Ever since sitting down to watch Dune: Part One at my dad’s house a few years ago, my home theatre setup can’t satisfy me like it used to. Solid as my Sony soundbar and subwoofer are, I can’t help but think about the sweet sonics of his Sonos Arc. Now, thanks to a Black Friday discount, I’m seriously thinking about splashing the cash necessary to finally treat myself to one.
Sonos Arc
Bring all your entertainment to life and experience breathtakingly realistic spatial audio powered by Dolby Atmos with Sonos Arc.
You’ll find Sonos Arc available for $699, a 22% ($200) saving relative to its list price over on Amazon US. The soundbar has never been more affordable from the retailer, meaning there’s never been a better time to pick one up. While Amazon UK doesn’t offer a historic discount, shoppers this side of the pond do enjoy a welcome 25% (£200.04) off bringing the speaker’s cost to just £598.96. For context, that’s just £23.37 more than its best ever price.
Inside Arc’s premium-feeling plastic housing, available in black or white, Sonos packs three tweeters and eight midwoofers. These 11 drivers work together to deliver a virtual 5.0.2 surround setup, which bring Dolby Atmos mixes of films and music to life in an awesome way. For those looking to enhance the experience further, separate surround speakers and subwoofers are available as accessories. However, I must emphasise the stock configuration will be more than enough for most.
One of my favourite features of Sonos Arc is ‘Speech Enhancement’. While Christopher Nolan’s filmography is the most prevalent example of burying dialogue in audio mixes, it’s a problem that a growing number of other films and programmes share. This setup dramatically improves clarity on that front, saving you from having to reach for subtitles so you can spend more time watching instead of reading.
Sonos designs Arc as a replacement for your TV’s speakers, connecting to your setup via its eARC port but it’s also a capable standalone audio device. While it annoyingly lacks Bluetooth connectivity, the soundbar supports Apple AirPlay 2 for easy casting from an iOS device. For Android users, the Sonos app or built-in smart assistants (Google Assistant / Amazon Alexa) plug this gap.
Much as I maintain that Arc’s audio quality makes its shortcomings easy to ignore, I should note that it doesn’t have any additional HDMI ports. My LG OLED TV has plenty of connections spare for my needs, making this problem moot in my case, but it’s worth bearing in mind before buying.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to measure up my media cabinet to make sure it’s big enough for Sonos Arc.
