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Sonos Arc Ultra review: Arc triumphant

Sonos' redemption Arc starts right here...

By Marc Chacksfield

14 November 2024

Sonos has had its troubles of late, thanks to a lacklustre app redesign that’s annoyed its user base and possibly put off others joining the smart speaker club.

This prompted a statement from CEO Patrick Spence that said: "We sincerely appreciate your patience and continued support. We are working hard to earn back your trust and are more committed than ever to delivering a consistently great Sonos experience for everyone."

While we wait for the app to catch-up, that commitment has been qualified somewhat by Sonos releasing a product that isn’t just fantastic, but possibly the best thing it has ever built.

The Sonos Arc Ultra is a premium soundbar packing Dolby Atmos, 14 specially made drivers and something called Sound Motion — which manages to create a bigger bass-filled sound from a much smaller footprint.

Add to this Dolby Atmos support, a set-up that didn’t have us scratching our heads and the ability to control the soundbar through your own remote (as well as seamless audio switching to the Sonos Ace headphones) and reviewing this thing was far from a chore.

Here are 5 things to know about the Sonos Arc Ultra...

1. Setup is simple

Sonos Arc Ultra review — Image Credit: Future

If you are familiar with Sonos then you will know that setting up any of its products is done through the app. And, yes, that's the app that's gotten a bit of bad press of late. The good news though is that, in our tests, it was simple to setup the Sonos Arc through it — plug the thing in and the app automatically finds the product. Just follow the instructions from there.

You can attach your home cinema setup through the following ways: HDMI (if your TV has HDMI ARC or eARC) or Optical (via an adapter). There's also an Ethernet port on board and Bluetooth, which is handy for those who want to use this as a standalone speaker and don't want to go through the Sonos interface.

I tested the Arc with the new Sonos Sub 4, so I had to go through the settings to connect up the Sub and two surrounds (some old Sonos:1's) to the setup. Again, all of this was fairly simple to do which meant we entered a wall of sound within minutes.

2. The Sonos Arc Ultra is spec-tacular

It's been some four years since the original Arc was released, so this is a sequel that has taken some years to come out. It's been well worth the wait, though.

While not much has changed on the Arc Ultra looks wise (more on this below), its innards have been gutted and re-engineered. There are 15 Class-D digital amplifiers inside, seven tweeters and six mid-woofers. Its four-motor, dual-membrane woofer takes advantage of Sonos' new Sound Motion tech. In short this allows Sonos to make a much bigger sound from a much smaller footprint. The result are jaw-dropping.

Sonos has also added some design flourishes to its all-grille chassis, including the neat volume slider that can be seen on newer products such as the Sonos Era range. There's also a similar looking control for play/pause and fast-forward/rewind in the middle.

And because it's pretty much all grille, sound emanates from this thing at all angles, so there's no putting this baby in the corner — it needs space to showcase its wares.

3. Design is premium

At first glance, the Arc Ultra looks much like the first Arc (it's a touch slimmer which will help with wall mounting) but there are some subtle changes. These include the back of the Sonos where all the controls now sit — this is instead of them being on the grille on the original Arc. This makes sense both from a looks and usability point of view.

Size wise, it's still massive, though, measuring 75mm (H), 1178mm (W), 110.6mm (D). This is definitely a soundbar for bigger TVs. We tested with a 48-inch LG OLED and this would be the smallest TV we'd use it on, otherwise it's going to look like a mismatch.

At 5.9kg, it has a bit of weight, too. Not as much as the Sub 4, mind — that thing almost put us in traction when we lifted it. In the box, there's a wall mount bracket. Because we have to give the Arc Ultra back to Sonos (sob!) we didn't try this, but it did nestle nicely on a beam under my TV.

4. It's built beautifully for surround sound

In total you can get a 9.1.4-speaker configuration with the Sonos Arc Ultra, which takes care of all your Dolby Atmos needs. There's also myriad other decoding standards on board and, handily, in the app you will be able to see just what audio is being decoded, through the Now Playing screen. Geeky, yes, but, it's the sort of thing you want when you are paying this sort of money.

There's also Trueplay on board, which measures the acoustics of the room then fine-tunes the EQ for optimum listening. This used to be a faff, making you wave an iPad around your room — it's now much easier through the app with a quick set-up option. If you want to do the old-school version then you'll need an iOS device — I didn't feel there was much difference between the resulting sound from the two. Whichever Trueplay you choose to use, it is well worth doing.

When it comes to playing with the EQ, you can do this in the app and you can also access Night mode and Loudness. Both work well and are pretty self explanatory, increasing and decreasing the sound without any noticeable clarity deterioration.

There's also the new-ish functionality of swapping the audio that's coming out of the soundbar to a pair of Sonos Ace headphones. I had these to hand and it's a fantastic feature, especially for those who are wanting to do a bit of late-night movie watching without waking up anyone else in the house.

5. The sound is incredible

To test, I tried a number of movies, games and music and the results were *chef's kiss*. Pixar's Inside Out 2 with its Atmos soundtrack soared. The panic attack scene was just as devastating as when I watched it in the cinema, with sounds swirling all around the room.

Dune II was equally impressive, the roar of a sandworm reverberating around my living room masterfully, while the room also rumbled when Paul Atreides used the Voice.

The guttural grunt of the Batmobile in The Batman was fear inducing, while the sound of the Bat's boots while walking through the first crime scene will stay with me for a long time

It's great with music, too. The Cure's Songs Of A Lost World sounded incredibly atmospheric thanks to its Atmos mix, Robert Smith's voice managing to be both fragile and full.

It’s clear that Sonos’ fancy new Sound Motion drive is putting in the hard work, delivering a soundstage that feels far bigger than the living room I was in.

I felt this most while playing Black Ops 6. I ducked at the bullets flying around the room, stood to attention when orders were barked and felt completely immersed in the action.

Sonos Arc Ultra: Final Verdict

Brimming with Atmos-based atmosphere, the Sonos Arc Ultra is a hefty upgrade and Sonos' best-ever speaker. The soundbar has really come of age over the last few years and Sonos' latest effort feels like the pinnacle of this.

Yes, it's expensive (especially when you start bolting on other Sonos speakers to create the setup), yes it's massive. And, yes, it's a tad annoying that you are really relying on eArc HDMI to control your whole system but these really are minor niggles, given the sonic brilliance of this speaker.