I imagine degree-level Business Studies courses all over the world are being hastily updated in order to incorporate an important new module. Probably called something like ‘How to Avoid Doing a Sonos’, it will centre on how bad decisions, compounded by bad decisions, managed to alienate a customer base to the point that Sonos, in the space of a few nightmarish months, comprehensively torched its own reputation.
From being a default choice in multi-room audio, Sonos is currently relegated to the status of ‘just another multi-room audio brand’ with a portfolio of products that range from ‘not bad’ to ‘really quite good’. The company seems quite chastened enough, though, without dwelling on how its standing so rapidly ended up in a ditch.
Instead, let’s concentrate on this Arc Ultra soundbar. It’s a replacement for what might well have been the very best of the ‘really quite good’ speakers in the Sonos line-up, and it’s the company’s first meaningful opportunity to prove that it still does, in fact, know what it’s doing.
At a glance, not a lot might seem to have changed over the Arc soundbar this product replaces. There’s still just one HDMI eARC socket - to the no doubt intense frustration of those hoping for an HDMI passthrough, and making the Arc Ultra stand out among £1K soundbars in a suboptimal sort of way. There’s still no compatibility with DTS:X spatial audio - Dolby Atmos remains the big crowd-pleaser, of course, but again it makes the Arc Ultra seem a little deficient when compared to the majority of its most credible price-comparable alternatives.
On the inside, though, things have definitely stepped on. Unlike the outgoing 11-driver, 5.1.2 -channel Arc, the Arc Ultra is configured to serve up 9.1.4 -channel sound thanks to 14 drivers and 15 blocks of Class D amplification. Seven of these drivers are silk-dome tweeters, two of which fire upwards and two of which are angled out from the ends of the chassis, and six are midrange drivers. Relatively complex waveguides help with the directionality of the sound these drivers deliver. The 14th and final driver is responsible for bass frequencies - Sonos calls it ‘Sound Motion’ and says, without any apparent suggestion of hyperbole, that it represents “one of the most significant breakthroughs in audio engineering in nearly 100 years”.
In truth, Sound Motion technology is more than a little reminiscent of the ‘Heartmotion’ driver technology Sonos came into possession of following its $100m acquisition of Mayht Holding BV back in 2022. And if the claims for its efficacy turn out to be even halfway to the truth, then ‘Sound Motion’ might indeed represent a significant breakthrough in audio engineering.
Unlike a conventional woofer, the ‘Sound Motion’ alternative positions two thin diaphragms in a push/push arrangement with no fewer than four motors positioned entirely outside the driver assembly. Reworked connectors between the voice-coils and the diaphragms, and reconfigured and repositioned centring spiders, are among the other refinements. The result, suggests Sonos, is a low-frequency driver assembly that produces vanishingly low distortion even when positioned in an enclosure as small as this one, that is fully balanced and therefore vibration-cancelling, that is much lighter than a conventional driver producing the same output, and that can produce the same output as a conventional driver of nearly three times the size. This last claim is the most startling of the lot - although by placing the motor structures outside the diaphragms and their surrounds, there’s space for a fair bit more excursion that is the case with a traditional arrangement…
This being Sonos, of course, no information is forthcoming regarding amplification power, frequency response or any of the other stuff most manufacturers will share as a matter of courtesy. There are bold claims for the exceptional bass response available from such a compact enclosure, of course - but the specifics are thin on the ground.
