The Sonos Arc has long stood as the flagship soundbar from the American networked audio giant. Upon its release in 2020, the Arc established itself as one of the most feature-rich products in its category. It was Sonos’s first soundbar to support Dolby Atmos, which was a significant step forward at the time.
Four years later, the Sonos Arc Ultra was released, intended to take up the mantle of a premium flagship soundbar. The Arc Ultra represents the next generation for Sonos, features breakthrough technologies like “Sound Motion,” and adds Bluetooth support for the first time in any Sonos soundbar.
If you’re in the market for an upscale soundbar, the new Sonos Arc Ultra release presents an opportunity. With the Sonos Arc soon going the way of the dinosaurs, you’re bound to see its remaining inventory undergo some steep sales. So, should you snatch one up for a bargain (or even find one used) or go with the latest and greatest? To help you make that decision, we’ve compared the two generations of this premium product to see how much daylight there really is between them.
Design
At first glance, the Sonos Arc and Sonos Arc Ultra share remarkably similar form factors, making them difficult to distinguish from afar. The new Arc Ultra is just shy of a pound lighter than the original Arc, weighing just over 13 pounds compared to 13.8 pounds, and about half an inch thinner from top to bottom, measuring 2.9 inches in height versus 3.4 inches.
The Arc Ultra also measures roughly a quarter inch shallower than the Arc, with a depth of 4.3 inches compared to 4.6 inches, meaning it would stick out just a touch less from the wall when mounted. Overall, the newer generation carries a slimmer and more compact design, if only just.
Both models feature capacitive touch controls and are available in black and white finishes. If aesthetics are a priority for you in picking the perfect soundbar, you’ll find little difference between these two.
Winner: Tie
Setup
The setup process for Sonos speakers is always a breeze, and truthfully, this is one of Sonos’ greatest strengths. Once users have downloaded the Sonos app on their iOS or Android device, they will be walked through an uncomplicated set of steps and have their soundbar up and running in just a few minutes. This is also where users will be prompted to take advantage of features like Trueplay to optimize the soundbar’s audio for the room it’s being used in.
Winner: Tie
Performance
As we began testing the sound and performance of the Sonos Arc Ultra, the upgrades from its predecessor became more apparent. Right off the bat, the Arc Ultra boasts 15 amplifiers, whereas the Arc has only 11.
Where the Arc featured just three silk-dome tweeters, the Arc Ultra has seven, which help deliver superior clarity and volume with less distortion. The added drivers also shine when watching content that supports Dolby Atmos. The Arc Ultra offers a spatial audio masterclass in 9.1.4 surround, while the Arc is limited to 5.0.2, lacking the additional height channels. For an even more immersive Atmos surround sound experience, add a pair of Sonos Era 300s as rear channels, and you will be blown away.
On the lower end, the original Arc used its eight elliptical woofers to handle both mids and lows; the new Arc Ultra divides up this work with six dedicated midwoofers and its new “Sound Motion” system, composed of a four-motor, dual-membrane woofer serving as a dedicated driver for bass on the soundbar. This new design, in particular the addition of “Sound Motion” and more immersive Dolby Atmos, yields a substantially refined sound with vastly improved bass performance.
You can, of course, add a Sonos Sub or Sub Mini for truly deep and room-filling low end, but both Sonos Arc soundbars deliver surprising bass — with the Ultra having a leg up.
Winner: Sonos Arc Ultra
Features
Sonos has often excelled at setting itself apart from competitors by offering products that are as feature-rich as they are user-friendly. From features like Trueplay tuning, which uses onboard microphones to optimize audio for the acoustics of the room, to its new Sound Motion tech, Sonos remains one of the most innovative players in the game.
For the purposes of comparison, the four years between the release of the Arc and the Arc Ultra were just enough to introduce a few added features with which the Arc Ultra sets itself apart yet again.
Firstly, the Arc Ultra is the first soundbar from Sonos to support Bluetooth, making it that much easier to use your Arc Ultra as a dedicated speaker from various devices without having to connect to Wi-Fi or through the Sonos app.
The Arc Ultra also offers advanced speech enhancement settings, leveraging its added tweeters to highlight the frequencies most used by dialogue in television and film. This helps ensure clarity of dialogue even among complex soundscapes.
The Arc Ultra has added Trueplay support for users with Android devices, too, as the original Arc only supported this feature when setting up the soundbar with an iOS device. Both generations of the soundbar support a “Night Sound” mode, which reduces the volume of loud sounds while raising the volume of quieter sounds. Anyone who has tried watching an action-filled movie at night while their spouse is sleeping knows the pain of turning the volume up so that you can hear the quieter dialogue, only to have a blaringly loud scene suddenly wake the whole house.
Giving some more thought to nighttime viewing, the Arc Ultra features something of an Easter egg for its sister product, the Sonos Ace headphones. Owners of both the Arc Ultra and the Ace headphones can seamlessly switch their audio between the two devices, though most smart TVs and streaming devices offer wireless headphone support as a standalone feature.
Winner: Sonos Arc Ultra
Price
The Sonos Arc is likely to be discontinued soon, but it is still available directly from Sonos for $899 and can already be found for less than that at various online retailers like Amazon and BestBuy. It’s likely that as stock dwindles, more aggressive sales will appear until all new units have been sold. The new Arc Ultra is available from Sonos and all major electronic retailers for $999.
Look around for the best sales, and you’ll easily find the original Arc on sale for over $100 less than the Arc Ultra.
Winner: Sonos Arc 1st Gen
The verdict
The Arc and Arc Ultra both exemplify the top-of-the-line soundbars in their respective eras. The original Arc endures as an impressive speaker with its support for Dolby Atmos, Trueplay tuning, and 11 high-end drivers, though the reality remains that four years in the world of consumer gadgets can feel like a lifetime in terms of features and performance.
With an MSRP of just $100 more, the Arc Ultra delivers improved sound with a dedicated bass driver, a 9.1.4 Dolby Atmos setup that feels far more future-proof, improved dialogue enhancement, added Bluetooth capability, and expanded Android support that all make it worth the splurge for the newest tech. If you’re looking for a great deal on a top-notch soundbar, then by all means, keep your eyes peeled for an aggressive sale on the original Arc, but if $100 is all that separates the old from the new, then the Sonos Arc Ultra is the way to go.
