New tech powers a big audio upgrade

2024 has been a tough 12 months for Sonos. The firm’s would-be triumphant entry into the crowded headphones market was overshadowed by a disastrous app redesign. In the fallout of the botched software program replace, the corporate determined to delay products that had been able to be shipped to provide itself extra time to proper the course. Consumer belief eroded, and individuals who already owned Sonos gear had been dwelling in a cycle of fixed frustration.

Thanks to a variety of rumors, we already knew that one of many pending product releases was the Arc Ultra ($999). A couple of weeks in the past the corporate determined to not wait any longer to disclose it. While the design is generally unchanged from the Arc that debuted in 2020, there are a number of key modifications on the within that make this a higher all-in-one resolution for individuals who don’t wish to add extra audio system to their front room setup. Sonos is promising higher bass efficiency due to new speaker tech that’s debuting within the Arc Ultra, however simply how good can or not it’s?

Design

The refined design of the unique Arc was a large upgrade from that of the Playbar, and confirmed a development from Sonos’ compact Beam soundbar. Honestly, the aesthetic is fairly timeless, for my part, and it’s a look that ought to age effectively for years to return. That stated, it is sensible that Sonos would maintain the design for the Arc Ultra, solely making some minor modifications to the outside.

The Arc Ultra nonetheless is available in each black and white choices, permitting you to decide on what appears to be like greatest in your front room or residence theater. Sonos up to date the controls to reflect what’s accessible on the newer Era 100 and Era 300 audio system, transferring them to a top-facing bar on the again. There’s a quantity slider on the fitting with play/pause and skip controls within the middle. On the left facet, Sonos offers you a microphone management so you possibly can mute the built-in mics as wanted.

And that’s actually it by way of design modifications that you would be able to see. The Arc Ultra is barely shorter height-wise than the Arc, and it’s a little wider than its predecessor. Neither of which make a enormous distinction, they usually received’t drastically change the way you place the speaker beneath your TV.

Inside, Sonos has re-engineered the Arc Ultra to enhance audio efficiency. The greatest piece of this overhaul is the brand new Sound Motion woofer that permits higher bass efficiency earlier than you add a standalone wi-fi sub. The achievement right here, due to the acquisition of audio firm Mayht, is that the brand new part lays flat, taking over much less room than a conventional cone-shaped woofer. The Sound Motion driver additionally helps ship elevated readability and depth, on high of doubling the bass output of the unique Arc.

Sonos redesigned the whole acoustic structure of the Arc Ultra in the course of the strategy of including the Sound Motion woofer. The soundbar now homes three extra drivers than the arc, a record that features seven tweeters (two of that are upfiring), six mid-range drivers (midwoofers, as Sonos calls them) and the aforementioned woofer for a complete of 14. The firm additionally employs 15 Class-D digital amplifiers together with far-field mics for tuning and voice management.

There’s nonetheless solely a single HDMI (eARC) port, which permits most trendy TVs the flexibility to regulate the soundbar’s quantity and mute choices out of your TV distant. Moreover, the Arc Ultra is suitable with Wi-Fi 6 and newly-added Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity means that you can stream from any machine. And after all, AirPlay 2 remains to be on the spec sheet. One final thing I’ll point out right here is that the Arc Ultra doesn’t ship with an optical adapter if you happen to desire that connection. The firm will promote you one for $25.

Software and options

Since the Arc Ultra is a Sonos product, there are a lot of core options which are the identical as they’re on the corporate’s different gadgets. You can use the soundbar as a part of a multiroom setup and Trueplay tuning is right here to regulate the audio to the acoustics of the room. There’s nonetheless an adjustable EQ with choices for bass, treble and loudness and a Night Sound mode makes issues much less boomy when somebody in your own home could also be making an attempt to work or sleep.

While Trueplay will provide you with the very best sound customization for the sonic traits of your front room, Sonos is enabling a Quick Tune characteristic for the primary time on the Arc Ultra. Here, the soundbar will use its inner mics, versus your telephone, to supply a sure diploma of enchancment. The firm says it wished to provide individuals the choice of one thing faster than Trueplay, though the full-fledged tuning course of doesn’t take very lengthy in any respect.

Speech Enhancement has been a useful characteristic on Sonos soundbars for a whereas, providing you with the flexibility to enhance dialog readability as wanted. Before now, it was an all-or-nothing characteristic, however on the Arc Ultra, the corporate launched three ranges of speech enhance to provide you extra choices to raised fit your wants. This means the soundbar may also help you hear clearly over background noise or just observe alongside higher by elevating dialog above the remainder of the soundtrack combine.

