Disclosure: The Arc was provided by Sonos for this review. Please read more about our product review disclosure here.

Is a single soundbar really capable of delivering true cinema-quality sound in your living room? I’ve spent extensive time testing the Sonos Arc to answer this pressing question. My comprehensive Sonos Arc review examines how this premium soundbar fares in 2024, especially when it comes to delivering immersive Dolby Atmos performance.

My goal is to walk you through everything you need to know about this high-end soundbar, from its room-filling sound and upward-firing drivers to its smart features and integration with the Sonos ecosystem. My testing covers sound quality across movies, TV shows, and music, testing essential features like speech enhancement, night mode, and Trueplay tuning. Whether you’re looking to upgrade your home theater or searching for the best soundbar without a subwoofer, this review will help you make an informed decision.

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• Sonos Arc
• HDMI cable (1.5m)
• Power cable (2m)
• Optical adapter
• Documentation

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The Sonos Arc has an extremely premium look and feel to it. The Arc is plastic on the outside but has a very smooth texture, even the speaker grill along the front and sides is smooth and feels incredibly strong. There are no raised parts with the exception of the Sonos logo on the front. The soundbar itself is fairly heavy at almost 14 pounds, but the weight reinforces the premium aspect of the Arc, adding to its overall solid feel.

The buttons on the middle top area of the Arc are capacitive, which is never my first choice when it comes to button design as I prefer tactile feedback. That being said, you probably won’t be using the buttons a whole lot anyway. There are three buttons, with the left one decreasing the volume, the middle one controlling playback (play/pause), and the right one increasing volume. You can also swipe from left to right or right to left to go to the next or previous song when music is playing. A status light is present just below the middle button, and the microphone is located on the far right side of the soundbar, with a capacitive touch button activating it.

Looking at the back of the Arc we have a small area where all the connections are located. On the left side is the HDMI port, in the middle is the Join button and ethernet port, and on the right is the power connector. I appreciate how everything is located in one area to make cable routing easier to manage.

Sonos recommends having at least 4” of space between the top of the Arc and the bottom of your TV if being placed underneath the TV. This is due to the upward-firing speakers for Dolby Atmos content. Ideally, you would want the Arc placed in an open environment, such as I’ve done, so that nothing is blocking the top or sides of it. Sonos also sells a wall mounting kit for those who would prefer to place it that way.

Sonos App Integration

The Sonos Arc integrates into the Sonos ecosystem, meaning existing Sonos users can simply add the Arc to their existing setup. New users are able to easily set up the Arc using the updated Sonos app, which thankfully works pretty well now on both iOS and Android (I tested using both platforms). The older S2 Sonos app for Windows also still works well. I won’t go into the features of the Sonos App itself, but I’ll post some screenshots below that relate to the Arc and its specific settings. If you’d like to see a detailed overview of the Sonos app and ecosystem, let me know in the comments or by sending me a message.

Trueplay

A really unique feature of some of the speakers from Sonos, including the Arc, is the Trueplay feature. This uses your phone’s microphone to measure sound emitted from the Arc to see how the sound reflects off the walls, furnishings, and furniture in the room you’re using the speaker in. It then builds an acoustic profile from this to optimize the audio performance so that it sounds good and clear no matter where you are in the room. I tried it and it felt it did help fill in a few dead spots in my living room, so I would recommend everyone to do it if they have a compatible device.

Speaking of compatible devices, this is the only downside to the Trueplay feature. As of the time of this review, it is only supported on iOS and iPadOS devices, with the exception of most newer iPad models released in the last 5 years. Android devices are not supported at all. I had to use my wife’s iPhone XS as my Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 and 2020 iPad Pro 11” are both not supported. It’s a shame because the feature is worthwhile and adds a lot of value.

Night Sound and Speech Enhancement

Night Sound is useful in situations where you don’t want the volume of the Arc to be too loud, but you still want to hear even the quiet details. Turning this on decreases the dynamic range so that quitter sounds become louder, and louder sounds become quieter, essentially normalizing the audio. It works extremely well and I didn’t feel like I was losing too much audio detail with it on.

The Speech Enhancement feature boosts the center channel and related frequencies where the audio track is typically located. I found this very useful in older movies and TV shows where the audio mix was not ideal. It also works really well for podcasts.

Airplay 2

While the Sonos Arc may lack Bluetooth (which is disappointing honestly), it does support Airplay 2, meaning you can cast audio from most Apple devices. This is extremely handy as you don’t need to navigate to the Sonos app to play music from a service such as Apple Music, you can simply play it from your iPhone or iPad with just a few button presses.

