Are you thinking of buying the Sonos Arc soundbar?
Do you want to know how it performs after more than two years of daily use? In this video,
I will share with you my honest review and verdict on the Sonos Arc, the flagship Soundbar
from Sonos that promises immersive and cinematic audio. I will cover its features, strengths,
weaknesses, and whether it's worth the price. Stay tuned to find out if the Sonos Arc is the
right soundbar for you, and stick around to the end for some recommendations on some changes
to the setup or alternatives you may want to consider. You'll find links in the description
for everything I discussed in the video today, and if you have any questions, let me know in the
comments. With that said, let's get into it. Hi, I'm David Loving, and you're watching Loving Tech
Life. On this channel, I share my love of tech and gaming with tips, tutorials, and reviews based on
my experiences. Welcome! For some background on why I chose the Sonos Arc, let me share what I had
previously and the challenges with that setup. I got my Sonos Arc in January 2021, shortly after
the release of the Xbox Series X and PS5. After choosing the LG CX OLED TV, the Arc was the final
piece of my new home entertainment setup. Prior to this, I was using an old Logitech 5.1 surround
system which served me well over the years, and I still use it today with my retro gaming setup.
However, with the new consoles on the horizon, I started planning to revamp my TV and sound
system setup to be able to take advantage of all their new features. I also needed to simplify the
setup so it looked better and was easier to use. The separate speakers in front and behind were a
bit of a hassle to have wired up and looked a bit unsightly. And at one point, I had three remote
controls - all for a projector, TV media player, and speakers. Just switching them all on was
a bit of a juggle. All this amounted to was a system that was difficult for the family to use
and looked a bit messy. At times we also found it difficult to hear the dialogue of TV and movies,
and it was a continuous sleep moving the volume up and down to be able to make the dialogue louder
and make the explosions or music lower. With the new system, I wanted Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
support, which eventually led me to the LG CX OLED and Sonos Arc combo. The Sonos Arc would provide a
low footprint device that ticked all the boxes for sound and features while visually fitting in with
our living space. I even went full stealth mode and chose the white instead of the black to have
it blend in as much as possible. The Sonos Arc is a smart speaker Soundbar that has 11 speakers
that point in various directions - in front, to the side, and up towards the ceiling - to
be able to support virtualized Dolby Atmos 3D surround sound. The setup for the bar was very
straightforward. On the back, it has a single HDMI eARC port to connect with your TV and an Ethernet
port if you want to wire it to your network, as well as an optical port if you want to wire the
sound in that way. However, it's best to use HDMI eARC or Enhanced Audio Return Channel if possible.
In my case, I connected it to the power first and connected the eARC port of the Sonos Arc to the
eARC port on the TV. This allows support for Dolby Atmos, and the Soundbar also acts as an extension
of the TV, seamlessly playing all the sound on the Arc instead of the TV speakers, and the volume
can be controlled with the TV remote. This meant we went from three remotes down to a single
remote. I no longer had to run a short course on how to use our setup every time my mother-in-law
visited and wanted to watch TV. In this setup, I just have all media devices and game consoles
connected to the TV's HDMI ports, and everything plays through the Sonos Arc automatically.
Once you have connected everything up, you complete this setup on the Sonos app from
your phone. With regards to our typical use of the setup over the past couple of years, we watched
terrestrial TV, streamed TV shows and movies, watched physical Ultra HD Blu-rays, played games
on the game consoles, and listened to music streamed from Spotify using both the Sonos
app and AirPlay. Needless to say, the Sonos Arc definitely got a workout over the last two
and a half years. First I want to talk about the pros of the Arc - the wife-friendly factor.
