The Sonos Arc Ultra has arrived as the premium successor to the beloved original Arc soundbar.
This flagship model promises to deliver the most immersive home theater experience Sonos has ever created.
After extensive testing and analysis, we dive deep into what makes this soundbar stand out in the crowded premium audio market.
Key Takeaways
- Revolutionary Sound Motion Technology: The Arc Ultra features Sonos’s breakthrough Sound Motion woofer technology with four lightweight motors instead of one heavy motor, delivering double the bass performance of the original Arc while maintaining crystal-clear audio quality across all frequencies.
- Enhanced Driver Configuration: With 14 custom-engineered drivers powered by 15 Class D amplifiers, the Arc Ultra delivers a true 9.1.4 channel surround sound experience, significantly upgrading from the original Arc’s 5.0.2 setup for more immersive spatial audio.
- Improved Dialogue Clarity: The new front-firing speaker array with custom colinear waveguides ensures exceptional dialogue clarity, making every conversation crisp and natural even during action-packed movie scenes.
- Universal TruePlay Support: For the first time in Sonos history, TruePlay room calibration works on both iOS and Android devices, with Quick Tuning and Advanced options ensuring optimal sound regardless of your room’s acoustics.
- Premium Build with Smart Design: Despite housing more drivers, the Arc Ultra is actually slightly smaller and 350g lighter than its predecessor, featuring refined touch controls and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity for versatile audio streaming options.
Design and Build Quality: Sleek Sophistication Meets Functionality
The Sonos Arc Ultra maintains the elegant aesthetic that made the original Arc a design favorite while introducing subtle but meaningful improvements. The soundbar measures 118cm wide, 7.5cm tall, and 11cm deep, making it slightly wider but notably shorter than its predecessor. This dimensional change ensures better compatibility with modern TVs, reducing the likelihood of blocking your screen when placed directly in front.
The most noticeable design change is the elevated control ledge on the top rear section. This houses the touch controls that were previously integrated into the main grille. The play/pause and skip controls sit in the center, with a responsive volume slider on the right and voice control toggle on the left. This placement feels more intuitive and prevents accidental touches during regular use.
The Arc Ultra’s chassis remains predominantly grille-covered, allowing 360-degree sound dispersion essential for proper Dolby Atmos performance. The perforated design isn’t just aesthetic; it’s functional, enabling sound to emanate from virtually every surface. However, this design requirement means the soundbar needs proper clearance above and around it to function optimally.
Top 5 Amazon Prime Day Deals (Don't Miss)
- RUGGED. RELIABLE. READY FOR ANYTHING: Climb the highest peak; Bike the long way home; The durable titanium design is our...
- USE YESTERDAY TO BEAT TODAY: Meet your biggest competition — you; Challenge yourself to perform at your peak on your next...
- SONY’S LIGHTEST WIRELESS NOISE CANCELING HEADBAND EVER: Weighing just 192g, our lightest overhead wireless headphones with...
- DUAL NOISE SENSOR TECHNOLOGY: Take noise canceling to the next level with Sony’s Integrated Processor V1, so you can fully...
- SOUND BY BOSE. We teamed up with Bose to bring you a high-fidelity audio experience defined by clarity of sound and depth of...
- SUPERIOR ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLING. Block out the world and dive into pure sound with next-level noise cancellation.
- BLUEAIR’S TOP-PERFORMING AIR PURIFIER LINE: Blue family’s new Pure Max series with our proprietary HEPASilent performance...
- LET’S CLEAR THE AIR QUIETER: Quiet Mark certified (23-53dB); Cleans up to 3,048 sqft space in 60 min,1,524sqft in 30min or...
- SINGLE SERVE COFFEE MAKER: Single serve coffee or espresso at the touch of a button. Innovative programs and features such as...
- COFFEE FOR EVERY OCCASION: Brew better coffee at home with Nespresso's single serve coffee maker. Drink your coffee bold,...
Build quality feels exceptionally solid with premium materials throughout. The matte black finish resists fingerprints and dust, while the subtle Sonos logo and status light maintain the minimalist aesthetic. At approximately 350g lighter than the original Arc, wall mounting becomes less challenging while maintaining the robust feel expected from a premium soundbar.
