Sonos Beam Ultra
4.0
Pros & Cons
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Slim, unassuming design. -
Big sound. -
Flagship-level integration with Sonos system.
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Limited ports for external connectivity.
Flagship soundbars are great; they promise big sound from dozens of speakers powered by heavy-duty amplifiers, while being as sleek and unassuming as possible. The Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar has remained the centerpiece of my living room, but after testing the more compact Sonos Beam Ultra, I’m reconsidering my need for the larger option.
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Despite being midsized, the Beam Ultra isn’t anything to sneeze at. Sonos completely refitted the Beam Ultra’s speaker configuration compared to the older Beam (Gen 2), adding more amplifiers and tweeters and swapping midwoofers and passive radiators for dedicated woofers.
Small frame, big sound
The Beam Ultra’s new speaker configuration is its standout upgrade, with nine Class-D amplifiers powering five tweeters and four woofers. There’s a center tweeter for forward-firing audio, two side-firing tweeters for left/right separation, and two upfiring tweeters for height. In comparison, the Beam (Gen 2) used five Class D amplifiers for one center tweeter and four midwoofers.
Back to the Beam Ultra, Sonos removed its predecessor’s use of midwoofers and passive radiators to achieve low-end frequencies and replaced them with four woofers. The result is punchier bass, yet it’s more interesting that Sonos made this change without significantly enlarging the Beam Ultra’s frame.
I watched “Avengers: Age of Ultron” with the Beam Ultra, and found that it can get plenty loud and handle decent movement across the screen and room in Dolby Atmos. A larger soundbar like the Ace Ultra has more opportunities for clearer left/right movement, but the Beam Ultra’s output for its size is impressive.
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On that note, Dolby Atmos sounded much better once I set up TruePlay, Sonos’ room-calibration technology. Unlike the Beam (Gen 2), in-depth TruePlay is available to Android users. Like its predecessor, the Beam Ultra is more than capable of accompanying TVs in the 55-to-65-inch range, and I’d argue that it’s suitable for 70-inch TVs, especially if your viewing room isn’t considerably large.
The system ups the ante
Sonos’ ecosystem is great at creating a sense of FOMO and making you realize that for your one speaker to be even better, it needs a few friends. You’ll easily fall into this trap with the Beam Ultra — though it is an awesome midsize soundbar on its own, I’d be remiss not to say it gets ten times better with a subwoofer or rear speakers.
The Beam Ultra is compatible with all of Sonos’ latest operating system upgrades, including the ability to use two Move 2 or Play speakers as portable surround speakers, an upgraded proprietary voice assistant, and integration with MCP-certified AI agents.
As always, AirPlay and Bluetooth are on deck for wireless streaming. The Beam Ultra’s Wi-Fi 6 upgrade reduces its susceptibility to network congestion and dropouts, especially when several devices are active on your network.
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Like all of Sonos’ soundbars, the Beam Ultra lacks an array of external connectivity options, aside from a USB-C port for line-in and an HDMI port. The lack of ports keeps you locked into Sonos’ brigade of speakers to connect with, though the software features (and in-app Apple Music streaming via Wi-Fi – still, no one else has this) make up for it.
Who should choose Beam Ultra over Arc Ultra?
I live in a 1,800-square-foot, two-story townhouse, and my Arc Ultra, Era 300, Sub 4 system could be considered overkill for my space, even though I refuse to admit it. However, if your living quarters are around this same size or smaller, the Beam Ultra is the perfect option.
It’s more powerful and capable of bigger sound than its predecessor, with clearer dialogue reproduction, deeper bass, and improved spatial audio performance — especially if your ceilings aren’t vaulted. The easy way to decide is that if you have a smaller space, you should opt for the smaller soundbar. However, I believe that larger spaces can benefit from the Beam Ultra if you layer a few more speakers on top of it.
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Additionally, you can easily upgrade the Beam Ultra with two Era 100s and a Sub Mini, or go for two portable Play speakers instead of Era 100s if you don’t want your rears anchored to an outlet. Or, you could opt for a pair of the cheaper Era 100 SLs; these speakers lack built-in microphones, but your Beam Ultra has one, so you’re not going without.
So, if you’re budget-conscious, you can easily create a capable home theater system from the Beam Ultra and additional smaller Sonos speakers, including portable ones. If you have a large house with high ceilings, an open-concept living room, or a dedicated home theater, you’ll want to get the big guns.
ZDNET’s buying advice
The Sonos Beam Ultra is a solid midsize soundbar, great for bedrooms, apartments, townhomes, or smaller rooms throughout your home. I prefer its ease of use and spatial audio performance to similarly sized soundbars, like the Marshall Heston 60 or the Sony Bravia Theater Bar 6.
However, if you’re not interested in eventually stacking more speakers on top of the Beam Ultra, I’d consider other options from JBL, Marshall, or Sony, whose soundbars don’t rely much on expanding your ecosystem. The Beam Ultra’s $699 price tag is due in part to its beefed-up performance and in part to a premium for the brand name.
However, if you have a Beam (Gen 2), I don’t see the rush to upgrade unless you are terribly unhappy with your Beam (Gen 2)’s audio performance. Otherwise, the Beam (Gen 2) supports the same Sonos 27 features found in the Beam Ultra: portable surround compatibility, Sonos 27voice, Sonos 27mcp, and headphone linking with the Ace Ultra headphones.