The Sonos Arc definitely met the wife-friendly factor. Its sleek, unassuming looks help it blend
into our living room setting to prevent upsetting my wife. I definitely appreciate that Sonos gives
you the option for either black or white speakers across their range. It also perfectly integrates
into the setup so that there's nothing my family had to do differently when turning on and watching
TV or media. It simply plays all the sound through it and can be controlled with the TV remote to
adjust the volume, which makes it mother-in-law approved too. Easy setup and integration. Setting
up the Sonos Arc is straightforward. It connects to your TV via HDMI ARC or eARC, and the Sonos app
guides you through the setup process step by step. The Arc sounds great across all kinds of media.
When watching regular TV, which is mostly stereo, it provides a much clearer and fuller sound
than the TV speakers can provide. When we're watching movies, listening to music, or playing
video games, the Arc delivers clear dialogue, detailed audio, and a wide sound dispersion that
fills the room. With multi-channel tracks like the multi-channel PCM 5.1 on the PS5 or Dolby Atmos
on the Xbox and streaming apps like Netflix, Prime, and Disney+. It adds another level of
depth and separation to the audio. It also makes me appreciate the even higher bit rate
of sound that the physical Ultra HD Blu-rays deliver. I also like how the Sonos Arc range
supports a range of audio formats - PCM stereo, Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Atmos, to name a
few. And you can see in the Sonos app exactly which one of these is currently being played. Home
theater use is only half the story, though. It's cool that when you're not watching TV, the Arc
has other uses that we've gotten used to using every day. Pretty much every morning, we'll play
music through either the Sonos app or AirPlay on both the Sonos Arc in one room and the Sonos One
we have in another. I do prefer using the Sonos app because the speakers will play independently
from my phone, which means if I leave the house, it keeps playing on the speakers, as opposed
to AirPlay that will disconnect as soon as the phone is not in range of the house. And if I want
to watch a video or something that plays audio on my phone, it's not going to interrupt what's
playing on the speakers like it does with AirPlay. The only time I use AirPlay is if I want to group
the Apple HomePod Mini into the multi-room audio. I think the Sonos ecosystem and user-friendly
Sonos app are the Arc's secret weapon that many people overlook when looking at a home theater
speaker setup in isolation. I must say the app itself provides a straightforward interface for
managing music playback, adjusting settings, and even calibrating the soundbar's audio output
based on the room's acoustics using Trueplay. Which reminds me, make sure you go through the
process of tuning the sound for your room with the Trueplay feature. Since the Arc relies on
speakers reflecting sound off the walls and ceiling to provide a bigger soundstage, Trueplay
will adjust the sound to your specific room. Another feature we've really gotten used to
is Amazon Alexa support. For a long time, I never activated it because I was trying to
just stick with Siri and HomeKit support for smart devices in the house. But about a year
ago, I finally decided to activate Alexa, which works on both the Arc and the Sonos Roam.
This is great as it's given me another, sometimes even more convenient, option to control the smart
lights in the room as well as controlling playing music from the Sonos speakers. My daughter used to
always request that I play certain music tracks, and I'd go into the app from my phone and play
them for her. Now she can just go directly to Alexa and ask without waiting on me, whether I
have my phone on me or not. I must say, I'm pretty impressed by how the mic picks up my voice even
from further away in the room. Another big pro for me has been the continual support and improvement
of the features of the Arc, as well as the options to expand the Arc home theater system with the
Sonos ecosystem of speakers. Sonos has proven to me that they provide regular updates and support
over many years with their products. Whether it's the new voice control features like the newer
Sonos Voice Assistant with the dulcet tones of Giancarlo Esposito that allows you to control
the speaker's volume, group and ungroup, etc., or the new options to enhance your home theater
Atmos experience with the new Arc 300 speakers, or the fact that they work to continually improve
the sound of the Arc by improving the Trueplay feature, you can safely assume that the Arc will
only have more features and capabilities from the moment that you buy it. If you're getting value
from this video, please go ahead and smash the like button below. It helps my content be seen
by more people and also lets me know if this is the type of content I should keep making.
