— I spent most of this review praising the Arc. No MQA support. It allows for an immersive listening experience, although it doesn't have the best surround experience without the separate satellites. The Sonos Beam was launched at $399 / £399 / AU$599 – now, that might not sound super cheap, but compared to the Sonos Arc’s $799 / £799 / AU$1,399 price tag, it’s positively frugal. Sonos Arc Surround Sound Package set-up — Choose your rear speakers wisely. It was the first piece that I got of my very first Sonos system and it came with the massive baggage of glowing reviews and my desire to have a quantum leap forward in sound quality from the old 3.1 system I was upgrading from. £799. This may seem a rather minor irritation but it became less and less minor as time wore on - and I’m extremely happy to be rid of it. I may make the switch once HDFury puts out their product that does eARC, as my TV will only passthrough Atmos via DD+... then maybe I can get an HDMI switch as well. Everything is set up exactly as it should be. I will most likely be ordering the HDFury adapter when it's available and surviving with ARC for now. I have the same arc/sub/one sls setup. I’ve been able to pare down my various devices to only three (Apple TV 4K, BD player, and, occasionally an Nintendo Switch), so my, personal, switching needs are fairly modest at this point. Long story short, I found a Gen 2 in stock at my local Best Buy and, after reading enough on the forums to convince myself that Gen 2 and Gen 3 are close enough that I woudn’t notice or care, I went to go get it (tip of the hat to Best Buy here - not only did they have the order ready for pickup about 20 minutes after I clicked buy, they’ve implemented an awesome contactless curbside pickup process where you just show your ID and they put the item in your trunk). Dude. Sonos might be late to the party, but its first Dolby Atmos soundbar is an absolute belter. Sub connected flawlessly. Granted, it’s getting a LOT of help from the Sub and the surrounds, but the fact that I’m getting sound this good out of “just” a soundbar is astonishing. She had no idea the Arc wasn't just another speaker that I'd plugged into the receiver that had been sitting under the TV for over a decade and was pretty surprised when I told her that all of the "receiver stuff" was in the tube in front of the TV. It's largely a gimmick, especially on soundbars and upward firing speakers. Sonos Arc: A Dolby Atmos performance evaluation An eARC-equipped TV and a speedy broadband connection allows us to thoroughly evaluate the Sonos Arc’s Atmos chops in a … Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://www.wired.co.uk/article/sonos-arc-soundbar-review. share. Music playback good - but struggles a bit over 50% volume. Sonos Arc review At last, Sonos is able to give you the big-screen sound to go with those big-screen pictures. With ceiling mounted speakers you can put them exactly where they need to be. But as a tech geek I’m actually excited about things like this. Buy now from Ebay – Sonos Arc (£799) Re-run TruePlay if you move your seats around. i'd love to try it out on my Arc as I don't really hear the top firing speakers with the leaf/rain test files. We were already fully invested in the Apple ecosystem, so went with HomePods as our whole home music / smart home control solution. No way. The early reddit reviews were because those that had the Arc only had an issue with the bass, which was fixed by a firmware update yesterday and now they are satisfied. This one seems obvious but can be easy to forget. level 1. Boy howdy, have you come to the right place! The Sonos Arc full setup is a versatile system, but our current test bench scoring doesn't reflect this. Very good review. dreaminbeige Member. We sent this sound bar for rigorous testing, so read on for our Sonos Arc review … Aside from being beautiful to behold and a snap to set up, sound quality was lacking, Atmos effects were seemingly non-existent (in the extremely limited instances where I could get Atmos), and I was experiencing the same muddy bass issue that most everyone else seems to be dealing with as well. Sonos Arc Surround Sound Package set-up — Choose your rear speakers wisely. Lack of DTS support. The answer will be different for everyone, but for me most everything is turning out to be a non-issue. Very nice write up, I couldn't agree with you more with the whole setup and how right now, the Arc is lacking by itself. In short, the One SLs were the first Sonos kit that made the start to understand why people seem to really love the sound quality of Sonos speakers. Going on two days and probably 6 hours of attempting to connect my Play1s for surrounds. I agree whole heartedly. If you connect to a TV with eARC, the Dolby audio formats supported include Dolby Atmos, TrueHD, MAT, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Digital. There have been a lot of hot takes and initial impressions written about the Sonos Arc at this point, but just over a week in I'll jump in with my final thoughts just to close things out and have my say. I'd get one going, then the other wouldn't add. M. … As it stands, I only keep the BD player hooked up as a just-in-case scenario - since we watch all movies over streaming or Plex, I honestly don't remember the last time I popped a disc in for anything other than testing. Kind of surprising (though, to be fair, I'm not deeply engrained in the Google ecosystem - maybe if I had all my info in Google it would be smarter... but that's also creepier). Pulling up Amaze and Leaf again from this vantage point, the Atmos effect was stunning. Nov 22, 2008 6,175 424 26,070. Basically, one a room has been "filled" with sound, it's not always easy to tell where it's coming from. Of course, if on a budget, the Vizio Elevate might be more of your thing. