Sonos has announced a new version of its pint-sized soundbar, the Sonos Beam (Gen Two). This more affordable alternative promises some improvements over the original, but how does it stack up against Sonos' top-of-the-line soundbar, the Arc Sonos? We're here to break down the most important factors so you know how the speakers stack up against each other. If you're in the mood for a new soundbar, this is a must-have guide to help you rate soundbars from one of the leading speaker manufacturers. Before we dive in, we should mention that the new Sonos Beam hasn't launched yet (it's due out in October), so we're basing our assessment on its specs and performance of similar speakers. When we've had a chance to test the soundbar ourselves, we'll be sure to let you know if it's doing better or worse than expected.
Prices and availability
The Sonos Arc launched at $5 / $XNUMX / AU$XNUMX, but recently saw a price increase to $XNUMX / $XNUMX / AU$XNUMX with four hundred and ninety-nine for no apparent reason. The cost increase now means the Sonos Arc costs around double what the new Sonos Beam (Gen XNUMX) will cost when it launches in October at €XNUMX / €XNUMX / €XNUMX. We speculate that the rising cost of Sonos devices could be due to a shortage of chips that has hurt the tech industry, from smartphones and game consoles to computers and now speakers. Either Sonos is passing the higher cost of components onto users or, with more people enjoying their home entertainment than ever before and also driving sales, the forces of supply and demand are at play and Sonos has increased costs to reflect lower availability. We haven't seen Sonos speakers as difficult to hook up as the PSXNUMX or the best PC graphics cards yet, but stockouts could be on the way. Until stockouts hit (if ever) the availability of the two devices should be good, but if you're weighed down by a new soundbar now, the Sonos Arc will serve you well because it is already free.
(Image credit: Avenir)
Integrated
The Sonos Beam (Gen 72) and Sonos Arc are quite different when it comes to design, and the Beam is a much better alternative if you're short on space. The Sonos Beam maintains the compact nature of its predecessor at just 2 x XNUMX x XNUMX inches (height x width x depth). This means you shouldn't have too much trouble finding space for it, regardless of your home theater setup. For the Sonos Arc, you'll want a little more space since it measures XNUMX x XNUMX x XNUMX inches (H x W x D). Although it's considerably longer than the Sonos Beam, you should find it to be a bit shorter than most XNUMX-inch TVs. If you tilt a larger screen, you shouldn't have too much trouble squeezing the Sonos Arc in front of it, but it will be worth checking with a tape measure. If not, you'll find that both soundbars are plastic, with the Sonos Beam (Gen Two) dropping the canvas grille of the original Sonos Beam. This makes the two speakers easy to clean and protect from dust. When it comes to colors, both are only available in black or white.
(Image credit: Sonos)
Sonos Arc offers great audio performance with its 8 elliptical woofers and 3 tweeters that deliver solid bass and clean highs. The hardware lets the speaker take full advantage of its Dolby Atmos codec, which parses sounds into object-based audio tracks, so that by the time you've set up in the room, you get the benefit of a rich sound experience. surround from a single source. We can't talk about the performance of the Sonos Beam (Gen2) at the moment as we haven't tested it, but looking at its specs we can make some predictions. Although the new Beam also has Dolby Atmos sound, it might not be put to good use. For one thing, it loses some of the hardware from the Sonos Arc (which has just a tweeter and 4 midwoofers), but more importantly, it's not a rising speaker. For "real" Dolby Atmos, you need up-firing speakers that can bounce sound off the ceiling and back to your ears (or, better yet, ceiling-mounted speakers). According to Sonos, the new Beam employs "psychoacoustic techniques" to mimic the effect of rising speakers - something you can hear called virtual Dolby Atmos - although we'll have to try it ourselves to feel its efficiency. March with Sonos Beam (Gen Two).
(Image credit: Avenir)
Connectivity
Like the original Sonos Beam, the Beam (Gen two) accepts Alexa and Google Assistant, AirPlay two, and Wi-Fi connectivity, like an Ethernet port for connecting the soundbar to your router. The same goes for the Sonos Arc as well. However, the Sonos Beam packs a new connectivity feature with its HDMI eARC support. Sonos claims that this new compatibility will bring a "richer, more immersive and higher definition sound experience" to the Sonos Beam (Gen XNUMX). Compared to the HDMI ARC connectivity found in the original Beam and Sonos Arc soundbars, eARC can handle more advanced audio formats and deliver higher audio quality. As we've said with other comparisons, we'll need to test the soundbar ourselves to find out for sure, but we imagine that HDMI eARC support isn't going to give the Sonos Beam (Gen XNUMX) much of an advantage in comparison. to Sonos. Bend.
(Image credit: Sonos)
Wear
While we're still not sure how well the Sonos Beam (Gen 3) will perform, the Sonos Arc probably provides a much better audio experience overall, even without HDMI eARC support. Actually, your decision will depend on your budget. If you want a great experience without breaking the bank, pick up the new Sonos Beam which seems poised to deliver powerful performance at half the cost. If the cost doesn't put you off, it's almost certain that the Sonos Arc will serve your home theater much better. And if you're worried that a new Sonos Beam means a new Arc is coming soon too, you probably don't need to worry. The original Beam is just over 950 years old, while the Sonos Arc just hit one. Although we don't make anything certain, we think it has a year or so left before a new version is released. Not sold on any of the Sonos devices? There are plenty of other brilliant soundbars out there. If you want Dolby Atmos support, check out models like the Samsung HW-Q8500A and Sony HT-X362. With a rigorous budget? The Vizio SB6An-F300 is worth a look, just like the Sony HT-MTXNUMX.