My Arc ultra arrived this past Wednesday, replacing my Arc which I loved. I have 300’s as surround speakers and a Sonos sub. Set up was straight forward for the ultra but needed Sonos tech support to reconnect the 300’s and sub. Though I waited about 20 minutes to connect with support, they were fantastic and resolved all issues in a relatively short time. The sound is amazing. Since I have moderate hearing loss and wear hearing aids, speech recognition can be problematic. I find the three levels in defining speech, low, medium and high, a dramatic difference for me in speech recognition. I have left it on medium and it works amazingly. I used to use subtitles but it is so clear and defined that it is now unnecessary. Kudos Sonos! For me, it was worth the upgrade.
Had the same issue with sports. Figured out if you go to settings Tv level and bump that up , you get the best of both worlds. The announcer dialogue is still crisp and the crowd volume is still immersive. The ultra now gives you a lot of options to tweak the sound to your individual liking.
I appreciate you covering HomePods in this video. I have two full-size HomePods, and while I’m satisfied with the setup, I feel Dolby Atmos content isn’t fully realised. I’m planning to upgrade to Sonos Ultra and eventually add the 300s.
Thanks for the video Eric. Like you, I currently have the Beam G2 and Sub mini and would like your opinion please - does it make sense to use the sub mini with the Ultra or is the base in the Ultra good enough as a standalone? I'm considering selling my Beam and sub mini and just getting the Ultra on it's own for now. Would appreciate your opinion - thx.
Did you run the advanced trueplay? It's currently bugged and doesn't have the right bass response. You need to do quick trueplay to have optimal results
A really beautiful and well thought out video. I'm interested in getting into the Sonos speaker field, I have a 24 square meter guest room, I should buy a beam 2+ With mini sub and era 100 or arc ultra white mini sub ?
Comments elsewhere indicate Sonos has only basic DTS capability, not DTS:X, nor other advanced DTS variants. What is your (or other commenters') take on when where and what consumers are missing with these DTS omissions? What consumers might want to look at Sonos competitors that DO include advanced DTS options?
I have sono arc plus 2 era plus 2 sub gen 3 do you think add another 2 era from stereo speakers in same room will be worth it ? Do you think I should repeat true play again will all the speakers set up .
Hiya mate, I've literally just picked up my Ultra today which is an upgrade to our current OG Arc so was wondering if you could answer a quick question for me: I've got the full rig with a pair of 300 Surrounds and 2 Sub Gen 3's. As I've not started the switch-over yet could you tell me if you removed your Surrounds and Sub from your system before swapping over to the Ultra from your Beam? And just another quick question if you don't mind, did the app actually give you the option to remove the Beam from your system or did it give you some sort of option to swap your Beam over to the Ultra?
@EpicTunaProductions thanks for the reply mate, top banana 👍🏻 That is what i did and I've got it all set up already, it was a breeze. Like it never even asked me to Trueplay it. I've whacked on The Dark Knight Rises and it's booming, definitely hasn't made the 2 Subs any quieter which is something I did read someone claim. I have instantly noticed that dialogue is definitely clearer and louder. The only wee niggle I've encountered is that the system is showing 2 Living Rooms on the app at the minute and I ain't sussed out how to remove/delete the old one?
I’m contemplating a new TV in the next couple of years and I’ve been on the fence with replacing my receiver and 5.1 Klipsch setup with Sonos. Are we there yet where I won’t feel I’m spending more money and getting less in return?
I have some family members with nice surround Klipsch systems. I think it depends a little on the system but I agree you aren't gaining much if anything in sound quality by switching to Sonos, aside from newer systems potentially like this adding support for Dolby Atmos. The bigger payoff for Sonos is having the multiroom features and the wireless convenience with sound quality that is in the same ballpark as your existing system. For lots of people, wiring speakers into their ceiling or even running speaker wire to surrounds is more than they want to do.
Stereo separate is great. You could put right and left speakers farther apart and get more, but this is plenty for my taste. Arc and Arc Ultra have components aimed to fire in left and right directions
Lol @oftensalty. It's a good point @Rigue2021. I don't have an open floor plan living room. I would bet this soundbar has enough power to handle that situation well but I haven't tried it myself. You might see less of the sound pointed around the room if the soundbar doesn't have walls or a low ceiling.
