arc Ultra is a Sonos product, so it has many of the same core features as the company’s other devices. You can use the soundbar as part of a multi-room setup, and Trueplay tuning adjusts the audio to match the acoustics of your room. There’s still an adjustable EQ with options for bass, treble, and volume, and a night sound mode reduces noise when someone in your home is working or sleeping.
Trueplay offers optimal sound customization to match your living room’s acoustics, and Sonos has enabled the Quick Tune feature for the first time on Arc Ultra. Here, the soundbar uses the built-in microphone rather than the phone to provide some improvement. The company says that while the full-fledged tuning process doesn’t take much time, they wanted to offer people a quicker option than Trueplay.
Audio enhancement has been a useful feature of Sonos soundbars for some time, offering the ability to improve dialogue clarity when needed. Previously, this was an all-or-nothing feature, but Arc Ultra introduces three levels of audio boost to give you more options to suit your needs. This means that a soundbar can help you hear clearly over background noise, and can help you understand dialogue better by emphasizing it over the rest of the soundtrack mix. You can.
Sonos has moved controls to the bar on the back (Billy Steele of Engadget)
A trademark of Sonos’ Ace headphones is the ability to send audio from a compatible soundbar to the cans for private home theater. Its TV Audio Swap tool is available on Arc Ultra, so you can instantly send sound to your headphones with the push of a button. In fact, Sonos is bundling the Arc Ultra and Ace headphones into a $1,373 set. Additionally, Ace supports spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, so you can expect immersive sound even when you’re using it privately.
Sonos’ app has a number of issues, some of which we’re still working on, but we didn’t encounter any issues during our testing. The software crashed once when the Trueplay adjustment process was completed, but everything was already working fine, so there was no need to repeat it. Other than that, the app has been working reliably for the past week while I’ve been testing out Arc Ultra. Most importantly, the software is stable and the new soundbar’s full suite of controls will be available at launch.
sound performance
The original Arc already sounded great, so Sonos went all out to make the Arc Ultra’s audio quality even better. Improved bass with Sound Motion technology takes up less space, and the company says the midrange and treble components have also been overhauled. By using multiple sizes of midrange drivers and tweeters, Sonos has fine-tuned the position of the speakers within the soundbar to improve projection and deliver more immersive sound.
In addition to enhanced bass performance, the second thing that’s immediately apparent with Arc Ultra is its improved three-dimensional sound. Whether it’s a Quidditch match in the Harry Potter movies or zooming into an F1 car in Drive to Survive, the soundbar delivers more directional and immersive sound than its predecessor. Sonos says the Arc Ultra can now render Dolby Atmos content at a 9.1.4 channel setting, compared to the 5.0.2 channel setting on the Arc, further contributing to immersive audio. . Interestingly, I haven’t seen any of its competitors claim four upfiring channels from the soundbar like Sonos does here (those that do usually account for upfiring drivers in the rear speakers). Masu). You can really hear the difference from the moment you fire up Arc Ultra, and the effect is consistent across content sources.
There’s still only one HDMI port, but now includes Bluetooth connectivity (Billy Steele from Engadget)
Improved bass performance makes Arc Ultra the perfect speaker for music without the need for a separate subwoofer. While you won’t get the bombastic low-end tones that the newly updated Sonos Sub 4 produces, the soundbar will still deliver music to Kaytranada’s Timeless, Phantogram’s Memory of a Day, and Birmuri’s American Motorsports. , is enough to give the track plenty of lively backbone when it needs it. . It also still has the trademark Sonos clarity I’ve come to expect over the years, and by that I mean fine details like synth textures, layered guitars, and the nuances of acoustic instruments that cut through the mix cleanly.
When it comes to clarity, the company’s new audio enhancement settings are also a big improvement. It’s great that you can choose how much boost this feature provides depending on your needs at the time or based on the overall adjustment of your content. This allows you to get the most out of dialogue when watching movies after your toddler has gone to bed, and ensures that the louder sound effects in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey won’t ruin the conversation. Ta.
competition
There’s no question that the Arc Ultra packs deeper, more immersive sound than its predecessor, but some may want a more robust setup to squeeze every ounce of audio out of their Sonos living room setup. The high-end option for this is what Sonos calls the “Ultimate Immersive Set,” which includes an Arc Ultra, two Era 300s, and a Sub 4. The current price is $2,561. On the cheaper end, you can get the Arc Ultra and the new Sub 4 (regularly $799) for $1,708 (premium entertainment set). And therein lies the Sonos soundbar’s biggest problem. Expanding your living room setup for the most immersive experience can quickly become very expensive, as the featured item is already $999.
If you can live without all the nice features of Sonos products, you can get an all-in-one package from Samsung for $1,500. The Q990D has a soundbar, two rear speakers, and a wireless subwoofer in the same box. This setup offers 11.1.4 audio with great Atmos sound thanks to enhanced drivers in the rear speakers. Samsung offers a number of useful features, including Q-Symphony audio with TV speakers, SpaceFit Sound Pro room calibration, Adaptive Sound audio enhancements, and a dedicated gaming mode. The Q990D remains my top choice for the best soundbar for a variety of reasons. The key reason is that everything you need is in one all-inclusive package.
summary
The Arc Ultra is a clear improvement over the Arc in terms of acoustics. New technology delivers on the promise of improved bass, clarity, and immersion before adding any additional components. Enhancements such as audio enhancements and quick adjustment options give you new tools to adjust your sound while retaining the original Sonos experience. And thankfully, that includes apps that are more stable than they were a few months ago. The Arc Ultra is still expensive at $999, but it’s only $100 more expensive and offers better acoustic performance than its predecessor.