Okay, it's not all positives with no negatives, so what are some of the downsides to the Sonos
Arc that you should consider? At face value, the Sonos Arc is expensive when compared
to some other home theater setups. There are setups out there that are more bang for your
buck for the same money, but there is always a trade-off somewhere, and you get what you pay for.
Sonos also seems to have a bit of a prejudice for Android users. You can download and use the Sonos
app just fine, but for some reason, Sonos refuses to allow you to go through the Trueplay setup on
an Android device. Why? There are workarounds, so if you have an iPad or know someone that owns
an iPhone or an iPad, you could just use those for the 10 minutes it takes to run Trueplay. But
it does seem like an unneeded obstacle and a bit unfair to Android users. Last year, Sonos did
manage to annoy many of its customers by making the Trueplay worse and changing the sound profile
for about three months. They did manage to fix the issues in the end with the 14.18 update, but
it would have been good to have an option to keep the old profile. I've also seen some people
complain about the lack of Bluetooth on the Sonos Arc. So if you want to connect an Android phone
to the Arc with Bluetooth to play music on it, you can't. As I mentioned previously, I personally
prefer not to use AirPlay if I can help it anyway, so I don't really see this as a major drawback.
Just use the Sonos app, which works great for all the streaming services out there. If you really
want to use Bluetooth, you could pick up another Sonos Bluetooth speaker, such as the relatively
inexpensive Sonos Move, the new Sonos Roam, or the mighty Sonos Arc 300. Connect to one of those
via Bluetooth, and from there, you can group them all together on the Sonos app since they're all on
the same Wi-Fi network. I also want to address the elephant in the room, and its name is Dolby Atmos.
The Sonos Arc on its own provides a virtualized Dolby Atmos experience by relying on the sound
reflecting off your walls and ceiling. Just for reference, a full Dolby Atmos home theater setup
would have multiple speakers in front, behind, and above your head to be able to provide the
full 3D audio spatial audio experience. As good as the Sonos Arc sounds, ultimately it's a set
of speakers that are positioned in front of you, and this will limit the surround effect that can
be achieved. In my setup, the right wall is really close to the speaker, so it reflects really well.
However, the left wall is much further away and has a dining table in the way of the wall. Even
with Trueplay, there's only so much that can be done. The height effects can also be hit or miss
depending on the content because even movies can be poorly mixed, which makes things even worse. I
also think that the fact that mine sits on such a low cabinet limits the effectiveness of the height
effect. You can adjust the height setting in the app, but depending on your room and your setup,
your mileage will vary. Don't get me wrong, the Arc sounds really good and has a wide sound
stage, but I think the Atmos capabilities of the Arc on its own are oversold. I know that the
ideal position of the bar is at the same height as your ears when you're watching TV, but for me,
it's just not practical at the moment. I think if you want the full Atmos experience, you need to
expect that you will supplement the Arc with more speakers, but I'll talk more about that later. If
you're into collecting physical Ultra HD Blu-rays, you'll find that some of those will have DTS:X
audio tracks, which is the alternative to Dolby Atmos 3D spatial sound standard. While the Arc has
added support for the older DTS surround sound, it does not support DTS:X. So, this might be an issue
for you. Another potential drawback of the Arc for you might be the fact that it has a single HDMI
input, while other buyers out there have multiple, so that the devices can connect to the bar
directly. The Sonos Arc is designed this way so that you can connect it to the HDMI eARC port of
your TV to get the highest quality audio possible. This way, you can connect all the rest of your
devices to your TV or run apps from your TV, and the app takes care of the sound for all
of them. So, if you've bought a TV within the last five years or so, there's a good chance
that it supports eARC. If you have a TV that has the older ARC standard, you can still do the
same thing. However, it will pass the older audio standards like Dolby Digital and a compressed
version of Dolby Atmos to the Sonos soundbar. So, if you have a TV with HDMI ARC or no ARC at
all, or it doesn't support Atmos pass-through, and you want to still get uncompressed best audio
