Changing Home Theater, Again -- Sonos Arc Ultra Review

As always, thank you for watching our Sonos Arc Ultra review. Don’t forget to leave a comment for Friday’s Unplugged! To see how we tested this Arc Ultra, check out the 🧪Testing section below.

➕ SHOP THE NEW SONOS SOUNDBAR: Sonos Arc Ultra

– or get them bundled & save $300

– previous gen

– other

– our speaker stands (shown with the Era 300s)

➕ COMPARABLE SOUNDBAR & SOUNDBAR LIKE SYSTEMS

Also Mentioned

🧪 TESTING THE SONOS ARC ULTRA

POWER

SPEAKERS

SUBWOOFER

TVs

SOURCES

MEDIA

SPEAKERS STANDS, CABLES & ACCESSORIES

➕ SONOS ARC ULTRA REVIEW: Changing Home Theater AGAIN

00:00 SONOS ARC ULTRA REVIEW: What’s new?
02:05 SONOS ARC ULTRA SETUP & SONOS APP
03:32 SONOS ARC ULTRA SOUND QUALITY (just the bar)
08:25 ULTIMATE IMMERSIVE SET SOUND QUALITY: Sonos Ultra, Era 300s and Subwoofer(s)
10:19 SONOS SUB GEN 4 vs GEN 3
11:24 ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
12:14 SONOS ULTRA vs Samsung Q990D and the Sony Quad
14:48 SHOULD YOU UPGRADE YOUR ARC TO THE ARC ULTRA?
15:16 SONOS vs OTHER SOUNDBARS

➕ WHAT’S IN OUR LIVING ROOM (Some products may be tagged in the video 🛍)

MEDIA BENCH 🛍
LOUNGE CHAIRS 🛍

🗒️ ABOUT US

💰VIDEO AND CHANNEL REVIEW POLICY & FTC DISCLOSURES

FTC DISCLOSURE: This video is NOT SPONSORED.
PRODUCT REVIEWED: The Arc Ultra was sent “on loan” by the manufacturer.
OUR CHANNEL REVIEW POLICY: We do not allow/accept payment or free product(s) in exchange for a review, video, or our time. Unless the loan period has been extended or the product has been purchased at the Channel’s expense, all products are returned following our review.
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#sonos #soundbar #hometheater

[Seskoi]

14:07 the best argument in favor of Sonos in my opinion. I now have a Sonos Arc + 2 Ones as surrounds. Now I can upgrade to 2 Era 300 as rears and keep the 2 Ones for other rooms. That's great and something you can't do with any other brand!

[aansxe]

I picked up Sony Quads with SW5 this week based on you review. I heard the Ultra right before my purchase at my neighbors house, while both are fantastic. My back living room wall is a main walkway from our front door so having the quads wall mounted vs. era 300s was a no brainer for my room. We are absolutely loving the set up! From sound to aesthetics.

[nathan.montanez]

Just grabbed the arc ultra with 2 era 300s and the gen 4 sub for Black Friday.. absolutely blown away and can’t get enough of this setup!!

[kenko]

I bought the Nakamichi Dragon as soon as it launched because every YouTuber was saying things like, “The Dragon is unmatched, it’s the best, it’s on another level.” But now, they all seem to be backtracking, which makes it hard for me to trust them anymore.

[txerapng]

I have always been sceptical towards sonos, but having heard a Arc + Sub recently, I am blown away. I ALWAYS find some time to listen to some music on it, because it is that good.

[ryanburdick]

This was the video I needed. I'm so impressed with your channel, and have been following your advice on upgrading my systems. The culmination for Sonos up to this point can be seen across. your general videos and expert observations. Thanks for taking the time to make these!

[BoomerPlusUltra]

I have one. I love it. No issues with the app. Thanks for the review I watched to confirm I made good choices!

[StringMaze]

Great review. I updated from the Arc to the Ultra w/ 2 subs and Era 300s and it just keeps surprising me. The sound is wide, crisp, dynamic, and enveloping. The full kit isn't cheap, but the quality and aesthetics really do outperform any other home theater system in the same price range. Even stereo playback with the immersive set doesn't feel like its struggling to match my dedicated stereo setup.

