Despite the name, the Sonos Arc Ultra is not some souped up alternative to the company’s premium Arc soundbar, a tempting upsell with all the features you want but don’t technically need. Instead, this is truly a sequel to the Arc — and a replacement for it, as the original Arc will be phased out until the remaining stock is sold.
So, why the slightly confusing new name? Sonos’s argument is simple. While the Arc Ultra looks a lot like its predecessor from the outside, on the inside it’s all changed — changed enough that the company felt the usual “Gen 2” label would undersell things.
So, since I’m coming from an Arc, I feel qualified to ask and answer: how new is the Arc Ultra really, and how does it compare to the original Arc and the rest of the serious soundbar market?
Sonos Arc Ultra
The Sonos Arc Ultra is the company’s most premium soundbar, powered by its new Sound Motion technology. It sounds incredible and looks sweet, but existing Sonos Arc owners may feel that there’s not quite enough of an improvement to justify the $1,000 upgrade.
- Fantastic sound quality
- Full Sonos integration
- Expensive
- Sounds and looks similar to the 4-year-old Arc
- Sonos’s new app still has issues
Price, availability, and specs
The Arc Ultra is available now, from Sonos itself and the usual spread of tech retailers, and will set you back a cool $999.
That’s a $100 premium on the $899 Arc, though at the time of writing that soundbar was discounted to much less, at just $699. At that price, the original is almost certainly the better buy, though I don’t expect the stock to last much longer.
What’s good about the Sonos Arc Ultra?
Same-same, but different
What’s best about the Arc Ultra is that it’s a healthy mix of the new bits and old. The design, for example, is almost unchanged, and all the better for it. The Ultra is a little longer than its predecessor, though with a lower profile to help account for increasingly slimline TV stands. But aside from the adjusted dimensions, it really looks remarkably familiar — my partner didn’t even notice that the soundbar had been swapped until I pointed it out.
The controls have moved a little further back, into a dedicated block at the soundbar’s rear. A slightly indented swiping volume bar from the recent Era speakers has been incorporated here, but the controls are otherwise pretty familiar.
Other welcome returning features include full support for wireless audio passthrough to the Sonos Ace headphones (more on that later), a mix of the manual Trueplay tuning (for iOS) and the slightly less capable automatic version (for Android), and the seamless option to combine the soundbar with a Sonos subwoofer or surrounds for a more complete home theater.
What’s new is everything on the inside that makes the Ultra sound, well, ultra. This is the first Sonos speaker to use what it calls: Sound Motion technology. The long and short of it is that this technology has allowed Sonos to create a much smaller subwoofer without compromising on bass output. Reducing the size of that woofer in turn frees up space for other drivers, and so the Ultra contains a grand total of 14 — three more than the first Arc.
Between additional speakers and some adjusted positioning, the Arc Ultra delivers more detailed audio and a more immersive surround sound and Dolby Atmos experience. I decided not to pair it with my usual Era 100 surrounds for a fairer test, and was surprised to find that I scarcely missed them. No, the Ultra can’t entirely replicate the experience of an actual pair of speakers behind your head, but by bouncing the sound at angles all over, it does a remarkably good imitation.
I don’t normally also use my soundbar for music, but the Ultra is more than capable of pulling its weight when needed. There’s a remarkable range and openness to the sound, and almost total clarity. The smaller Sound Motion subwoofer still delivers bass that can be either slinky or pounding, depending on the circumstance, though pairing it with the also-new Sub 4 does contribute an appreciable addition to the oomph.
TL;DR? Yes, this sounds better than the original Arc did, and probably better than just about any other soundbar you’ll find at the price. That said, I still wouldn’t especially recommend the Ultra as an upgrade option for existing Arc owners.
What’s bad about the Sonos Arc Ultra?
Diminishing returns
The first problem facing the Arc Ultra is a simple one: the Arc was really bloody good. That won’t matter to anyone buying their first Sonos soundbar, or upgrading from a cheaper model like the Ray or Beam. But since the original Arc is now over four years old, I’d wager a few existing owners will be at least considering the Ultra as an upgrade. And while it does sound great, I’m not sure if it is different enough to justify a $1,000 outlay.
Read our review
Sonos Arc review: More than you need, exactly what you want
The Arc is the best soundbar around for big rooms where money doesn’t matter
I was using my Arc until I reviewed the Ultra, and have returned to it since Sonos collected the new soundbar from me. The Ultra didn’t feel like a game-changing upgrade when I swapped it in, and I can’t say I’ve missed it terribly since it left. It’s a great soundbar, but we’re deep into diminishing returns territory at this point.
For all its size and heft, I think the really demanding users that will be able to justify dropping a grand on a soundbar will also find themselves strongly considering adding the Sub 4 to their setup, which is another $800.
I can’t help but wonder what would have been if Sonos had used the Sound Motion tech to deliver more bass rather than the additional tweeters and midwoofers it squeezed in — would this have been a soundbar that truly didn’t require a sub alongside it? We’ll never know, but the fact that Sonos launched a new subwoofer alongside the Arc Ultra tells you it may not want its soundbars’ bass to get quite that good just yet.
Finally, a quick note on software and connectivity. This used to be a key strength of Sonos tech, but ever since the company updated its app earlier this year, that hasn’t been quite as true. It’s still building back to feature parity with the older app — though it’s nearly there — but I haven’t found reliability to be on par just yet.
Despite repeated resets and attempts, I completely failed to pair my Sonos Ace headphones with the Arc Ultra for their wireless audio passthrough mode. Maybe that’s because the Ace had already connected to my old Arc, but the resets should have resolved that — and besides, that’s the exact situation any existing Arc and Ace owners will be in.
I had other smaller connectivity issues during my time with the Arc Ultra — the speaker disappearing from the app or from my Bluetooth or struggling to pair with my surrounds and sub — though these all resolved themselves in time. But for $999, I expect issues like this to be minimal, if not non-existent. I just can’t quite trust my Sonos network like I used to.
Matters aren’t helped by the new app, which offers no error codes and minimal troubleshooting. So, when problems do occur, you’ll be in the dark and reliant on Googling the problem and hoping for the best.
Should you buy it?
If you already own the Arc, and it works fine, upgrading is absolutely not necessary. It’s just not enough of an upgrade to be worthwhile. For everyone else, consider it — but look for a discounted original Arc first, while stocks last, as big savings would also be enough to make that model the better buy.
Otherwise, don’t let me discourage you about the Arc Ultra too much. It really is an exceptional sounding speaker, and if you want to spend $1,000 on a top soundbar, then I’m not sure if you can do much better. It looks beautiful, sounds fantastic, and should run well for years to come — assuming Sonos gets its software together a bit.
Sonos Arc Ultra
The Sonos Arc Ultra is the company’s most premium soundbar, powered by its new Sound Motion technology. It sounds incredible and looks sweet, but existing Sonos Arc owners may feel that there’s not quite enough of an improvement to justify the $1,000 upgrade.
