The Sonos Arc Soundbar Delivers a Powerful and Enveloping Soundstage – And It's More Affordable Than Its Successor

The Sonos Arc is a more affordable alternative to Sonos' newer flagship, boasting high performance and enveloping sound that can help to transform your living room into a movie theater.

A sleek design and 11 speaker drivers make the Sonos Arc a premium upgrade that, during testing, proved to improve dialogue clarity, increase the impact of scenes, and produce pleasantly warm music.

Here's how it sits among the best soundbars that we've vetted at Homes & Gardens.

My One-Minute Summary

The Sonos Arc, available at Amazon, has recently been superseded by the Sonos Arc Ultra, which is our favorite single soundbar on test.

It delivers audio that's rich and warm, with a particular pleasantness to the mids and highs, owed to the eight mid-woofers and three tweeters. It has a wide soundstage that is fantastic for enveloping you in a scene, however the actual direction of each sound is less clear than I expected at this price point.

It also lacks any built-in subwoofer driver, and during bass-heavy songs and tense scenes, this lack of the low-end can absolutely be felt, and would benefit from an external subwoofer, such as the Sonos Sub Mini.

Really, it comes down to your preferences. If you want a loud, warm, and enveloping soundstage, the Sonos Arc is perfect. If you would prefer more bass, I'd recommend the Sonos Arc Ultra. If you're looking for clearer sound direction, I'd recommend the Samsung HW-Q990F. And for exceptional clarity in subtle details, the Bose Smart Ultra is the stand-out choice.

Sonos Arc: Specifications

Sonos Arc: Setup

The setup for the Sonos Arc was minimal. It's plug-and-play, so as soon as I connected the HDMI and power cables, my TV's audio was playing out of the soundbar.

An optical adapter is also included for TVs without ARC/eARC ports.

It arrived in a narrow box with a soft audio wave graphic. No plastic is used in the packaging – instead, the soundbar is protected from scratches by a fabric cover, and everything is held together using cardboard molds, a sustainable design choice.

To add the Sonos Arc to my smart home setup and to be able to adjust the sound settings, I paired it to the Sonos app. I logged in to my Sonos account (creating one takes a couple of minutes), then found the soundbar via Bluetooth, which took fewer than 30 seconds.

Then, the soundbar played an audio pin to pair with my smartphone, then I signed into my Wi-Fi, and it let me label it to the room I was using it. It required a software update, which took around five minutes, during which it showed tips on how to best use the Arc, including setting songs as alarms or setting up TruePlay, which optimizes sound output to your room.

To set up Trueplay, I had to move around the room, waving my arm up and down as the soundbar played loud beeps, using my phone’s microphone to learn how soundwaves interact with the size and acoustics of the room. The process took around three minutes.

In total, setup took no longer than ten minutes, but if you're happy to use the Sonos Arc without customizing the sound, it's ready as soon as you plug in the two cables.

Sonos Arc: Design and Features

The Sonos Arc has a 5.0.2 channel configuration, with three tweeters for high-range frequencies, and eight woofers delivering mid-range frequencies.

It doesn't have a built-in subwoofer for the bass, which is certainly noticeable at times (more on that below), but you can add the external Sonos Sub Mini or Sonos Sub 4 to have a dedicated bass driver.

On the Sonos app, there are options to connect subwoofers and surround speakers, alongside the sound settings. You can adjust the EQ, height, and spatial sound settings, and turn Speech Enhancement, Night Sound, TV Autoplay, and Trueplay on or off.

Trueplay made a huge difference. I watched scenes with and without it, and when turned on, I felt more direction in the sound – nowhere near the quality in the Sonos Arc Ultra, but a notable improvement from before Trueplay was activated.

You can connect to your voice assistant, whether Alexa or Google Home, on the Sonos app, too.

And if, like me, you’re easily distracted by lights, you can turn off the status light on the soundbar. You can also turn the soundbar's touch controls off if you have children or pets who could easily press them by accident.

