Sonos’s latest flagship soundbar, the Arc Ultra, is approaching its second birthday, but still delivers advanced features and room-filling audio that rival those of top competitors. The Arc Ultra retails for $1,099, but it’s $200 off, or $899 at Best Buy and Amazon for Labor Day.
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If you’re building a Sonos system and want to start with your home’s living room, the Arc Ultra is the company’s biggest and most powerful soundbar, making it ideal for larger rooms and TVs. The Arc Ultra features a 9.1.4-channel speaker array with SoundMotion bass technology that acts as an on-board subwoofer without doubling the soundbar’s size.
Sonos Arc Ultra for $899 (save $200)
I paired my Arc Ultra with my living room’s 70-inch TV, and the audio upgrade from TV speakers or a smaller soundbar is palpable. The Arc Ultra’s 9.1.4-channel configuration is complete with seven horizontal tweeters, two upfiring tweeters, six midwoofers, and one woofer for sound projection, clarity, and immersion.
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Audio features include an adjustable EQ, Dolby Atmos support, speech enhancement for dialogue clarity, night sound for late-night watching, and TruePlay, Sonos’s room-calibration technology.
The Arc Ultra operates as much like a soundbar as it does a smart speaker, with Sonos Voice Control and Alexa support, Apple AirPlay, and Bluetooth compatibility. Sonos announced a significant AI-powered upgrade to its in-house voice assistant, which will enable it to provide conversational, contextual understanding of your queries, especially as they pertain to music discovery and curation.
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So, this fall, the Arc Ultra, along with other speakers in the Sonos family, will be smarter than ever. However, with Sonos’s closed device ecosystem, I don’t recommend buying an Arc Ultra if you are ecosystem-agnostic. Though a Sonos soundbar is the best buying option if you want to be “one and done” with Sonos, the Arc Ultra goes from excellent to outstanding when paired with other Sonos home theater and smart speakers.
Why I choose Sonos over competitors
Sonos’s direct competitors, Samsung, Sony, Bose, and others, have all released modular home theater systems to compete with Sonos. Though each one serves consumers differently, I choose Sonos because of its ease of use, comprehensive app platform, and extensive device catalog.
Sonos’s app is also ideal for people who subscribe to several audio streaming platforms, whether that’s music, podcasts, or radio. Instead of opening and closing all my audio streaming apps to find the right playlist or vibe, I curate all my favorites in one place for all my speakers.
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The only potential drawback is that choosing Sonos means you’ll need to stick with Sonos to have the most seamless experience. It’s tricky grouping several speakers together via AirPlay, and Sonos speakers don’t support Google Cast. However, if you commit to building a Sonos system, you’ll find that other brands can’t replicate its interconnectedness and ease of use.
How I rated this deal
I gave this deal a 3.5/5 because it’s not the lowest price I’ve seen it — the Arc Ultra‘s lowest sale price was $879 during last year’s Black Friday sales. Though a $30 difference isn’t much, I’d note that the soundbar’s biggest sales at more retailers (including Sonos) will likely be during the holiday season.
Aside from pricing, the Arc Ultra is a wonderful soundbar, and our experts often rate it above comparable flagship competitors from Sony, Samsung, Marshall, and Bose. Sonos offers plenty of music streaming options in its companion app, and the Arc Ultra’s Sound Motion technology delivers an unrivaled bass response from a single soundbar.
When will this deal expire?
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