Bowers & Wilkins has finally jumped on the Dolby Atmos soundbar bandwagon and announced its own one-piece solution that could be a great rival to the Sonos Arc: the best soundbar you can buy today.
The Bowers & Wilkins Panorama 3 picks up where its predecessors, the Panorama and Panorama 2, left off, and is designed to deliver cinematic sound without the need for an external subwoofer or rear speakers.
Like previous models in the range, Panorama 3 is a slim and stylish soundbar, with 13 drivers arranged in a 3.1.2 configuration.
This is Bowers & Wilkins' first Dolby Atmos sound bar and it comes with 50mm angled drivers to bounce sound off the ceiling and back to your ears to give your soundtracks, movies, music and games a sense of height and space. In other words, it should sound really immersive and make you feel like sound is coming at you from all angles, without the need for a bulky surround sound setup.
Bowers & Wilkins has kept connectivity fairly simple, with a single HDMI ARC/eARC port on the back of the soundbar that you can connect to your TV, and if you have an older TV there's a digital optical port too.
Optical connections usually mean you won't be able to use your TV remote to control the soundbar; however, the Panorama 3 can learn "TV remote key commands" so you won't miss anything if your TV is older.
Stylish capacitive touchscreen buttons that light up when you interact with the soundbar give you another way to control the soundbar if you don't have the remote handy, and for voice control, the Panorama 3 comes with Alexa. Incorporated.
There's also plenty of support for wireless connectivity. The Panorama 3 supports AirPlay 2 and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth, so you can stream music from your smartphone or tablet, whether you're on iOS or Android.
Spotify Connect means you can easily access your favorite playlists, while Bowers & Wilkins music app compatibility gives you access to other streaming music services, including Deezer, Last.fm, Qobuz, Soundcloud, TIDAL and more. TuneIn. Bowers & Wilkins says the services available are expected to expand this year. You can also adjust the sound of Panorama 3 in the app, though this is limited to controlling treble and bass; there aren't any of the presets (like movie mode and music mode, for example) that many competing soundbars offer, so you can't tailor audio performance based on what you're listening to.
Bowers & Wilkins says its new soundbar is built to last, and its "powerful digital brain" can be upgraded over time. The company plans to introduce multi-room audio support "soon after launch," which would make the soundbar compatible with Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin and Formation speakers.
Could Bowers beat Sonos?
Available to buy now, the Panorama 3 is priced at €999/€899. The global price has yet to be announced, but it works out to around AU$1400.
That price puts the new soundbar in direct competition with the Sonos Arc, which costs $899 / £899 / AU$1,499 (although it's worth noting that the Arc has been subject to Sonos' price hike last year and launched at €799 / £799 / AU$1,399 in 2020).
Bowers & Wilkins might have an edge over the Sonos Arc in that it's priced as a stand-alone unit that doesn't require the added cost of a subwoofer or satellite speakers.
The Sonos Arc sounds fantastic on its own, but it's certainly better when paired with the Sonos Sub and a pair of Sonos One SL rear speakers, and that adds a lot to the cost.
Whether the Panorama 3 can deliver truly rich, immersive sound without the aid of a subwoofer to deliver boomy lows remains to be seen, but it could certainly be a popular choice for anyone looking to upgrade their home theater with a minimum of hardware. inconvenience.
Either way, we can't wait to get our hands on it to try it out for ourselves. The Sonos Arc has been our top pick for the best soundbar you can buy for almost two years now, and the prospect of a new rival is really exciting.