Sonos Arc Review: Best Dolby Atmos Soundbar Available — Tech Geeked
By: Kevin Compton
Tags: Bluetooth, Gadgets, Electronics, Technology, Sonos

The Sonos Arc is a Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar intended to replace the Sonos Playbar. The Playbar, first introduced in 2013, offered multi-room music and a simple connection to TVs.

Does the Sonos Arc soundbar live up to its predecessor?

The Sonos Arc isn’t the only soundbar that supports Dolby Atmos technology, but it is the best-sounding soundbar you can buy. The only downside to this gorgeous listening experience is that Sonos only thought to include one HDMI port. The Sonos Arc accurately recreates sound profiles — from stereo music to surround sound.

The main benefit of the soundbar is support for Sonos’ multi-room music system. That now includes voice assistant support for both Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. The Arc also features a four far-field microphone array for detecting those voice commands, even while playing music or watching TV.

The WiFi-based system includes wireless and an Ethernet port. Much like Sonos’ other speakers, the Arc supports Apple Airplay and Spotify Connect. Unfortunately, the Sonos Arc doesn’t include support for Bluetooth audio streaming. That means you can’t connect a podcast app from your phone to the speaker to listen (unless that app is Spotify).

Sonos App

The Sonos Arc soundbar doesn’t include a physical remote control. You can connect the soundbar to a TV and use HDMI-CEC to control it or use the

The app itself is relatively straightforward for setup, but there are a couple of caveats you should be aware of in this soundbar.

The Now Playing page of the app displays a Dolby Atmos logo when supported devices are connected. That helps diagnose connection issues between the TV and the soundbar. With only one HDMI port, the Sonos Arc features some limitations, especially with older smart TVs.

Only One HDMI?

Yes, it’s true the Sonos Arc only features a single HDMI ARC port. ARC stands for Audio Return Channel, allowing smart TV apps and connected devices to send audio to the soundbar. It’s also a relatively new technology that requires a smart TV that supports the technology.

That’s not a problem if you’ve already upgraded to a 4K smart TV, but older 1080p TVs might not support ARC. That means you won’t get the full Dolby Atmos experience through the Sonos Arc. Most TVs from 2016 and onwards support Dolby Digital Plus pass-through technology. 4K Blu-ray support requires even newer TVs with the eARC technology to deliver Dolby Atmos audio.

If you’re buying the Sonos Arc for the full Dolby Atmos experience — make sure your TV is compatible.

Pros:

Amazing sound thanks to Dolby Atmos support

All-in-one unit with no subwoofer required

Includes voice assistant support (Google/Alexa)

Cons:

Only one HDMI port limits connections

No Bluetooth streaming

May need a TV upgrade for Dolby Atmos support

Sound Quality

While Dolby Atmos requires newer hardware for full functionality, you may not even miss it.

The Sonos Arc does a fantastic job of creating accurate and balanced sound for TV, movies, and video games. You can even tweak the onboard EQ in the Sonos app to get the exact sound profile for your room.

Conclusion

The Sonos Arc is now the most expensive audio product you can buy from Sonos, at $799.

Despite the limitation of only one HDMI port, the listening experience is second to none.

Dolby Atmos support finally brings a theater-like experience to the home — all without an extra subwoofer.