The trademark characteristic of Sonos’ Ace headphones is the flexibility to beam the audio from a suitable soundbar to the cans for a personal residence theater. That TV Audio Swap instrument is out there on the Arc Ultra, so you possibly can immediately ship the sound to the headphones with the press of a button. In reality, Sonos bundles the Arc Ultra and Ace headphones in a $1,373 set. What’s extra, the Ace helps spatial audio with dynamic head monitoring, so you possibly can rely on immersive sound even whenever you’re using it on a person foundation.

Despite all the issues that Sonos has had with its app, a few of which it is nonetheless working to resolve, I did not encounter any points throughout my testing. The software program crashed on me as soon as when the Trueplay tuning course of accomplished, however every part had already run its course and I didn’t must repeat it. Other than that, the app has labored reliably over the past week whereas I’ve been placing the Arc Ultra by its paces. Most importantly, the software program is secure and the total suite of controls for the brand new soundbar is out there at launch.

Sound efficiency

The authentic Arc already sounded nice, so Sonos actually had its work reduce out for it to additional enhance the audio high quality for the Arc Ultra. Thanks to the improved bass of the Sound Motion tech, a change that additionally takes up much less house, the corporate says it had the flexibility to then overhaul the mid-range and high-frequency parts as effectively. By utilizing a number of sizes of mid-range drivers and tweeters, Sonos was capable of tweak the speaker positioning within the soundbar for improved projection and extra immersive sound.

In addition to the improved bass efficiency, the second factor that was instantly obvious on the Arc Ultra was these enhancements to the dimensional sound. Whether it was a quidditch match in a Harry Potter film or zooming F1 automobiles in Drive to Survive, the soundbar now has higher directional, immersive sound than its predecessor. Sonos says the Arc Ultra now renders Dolby Atmos content material in a 9.1.4-channel setup, versus 5.0.2 with the Arc, which additional contributes to the enveloping audio. Interestingly, I haven’t seen any of the competitors declare 4 up-firing channels from the soundbar like Sonos does right here (people who do are normally accounting for up-firing drivers within the rear audio system). You can actually hear the distinction from the second you hearth up the Arc Ultra, and the impact is constant throughout content material sources.

The elevated bass efficiency makes the Arc Ultra a a lot better speaker for music with out a separate subwoofer. You received’t get the bombastic low-end tone the newly up to date Sonos Sub 4 can produce, however there’s sufficient from the soundbar to provide Kaytranada’s Timeless, Phantogram’s Memory of a Day and Bilmuri’s American Motor Sports loads of booming spine when a observe calls for it. There’s additionally nonetheless the trademark Sonos readability I’ve come to anticipate through the years, which suggests finer particulars like the feel of synths, layered guitars and the nuance of acoustic devices reduce by the combination cleanly.

And talking of readability, the corporate’s new Speech Enhancement settings are additionally a big enchancment. Being capable of choose how a lot of a enhance this characteristic supplied relying on both my wants proper then or primarily based on the general tuning of the content material is very nice. It allowed me to max out the dialog when watching motion pictures after my toddler was asleep in order that speech didn’t endure when sound results had been louder throughout intense scenes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

The competitors

There’s little doubt the Arc Ultra packs in deeper, extra immersive sound than its predecessor, however some individuals will nonetheless need a extra strong setup to wring each ounce of audio out of a Sonos front room setup. The high-end selection for that is what Sonos calls the Ultimate Immersive Set, which incorporates the Arc Ultra, two Era 300s and the Sub 4. Right now, that may value you $2,561. For one thing inexpensive, you will get the Arc Ultra and the brand new Sub 4 (normally $799) for $1,708 (Premium Entertainment Set). And therein lies the most important downside with Sonos soundbars: increasing your front room setup to get probably the most immersive expertise will get very expensive in a short time when the centerpiece is already $999.

If you possibly can stay with out all of the conveniences of Sonos merchandise, you will get an all-in-one bundle from Samsung for $1,500. With the Q990D, you’ll get the soundbar, two rear audio system and a wi-fi subwoofer in the identical field. The setup provides 11.1.4 audio for wonderful Atmos sound, thanks partially to up-firing drivers within the rear audio system. Samsung provides a host of useful options, from Q-Symphony audio with TV audio system, AreaFit Sound Pro room calibration, Adaptive Sound audio enhancement, a devoted gaming mode and extra. The Q990D stays my high choose for the best soundbars for a lot of causes, a key one being every part you could possibly want is available in one all-inclusive bundle.

Wrap-up

The Arc Ultra is an apparent enchancment over the Arc within the sonic division. New expertise delivers on its promise to spice up bass, readability and immersive earlier than you begin including additional parts. Expanded options like Speech Enhancements and a quick-tune possibility supply new instruments for dialing within the sound, whereas the inventory Sonos expertise stays intact. And fortunately, that features an app that’s extra secure than it was a few months in the past. The Arc Ultra remains to be expensive at $999, but it surely displays a lot extra sonic prowess than its predecessor for less than $100 extra.