Erik Cancer is really beautiful, well done. If you recommend upgrading beam 2 +sub mini + era 100 to arc ultra? Is it worth the investment? The size of my living room is 24 square meters...
I have arc ultra 2 subs Gen3 and 2 era 100 as surrounds in a similar space, If you know how to place the speakers and the subs then you will be blown away but if you don’t know then you might end up in a difficult situation, Subs might cancel each other and have less bass output, but this is expensive and if you don’t have passion for extreme sound then don’t do it, there are cheaper options and effective ones, Bottom line spend some time for speaker placement and sound e and you will always have a good result what ever speakers and set up you use
The way I see it is that HDMI is simply the latest standard for an audio cable for the speaker. If you want more HDMI ports, it's on the TV or receiver manufacturer to add more, not the speakers.
Am not sure how this comment will go here but here it goes. At the same price of this bar u can get a samsung q990d which has a bar, a sub and 2 rear speakers. I understand sonos has a lot of options and upgradability but for a lot of houses the Samsung will be more than enough. I guess sonos is for the elite group of people in the sound bar segment the same as the nakamichi dragon.
Honestly I had the Q990C and the dialogue was trash on that. Obviously it's down to personal preference because sound is subjective, but the Q990C just left me wanting for a lot more. I also found the dialogue to be very tinny out of the bar, because it doesn't leverage the woofer in any way (and doesnt have any bass in the soundbar to begin with). I have an old Lifestyle 650 system that has a pretty trash center channel, but it leverages the woofer for voice, thus adding a much nicer dimension.
I started with the Nakamichi 7.2.4 in main TV room and I added v1 Beam with rear Symfonisk bookshelf as rear surround in my Office. I had a hard time "dialing" in the Nakamichi and always had to grab the soundbar remote to adjust the sound with every cable show, streaming show, or music listening. The Sonos Beam system just worked out the box perfectly after TruePlay. I added the Gen 3 Sub to the Beam a year later and swapped out the Symfonisk with One SLs 6 months later. The Beam system sounded better than the Nakamichi. Upgraded main TV room to the v1 Arc, dual Gen 3 subs, and Fives as rears and it sounded fantastic. Planning to upgrade the v1 Arc to the Arc Ultra (move the v1 Arc to master bedroom to replace a 2nd v1 Beam+sub+original Symfonisk from office). I couldn't do this upgrade path with the Nakamichi and this is the reason it is sitting in a closet collecting dust.
It was rough and they are gradually making it better. I talked about it a while ago on a live stream. I think it was a mistake to push all the users to a new experience, but I think at this point Sonos is trying to move past the issues. They still make great speakers. Also if you use Apple AirPlay and otherwise audio from your TV, you don't have to use their app a lot.
My Arc ultra arrived this past Wednesday, replacing my Arc which I loved. I have 300’s as surround speakers and a Sonos sub. Set up was straight forward for the ultra but needed Sonos tech support to reconnect the 300’s and sub. Though I waited about 20 minutes to connect with support, they were fantastic and resolved all issues in a relatively short time. The sound is amazing. Since I have moderate hearing loss and wear hearing aids, speech recognition can be problematic. I find the three levels in defining speech, low, medium and high, a dramatic difference for me in speech recognition. I have left it on medium and it works amazingly. I used to use subtitles but it is so clear and defined that it is now unnecessary. Kudos Sonos! For me, it was worth the upgrade.
That's great Arthur! Thanks for sharing your experience here.
Did they fix the app issues ?
Had the same issue with sports. Figured out if you go to settings Tv level and bump that up , you get the best of both worlds. The announcer dialogue is still crisp and the crowd volume is still immersive. The ultra now gives you a lot of options to tweak the sound to your individual liking.
I appreciate you covering HomePods in this video. I have two full-size HomePods, and while I’m satisfied with the setup, I feel Dolby Atmos content isn’t fully realised. I’m planning to upgrade to Sonos Ultra and eventually add the 300s.
Thanks for the video Eric. Like you, I currently have the Beam G2 and Sub mini and would like your opinion please - does it make sense to use the sub mini with the Ultra or is the base in the Ultra good enough as a standalone? I'm considering selling my Beam and sub mini and just getting the Ultra on it's own for now. Would appreciate your opinion - thx.
