Sonos has introduced a new premium soundbar, Arc Ultra, that shrinks the transducer while delivering stronger bass and 9.1.4 spatial audio.
Featuring a curved appearance with a wrap-around grille, compact dimensions, and matte finish, the new Arc Ultra delivers up to double the bass of its predecessor, the regular Arc. To reduce the size of the transducer, a critical component which converts electrical energy into acoustic energy, Sonos has developed a proprietary solution called Sound Motion which enables smaller speakers to deliver enhanced sound.
The soundbar is equipped with a massive fourteen drivers comprising seven tweeters, six midwoofers, and a built-in subwoofer capable of rendering 9.1.4 channels of Dolby Atmos surround sound. Each Sonos-designed driver is precisely placed within the housing, with class-D digital amplifiers tuned to the speaker’s acoustic architecture.
The result is a theater-like “massive sound stage that precisely places every detail of sound in your room to envelop you in content,” according to the company. Similar to HomePod, audio filters are used to deliver faux surround sound. Arc Ultra also leverages computational audio tricks along with a new center channel architecture to boost muffled dialogue in movies. You can even set a desired level of dialogue clarity in the mobile Sonos app.
Arc Ultra supports Bluetooth and HDMI eARC connections. With Bluetooth, you can stream anything from your smartphone, tablet, or computer, including your favorite podcasts, movies, music, and more. With HDMI eARC, you can transmit audio from your TV to your Soundbar or AV receiver. HDMI eARC uses more bandwidth to increase audio resolution, and works great with Dolby Atmos and other high bitrate formats like DTS.
“Touch controls are cleverly housed in a dedicated ledge behind the soundbar to prevent visual distraction,” Sonos boasts. Voice control works via the Sonos Voice Control feature or Amazon Alexa, but Apple’s Siri is unsupported.
Like other Sonos speakers, Arc Ultra can be fine-tuned using the Trueplay app, which is now available on Android (it uses to be iOS-only). This is a feature similar to Apple HomePod’s automatic optimization, where the speaker listens to your environment to tweak audio to sound great regardless of speaker placement. Built-in microphones measure how sound bounces off surfaces such as walls and furniture, with an algorithm using this data to improve audio accuracy and clarity.
Sonos has angered customers with a recent redesign of its app that broke many features owners relied on. The company eventually admitted it messed up, saying a new software update arriving alongside Arc Ultra will be faster than the old app, including when setting up new speakers and grouping them together. “For current Sonos customers, the update will reintroduce 90 percent of the new app’s missing features, with further additions on the way as Sonos maintains its ongoing cadence of updates,” Sonos has it. Peruse this Sonos support page for details about future feature updates to the app.
Sonos also announced a new Sub 4 subwoofer alongside Arc Ultra which has a pair of custom woofers that minimize distortion. Equipped with a faster chip, more memory and enhanced Wi-Fi connectivity, this is Sonos’ most advanced subwoofer to date. You can pair your Sub 4 with your Arc Ultra, Arc, or Beam, or even pair two Sub 4 subwoofers for maximum bass.
Both Arc Ultra and Sub 4 are estimated to ship starting from October 29. The new Arc Ultra costs $999, or $799 for Sub 4. You can pre-order your Arc Ultra or Sub 4 in black or white color finish from the Sonos website.
Source: Sonos
