Bring all your entertainment to life with the brilliantly realistic sound of Arc, featuring Dolby Atmos. Enjoy control with your remote, the app, your voice, and Apple AirPlay 2. Connectivity: wifi b/g, HDMI (ARC/eARC), Optical (via adapter), Ethernet, IR, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect We really didn’t feel any desperate need to add a Sub to the Arc soundbar, there was more than enough powerful bass to allow you to feel those on-screen explosions or beat drops when turned up loud. We even felt the night mode settings that lower the bass EQ would be a useful feature for those in apartments with thin walls. With HDMI eARC and full-fat Dolby Atmos onboard, the Arc already supports a combination of features that no other Sonos product offers. So what might we expect the company to add to this already class-leading soundbar? There’s a Night Sound mode too, which reduces the difference between quiet and loud sounds – useful for hearing what’s going on when listening at lower volumes. Getting sound

The Arc's own status light consists of LEDs that shine through four holes above the subtle Sonos logo (fun fact: there are 76,000 holes in all the grilles combined). By default, these LEDs remain off most of the time and their brightness is tailored to the ambient light in the room even when they are lit (when adjusting volume, for example), so as not to appear too bright. The Sonos Arc is generally repairable, but for devices that need significant maintenance the firm typically replaces speakers with new or refurbished products to speed up the return. Highly impressive on its own, you can take the Arc to the next level by adding a Sonos Sub and a pair of One SL speakers for incredible 5.1 channel surround sound. As a bonus, because of the wireless mesh system, no speaker cables are required. The latest Sonos surround system now supports Dolby Atmos encoded movies, giving you an even more cinematic sound.

Stream music, radio, podcasts, and more from your favourite services with the Sonos app or Apple AirPlay 2 when the TV is off. Prices valid in stores (all including VAT) until close of business on 29th November 2023. (Some of these web prices are cheaper than in-store, so please mention that you've seen these offers online.) The centre tweeter and woofers are hidden behind the Sonos logo. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian With Dolby seemingly licensing the Atmos badge to anyone willing to pay the fee, it’s little guarantee of quality, as anyone who’s listened to the tiny speakers of an Atmos-badged phone or even most Atmos-badged TVs will attest.

For personalised sound, use the Sonos app to adjust bass, treble and loudness. Speech Enhancement mode optimises vocal clarity – ideal for documentaries and sports commentary. Night Sound reduces the intensity of sound, making it less intrusive for others around your home. The Arc must be plugged into the ARC-capable HDMI port on your TV, which reduces the number of HDMI ports available for actually plugging in set-top boxes, games consoles and other sources. Using ARC rather than HDMI pass-through, as home cinema receivers do, means the Arc suffers from the same problem plaguing all soundbars that connect this way: lipsync issues, where the sound and picture are out of sync. Once noticed, lipsync issues are thoroughly vexing and difficult to solve, despite most devices having a way to delay the audio to try to compensate. Connecting the Arc is easy. Simply connect to the mains then plug in your TV via HDMI. An optical digital input is also standard. For streamlined control, an Infrared sensor syncs with your TV’s remote, giving one-remote convenience. Improved stereo. Again, why? For being a sound bar and limited by it's physical shape and dimensions, it's already excellent. Buy separate speakers if you want true stereo separation.This product does not have any user-serviceable parts. Do not open or disassemble or attempt to repair it or replace any components. Refer all servicing to Sonos qualified service personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as power-supply cable or plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped. We've now tested the Arc with many of the best TVs, and it's clear that mileage varies based on brand and age. The Now Playing screen in the Sonos app flags up that Dolby Atmos is being received, while the About My System part of the settings menus confirms the format in which it’s being transmitted. With a bit of fiddling in the TV menus, all of the LG OLED and Samsung QLED TVs that we've used have been able to transmit Dolby Atmos to the Arc from their integrated apps and pass through True HD Atmos from our Oppo UDP-203 Blu-ray player without issue. Pros: sounds fantastic with music, great Dolby Atmos reproduction, super-clear vocals, Night Sound, wide soundstage, looks good, Alexa or Google Assistant, extensive music service support, simple set-up, surprisingly good bass without a sub We tested it in a room with a 20 foot (6 meter) vaulted ceiling and a nib wall behind the sofa, which makes it essentially impossible to bounce audio around behind you. Arc was carefully tuned with the help of Oscar-winning sound engineers to emphasise the human voice so you never miss a word.

Of course, your TV’s specs are important here. To get True HD Dolby Atmos, your TV needs to not only support eARC but also have pass-through functionality. And just because your TV has eARC or ARC doesn’t mean every one of its streaming apps that should carry Atmos actually will. General stereo TV sound was great. Everything from old reruns of Midsomer Murders and NCIS to Match of the Day sounded exactly as it should: clear, crisp and full. The Arc’s dialogue clarity was truly top notch coming across sounding natural and clear at all times. Not once did I have to turn up the sound to hear what was going on, and that was without the Arc’s dedicated Speech Enhancement mode. That said, the speaker’s audio positioning was good enough that in a boxier media room we’d expect you’d be able to get surprisingly close to multi-speaker surround sound using just the Arc soundbar. In-between, though, the Arc is far more sure-footed. Dialogue is centred, rich and detailed - the more actorly a voice, the more character the Sonos gives it. It projects well forward of the rest of the frequency range, too, so voices remain distinct even if there’s audio chaos surrounding them. The centre channel is the most hard-working speaker in any home cinema set-up of any type, and Sonos has ensured the middle section of the Arc has what it takes. Another much-longed-for addition for the Arc (Gen 2) would be HDMI passthrough ports, allowing users to connect source devices direct to the Arc. Sonos has always steered clear of extra inputs, citing a desire to keep its users' home cinema set-up as streamlined as possible. Still, with growing numbers of input devices hogging TV HDMIs, it's a feature often found on equivalently priced products.One of the most commonly requested upgrades from users is support for Dolby Atmos rival DTS:X, which, while not as commonly used, is still widely available on soundbars from other manufacturers.A recent firmware update gave Sonos soundbars DTS capacity but only in its basic compressed form, not the full lossless DTS:X or DTS HD MA.

Those incidental details are lovely, but the Arc is dynamically deft too, and it’s this combination of qualities that makes the performance so evocative. Each part of the plane sounds different – areas open to the elements are airy and cacophonous, while others are more enclosed and keep outside noise more muffled. As the camera switches between positions, the Arc conveys the subtly unique volume and texture of each.

Features

The LED above the Sonos logo shows when the bar is muted (here lit green) or when the smart speaker functions are active. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian More of a stretch, perhaps, but nonetheless an interesting inclusion would be RCA, optical or coaxial inputs to plug in an audio source, particularly given the increasing presence of Dolby Atmos in music.