Nice review and I am updating my playbar Sonos for this masterpiece Ultra, do you think Sonos will have discounts for Black Friday?
Did you run the advanced trueplay? It's currently bugged and doesn't have the right bass response. You need to do quick trueplay to have optimal results
Will Sub gen 2 work as great as sub gen 3/4?
A really beautiful and well thought out video.
I'm interested in getting into the Sonos speaker field, I have a 24 square meter guest room, I should buy a beam 2+ With mini sub and era 100 or arc ultra white mini sub ?
It is important to use threadlocker, the sound vibration loosen the screws overtime
I´ve got a Beam 2 and a paor of one's as surrounds. What about that combination, Arc Ultra and a pair of One's? I also have a Sub Gen 1...
Please talk more of the bass experience now that you paired the arc with the sub mini. and if possible without rear speakers
Comments elsewhere indicate Sonos has only basic DTS capability, not DTS:X, nor other advanced DTS variants.
What is your (or other commenters') take on when where and what consumers are missing with these DTS omissions? What consumers might want to look at Sonos competitors that DO include advanced DTS options?
I have sono arc plus 2 era plus 2 sub gen 3 do you think add another 2 era from stereo speakers in same room will be worth it ? Do you think I should repeat true play again will all the speakers set up .
Big spender 😉
Hiya mate, I've literally just picked up my Ultra today which is an upgrade to our current OG Arc so was wondering if you could answer a quick question for me:
I've got the full rig with a pair of 300 Surrounds and 2 Sub Gen 3's.
As I've not started the switch-over yet could you tell me if you removed your Surrounds and Sub from your system before swapping over to the Ultra from your Beam?
And just another quick question if you don't mind, did the app actually give you the option to remove the Beam from your system or did it give you some sort of option to swap your Beam over to the Ultra?
I had to remove the surrounds and sub before disconnecting the old arc. They wont show up on the ultra if you don't
@EpicTunaProductions thanks for the reply mate, top banana 👍🏻
That is what i did and I've got it all set up already, it was a breeze. Like it never even asked me to Trueplay it.
I've whacked on The Dark Knight Rises and it's booming, definitely hasn't made the 2 Subs any quieter which is something I did read someone claim. I have instantly noticed that dialogue is definitely clearer and louder.
The only wee niggle I've encountered is that the system is showing 2 Living Rooms on the app at the minute and I ain't sussed out how to remove/delete the old one?
I’m contemplating a new TV in the next couple of years and I’ve been on the fence with replacing my receiver and 5.1 Klipsch setup with Sonos. Are we there yet where I won’t feel I’m spending more money and getting less in return?
If you have a traditional AVR setup, I think you will be disappointed with a wireless solution, at least from a sound perspective.
I have some family members with nice surround Klipsch systems. I think it depends a little on the system but I agree you aren't gaining much if anything in sound quality by switching to Sonos, aside from newer systems potentially like this adding support for Dolby Atmos. The bigger payoff for Sonos is having the multiroom features and the wireless convenience with sound quality that is in the same ballpark as your existing system. For lots of people, wiring speakers into their ceiling or even running speaker wire to surrounds is more than they want to do.
O have a question de seapration right and left in a movie do you hear it?? Or not?? Greetings
Stereo separate is great. You could put right and left speakers farther apart and get more, but this is plenty for my taste. Arc and Arc Ultra have components aimed to fire in left and right directions
@ thank you so much
I don't even have a TV yet, but thank you for helping me decide on my eventual soundbar.
Question - Why is it most of these videos are showing an enclose room (living room is a close box).
Probably because most rooms are enclosed. That’s kind of how rooms work.
Lol @oftensalty. It's a good point @Rigue2021. I don't have an open floor plan living room. I would bet this soundbar has enough power to handle that situation well but I haven't tried it myself. You might see less of the sound pointed around the room if the soundbar doesn't have walls or a low ceiling.
This. Lots (likely most) newer homes and apartments are open concept.
Erik Cancer is really beautiful, well done.
If you recommend upgrading beam 2 +sub mini + era 100 to arc ultra? Is it worth the investment? The size of my living room is 24 square meters...