Revolutionary Sound Motion Technology: The Bass Game Changer
The Arc Ultra’s most significant innovation lies in its Sound Motion woofer technology. Traditional speaker drivers use one heavy motor to move the cone, but Sonos has revolutionized this approach with four smaller, lightweight motors positioned in opposing corners. This configuration allows the cone to displace significantly more air while maintaining precise control over bass response.
The dual-cone design moves in opposite directions, creating a force-cancelling effect that eliminates mechanical vibration. This engineering breakthrough allows the Sound Motion driver to be three times smaller than traditional drivers while delivering superior performance. The result is bass that hits harder, stops more precisely, and maintains exceptional tonal accuracy across all volume levels.
During testing with bass-heavy content like electronic music and action movie soundtracks, the difference becomes immediately apparent. Bass notes have more impact and definition compared to the original Arc’s somewhat wooly low-end response. The Arc Ultra doesn’t just play louder bass; it plays better bass with improved texture and control that enhances rather than overwhelms the overall mix.
This technology represents a significant leap forward in compact speaker design. Sonos claims this innovation will appear in future products, suggesting the Arc Ultra is just the beginning of a new era in their audio engineering approach.
Driver Configuration and Audio Performance: 14 Drivers Working in Harmony
The Arc Ultra houses an impressive array of 14 custom-engineered drivers powered by 15 Class D amplifiers. This configuration includes seven silk-dome tweeters for crystalline high frequencies, six midrange woofers for vocal clarity and instrumental detail, plus the revolutionary Sound Motion woofer for low-frequency reproduction.
The 9.1.4 channel configuration represents a substantial upgrade from the original Arc’s 5.0.2 setup. This expanded driver array enables more precise spatial audio placement and creates a wider, more enveloping soundstage. Height channels receive particular attention with dedicated up-firing drivers that bounce sound off your ceiling to create convincing overhead effects.
Dialogue clarity receives special focus through the new front-firing speaker array. Custom colinear waveguides ensure voices project clearly into the room rather than getting lost in the mix. This improvement becomes especially noticeable during complex action sequences where dialogue often competes with sound effects and music.
The side-firing drivers create an expanded soundstage that extends well beyond the physical boundaries of your TV. During properly mixed Dolby Atmos content, sounds appear to originate from specific locations throughout your room, creating an immersive three-dimensional audio environment that rivals dedicated surround sound systems.
Testing with various content types reveals the Arc Ultra’s versatility. Musical content benefits from improved instrumental separation and dynamic range, while movie soundtracks showcase the enhanced spatial positioning and impact that make home theater experiences truly cinematic.
TruePlay Calibration: Perfect Sound for Every Room
Sonos has significantly improved the TruePlay calibration system for the Arc Ultra, making it universally accessible for the first time. Previously limited to iOS devices, TruePlay now works with Android phones, democratizing access to optimized room correction.
The system offers two calibration modes: Quick Tuning and Advanced Tuning. Quick Tuning uses the soundbar’s built-in microphones to measure your room’s acoustics automatically. This process takes just minutes and delivers substantial improvements to frequency response and spatial imaging. Advanced Tuning maintains the traditional method of walking around your room with your phone, providing slightly more refined results.
Android users can access Quick Tuning, which testing reveals provides the majority of TruePlay’s benefits. The difference between Quick and Advanced tuning is subtle, meaning Android users aren’t significantly disadvantaged compared to iOS users with access to both methods.
TruePlay addresses common room acoustic issues like bass buildup, reflection patterns, and frequency imbalances. The Arc Ultra’s expanded driver array benefits significantly from proper calibration, ensuring all 14 drivers work together optimally for your specific listening environment.
Regular recalibration is recommended if you move furniture or change your room layout significantly. The process remains simple enough that most users will run it occasionally to maintain optimal performance as their listening space evolves.
