I’ve been happily using a Sonos Arc and Sonos Sub for 3-4 years and wondered how Sonos would better on this combo, and it has done just that with the Sonos Arc Ultra and Sonos Sub 4. For those that already own the older counterparts, it won’t be a world-changing difference, but what Sonos manages to get out of both of these devices make it more than worth it for those jumping into the high-end for the first time.
As far as the design goes, there’s some subtle differences that make a fairly big difference. For the Arc Ultra, it’s now slightly longer, but Sonos has made the height and depth smaller so it will fit under more TVs. It’s also lighter which won’t really affect too many people once it’s on your unit. There’s a new back lip that houses all the controls including a new touch sensitive volume scroller like we’ve seen on all the more recently released Sonos devices.
It’s also got a new matte design which matches that of the Sonos Sub 4 which is hugely improved in my opinion. Whilst I really liked the piano black nature of the Sonos Sub 3, it attracted dust and it also did stand out, so the newer matte finish is much appreciated and much more premium.
Just like with any other Sonos speaker that has released in the last 12-24 months, the Arc Ultra has Bluetooth support, which is great for connecting vinyl players and other devices that can’t plug into your home network.
Probably the most disappointing thing when it comes to the Arc Ultra design is that it still only has the one HDMI port which is used to plug into your TV. I understand this probably won’t affect a lot of people, but given the soundbar takes up a HDMI port, I’d really love at least one (if not true) pass through HDMI ports given this is an $1,800 soundbar.
Really, the biggest difference in the Arc Ultra comes in the internals. Compared to the 11 drivers in the original Arc that results in a 5.0.2 setup, the Arc Ultra has 14 speaker drivers which results in a 9.1.4 channel configuration, with the biggest difference coming in the way of the new woofer which Sonos refers to as Sound Motion technology.
I don’t want to get too technical but this technology that Sonos acquired uses four smaller motors in opposing corners of the channel as opposed to one larger heavy motor which enhances bass and makes it much clearer without needing the actual speaker to be larger.
This results in a sound that obviously isn’t as good as using a soundbar with the Sonos Sub, but it’s really damn close and for the first time, I’d go as far as saying that unless you’re somebody that watches movies 24/7 and really into a deep bass, you’ll be more than fine with the Arc Ultra. I had a real hard time noticing the difference with and without which is a great compliment to the Arc Ultra.
This is the case both for music and movies where there’s a great amount of bass even without the soundbar, and music sounds absolutely fantastic using the Sonos Arc Ultra, with a great amount of balance and clarity in the voice, yet a good amount of oomph behind the beats as well.
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Another big improvement comes in the way of an improved centre channel that helps with dialogue crispness. We’ve all been there when it comes to watching a movie and not being able to hear the dialogue, but then turning it up results in action noises being too loud, and that’s why this is such a big improvement. If it’s still not clear enough for you, there’s now two levels of Speech Enhancement within the Sonos app as well.
There’s also been improvements to Dolby Atmos given the improvements in channels, and I think this is probably going to be most noticeable to those who don’t have rears (or Sonos Era 300s) at the very least. It just speaks to how good this soundbar is on its own once again.
When it comes to TruePlay, Sonos’ software that allows you to get the most out of your speaker based on your room, there’s two ways to calibrate on the Arc Ultra. There’s an advanced option which lets you use your Android/iOS device to walk around the room and calibrate, of a quick tuning option that will automatically use the microphones to automatically adjust itself.
When it comes to the Sonos Sub 4, you’re not going to need to upgrade from the Sub 3, unless you’re absolutely desperate for the matte finish (which I’d actually understand) and want a lighter sub. I’d still probably recommend it if you’re investing in the Sonos Arc Ultra, but if you’ve already got one, I’d stick with that.
Sonos has had a bit of a rocky year with its new app, which is mostly fixed now and gave me zero troubles over the last month or so testing out the Sonos Arc Ultra, and it feels like it’s absolutely back with the Sonos Arc Ultra, which will blow people away, especially if they’ve not had a Sonos Arc before.