I have arc ultra 2 subs Gen3 and 2 era 100 as surrounds in a similar space,
If you know how to place the speakers and the subs then you will be blown away but if you don’t know then you might end up in a difficult situation,
Subs might cancel each other and have less bass output, but this is expensive and if you don’t have passion for extreme sound then don’t do it, there are cheaper options and effective ones,
Bottom line spend some time for speaker placement and sound e and you will always have a good result what ever speakers and set up you use
Those are great points. Also using Sonos Advanced TruePlay tuning will make the most of your end setup.
Why half of RUclipsrs pushing upgrade? I'm going to buy it as my first soundbar
If you have no soundbar the question is still valid - should you pay more for the new one or get the old one for cheaper?
@BoomerPlusUltra is exactly right. This is why I have a segment in the video comparing two common Sonos options that cost around $1K.
@@BoomerPlusUltra for now old Arc for $900 makes no sense
If you’re in the states the Arc was just 699 at Best Buy yesterday
@@walidhannaoui1802 that was probably an open box
I think I'll stick with my Samsung Q990D 😉.
Think imma go for an Arc Ultra and then Symfonisk speakers down the road, whenever IKEA decides to have a sale...
I haven't tried the Symfonisk models myself but that sounds like a good plan.
But it only has 1 HDMI port😢
and why it would need more? its only ARC for TV
@@SAFRECwhy wouldn't it. Only one HDMI input is pretty cheap from them. You are completely dependent on your TV set.
The way I see it is that HDMI is simply the latest standard for an audio cable for the speaker. If you want more HDMI ports, it's on the TV or receiver manufacturer to add more, not the speakers.
@@EricWelandergoing from a device to tv hdmi then speaker hdmi causes latency. It’s better to go from a PS5 direct to speaker.
you need that gen 4 or 3 sub bud lol i have the ultra 300s and gen 4 sub
Sonos needs to allow the customer to use (5) Era 300’s as a complete 5 channel system already. How hard could it be.
Am not sure how this comment will go here but here it goes.
At the same price of this bar u can get a samsung q990d which has a bar, a sub and 2 rear speakers. I understand sonos has a lot of options and upgradability but for a lot of houses the Samsung will be more than enough.
I guess sonos is for the elite group of people in the sound bar segment the same as the nakamichi dragon.
Honestly I had the Q990C and the dialogue was trash on that. Obviously it's down to personal preference because sound is subjective, but the Q990C just left me wanting for a lot more. I also found the dialogue to be very tinny out of the bar, because it doesn't leverage the woofer in any way (and doesnt have any bass in the soundbar to begin with). I have an old Lifestyle 650 system that has a pretty trash center channel, but it leverages the woofer for voice, thus adding a much nicer dimension.
I started with the Nakamichi 7.2.4 in main TV room and I added v1 Beam with rear Symfonisk bookshelf as rear surround in my Office. I had a hard time "dialing" in the Nakamichi and always had to grab the soundbar remote to adjust the sound with every cable show, streaming show, or music listening. The Sonos Beam system just worked out the box perfectly after TruePlay. I added the Gen 3 Sub to the Beam a year later and swapped out the Symfonisk with One SLs 6 months later. The Beam system sounded better than the Nakamichi. Upgraded main TV room to the v1 Arc, dual Gen 3 subs, and Fives as rears and it sounded fantastic. Planning to upgrade the v1 Arc to the Arc Ultra (move the v1 Arc to master bedroom to replace a 2nd v1 Beam+sub+original Symfonisk from office).
I couldn't do this upgrade path with the Nakamichi and this is the reason it is sitting in a closet collecting dust.
Whatever happened with their app fiasco?
It was rough and they are gradually making it better. I talked about it a while ago on a live stream. I think it was a mistake to push all the users to a new experience, but I think at this point Sonos is trying to move past the issues. They still make great speakers. Also if you use Apple AirPlay and otherwise audio from your TV, you don't have to use their app a lot.
Useless, doesnt support the standard DTS HD MA from UHD Bluray discs. Thats 99% of my watching.
Sonos works for me because Bluray or gaming is 0% of my watching since 2021.
Wait for Black Friday for the best deals.
As a newer model it may not go on sale. The Era 300’s didn’t when they came out.
New sonos isnt going on sale lol.
@ - Did I say it would? 🤡
Can’t wait for 30% off when these suckers paid full price
If you are hoping to get an Arc (non-ultra) at a discount, this would make sense. The Arc Ultra likely won't get discounted this year.