TV Audio Swap

If you own a Sonos Ace headphone you can use the TV Audio Swap feature. This lets you play audio from your Sonos Arc to your Sonos Ace headphones. I did a detailed write-up of it in my Sonos Ace review here. I like the feature more than I thought and have used it way more than I anticipated. Definitely a bonus for investing in the Sonos ecosystem.

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After extensive testing across various content types, I’ve discovered that the Sonos Arc’s sound performance truly shines in creating an immersive audio experience. The eleven precisely engineered internal speakers work in concert to deliver a sophisticated soundstage that transforms any living room into a personal theater. Sonos even provides some basic EQ options so you can tune the bass and treble (I recommend +2 on both to get a more natural sound), though ti would have been nice to have a full equalizer to use.

Dolby Atmos Experience

I am particularly impressed by how the Arc handles spatial audio through its upward-firing drivers. During my testing with Dolby Atmos content, the soundbar created a convincing dome of sound that extended well beyond its physical dimensions. The front-to-back sound field demonstrated remarkable cohesion, especially when watching action sequences where sounds moved dynamically across the room.

What truly sets the Arc apart is its ability to create distinct layers of sound:

• Overhead effects feel genuinely above you, thanks to the dedicated height channels (which can be customized in the settings)
• Side-firing drivers expand the soundstage significantly wider than the bar’s physical width
• Front-stage separation maintains clarity even during complex scenes

Music Playback

When it comes to music performance, I found the Arc’s performance to be mostly good. While it handles spatial audio tracks impressively, especially through services supporting Dolby Atmos Music, traditional stereo playback revealed some limitations. The dynamic range is excellent, but I  noticed that bass response, while present, isn’t as punchy as some might prefer without the additional Sonos Sub.

If bass performance is something you can overlook, or if you plan on purchasing a Sonos sub in the future, I think most people will be very happy with how the Arc outputs music audio. Compared to my Samsung HW-Q80R soundbar, the Arc is noticeably clearer in the midrange and treble, allowing you to hear instrument separation and more fine details. The Arc also has a larger soundstage than the Samsung, so orchestral pieces really impress.

Stereo and Surround Sound

Traditional stereo, 5.1, and 7.1 content sounds excellent with the Arc. I found it accurately reproduces the channel placement of each type of content, so that surround sound really does sound like it’s surrounding you. It also doesn’t fall into the pitfall that most soundbars suffer from when it comes to stereo content. Most soundbars make 2.0 content sound very congested with very little separation between dialog and background elements. The Arc handles this superbly, and in instances where dialog is still hard to hear the Speech Enhancement feature essentially fixes it.

Overall, what really impresses me most is the Arc’s ability to create what I call the “sweet spot bubble” – an area where all audio elements come together perfectly. This isn’t just about loud sound; it’s about precise audio placement. During intense action sequences, I could clearly track sound movement across the room, while quieter scenes maintained their intimacy without losing detail.

The Sonos Arc shows what modern soundbar technology can achieve, delivering exceptional Dolby Atmos performance through its sophisticated driver array and premium construction. All that while being four years old. My extensive testing revealed remarkable spatial audio capabilities, particularly noticeable during complex action sequences and atmospheric content. The thoughtful design choices, from solid materials to practical cable management, demonstrate Sonos’s commitment to both performance and user experience.

Smart features elevate the Arc beyond traditional soundbar functionality, transforming it into a central hub for home entertainment. The combination of versatile voice control options, seamless ecosystem integration, and powerful Trueplay room optimization creates an audio solution that adapts to various environments and user preferences. While the price point positions it in the premium segment, the Sonos Arc justifies its flagship status through superior sound quality, build excellence, and a comprehensive feature set that will satisfy demanding home theater enthusiasts.

While it does suffer in bass performance, those needing more can add a Sonos sub to the setup, as well as expand the surround sound capabilities by adding additional Sonos speakers. That level of flexibility is hard to beat. The Sonos Arc Ultra was recently released, priced $100 USD more than the Arc. At $899 USD the Arc is still a solid buy, though it’s sure to go on sale now, which might be the best time to buy. Even at the original price, I can highly recommend the Sonos Arc.

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I’m not always able to cover all the details of a product, both hardware and software, in our reviews. If you have any specific questions you’d like answered about this product please feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly.

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