Connectivity and Smart Features: Modern Convenience Meets Premium Audio
The Arc Ultra maintains Sonos’s philosophy of seamless connectivity while adding welcome new features. HDMI eARC remains the primary connection method, ensuring compatibility with modern TVs and support for high-quality audio formats including Dolby Atmos.
Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity represents a significant addition, allowing direct streaming from phones, tablets, and laptops without requiring Wi-Fi network access. This feature proves particularly useful for guests or when your network experiences issues. Bluetooth range and stability perform excellently during testing, maintaining strong connections throughout typical home environments.
Wi-Fi connectivity supports AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and Tidal Connect, enabling direct streaming from popular music services. Voice control options include Sonos Voice Control, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant, though recent patent disputes have affected Google Assistant availability on newer Sonos products.
The Sonos app controls all soundbar functions including EQ adjustments, Night Mode for late-night viewing, and Speech Enhancement with multiple intensity levels. While the app has faced criticism for recent redesigns, core functionality remains solid for soundbar control and music streaming.
Touch controls on the soundbar itself provide convenient local control for volume, playback, and voice assistant activation. The elevated control placement reduces accidental activation while maintaining easy access during normal use.
Dolby Atmos Performance: Immersive Audio That Surrounds You
The Arc Ultra’s Dolby Atmos implementation represents a significant advancement over the original Arc. The expanded driver configuration and improved acoustic architecture create more convincing three-dimensional soundscapes that place audio elements throughout your listening space.
Height effects receive particular attention with dedicated up-firing drivers that bounce sound off your ceiling. Properly mixed content like “Blade Runner 2049” or “Mad Max: Fury Road” showcases the Arc Ultra’s ability to place sounds above, beside, and behind your listening position convincingly.
The wider soundstage extends well beyond your TV’s physical boundaries, creating an enveloping audio environment that enhances immersion significantly. Rain effects, helicopter flyovers, and atmospheric sounds gain spatial precision that adds realism to movie experiences.
Music content also benefits from the enhanced spatial processing. Concert recordings and live albums gain improved stage width and depth, while studio recordings reveal subtle spatial cues and reverb tails that add dimensionality to familiar tracks.
However, Dolby Atmos performance depends heavily on source material quality and room acoustics. Content with mediocre Atmos mixing won’t suddenly become spectacular, and rooms with very high ceilings or unusual layouts may not achieve optimal height effects regardless of the soundbar’s capabilities.
Bass Performance: Deep, Controlled, and Musical
The Arc Ultra’s bass performance represents its most dramatic improvement over the original Arc. The Sound Motion woofer technology delivers not just more bass, but significantly better bass quality across all frequency ranges and volume levels.
Low-frequency extension reaches impressively deep for a standalone soundbar, handling movie sound effects and electronic music with authority. More importantly, bass notes maintain proper tonal accuracy and timing, avoiding the one-dimensional thump that characterizes many soundbars.
During music listening, bass instruments gain improved definition and texture. Electric bass guitars, kick drums, and synthesized low frequencies maintain their distinct characteristics rather than blending into generic low-frequency rumble. This musical approach to bass reproduction makes the Arc Ultra equally compelling for music and movie content.
Volume consistency across frequency ranges means bass doesn’t disappear at low volumes or become overwhelming at higher levels. The Arc Ultra maintains proper frequency balance throughout its operating range, ensuring consistent performance regardless of your preferred listening level.
However, the most demanding bass content still benefits from subwoofer addition. While the Arc Ultra’s standalone bass performance impresses, pairing it with Sonos’s Sub 4 provides the ultimate low-frequency foundation for the most demanding content and largest rooms.
Setup and Installation: Simplicity Meets Sophistication
Setting up the Arc Ultra follows Sonos’s tradition of user-friendly installation while incorporating welcome improvements. The setup process begins with downloading the Sonos app and following the guided installation procedure that walks through every step clearly.
HDMI eARC connection to your TV enables both audio playback and control integration. Most modern TVs automatically recognize the Arc Ultra and configure appropriate audio settings, though manual adjustment may be required for optimal performance with older displays.