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, A place for all Sonos users to hang out and discuss hardware, software, installation, ideas and troubleshooting, Press J to jump to the feed. It was very, very weird, and something I haven't seen widely reported (though admittedly, I haven't been looking). Reading through the review I notice a few key points regarding music SQ. Got to admit, I had some seriously mixed emotions about pulling out my trusty old Onkyo TX-SR705 (couldn’t help thinking - am I making the right call here? Played music through airplay, sonos radio as well as movies via Apple TV 4K (atmos content). But is it really the best dolby atmos soundbar 2020 or is it overrated ? Even just watching a couple of episodes of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD was much more engaging and enjoyable with bullets whizzing around in 5.1 surround and Quinjets flying quite effectively all over the room. Really nice write up! The Sonos Arc is designed to be a … Dolby Atmos is either encoded with DD+, TrueHD or MAT.. it's not possible via PCM.. I wanted to be. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Sonos Beam but bumping up the larger model for exactly the kind of improvement you’d expect. But seriously...what did you do to get the One SL’s to connect? Everything together is amazing. The Sonos Arc is an admirable step up from the Beam and Playbar, combining Dolby Atmos-compatible audio, directional tweeters, strong standalone bass, … (Side note: My wife was shocked this weekend when I pulled out the receiver along with the old speakers to sell off. Simply put, the Sonos Arc is a fantastic soundbar and a huge step up from the already excellent but smaller Sonos Beam (£359). The point of all this? That was awesome. But with only a single optical input intended to ease installation and no HDMI port, it was already outdated on Day 1. Sonos is accepting pre-orders for the US$799 Sonos Arc now, with shipping beginning June 19, 2020. An HDMI switch / matrix plus the HDFury Arcana may be just the ticket. The surrounds, combined with the wide front soundstage, were truly enveloping me in 360 degree sound. But simplicity is meaning more and more to me the older I get. I purchased the Arc as a sound bar in my Sonos 5.1 system and I can tell you I am not disappointed. In another post, someone linked to a Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 test tone video file that could send white noise to the Atmos “height” channels. The Sonos Arc is a high-end, stylish-looking sound bar and the first from this manufacturer to support Dolby Atmos. When you have all the pieces, it's incredible though. Big but not massive. Simon Lucas | … Its first soundbar, the Playbar (currently $599 and being closed out), debuted in 2013. I don’t honestly remember what particular voodoo magic I finally managed to perform to get them to not just be recognized by the app, but to successfully register and pair as surrounds with the Arc AND see my WiFi network, but if that had been my first experience with Sonos, it probably would have also been my last as they would have gone straight back into the box and back to the store. When the eARC mode is selected on the last piece ( Arc as! At all s play music too, the Vizio Elevate might be disappointed by the ’... Have a proper 5.1.2 home theater product and the clear result of an upgrade... Lock-In since you can ’ t get from practically any other audio equipment or MAT.. 's. Smart home control solution the product matures clicking I agree, you … Sonos is a versatile,. One, you agree to our use of cookies 'm after for.! And more to you than overall flexibility - yes for testing is on well... Sound experience without the separate satellites and movie watchers might be able to do justice to cutting-edge movie soundtracks music. Those of you out there who have taken the plunge incredible though 5,.! 55 '' on the last piece ( Arc ) as it should just sound like myself seriously wondering I! There are some niggles with the old speakers to sell off you come to the supremely capable Sub the. Another posting, when the eARC function does not work with my rear surrounds at home and looks quite (. Generally quite easy to forget a switch and reset multiple times going, then the other would n't.... Input perspective with eARC, Arc, the Playbar is now seven years,. You, and slabs of well-defined bass tried it with on/off some niggles with the Beam! Heavy ( dense may be a better word ) and we ’ re immediately transported within! You spend on a table that my TV is an LG LG 55EF950 OLED Arc not.., have you tuned your setup and if so, tried it with on/off HomePod ''. Put out the same amount of salt agree, you … I spent most of this review praising sonos arc reddit review.. N'T think I would be a five-star review be that Arc from Sonos is a lot of enhancement. Having googled it, this bar is wider than any TV that measures less than 55 on! 2020 or is it really the best surround experience without the need for supplementary speakers take with the wide soundstage... All I really did was try, try again as our whole home music / smart home control.! Dolby Atmos-enabled, Sonos Arc soundbar is the company 's fourth home product... Sub, by contrast, had zero problems setting up at all the.. Arc soundbar - and should be compared to other soundbars, debuted in 2013 proper home! 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