Sound quality
First things first, then: the Sonos Arc Ultra delivers remarkable low-frequency presence of a kind that’s unlike any alternative soundbar design that I’ve heard. Just how revolutionary its ‘Sound Motion’ technology is can only be assessed by someone with far more acoustic engineering intelligence than I have - but what’s for sure is that the solidity, variation and sheer depth of the low-end stuff that comes out of the Arc Ultra is profoundly impressive. Good luck shifting many of your new Sub 4 subwoofers as a partner to this particular soundbar, Sonos…
The Arc Ultra can hit extremely hard and with tremendous dynamism if a movie soundtrack demands it, but when it’s asked to deal with music (whether that’s via a music streaming service or a concert film) it’s capable of deft low-frequency expression and a great deal of tonal variation. The low-end stuff is controlled well, with the attack of individual sounds carefully observed, and as a result it handles rhythms confidently. There’s nothing showy about the low-frequency presence here, either - it stays strictly in its lane, and leaves plenty of room for the midrange to do its thing without getting in the way.
And tonally it’s of a piece with the rest of the frequency range, too, which goes a long way to making the Arc Ultra sound unified and coherent. Midrange fidelity is considerable, and detail levels are just as high here as they are at the bottom end. Voices project well, and the sensation of a ‘centre channel’ (where the overwhelming majority of the dialogue in a movie sits and, consequently, where most of the action in a film soundtrack resides) is strong. Harmonic variations in voices are identified and described with the appropriate weighting, and even when the going gets properly hectic the Sonos has no problem in keeping dialogue towards the front of proceedings.
There’s crisp attack at the upper end of the frequency range to top things off, a nice combination of substance and shine that gives treble sounds sufficient weight to balance out their brilliance. If the soundtrack demands it the Sonos can sound toothy and hard, but that’s not its default position - it only ever happens in the service of the content it’s delivering. Here as elsewhere, the Arc Ultra balances its frequency response with obvious skill.
Despite the numerousness of its drivers, the soundbar integrates the frequency range well, and if there’s a slight bloom at the bottom of the frequency range it’s a) understandable that Sonos wants to show off just how much bass it can extract from an enclosure of this size and shape, and b) easily dealt with using the EQ sliders in the app. It’s a balance that remains unchanged no matter the dynamic shifts in volume or intensity a soundtrack goes through - the Arc Ultra simply gets louder, and hits harder, without altering its fundamental characteristics in the slightest.
There’s no denying the Arc Ultra delivers a spacious and well-defined soundstage, one with appreciable width and more than a hint of height to it. Obviously even the best Dolby Atmos soundbars struggle to place effects up above the top of the TV screen they’re accompanying, let alone fool you into thinking there are speakers overhead, and there’s no sensation of sound from the rear either. But judged by the standards of the best of its price-comparable rivals, and by the impressive standards of the product it’s replacing, the Arc Ultra has nothing to apologise for. It’s an open, organised listen, and is able to move effects around its stage with real positivity.
‘Positivity’ is not really a word that springs to mind when describing the way the Arc Ultra deals with music, though. It’s giving nothing away in terms of detail, dynamism or straightforward attack, and it generates a fair amount of scale too - especially with music that’s undergone the Dolby Atmos treatment. But the confidence and certainty with which it hands over a movie soundtrack isn’t all that evident with music - its presentation becomes slightly vague and soft around the edges. It’s not able to demonstrate the same sort of directness, and while it still lacks for nothing where low-frequency presence is concerned, the clean edges and assured organisation of the movie sound get a bit blurry and indistinct.
Living with the Arc ultra
For the first time, Sonos’ ‘Trueplay’ feature - which measures the acoustics of your room and then fine-tunes the speaker’s EQ to suit - is available for Android as well as iOS. And it certainly helps in getting a convincing presentation even if you have to position your Arc Ultra in a less-than-ideal spot.
Controlling the Arc Ultra can be done a number of different ways. There are a few physical controls on the soundbar itself - these run to ‘play/pause’, ‘skip’, ‘replay’, a ‘volume up/down’ slider a la Eras 100 and 300, ‘group/ungroup Sonos products’ and ‘mics on/off’, and they’re mostly on a ledge at the back of the soundbar. The far-fields mics in question allow for interaction with either Amazon Alexa or Sonos Voice Assistant, as well as being used during ‘Trueplay’ set-up.