TruePlay calibration integrates seamlessly into the setup process, with both Quick and Advanced options available depending on your device and preferences. The app provides clear instructions for optimal microphone positioning and movement patterns during the calibration process.
Wall mounting hardware comes included with detailed instructions for secure installation. The Arc Ultra’s reduced weight compared to the original Arc makes wall mounting more manageable, though professional installation remains recommended for complex mounting situations.
Network integration happens automatically once connected to Wi-Fi, enabling immediate access to streaming services and voice control features. The Arc Ultra appears in your Sonos system instantly, ready for multi-room audio integration with existing Sonos speakers throughout your home.
Music Performance: Audiophile Quality in a Soundbar Form
The Arc Ultra excels at music reproduction with a level of sophistication that rivals dedicated hi-fi systems. The expanded driver array and improved acoustic design deliver musical performances that showcase individual instruments clearly while maintaining proper spatial relationships.
Vocal reproduction benefits significantly from the enhanced front-firing array and improved midrange clarity. Singers sound natural and present without artificial emphasis or coloration. Background vocals and harmonies maintain their distinct positioning within the mix rather than blending into an indistinct chorus.
Instrumental separation reaches impressive levels for a soundbar. Complex orchestral pieces reveal individual instrument sections clearly, while rock and pop recordings maintain proper instrumental balance even during dense passages. The Arc Ultra’s ability to resolve fine musical details enhances familiar recordings by revealing previously hidden elements.
Dynamic range handling impresses across all musical genres. Quiet passages maintain detail and nuance while loud sections avoid compression or distortion. This wide dynamic capability makes the Arc Ultra equally suitable for intimate acoustic performances and energetic electronic music.
The improved bass response particularly benefits music listening. Bass guitars maintain their melodic contribution rather than providing generic low-frequency support, while kick drums gain impact and definition that enhances rhythmic drive across all musical styles.
Comparison with Original Arc: Worth the Upgrade?
The differences between the Arc Ultra and original Arc become apparent immediately during side-by-side testing. The Ultra’s enhanced clarity, improved bass control, and expanded soundstage create a notably more sophisticated listening experience across all content types.
Bass improvements represent the most dramatic upgrade. The original Arc’s bass, while adequate, sounds somewhat loose and one-dimensional compared to the Ultra’s controlled and musical low-frequency reproduction. This improvement alone justifies the upgrade for many users.
Dialogue clarity receives significant enhancement through the improved front-firing array. Conversations sound more natural and intelligible, particularly during complex action sequences where dialogue often gets lost in the mix with the original Arc.
Spatial audio performance gains precision and impact with the expanded driver configuration. The Ultra creates more convincing surround effects and height positioning compared to the original Arc’s more limited spatial capabilities.
However, the price difference means the upgrade isn’t automatic for all users. Current Arc owners satisfied with their soundbar’s performance might consider adding a subwoofer or surround speakers before upgrading to the Ultra, particularly if budget constraints are a consideration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Sonos Arc Ultra worth upgrading from the original Arc?
Yes, if you prioritize improved bass performance, clearer dialogue, and enhanced Dolby Atmos effects. The Sound Motion technology and additional drivers create noticeable improvements.
Does the Arc Ultra work with Android phones for TruePlay?
Yes, the Arc Ultra supports TruePlay calibration on both iOS and Android devices for the first time in Sonos history.
Can I use the Arc Ultra without a subwoofer?
Absolutely. The Arc Ultra’s enhanced bass performance makes it excellent as a standalone unit, though adding a Sub 4 provides even deeper bass extension.
What’s the difference between Quick and Advanced TruePlay?
Quick TruePlay uses the soundbar’s microphones automatically, while Advanced requires walking around with your phone. Both provide significant improvements with Advanced offering slight refinements.
Does the Arc Ultra support DTS audio formats?
No, like the original Arc, the Ultra only supports Dolby formats including Dolby Atmos. DTS content will be converted by your TV or source device.
How much space does the Arc Ultra need above it?
The Arc Ultra requires clear space above for proper Dolby Atmos performance. Avoid placing it in enclosed shelves or cabinets that block the up-firing drivers.