and Dolby Atmos from your devices, you can buy a device like the HD Fury Arcana or, even better,
the Orei HDA-935 that will go between the device and the TV. These are designed to provide you with
HDMI eARC and split the HDMI signal between the TV and the Sonos Arc. This will solve the issue of
not being able to connect the devices directly to the Sonos Arc, but it is one extra purchase you
still have to make. The last thing you should be aware of is that there is no separate dedicated
remote for the soundbar. Of course, I can use the controls on the top of the bar in a pinch, or
the TV remote works to control the volume. Sonos expects most people to rely on the Sonos app and
to control the Arc from your phone. Personally, I see this as a big plus because I prefer to
have the TV a bit louder than my wife, and I can sneak the volume up from the app without it
showing on the screen that I've changed it. Okay, now that you've heard all the pros and cons of the
Sonos Arc, I'll talk about how you could improve the Arc setup, as well as some alternatives to
consider. I'll wrap up with my final thoughts and verdict. One of the great things about investing
in the Sonos Arc is the many options you have to further enhance your experience. By being able to
customize and upgrade your setup, adding the Sonos Sub Gen 3 would be my next upgrade. The Sub will
take the low bass frequencies away from the Arc, and the Arc can then concentrate only on mids,
highs, and dialogue channels for a much clearer overall sound. I personally would add the Sub
before adding the rear surrounds, both for the sound and the fact that I could more likely
fit it into the space that we have. If you are looking to improve the surround experience, then
you have more options for rear surround speakers, with the One SLs or the newer Era 100 being
great options. These, combined with the Sub, will take your home theater surround sound
experience to another level. However, if you want to make the most of your Dolby
Atmos 3D spatial audio home theater experience, we finally have an option with the mighty Era
300s. These have six drivers to fire out sound in all directions, including the ability to fire
upwards to accommodate the rear height channels. Sonos has long been criticized for the lack of
upward-firing drivers in the surround speaker options. Now, by all accounts, the Sonos Arc, Sub,
and Arc 300 are the pinnacle of the Sonos Dolby Atmos home theater setup, providing an awesome
3D spatial audio effect. One thing I will call out is that you must remember to run Trueplay
again after adding a Sub or surround speakers. The cost of the whole setup does start to add
up, so I'll mention a couple of options that, in some ways, might be better bang for the buck.
The Samsung HW-Q990C Q Series Soundbar is half the price of the Sonos setup. It won't sound quite
as good as the Sonos setup, and it doesn't support 4K at 120Hz VRR, which is important for gaming on
consoles like PS5 and Xbox Series X. The previous version of this bar also had disconnection
issues, so please do your research. But if you're just going for an Atmos home theater setup,
this is a great option for the money. Similarly, the LG S95QR 9.1.5 Dolby Atmos Soundbar competes
with the Sonos for Atmos sound at a great price, but it obviously can't do all the things that
the Sonos setup can. As far as alternatives to the Sonos setup, what are your thoughts? Comment
below with some alternatives you would recommend for the Sonos home theater setup. So, what's the
verdict after using the Sonos for the past couple of years, and would I buy it today if I had to
make the choice? The Sonos Arc has become part of my family's daily life. Whether it's playing
music across multiple rooms, watching TV, movies, playing games, or controlling smart home
devices, it has been at the center of our entertainment setup without missing a beat.
I really appreciate how Sonos continually supports and provides updates and features to
their lineup. The same can't always be said for other home theater brands that just move on to the
next model or iteration on a yearly basis. For me, the pros all vastly outweigh the cons, as none
of the cons of the Sonos Arc were an issue for me or my family. I like how the Arc is part
of a larger ecosystem of speakers that can add sound throughout your home or enhance your
home theater setup over time with upgrades. So, if I had to do it all over again and buy one
today, I absolutely would. You might have heard me mention the Sonos Room that we have as part of our
multi-room audio setup. So, if you're interested in learning more about it, please click or tap the
screen, and I'll see you in the next one. [Music]