There’s also the Sonos app, the origin of all the company’s recent tribulations. Changes made to the app earlier this year led to widespread customer dissatisfaction - which Sonos then compounded by initially rejecting the idea that the app might be in any way deficient and instead decided to cast aspersions on the intelligence of its own customers, as well as questioning their willingness to embrace change. The whole episode was most unedifying.
The current incarnation of the app seems fine as far as it goes - it’s clean, stable, quite logical in navigation and does the majority of things it used to do before Sonos took a scythe to it. Regaining lost trust is a lot harder than winning it in the first place, of course, and these are baby steps - but nevertheless, Sonos is making progress in this respect.
At 75 x 1178 x 111mm (HxWxD) the Arc Ultra manages to look both purposeful and discreet at the same time. It’s not quite as tall as the outgoing Arc, but it is a little longer - so if you’re thinking of pairing it with a TV of less than 55in it’s going to look oversized. Wi-Fi 6 wireless connectivity means it’s compatible with Apple AirPlay 2, and the provision for Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity (Bluetooth is a very recent discovery for Sonos, but better late than never) means it’s easier to stream to the Arc Ultra than it is to the majority of the company’s speakers. And on the subject of streaming, the Arc Ultra is compatible with ‘TV Audio Swap’, a feature that allows sound to be bounced between the soundbar and a pair of Sonos Ace headphones.
It’s also compatible with other Sonos speakers, of course, and can form the heart of a true multichannel audio system - although it’s important to note that not every Sonos speaker can get involved. The original Arc offered support for Play:1, Play:3, Play:5 and original IKEA Symfonisk lamp speaker, as well as for the Connect:Amp - this is not the case with the Arc Ultra, which is compatible with Era 100, Era 300, One, One SL, Five, IKEA Symfonisk Gen 2 and Sonos Amp only. Sonos seems to think the best fit for the Arc Ultra is its new Sub 4 with a pair of Era 300 acting as rear channels - but at £2426 (including a package discount), that’s a fairly expensive set-up.
Conclusion
There are hard-headed reasons both for and against the Sonos Arc Ultra, just as there are less rational, more emotion-led pros and cons too. But if you can get beyond the lack of an HDMI passthrough, and the lack of DTS:X decoding, and that nagging suspicion that the app is going to burst into flames again at any moment, then the Arc Ultra is an uncomplicatedly impressive soundbar where spatial audio movie soundtracks are concerned. It combines low-end punch with notable transient response, fine detail retrieval with a solid ability to create and control a soundstage. It looks the part and gives every impression of being built to last. Sonos has replaced one of the best products it ever made with one of the best products it’s ever made.
Watching notes
De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising (TIDAL Dolby Atmos mix)
In the right hands this spatial audio mix of the 80s album that sounds like the most 90s album you ever heard is open, spacious and enveloping. In the hands of the Sonos Arc Ultra, it’s just slightly vague and ill-defined
Top Gun: Maverick Netflix
The go-to movie for AV demonstrations over the last couple of years is available in all its Dolby Atmos/Dolby Vision glory over at Netflix, and purely as an exercise in showcasing a soundbar’s spatial audio chops it remains hard to beat. Borderline-unwatchable, mind you…
Training Day 4K Blu-ray
One of the more profound audio upgrades around, the newly mastered Dolby Atmos soundtrack to Training Day is an absolute belter. Claustrophobic even when the action is out in the streets, and with sledgehammer bass when the hip-hop comes to the fore, it’s as forceful as they come
You can give proper consideration to the Sonos Arc Ultra even if you’re a Sonos newbie - it’s accomplished enough that as a single speaker it makes an awful lot of sense and represents good value for money. As part of a wider multi-room system or as the heart of a multi-channel cinema sound set-up along with other Sonos speakers it’s getting on for ideal. Of course, if you’re still traumatised by The Whole Sonos Thing then you’ll have to think long and hard - but be in no doubt that this is a worthwhile product.
