Sonos Arc Ultra Soundbar Review: Big Bar, Better App

Excellent clarity and musicality. Robust and elaborate bass response. Wide and close soundstage for awesome immersion, particularly with Dolby Atmos. Loads of ways to stream. Versatile modular design. Quick and painless setup. Sonos TruePlay calibration for large balance. Low illustration helps debar blocking your TV.

No spare HDMI input oregon distant control. Sonos app inactive has its struggles. Upper registry sometimes runs bright.

Nothing cures a slump similar a large win. That’s precisely what Sonos needed from the caller Arc Ultra. Built connected the bones of the already large Sonos Arc (9/10, WIRED Recommends), the Ultra is slimmer, clearer, bassier, and much immersive for conscionable $100 more, and it is the archetypal merchandise launched successful what Sonos claims is simply a bug-free app-mosphere.

Software bugs person plagued the Sonos app since the institution revamped it alongside the merchandise of its archetypal headphones, the Ace (8/10, WIRED Recommends), earlier this year. This is the bug that keeps connected giving. In my reappraisal play I recovered different contented wherever the barroom disappeared from the app aft linking the caller Sub 4 and a brace of Era 300 speakers (9/10, WIRED Recommends) successful a situation system.

Thankfully, the woes yet look to beryllium resolved. After a elemental powerfulness cycle, I’ve experienced implicit a week of error-free cognition which, erstwhile combined with a deficiency of akin reports online, leads maine to cautiously telephone my troubles settled. The Ultra is present unchangeable and responsive for me, portion its sonic skills spot it among the best soundbars I’ve tested each year.

Subtly Slimmed Down

Sonos has ever provided a luxe unboxing experience, and the Arc Ultra abides. Minimalist packaging gives mode to a sleek, perforated matte conduit of hulking proportions that looks strikingly acquainted to the archetypal Arc.

There are immoderate telltale tweaks, including a shorter 3-inch tallness to beryllium much comfortably beneath TVs, and a wider stance that stretches to implicit 46 inches across. A sheet astatine the backside hosts venting for the amplifiers and Sonos’ latest interaction controls, including play/pause, opus skip, dependable control, and a granular measurement slider to lucifer the in-app version. Like each Sonos speakers, the Ultra comes successful accepted achromatic oregon white.

Within the cylindrical ammunition are 14 individually powered drivers (three much than the Arc), including 7 tweeters, six midrange drivers, and a caller “Sound Motion” woofer for bass. You’ll get enactment for each large Dolby audio formats, including lossless Dolby Atmos, and enactment for DTS situation (Sonos says it’s not a “licensed decoder”), but nary DTS:X, the 3D Atmos rival.

There are immoderate caller additions to the Ultra’s backmost cubby, including a pairing cardinal to link implicit Bluetooth, which the Arc and older Sonos speakers lack. This complements Wi-Fi streaming implicit 2.4-GHz oregon 5-GHz frequencies and third-party options similar AirPlay and Spotify Connect. There’s besides a hard power to chopped the built-in microphones. In keeping with the Era line, the Ultra drops Google Assistant dependable power for a premix of Alexa and Sonos’ built-in assistant.

The deficiency of a distant successful the bundle is axenic Sonos and nary surprise, but it would person been a bully upgrade considering the app woes. Another disappointment is the Ultra’s deficiency of a spare HDMI input. It surely keeps things simple, and the proliferation of HDMI eARC means astir newer TVs tin walk done immoderate supported audio format from outboard devices, but it besides keeps your TV’s HDMI ports astatine a premium. Most bars astatine this terms (or lower) supply astatine slightest 1 spare larboard for a crippled console oregon different device.

Final omissions to enactment see the optical adapter packed with the archetypal Arc (you tin inactive bargain 1 from Sonos) and immoderate signifier of analog port, leaving HDMI eARC arsenic the lone mode to plug in. That said, HDMI transportation is indispensable for Dolby Atmos, and it lets you usage your TV distant to power powerfulness and volume. All different controls are handled by the embattled Sonos app.

App-rehension

Sonos made its sanction crafting good-sounding Wi-Fi speakers that conscionable worked astatine a clip erstwhile astir rivals often didn’t. Even full novices could pat a cardinal connected a Sonos talker and connect. My setup acquisition with the Ultra was overmuch the same. The app walked maine done a elemental process, and though it initially couldn’t spot my TV, turning it connected fixed that.

Setting up the Sonos Sub 4 and Era 300 speakers a fewer days aboriginal was likewise seamless, and abruptly I had a afloat situation setup nether a caller “Room” configuration titled Living Room. While the app's layout inactive feels a spot unintuitive—I’m not definite wherefore it keeps your antecedently utilized controller model up apical adjacent erstwhile the soundbar is playing TV audio—controlling settings and features for each merchandise is comparatively simple.

I was capable to radical and ungroup the caller strategy with my Era 100 speaker, and adjacent link and play TV audio done the Sonos Ace headphones with the Arc Ultra’s TV Swap diagnostic without incident. The second works brilliantly now, rapidly swapping crystal wide dependable betwixt the barroom and headphones from my TV. Sonos' dependable adjunct is besides handy, letting you commencement euphony oregon radical and ungroup speakers with your voice.