Sonos Arc: Sound (TV and Movies)

The Sonos Arc brings high sound performance, evident from the rich, often warm sounds that envelop you during scenes. But the lack of a built-in subwoofer is noticeable, with certain moments lacking depth, and layers don't always sound completely separate.

In John Wick Chapter 2, the fight scenes sounded full-bodied. Gunshots carried with both tightness and impact, and the music added subtle tension without overpowering.

But there could be greater depth and clarity. And although I can feel the vibrations during certain loud sounds, the music has a distinct lack of a bass-y undercurrent, and the punches fall flat sometimes. It doesn't have the bass capacity of more premium soundbars, such as the Sonos Arc Ultra or the Samsung HW-Q990F.

During the dialogue-heavy pilot, Arrested Development, I heard a general improvement in liveliness with the music and vocals. Everybody sounded clearer, the background music was easier to notice (and when at the forefront, it carries greater impact). The vocal tones could have had more richness, but it’s useful that they were more legible and richer in tone than what you hear in most TV speakers.

Princess Mononoke demonstrated that the layers could feel more separate. Even with the EQ and height channels adjusted, the dialogue, music, and actions on screen would sound grouped and occasionally muddied. The sound direction was limited, which was surprising at this price; I could hear when sounds were close or far, but less so from left to right. For greater sound direction, I'd recommend the Samsung HW-QS750F or the Bose Smart Ultra.

However, music was rich during uplifting moments, and dark during tense moments, and there was a satisfying roughness to the mystical sound effects that adds textural interest to the movie's most intense scenes.

During The Trial of the Chicago 7, the dialogue was clear – not just louder, but more balanced. The eight mid-woofers work tremendously well to make voices stand out; however, with Speech Enhancement on, voices sounded slightly more muffled.

There was an encompassing sound to the scenes, but again, there was limited sound direction. I also noticed that the volume can go from quiet to loud quite quickly. The volume can become deafeningly loud during intense moments, after having to turn it up to hear quieter dialogue moments before.

Sonos Arc: Sound (Music)

While the Sonos Arc produces music that sounds rich and texturally interesting, it can occasionally fall flat compared to other soundbars of a similar price, such as the Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 8.

The Sonos Arc sounded best when playing warm, textural songs, such as Four Tet's Three Drums and Marvin Gaye's Inner City Blues. Occasionally, the textural layers can muddy together, but they still sound rich and pleasant.

Even during the bass-heavy Phoenix by Daft Punk, the trebles and synth-y bassline were warm, and the percussion was crisp, even if it wasn't as deep as soundbars with subwoofers.

But the lack of a subwoofer was certainly felt during Massive Attack's Angel. Everything in the slow crescendo felt flatter than I'm used to with this track, but it was compensated by clear, floaty highs in the percussion and vocals.

Generally, that is where the Sonos Arc excels. In Sade's Feel No Pain and Matthew Halsall's An Ever Changing View, the pleasant warmth is striking, often compensating for the occasional lack of depth or the muddying of layers during busy moments.

How Does the Sonos Arc Compare?

The Sonos Arc is a premium soundbar, costing $872 at Amazon. It has since been superseded by the Sonos Arc Ultra, which costs $1,099 at Sonos and is our favourite soundbar on test. It has upgraded hardware in every regard, resulting in a sound that is vastly more expansive, detailed, and rich in its multi-directional output.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 8 costs $999.99 at Sony and also boasts greater sound direction on test. It wasn't always the clearest, but in general, there was more clarity than the Sonos Arc, especially during layered moments.

For detailed clarity, the Bose Smart Ultra, costing $999 at Bose, is the alternative I would recommend. Its sound balance, sound direction, and clarity in subtle details is among the best we've ever tested.

Next, learn how the best robot vacuums and the best video doorbells we've tested can upgrade your home security and automate chores in your home.

Love the latest product news and helpful shopping advice? Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox.