What is Sonos Arc?
Sonos Arc is a high-end soundbar made by the audio product company Sonos. Its sleek and elegant design makes it easy to install and use in any home entertainment system. The soundbar provides an impressively immersive audio experience with its 3D sound technology that makes the listener feel like they are part of the scene they are watching.
The Sonos Arc is compatible with most home theater systems and comes with a variety of connectivity options such as HDMI, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet that allow for easy integration into the existing system. The soundbar also provides voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, making it convenient to use without having to touch a button.
The Sonos Arc soundbar boasts 11 high-performance drivers that produce clear, balanced, and powerful sound. Its up-firing drivers add an immersive height channel that fills the room with sound, while its side-firing drivers provide a broad soundstage. Its center channel driver enhances the clarity of speech, so listeners never miss a word.
One of the significant features of the Sonos Arc is its compatibility with Dolby Atmos, a sound technology that adds a height dimension to sound, creating a 3D listening environment. The soundbar also supports Dolby Digital Plus, which provides compressed digital audio for high-definition content.
Overall, the Sonos Arc is a top-of-the-line soundbar that offers an immersive audio experience with sleek design, powerful connectivity options, and compatibility with modern sound technologies.
Frequently Asked Questions about sonos arc
The Arc is more than a soundbar, too. It's also an app- or voice-controlled wireless speaker with access to practically every music streaming service, and it can be combined with other Sonos speakers in order to create a more complete surround sound arrangement or a multi-room system.
ARC, or Audio Return Channel, is a technology that enables the TV's built-in streaming apps, and devices you connect to the TV, to send audio to a connected speaker over a single HDMI cable.
The Sonos Arc is Sonos' best-selling soundbar within their range and is one of most immersive soundbar options on the market right now. The Sonos Arc's 11-speaker array combines to ensure this sound bar delivers a complete home cinema surround sound experience from a standalone soundbar.
TechRadar Verdict
The Sonos Arc is an impressive and premium Dolby Atmos experience even without a subwoofer or extra speakers. New soundbars offer even better positional sound effects, but when it comes to dynamic audio that's perfectly clear from a single-box package, it's as good as you can get for the price.
Arc, Arc SL, Beam, and Amp require a TV with an HDMI ARC port in order to utilize CEC, Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant to control your TV. If your TV does not have an HDMI ARC port, you can connect Arc, Beam, or Amp to a digital optical audio output using the optical audio adapter (only included with Arc and Beam).
Sonos Arc, Arc SL, Beam (Gen 2), and Era 300 (as surrounds) all support playback of Dolby Atmos audio when used in a Home Theater setup. This article outlines the main factors that determine if your Atmos-supported product can play Dolby Atmos audio from your TV.
Sonos Arc, Arc SL, Beam (Gen 2), and Era 300 (as surrounds) all support playback of Dolby Atmos audio when used in a Home Theater setup. This article outlines the main factors that determine if your Atmos-supported product can play Dolby Atmos audio from your TV.
Truthfully, we can't see a complete refresh of the Arc being on Sonos' radar in 2023. It's still relatively young in its lifecycle and competes very well in the current market so there is no need for a refresh right now. However, over in the US, we have already seen a Sonos Arc SL launched.
Should You Add A Subwoofer & Rears to the Sonos arc? If you want a simple one-speaker setup which offers a complete cinema-quality experience, the Sonos Arc alone will tick that box. However, there's no reason why you have to stop there.
The Samsung HW-Q90R is a better soundbar than the Sonos Arc. The Samsung is a 7.1. 4 setup with a more neutral sound profile and overall better performance at max volume.
Can I use Sonos without an Internet connection or router? No. Sonos is not designed to work without a broadband Internet connection and a router.
Should You Add A Subwoofer & Rears to the Sonos arc? If you want a simple one-speaker setup which offers a complete cinema-quality experience, the Sonos Arc alone will tick that box. However, there's no reason why you have to stop there.
The difference between Sonos and Bose is generally that Sonos is the better company in terms of their software and installation, as it's very easy to build your own multiroom setup. However, Bose still has the edge on Sonos when it comes to sound quality.
The good news is streaming service apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney Plus encode Dolby Atmos into the lossy Dolby Digital Plus format, which means ARC can handle Dolby Atmos audio from these sources.
