Sonos really needed a great product right now.
2024 will be remembered as the year that Sonos nearly torpedoed its brand with the haphazard, premature rollout of an overhauled mobile app. This led to an unprecedented outcry from loyal customers who faced myriad bugs, diminished system performance, and other issues. Many called for CEO Patrick Spence to step down. That didn’t happen, but Sonos has spent the majority of this year on the back foot with apologies, turnaround plans, and assurances that a setback of this magnitude will never happen again.
It’s under these undesirable circumstances that Sonos has released the briefly delayed Arc Ultra soundbar. The $999 Ultra is designed to improve on what was already a very capable Dolby Atmos soundbar. After many hours testing the Ultra, I can say it resoundingly succeeds. Software missteps aside, Sonos can still deliver on hardware. The Ultra is a notable improvement in basically every regard, and a worthwhile upgrade — if you’re ready to trust Sonos again.
The original Arc arrived during a high point for the company that its executives must desperately miss, back when demand for its products was soaring amid the covid-19 pandemic. The Arc was a strong performer that delivered an impressive level of immersion from a single soundbar, though some customers experienced a loud popping sound caused by a bug that took the company far too long to fix.
The Arc had other weaknesses, with bass response at the top of that list. Unless you paired the Arc with a Sub (or the Sub Mini that came later), the soundbar didn’t have enough low-end bite to make you feel the booms and reverberating explosions in Hollywood blockbusters. It’s a downside shared by many soundbars and an inevitable tradeoff that comes with the form factor.
In 2022, Sonos spent $100 million to try and overcome that by acquiring a small company called Mayht Holding, which had developed a “revolutionary approach to audio transducers” that allowed them to be smaller and lighter without compromising on sound. The Arc Ultra is the first time we’re seeing that technology in an actual product. It’s being used for a new “SoundMotion” woofer built into the soundbar that produces twice as much bass as the original Arc. It’s a cool-looking thing, and here’s a TL;DR on how it works from Sonos’ press kit:
– Distributed lightweight motors displace more air for added bass.
– Aerospace-grade aluminium ribs connect the motors for combined power, allowing a smaller enclosure.
– Four pairs of opposing magnets power four voice coils for bigger sound in a smaller enclosure.
– Reinforced force-cancelling cones minimize vibration for clearer sound.
This compact, relatively flat woofer design freed up enough space for Sonos to cram even more drivers (14 in total) inside the Arc Ultra. The original Arc had 11. Such an arsenal of speakers is good enough for the Ultra to deliver a 9.1.4 surround experience. That’s what Sonos’ marketing claims, at least. Don’t get hung up on the numbers; several of those are virtualized phantom channels, and this is still a soundbar at the end of the day. What’s objectively true is that the Arc Ultra produces a soundstage that’s noticeably wider and more dynamic than its predecessor. And it does so in a cylindrical enclosure that’s similar in size and overall design to the original, though this one’s a bit shorter — nice if your TV is on a stand like mine — and slightly longer.
The touch controls have been relocated to an upward-facing panel at the rear of the soundbar, with the Arc Ultra now sharing the same button layout as the Era 100 / 300 and Move 2. Hands-free voice commands also remain, though Google Assistant is no longer available. You can use Amazon Alexa, Sonos Voice Control, or both simultaneously.
One welcome upgrade is a Trueplay feature called Quick Tune. Like other recent Sonos speakers, the Ultra can use its built-in microphones to tune itself for your environment — without requiring the manual Trueplay process of moving around the room while waving your iPhone around. This means Android users can finally take advantage of Trueplay, or at least this faster version of it, which wasn’t possible on the first Arc. iPhone owners still have the option of doing a more thorough tuning like before. I didn’t notice a meaningful difference between the two, but you might, depending on your room layout.
Bluetooth audio playback is also supported on the Ultra after being MIA on the original Arc. There’s a pairing button at the back of the soundbar beside the ethernet jack and microphone mute switch. AirPlay 2 is still on board, and the Ultra makes the jump to Wi-Fi 6 for more dependable wireless performance. Something Sonos hasn’t addressed is the lack of HDMI passthrough. Other premium soundbars let you plug in a game console or disc player without sacrificing another HDMI port on your TV, but Sonos clearly favors simplicity here.
I tested the Arc Ultra in three different setups: first by itself; then with the also-new Sub 4 ($799); and lastly with the Sub 4 and a pair of Era 300 speakers as rear surrounds. Even on its own, the improvements over the original Arc are obvious and plentiful. The Sound Motion woofer delivers on its promise, giving the soundbar more oomph and a thicker low end that will likely be more than enough if you’ve got a small to medium-sized living room or are living in an apartment with people below you.
Putting bass aside, the Ultra simply has greater clarity, dimensionality, and depth than the Arc. The height effects are more convincing, and everything sounds more expansive without getting thin or too dispersed. I was as captivated by The Wild Robot at home as I was seeing it at an Alamo theater. The Ultra beats out the Arc for music, too. Whether it’s Atmos tracks like Kacey Musgraves’ “Sway” or regular stereo, Sonos’ Sound Motion tech and the added drivers make a difference. I still do most of my music listening elsewhere given the choice, but for relaxing on the couch, this does the trick.
Dialogue clarity is also fantastic and the other major reason to consider upgrading from the Arc. Even without enabling the speech enhancement feature, which now has three levels to choose between, the center channel is more impactful. I could clearly hear Christian Bale’s voice over the roar of engines in Ford v Ferrari. Guy Ritchie’s Snatch is an old favorite (and good test for dialogue intelligibility), and it posed no problems for the Arc Ultra. Bringing in the Sub 4 levels up the bass from good to stellar. This configuration also allows the soundbar to concentrate on treble and midrange frequencies while the dedicated subwoofer takes care of rumbling bass.
And yes, if you throw in the pair of Era 300 speakers, you get the full Sonos Dolby Atmos experience. It’s blissful and can be downright mesmerizing, which is what I’d hope for from a bundle that costs over $2,500. If you’re interested in digging into frequency response charts, check out Andrew Robinson’s great YouTube review. Whether used solo or as a package, Sonos has a winner on its hands that can outshine the best from Samsung and other brands.
But none of that matters if you can’t rely on the software that controls everything. So, what about the beleaguered new app? My experience during this review was surprisingly headache-free. None of my speakers randomly vanished from the system, and controlling the Arc Ultra was responsive and worked as intended. Adding the Sub and surrounds went off without a hitch. It was all very encouraging, but I fully understand that some people are still having a frustrating time with the app.
And new problems continue to arise: early on, there was a Trueplay bug with the Arc Ultra that nerfed bass response. That’s since been resolved, but Sonos needs to keep the performance enhancements and bug fixes coming into the new year and well beyond. Just recently, I’ve seen numerous complaints about a bug that’s badly hampering the Era 300’s surround sound performance — and this affects owners of the original Arc, too.
The Arc Ultra is an excellent product and a crucial step in the right direction. It’s a significant improvement over the original and easily in contention for the best all-in-one soundbar you can buy. But this is only one step, and whatever comes next will be the true indication of just where Sonos is headed. If the rumors of a video streaming box are true, Patrick Spence and Co. better have a damn good justification for moving beyond Sonos’ core audio business. The damage from the app episode will be lasting, and it has already led to layoffs and rendered the Ace headphones all but forgotten in less than a year.
After going through this ordeal, I wouldn’t blame anyone for holding off on the Arc Ultra until Sonos proves it’s capable of making good decisions again. The company isn’t out of the woods yet. Not even close. But it still knows how to make a damn good speaker, so there’s hope.
Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge
