Sonos Arc is a soundbar recently announced and officially released today, and if when I received it in the test (before I actually saw it) in my mind I was a little "meah, what can be interesting about a" soundbar ", after I took it out of the box, plugged it in, plugged it into a TV and then into a phone, I changed my mind 180 degrees. Yes, do a review, so read the article. It is a tool that deserves our eyes and especially our ears!
Design Sonos Arc
Sonos are extremely well known abroad and I would venture to say quite well known in our country for their beautiful and good Wi-Fi speakers, and this Sonos Arc is no exception. White, massive, that is big and quite heavy, I liked it from the moment I took it out of the box and it was extremely nicely arranged and folded. Everything is minimalist, but enough. In the box you will find the object itself, an HDMI cable and the power supply. That's it. And that's enough! Unlike their other products, this one can be easily put back in the box without being a real puzzle. Don't laugh, I've often faced this problem with all kinds of speakers, monitors, laptops, etc., where I couldn't stop my confusion and this question: "How the hell did they think about packaging ?!"
Otherwise, the look and feel of the 2001 Space Odyssey monolith, only this one I received is in white. An HDMI port, an Ethernet port and a power port, plus three surfaces, because I can't call them buttons, touch on the top, for play, stop, etc.
The materials are premium, the construction is ultra-solid and you shouldn't worry about the integration in the decor: it looks so good that it fits anywhere.
Functionalities and "technicalities"
This is an extremely interesting chapter. Basically Sonos Arc is a soundbar. You know what it's like, it looks like a soundbar, it sounds like a soundbar, so it's a soundbar. It's just that it's not just that. More on that right away.
Sonos Arc on TV
But let's first "hear" what it's like to soundbar. Connects to the TV via HDMI via the HDMI ARC port on the TV. Yes, I know, too few people use it, and it's a shame, because it's a big trick. Theoretically, it is meant to simplify the connection between the TV and a receiver or soundbar, being two ways, meaning you send video to the TV on HDMI and receive audio back from the TV via the same cable, so it reduces the number of "matze" needed to connect. In fact, you connect everything you have, blu ray, console, etc. to the TV and it sends the audio signal via HDMI to the soundbar.
And I implemented exactly this last scenario: I connected a Nintendo Switch, a PS4 and an Apple TV to the TV and… "Oh, my God !!!", what an experience. Especially for games, movies and music (except for "traditional" TV stations), the experience is fantastic and seems to breathe new life into the TV! Everything is different! The sound has amplitude, it has depth, it has life and vibe. I won't tell you how car engines sound in games, steps or shootings. The feeling of immersion is "from another movie" 🙂 As for movies, brothers, it's Dolby Atmos and I think that even if you connected it to the phone and saw a movie, it would still look great thanks to the sound!
Sonos Arc on the phone orice and everything else
This is the second thing Sonos Arc does well. You can use it either with AirPlay 2 to stream this protocol directly to it from Apple devices that support it, or via Wi-Fi, which means you can connect it to the network like any other Sonos product, and then share it. to him the music from any device or service connected in that network. I "connected" to it, that is, I registered in his application (more on that later), my Apple Music and Spotify accounts. Basically you enter your accounts in the app, and from there, through the Sonos application, the "magic" happens.
The good news is that you have virtually all of your music accounts in one app. Don't wait to switch from one to the other, to open each one separately. You can access them all directly from the Sonos app. The downside is that there is a kind of lag, a delay, first looking, then there are the few moments until Sonos Arc actually starts to "play" the music, the playlist. It's a Wi-Fi connection on the one hand, and an "intermediate" stream from another application, Sonos, on the other.
And the music sounds good too. This Sonsos Arc is actually a kind of "2 in 1", a speaker "to rule them all". I mean, you don't need "anything" for TV, games and movies, and "something" for music. It is a single device designed to replace them all. And I like this thing.
And there's another aspect, that "something else in the subtitle." It has Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa "built-in". And while not everyone agrees with this option, because to some it seems useless and to others natural, I got used to it quite a bit. But I did not use the built-in option in Sonos Arc, but I connected this soundbar to my Echo which already controls a lot of things around the house, such as lights, sockets, cameras, etc. To which I already have Spotify connected. And to see how nice it is when you just open your mouth and say: "Alexa play some… whatever" and Arc starts to "get in"!
Software and hardware
I have a Sonos account, with the related application, but in vain. I tested this soundbar with a beta application, with a test account, but it worked very well. I don't think it's too far from the functionality of the final version coming soon. The application is clean, simple and intuitive, as Sonos always does.
As for the hardware, this soundbar sounds suspiciously good. What I mean is that small enclosures, or those with more exotic shapes, usually have either a "small" sound, that is, the scene has no amplitude and depth, (that is, a small enclosure sound), or to compensate for that, " artificially inflate the bass, to look great, and that feels, it's a fake, it's like putting a V8 sound on a 1.0 engine… but from the car speakers :))) Here, no! It sounds big, wide and deep. And that's what they managed to achieve by introducing in Sonos Arc no less than 8 speakers that deal with mids and bass and 3 tweeters for highs. So he has where.
Price, availability and conclusion
All these additions and all this engineering, has, as expected, a price. It was announced on the Sonos website for $ 800. And I would venture to say, "from practice" and tests, from play, movies and music experienced by the mind, not "read through books" that he makes his money. But in Romania it will be eti hold on tight, 4300 lei starting with June 10th. If you add the wireless subwoofer (yes, you can add something like that for the "complete package") the score jumps to $ 1500, on their website.
An honest opinion? I really liked it and I think it is a complete product, which aims to remain the only sound device in the living room, and I would say that it succeeds!
Tagurisonos