[McMurdo]

Another great review! Thank you.
I’m a 17 year Sonos customer and have been a very dedicated beta user for most of that time. I just finished a 2 week A/B test with the arc vs ultra. In all the rooms we tested it in, we noticed the original arc’s front l/r left channels to give much better width. The ultra’s l/r channels sounded like they were only coming from the bar directly not reflecting. The height on both is meh. If anything they both just seem messy in the height (used in treated and non treated rooms). The one thing going unnoticed is arc ultra has neutered older Sonos surrounds. When using the original arc the sound from test channels transition seamlessly between channels. You could hear a smooth transition. The ultra using, fives, ones, and the IKEA lamps would not transition, it combines l/r surrounds and rear l/r into the same channels so you get no transitions, instead a harsh jump from speaker to speaker. Only the 100/300 transition channels with the ultra like all other Sonos speakers do with the original arc. It was so bad that we thought we might have a unit with hardware issue.so we called in for support. In the past their multi tiered support team would work until it was corrected, fixed or replaced. I’m this case we were simply told it was working fine by the initial support team member then asked to give them a good score in a customer service survey.

The final deal breaker and what’s transitioning me away from supporting Sonos anymore after nearly 2 decades of loyalty, is they have removed SonosNet from new devises. A dedicated network over larger houses, (ours property includes a separate bulding with a studio). With SonosNet it’s like having a private track for your Porsche instead of having to drive in it bumper to bumper traffic. Being forced onto your wifi means the devices are now competing with in some cases hundreds of other devices. They don’t recommend not so the offer support when using a mesh router system. When you have connectivity issues the support team now defaults to blaming your wifi. In our property we had 24 speakers running. Often all I’m unison. Since having to switch to wifi we have not, in the last 16 months, be able to get all zones to play together. When we remove the eras and go back to SonosNet using the boost we have zero connectives issues.

In the years working with Sonos there have been rocky chapters but what’s difference now if the lack care and concern from Sonos as a company culture. In the past there was a dedicated team of engineers that would work with the more complicated issues to fix issue and ensure they would not happen again to other future users. There was a culture of wanting to improve and perfect the entire Sonos experience. Since the ipo the transition in culture has become remarkably disappointing. This latest app failures could have been prevented if they would have used the thousands of dedicated registered and eager beta testers. Instead it was open up to a handful of them less than a month before launch and instead of listening to the overwhelming beta feedback they decided to ignore it cancel the beta and go live. Nothing shines a light in the state of the company more than that decision.

Thanks again for the great review guys. I hope my notes help broaden some perspective for those needed it.
Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends. 🍻

[adamlink]

Sonos just has so many little things that I love. That app thing was rough for sure. But it seems okay now. The simplicity of setup and use are huge pluses. And I cannot stress enough the Apple Music being native is the single biggest reason that I continue to buy their products. Have a great week love what you are doing!

[macmovieman]

We have the same Sonos arc ultra, two 300s and two gen 4 subs in our bedroom and damn! Insanely good for movies and music.

[andrewrobinsonreviews]

😀 If you enjoyed this video, please hit the 👍 Like button! 🙏 Please stay on topic & be respectful.
⬆ Channel Policies and FTC Disclosures are available in the description box above.

[dawaynecleckley]

Thanks for your hard work on this review. I can tell your experience with this product excites you. In my home this type of a setup will be instrumental over a traditional home theater.

[boneseyyl]

If you are wondering why Bose bought McIntosh, you are probably looking at the answer right here. Wait for the review on the new McIntosh soundbar, coming soon!
My guess would be soundbars are outselling home theater 10 to 1. And I have nothing against soundbars, I have a basic Yamaha soundbar with a sub upstairs and I have no complaints with the sound. In fact it did make me wonder if home theater really is worth all the trouble. I'm old school though, so I like tinkering with all the home theater gear. But for most people, I think this is what the large majority will be choosing from now on.
I mean if you do most of your music listening on ear buds or phones, you are not going to mind the sound of a soundbar in the least.

[grockamicr]

Thank You Andrew for your great description on the Arc system, You have put me on the right track for my purchase.

[StevenRecords]

The GOAT is dethroned! Thanks for getting this out just in time for Cyber Monday.

[gongtien]

I’ve been saying that entry-level traditional home theater systems will be overtaken by soundbars, especially after the launch of the Era300. You simply can’t beat the simplicity and revolutionary technologies that soundbar systems offer. When you factor in the cost of installation, running wires, and professional tuning, traditional systems can easily end up costing more to outperform Sonos.

[joebarnett]

I’ve had Sonos for a few years now. Honestly I’ve had very very limited issues since day one. The one issue I had turned out to be at my end (WiFi) but even that never affected the products at all. Just commenting for some balance.

[theoracleprodigy]

Just setup another 6 channels on my theater system. It took three days of work with a drop ceiling. I can see why these systems are popular. It's a pain to setup a proper theater. I can't imagine anything sounding better though.

[storytheshorty]

Wish we could add eras 300s to the front right and left. Would be a crazy complete setup