Sonos is trying to regain some of its shine with the Arc Ultra soundbar — and from what we’ve seen so far, it goes a long way towards restoring the brand’s image.
Recently, Sonos has been under fire for the terrible rollout of its new mobile app. It had profound bugs, and lacked several features that the previous versions offered.
We won’t even get into how bad the company’s response was to complaints.
Anyway, this enormous gaffe has put a rare negative spotlight on the audio powerhouse. That app fiasco was rumored to have been the cause of the delayed release of the Arc Ultra.
So, there’s a lot of ground for the Arc Ultra to make up. It was formally introduced in November, 2024 alongside the refreshed Sub 4.
The late 2024 supported Sonos lineup is now the Ray, Beam Gen 2, Arc, and the Arc Ultra.
The Arc 4 awkwardly still remains in that lineup, despite their similar pricing. Fortunately, late product cycle discounts makes them more competitive with one another.
Sonos Arc Ultra review: High-level specs
The Arc Ultra is 46-inch soundbar. It’s slightly wider than the original Arc which looks fine on the growing size of living room TVs.
It’s a little more compact too, thanks to the new Sound Motion technology. We’ll talk a bit more about that in a moment.
It supports Dolby Atmos and virtual 3D surround sound. It’s now a 9.1.4-channel configuration, up from the 5.0.2 of the original arc.
It comes with a power cable plus an HDMI cable for eArc connection. It’s also Wi-Fi and – for the first time – supports Bluetooth.
For Apple users, you can also easily cast audio via AirPlay. It shows up as an audio destination similar to a HomePod.
Another change with this model is updated controls. The original Arc had controls placed in the center while this new one, relocated them to the back.
For example, you have the media control centered in the back and the volume on the right. We like the new volume slider a lot and its more in line with the other recent Sonos speakers.
Sonos Arc Ultra review: Part of a larger ecosystem
As many know, you can pair other speakers with the Sonos soundbars. You can use them standalone, but you can pair a pair of Sonos era 100s or Era 300s as the rears.
This can dramatically improve the spatial audio and overall sound of your speaker. Due to our listening environment, rear speakers aren’t feasible.
We primarily tested the Arc Ultra on its own, without rear speakers. The aforementioned Sonos Sub 4 was also wirelessly connected.
When you pair a sub with the Arc Ultra — whether it is the Sub 4 or Sub Mini — what’s nice is that it frees up some of the drivers to focus on the mids and highs instead of the lower end. You get overall better, balanced sound.
Of course, by the time you’ve added rears and a sub, your setup is getting pretty pricey. A kitted out system can run you as much as $2,700 pre-tax.
Sonos Arc Ultra review: New Sound Motion technology
As we mentioned at the inset, the Arc Ultra features Sonos’ recently-acquired Sound Motion technology. While not visual, it’s a pretty impressive setup.
The high-level is that is basically allows them to have the same, or better, audio quality, from smaller components. That’s what ultimately matters.
Drivers and woofers can be shrunk, without any impact on audio quality. The Arc Ultra is more compact than before, yet it has better, more precise sound.
Inside it has 15 class-d amplifiers, up from 11 in the Arc. There are 7 tweeters and 6 midwoofers, from 3 tweeters and 8 midwooders before.
It’s not really flashy and probably required a lot of work during development, but this will certainly show up in all future Sonos speakers.
Sonos Arc Ultra review: Audio quality
Turning to audio quality — the Sonos Arc Ultra sounds amazing. It’s very impressive.
What is probably one of the more impressive aspects is how good it sounds even without rear speakers. Users who opt not to add them will still have an extremely immersive audio experience.
If you have a Sonos Arc with rear speakers, it doesn’t sound that dissimilar from the Arc Ultra with rear speakers. Those rear speakers are the same, minimizing the overall improvements.
Its ability to place sound in 3D space is too cool when listening to Dolby Atmos content. There are those times when you’re watching a movie and you hear a noise behind you and quickly spin around.
We noticed it quickly watching movies like the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World series. Those dinosaurs really tried to sneak up on us.
While watching, it’s the ambient, background noises that get you the most. It pulls you into the movie.
Environmental noises like cities or rain sound like they come from all around you. There’s a lot more detail that can come out you may not pick up with a smaller soundbar or without spatial audio.
Speaking of details coming out, Sonos has a new dialogue enhancement mode. It’s called speech enhancement and it helps you hear dialogue more clearly.
When compared to the Arc, the best way we can describe it is that it sounds similar to the Arc, but you can lower the overall volume. Raising the overall volume on the Arc gets you similar volume on the center channel with the old speech enhancement enabled.
Apple actually a similar effect built into the Apple TV, but you have to have an Apple TV to use it. Plus, what you’re watching has to use the native video player.
If your streaming app uses its own player and interface, it won’t have that dialogue boost. Having it on the soundbar directly gives you this feature no matter the source or device.
It works very well and I think is a big reason to buy the Arc Ultra versus competing soundbars.
Sonos Arc Ultra review: App updates continue
We have to at least quickly touch on the Sonos app when reviewing the Arc Ultra. How much you use the app will ultimately determine how important it is to you.
As primarily Apple users, we rarely tapped into the Sonos app. It offers things like sleep timers, pairing, and multiple music services to stream from.
We prefer just to cast audio using AirPlay or using the options on our Apple TV. For us, the app debacle has largely been background noise.
If however you rely on it regularly, as many, many do, it can be make or break. Still, the app is improved drastically.
Sonos has continued to release bi-weekly updates, fixing bugs and restoring features that were originally omitted. The app feels much more solid than before, though some work is still left to be done.
We aren’t keen to believe brands when they make promises, but Sonos has very much been following through with its updates and schedule when it comes to this app.
Should you buy the Sonos Arc Ultra?
There are two questions around the Arc Ultra.
One: should you buy it if you have the Arc. Two: if you should buy it at all.
If you have the Arc, it’s probably not worth the splurge. It’s better, but not worth the price tag for a somewhat small upgrade.
You get Bluetooth, improved design, better sound, better dialogue, and better spatial audio. All great, but not a substantial enough leap over the still exceptional Arc.
If you’re coming from another speaker though, we can’t recommend the Sonos Arc Ultra enough as a premium solution, especially compared to a pair of Apple HomePods.
It’s so easy to set up and get going. You have a myriad of playback options from the Sonos App, to AirPlay, to Bluetooth, to anything through your TV.
The spatial audio is too cool and we can’t go back to watching moves without it. There’s such a drastic difference too going from our other TV with a Sonos Beam.
The soundstage is so much bigger it feels more cinematic. As folks who loves movies but don’t want to deal with a piecemeal wired spatial surround setup, you can’t ask for much more than the Arc Ultra.
Sonos Arc Ultra review: Pros
- Best soundbar for Dolby Atmos
- Quick and easy setup
- Optionally pair wireless subwoofer and rears for even better sound
- Sound, clear, powerful with even better dialogue separation
- New look is better-suited for modern TVs
- Controls are much improved
- Bluetooth can be used on top of other inputs
- eArc for simple connectivity
Sonos Arc Ultra review: Cons
- Small upgrade over similarly-priced Arc
- App is still not 100% there
- Can get expensive with a full setup
Sonos Arc Ultra rating: 4 out of 5
Where to buy the Sonos Arc Ultra
You can buy the new Sonos Arc Ultra in white or black from Adorama, B&H, or Amazon for $999.
