This is Sonos’s flagship Dolby Atmos soundbar, the Arc. It is a premium option that was released in 2020 and retails for $700. For this review, we paired this up with a Sony Subwoofer and the Sonos Era 100. This setup costs more than Samsung’s flagship soundbar setup but we could argue that the Arc is worth it.
Read our review of the Sonos Era 100 here.
Specs
| Dimensions(mm) | 87 x 1142 x 116 |
| Weight | 6.25 kg |
| Colors | Black, White |
| Mounting | 12.7 mm threaded mount |
| Voltage | 100-240V power supply |
| CPU | Quad Core 1.4 GHz A-53 |
| Ethernet | 10/100 port |
Review
Setting up the Arc is fairly easy, you need to connect the Arc with your TV using HDMI. If you choose to connect a subwoofer and/or speaker you need to first connect them to your Sonos app and then connect them to the Arc, it only takes a few minutes. The Arc sounds pretty good on its own, but the extra components help give you the full Dolby Atmos experience in bigger rooms.
The Sonos Arc is a very simple soundbar, it is made mostly of plastic, has plastic grilles on the sides, and feels quite heavy. It is a little too wide and won’t fit in between the legs of most TVs. It has a single HDMI input that supports both HDMI ARC and eARC, it also has an ethernet port, and if your TV doesn’t have HDMI then the Arc does come with an Optical Audio Adapter which will allow you to connect the soundbar to your TV using an optical cable.
The Arc has WiFi, Spotify Connect, and Apple Airplay 2. It can use Spatial Audio which uses the microphone of your iOS device and Trueplay to analyse the unique acoustics of your space and optimize the equalizer settings of your soundbar to deliver better sound. We recommend not skipping this step as this will bring your sound performance to a whole new level. The Sonos app is the main way to customize the Arc, but you can also control the basic things from the touch-sensitive controls on the soundbar. There is also voice support for Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa.
The Sonos Arc is an impressive system for both music and movies, it has eleven Class-D digital amplifiers, three silk-dome tweeters, and eight elliptical woofers. The sound is rich and full, and some songs sound totally different on this soundbar. It has plenty of bass, and when watching movies dialogues are clear. In order to change from Atmos to other formats, you will need to change the setting on your TV, Sonos does not have the option for that,
We don’t like that when you pair up the Arc with an external speaker or subwoofer, voice control and Bluetooth are disabled. If you want to use them, you will first need to unpair the soundbar. This is something to keep in mind when looking at the Arc for your home theatre.
What’s in the box
- Sonos Arc
- Power Cable
- HDMI Cable
- Optical Audio Adapter
- Documentation
User Reviews
Customers like the ease of setup and sound quality of the speakers. They mention that it connects easily, produces superb sound quality, and delivers clear human voices during television and movies. They also like the appearance. However, some customers have experienced connection issues during the setup process. Opinions are mixed on value, performance, quality, and software.
Verdict
The Sonos Arc is the best sub-less soundbar we’ve reviewed. If you don’t want to buy an extra surround speaker and a subwoofer you should consider this soundbar, it sounds perfectly fine out of the box on its own. Trueplay is crucial for getting the true Dolby Sound that you want, that only works with iOS devices and you should take that into account when buying the Arc, the only complaint we have is that you will need to disconnect the surround speakers and subwoofers from the soundbar if you want to use them separately. You should also look at the Samsung Q990C before making any decisions, as it is also a solid option for a home theatre soundbar.
Buy the Sonos Arc here.
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