Now that Sonos' app woes seem to be on the mend, the firm can focus on what it does best — building great sound gear. The Sonos Arc Ultra, the follow-up to the excellent Sonos Arc soundbar, has been rumored to be on the way for some time. Now, thanks to some eagle-eyed Reddit users, we have a better idea of what the upgraded sound bar is going to look like.
The images, while relatively low-res, show us what we can expect in terms of looks and features. The bar is seen in several different setups, including surround, solus, and working with a pair of Sonos Ace headphones.
A subwoofer, some headphones, and Spatial Audio
There are eleven images of the Sonos Arc Ultra in the leak. Some of the images show the soundbar in use in different rooms, while the others are product shots of the white colorway. From those product shots we can glean a couple of different details. First is that the soundbar looks an awful lot like its predecessor, sharing the same rounded shape and rectangular opening in the back.
Sonos Arc Ultra leak (again) from r/sonos
It does look like it will be easier to plug stuff in, though. The sockets on the current model of the Sonos Arc are at an angle in the rear plug cavity, but these ones are facing outwards making it easier to get HDMI and power leads situated. There are still some hidden sockets though, if you look at the side image of the soundbar. The opening is larger than that found on the Arc as well, again making for easier plug access.
There are slight design changes as well. The rectangular section at the back of the bar now takes up less space, allowing for more of the soundbar to just out of the sides. There are still what look to be screw holes on the back for wall mounting. It looks sleeker and cleaner all around. Not that the older model was in any way cumbersome, but this looks like a decent aesthetic upgrade.
The lifestyle images confirm that the bar can be mounted on a wall. Some of the images also feature the Sonos wireless subwoofer, as well as a pair of Sonos Era 300 speakers. That means that some of the same Surround setups that worked with the first generation Arc will work with the Ultra, although there's nothing with the Era 100 speakers or older models.
There's also an image of someone using their Sonos Arc Ultra with a pair of Sonos Arc headphones, so the personal cinema mode will likely work with the new soundbar. Finally, there's an image of someone using touch controls on a Sonos Arc Ultra, so there might be similar controls to the recently released Era speakers on the new soundbar.
What do we know?
So that's what we can get out of the images from the Reddit post — but do we know anything else about the speaker? News is still relatively thin on the ground, but we do have some information. Price wise, it looks like we'll be looking at $999 thanks to a different leak. That's only $100 more than the Sonos Arc, which is a pleasant surprise. We also have evidence that Bluetooth is coming to the new model, something the original Arc did not feature.
We could also be looking at improved sound thanks to the rumored "Immersive Sound Motion Technology". That will apparently shrink down the speaker units inside the soundbar so that Sonos can install more than the eleven drivers the old model featured. That should make it sound incredible, putting it in contention of being the best soundbar.
We're yet to get any kind of release date, however, so we're not entirely sure about when we'll get to put one in front of our TVs. These are all rumors at the moment as well, and given these images have come from Reddit, it's worth taking them with a pinch of salt.
I just can't get over the height of those wall-mounted TVs — come on guys, its bad for your necks.
