Sonos has been in the news a lot recently. First, it was there last month because it’s still attempting to fix an almost universally hated app update that resulted in the layoff of over 200 employees, and then it came again earlier this week as rumors began to circulate about the brand’s purported streaming device that will compete with the Apple TV 4K.
We’ve reported on both those events extensively — and now it’s time to get back to talking about the hardware. Specifically, I want to talk about the Sonos Arc Ultra.
There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s one of the best soundbars thanks to its support of Dolby Atmos right out of the box and its TruePlay wave-forming feature that sets up a custom sound profile to match your room.
What it doesn’t do, at least for me personally, is scratch that itch for rich, satisfying bass. That is, until I dug my Sonos Sub Mini out of the closet to turn up the low-end.
The Sonos Arc Ultra forgot to bring the bass
There are two camps out of audio lovers out there — the kind who loves to hear content exactly as it was mastered, down to the smallest detail, and folks who just want to feel their music shake their chests and rattle their bones.
When it comes to speakers and soundbars, I need to feel like I’m in a proper cinema. And that means proper sub-bass response that you can feel.
As a longtime audio editor with a decade of experience covering this category, I try to straddle the line between both sides. In my headphones, I specifically look for that pristine sound quality where I can hear a guitarist’s hand move along the fretboard. But when it comes to speakers and soundbars, I need to feel like I’m in a proper cinema. And that means proper sub-bass response that you can feel.
Out of the box, the Arc Ultra just couldn’t provide that for me.
Sonos would likely take umbrage with that. It touted the Arc Ultra’s bass response when it launched last year with claims that listeners could expect “double the bass at 50Hz” thanks to the included SoundMotion driver — a key upgrade from its predecessor. However, unless you go into the Sonos app to overdrive the bass response yourself, you don’t really feel it.
Very shortly after I unboxed it I decided that, by itself, the Sonos Arc Ultra wasn’t going to deliver the bass response I had come to expect from a home cinema experience. It needed an external subwoofer to get the sub-bass going and, luckily, I had a Sonos Sub Mini around that was attached to a pair of Sonos One speakers.
Changing speaker configurations quickly and easily is one of the best parts of owning a Sonos system — though, I did have to go through a series of updates for both the soundbar and subwoofer before I could pair them. Once updated, I had the two talking to one another in a matter of minutes and the difference in bass response was night and day.
Sonos: The complete package — at a cost
But if I didn’t have the Sonos Sub Mini on hand from a previous review, I’d be less than excited to pay the extra $340 on top of the $749 for the Sonos Arc Ultra. This is a great soundbar — as I said earlier, it's probably the best one at this price point — but spending over a grand for a soundbar and a subwoofer doesn’t feel like the best deal, especially when a solid pair of floorstanding speakers and accompanying subwoofer can be found for under $800.
To play devil's advocate: What Sonos is selling — and was known for up until the app fiasco ruined its reputation — is a simple setup with room to grow. As someone who writes about audio for a living, I’m not afraid to go out and pick up a new AV receiver that can power my new floorstanding speakers, but someone less tech-inclined may not be so willing. Unfortunately, this convenience usually comes at a cost — and Sonos is charging over $1,000 to get the full experience.
Now I'll be the first to admit that Sonos isn’t the only one offering an all-in-one solution for a significant upcharge. I also love Samsung’s latest flagship soundbars — the HW-Q990 series — but last year’s Samsung HW-Q990D cost an absolutely ludicrous $1,999 when it launched. (Though it’s on sale now for $1,499.)
On one hand, I’m saddened that companies over-charge for what I would consider the “full experience” of a proper sound system. On the other hand, I like that there’s the option for folks who can’t be bothered to match a speaker’s wattage to a receiver’s output.
On one hand, I’m saddened that companies over-charge for what I would consider the “full experience” of a proper sound system. On the other hand, I like that there’s the option for folks who can’t be bothered to match a speaker’s wattage to a receiver’s output.
For now, the Sonos Arc Ultra and Sub Mini will lay claim to my home office theater (yes, I have a small home theater in my office) but a day will come when a cheaper, more powerful set of bookshelf speakers offering a full-range frequency response will dethrone Sonos. When that day comes, you all will be the first to know.
