Sonos - Arc
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Jan 28, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
429
33
"We have traveled to 3 countries with it, set it up on taxis etc."
"Super easy. ... Took about 20-30 minutes"
"sets up in under 3 min including stake out time. ... Take down is just as fast and it fits in its storage bag with out much fuss. ... set up in under 90 seconds 120 if you putting in stakes."
45
24
"sound effects are good (Interstellar and Prometheus spaceship rumble, Prey when hatchet is thunking into trees, Furiosa engine shaking, Blade Runner 2049 and Pacific Rim raining and other scenes)."
"room shaking (example Interstellar rocket launch, Furiosa motorcycles, Prometheus spaceship)."
"gives you literally twice the sound quality with an infinitely better sub. ... The JBL is better in every single aspect, especially in terms of clarity. ... The JBL on the other hand is significantly more detailed, fuller and the bass was not even comparable"
34
10
"Features like midnight playback and dialogue boost works great!"
"Voice clarity is what shocked me the most."
"terms of vocals, nothing really beats the Tangzu Wan'er SG or the Wan'er 2. ... But vocals is still better for the Wan'er SG/Wan'er 2."
26
14
"It literally shakes the house on not even a quarter volume"
"the mini is the bar better sounding bar ... gets down to about 45HZ, so doesn't need a sub, unless you are a mass bass head."
"I thought the Sonos sounded the best, so full just on its own and then the sub added to it"
6
0
"By far the room I prefer to listen in is where I have the arc, sub mini and 2 E100s linked."
"I'll think I'll buy 2 boom or megaboom later as they can party-up with the hyperboom, that will make a nice outdoor party set-up for sure !"
"Sonos if you want it to be able to connect with speakers elsewhere in your home."
Disliked most:
15
127
"Also connection with iPhone has always been terrible. ... Dropped connections, sometimes it just won ’t connect."
"they would constantly disconnect from my s23."
"their firmware is garbage, so garbage in fact that it makes them entirely unusable. ... they keep continuously crashing, refusing to connect, and crashing some more, having extremely loud noise in one earbud all of a sudden, all kinds of random bs. ... my 6th pair of quiet comfort ultra earbuds is again randomly crashing."
115
111
"The bass is slow and sludgy on the Cadenza. ... They can't keep up with faster tracks. ... If you're listening to metal, prog, acid jazz, etc... then you may have some issues with that. ... Fast, heavyhitting techno? Not with these."
"I personally felt the bass was pretty anemic on it and I'm not a bass-head. ... Less bass than the ER2xr, Blessing 2, Blessing 2 Dusk, IE 200 etc. ... Very thin sounding. ... They have less bass than the Moondrop Blessing 2. ... They have less bass than the Etymotic ER2xr. ... They have less bass than the Sennheiser IE200. ... Just not enough bass and I"m no bass-head."
"The subwoofer is weak and almost non existent."
3
56
"Every time I powered up my Arc+ ERA + 2x Sub3s, it was obvious that the Arc was the weakest link. ... It’s Spatial Audio processing, amplification and soundstage was clearly behind the rest of the system on loud. And nuanced soundtracks."
"Sonos has a terible sound signature to my ears. thin mids, boosted upper mids and simelant extremely forward treble. I couldn't tune it properly so I sold it."
"it really sucks on music."
5
5
"I find the arc very muffled and dry."
"center channel (dialogue/speech) was lacking overall, and sometimes sounded muddy. ... I am even more hopeful that it will improve the center channel (dialogue/speech) as that is my biggest issue with the current Arc."
"Muddied vocals is the perfect phrase"
0
2
"For movies sonos and the lack of dts absolutely megasucks at every imaginable level. ... Sonos can't even play original audio content, dts, or lossless atmos. Sonos says it can take lossless atmos but from where? Not from a bluray player or a computer. There's no lossless audio on any streamed movie. Plus the tiny speakers, yes, sonos absolutely sucks for movies."
"Also the Bose soundbars don support DTS/DTS-HD (except the 700 which does lossy DTS core) so if you have blurays or use IMAX enhanced with a streaming service that audio will not work/ gets transcoded to lpcm."
"Bose only offers Dolby codec support (Digital, Digital plus, TrueHD and Atmos over TrueHD and DD+). ... if you watch Blurays or have a media server to watch lossless content then you won't have DTS support."
AnnualEagle 1.0Maybe a slightly used or even new Sonos Arc (not the newer Arc Ultra). I’ve had both and both are absolutely the best soundbars out there in my book. I have returned probably ten other systems and kept the Sonos ones.
Could also go for the non-Ultra Arc if you want better than the Beam but still want to save a few hundred compared to the Ultra.
Antonio2274 1.0Tienes la Arc o la Arc Ultra? Porque también noté algo más de bajos en la Beam 2 comparando a la Arc de primera generación, mejor relación costo beneficio. Pero menos separación de sonido por su reducido tamaño y cantidad de drivers
Armans07 1.0It's not. Atmos bubble with ultra and 300s is levels above the og arc + 300s
Anyone that tries the Ultra says it's worth the upgrade and yet there are always people convincing themselves that they don't need better vocal clarity/wider soundstage etc. It's because you have no idea how much better it can possibly sound. How much more audible the dialogue can be without coming off sibilant. I had the og Arc and I used to watch movies with remote near me to control the volume between action and dialogue scenes. The luxury of not having to do that anymore alone is more than worth it. If you have era 300s as surrounds, Ultra is a must have to create an amazing Atmos bubble for music.
You think I'm comparing them on paper? I have both as well bro. The difference in vocal clarity, soundstage and overall sound fidelity is strikingly obvious.
bunzodude 1.0You're talking about Atmos under $1k. Just get the ARC, it sounds really good. Later you can add the Sonos mini-sub, which also sounds really good.
CrentistTheDentist 1.0You just missed a bunch of deals. Bad timing! Get a refurb arc if you can. I think they’re still like $400-500 and used to be the ~$900 flagship model. Otherwise the beam gen 2 is nice and not crazy expensive. Easy setup.
Extreme-Crow6863 1.0Great price for a new arc even if first generation. Get it!
iknowtech 1.0Didn’t Costco have a dumbed down version of the Arc without a Mic and voice control that was a Costco exclusive.
The Costco Arc was a different product, even was a different color, like a lighter matte black. Not saying that’s what this, but that lesser product does or at least did exist. I’m a Sonos direct dealer and dealers were obviously somewhat up in arms when Costco started selling Sonos, and by releasing the lesser version of the Arc at Costco was one way for custom integrators to differentiate the product they were selling and installing that was a higher price.
JakePT 1.0Arc + G4. No issues here.
I’m not sure any Sonos soundbar would be the best option for PC gaming if you’re on a desk. They’re not designed for near field listening and they all rely on eARC, which is extremely rare on PC monitors. Also, there’s not much point spending money on an Arc if you’re going to rely on optical, because you don’t get the most out of it.
Longjumping-Ad-8371 1.0I have the G4, Arc, sub 3, and 2 300s and only "issue" I have had is sometimes I lose audio on my PS5, which I just switch the tv from the arc to tv speakers and then back and solves the issue. Not a huge deal and probably has happened 3 times in 2 weeks. I just assume its some kind of handshake from going from Dolby to non-dolby. But not sure. Definitely not a show stopper. I am loving the new TV and sonos setup.
moonftball12 1.0I am convinced the best option is paying for the refurbished Arc for $399 and calling it a day.
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