I was each acceptable to rave astir the app’s newfound stability, erstwhile abruptly the Living Room setup disappeared. When it resurfaced, the app showed lone 1 situation talker online, and implicit the adjacent time oregon truthful the strategy played an intermittent disappearing enactment (though the Ultra continued to enactment with my TV). Here’s wherever a distant would person travel successful handy, astatine slightest allowing maine to swap inputs oregon power baseline settings.

After speaking with Sonos support, a powerfulness rhythm seemed to cure my woes. The Living Room radical situation setup has been unchangeable since past (knock connected wood), though I did person 1 contented with my Era 100 claiming it was unregistered. Sonos said the second contented is simply a known bug, and pointed to imaginable router disorder for my different dropouts. To beryllium fair, my Centurylink Fiber Zylex router has its quirks, but I had nary occupation with the Era 100 oregon 300 successful the 8 months I’ve had them. Whatever the cause, the strategy is present moving well.

Take Me There

One happening that was ne'er successful uncertainty is however fantabulous the Ultra sounds. The upgrades implicit the archetypal Arc are subtle yet significant, from clearer and much nuanced item to heftier bass, and a broader, much immersive soundstage. The effect is simply a barroom with capable powerfulness and extent to accentuate the large worldly and capable finesse and sonic sensibility to sweat the tiny worldly successful the champion way.

I recovered myself audibly chuckling arsenic the Ultra ramped up well-worn territory successful acquainted trial films similar Skyfall. Effects similar gunshots oregon crunching car crashes dependable astir visceral, portion the broader moments similar the sweeping tunnels arsenic Bond fights his rival connected apical of a bid seemed to swoop from the beforehand of the country past my face. Similarly, the quaking of the London Underground trains supra the caller MI6 basal sounded truthful existent I looked retired my model for a passing truck.

Dolby Atmos mixes instrumentality things further, arsenic the bar’s up-firing and side-firing drivers stretched and bowed astir my surviving room, astir reaching down me. The “Space Chase” country successful Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 was a circuit de force, particularly connected disc, matching the musculus car rev of the Milano with strafing force ships, gritty explosions, and random abstraction objects zipping past my seat. You tin astir consciousness the compartment solid breaking arsenic the vessel astir succumbs to the Sovereign attack, portion the cablegram scraping against the partition arsenic Drax gets dragged cuts with textural precision.

Music, is clear, full, and fluid, astatine times catching maine disconnected defender with its premium touch. Strings and soft basal out, arsenic bash brassy guitar strings and buzzy synths. The Ultra’s spritely topside sometimes leans a spot excessively forward, veering toward sharpness successful brighter instruments oregon bladed sitcom dialog, but dropping the treble a notch oregon 2 helps a just bit. You tin set different effects similar code enhancement, but I ne'er felt the need.

The wide show comes amazingly adjacent to pricier bars, similar Sony’s HT-A7000 oregon adjacent Sennheiser’s opulent Ambeo Max. The Ultra doesn’t rather get arsenic hefty successful the bass arsenic those bars, but the caller Sound Motion tech provides capable rumble to grip each but the lowest hits. If you request more, of course, Sonos is blessed to oblige with add-on components.

Killer Config

I deliberation astir folks volition beryllium pleased with the Ultra unsocial for astir content, but those seeking the adjacent level volition find immoderate beauteous (if pricey) complements, starting with the caller Sub 4. I was impressed with the sub’s philharmonic clarity, diving into that little sonic level the Ultra can’t reach. I was lone truly alert of it for sub-bass hits similar a large detonation oregon a 60-Hz footwear deed successful a hip-hop oregon electronica track, but it decidedly takes things up (or alternatively down) a notch.

Its expressive dependable and opposing dual drivers punctual maine of the fantabulous SVS 3000 Micro. I similar the pint-size Micro better, partially due to the fact that its aggregate settings and dedicated app tin beryllium tuned to your country and preferences. I don’t expect a consumer-forward marque similar Sonos to adhd specified granular subwoofer settings, but adding an adjustable crossover astatine immoderate constituent would beryllium bully for a much tailored performance, particularly fixed the Sub 4’s cost.

As for surrounds, determination are aggregate options, from older speakers similar the Sonos One and Play:1 to the newer Era 100 and Grandaddy Era 300. The evident payment of the 300, too its fabulous performance, is its upfiring operator that helps implicit the overhead “dome” for which Dolby Atmos is prized. As good arsenic the Ultra does connected its own, the Era 300s dependable glorious successful surround, providing pinpoint accuracy and bonzer extent successful the mix.

The afloat suite of the Ultra, Sub 4, and Era 300s provides immoderate of the champion situation show you tin bargain successful a soundbar configuration, gathering oregon beating premium all-in-ones similar the Sony Quad (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It’s not a inexpensive endeavor, but it is simply a fantastic experience, and acknowledgment to Sonos’ TruePlay calibration, the components tin beryllium balanced successful minutes.

Add-ons aside, the Arc Ultra provides premium stand-alone show to bushed everything I’ve heard successful its class. It doesn’t connection each the features (a spare HDMI would beryllium nice), but it’s got everything astir folks need. It each comes down to whether you spot Sonos to support its bundle unchangeable for the roadworthy ahead. If you tin bargain that premise, you should bargain this bar. It’s that good.