Sonos
Arc
Sonos Arc (2020): 5.0.2 Dolby Atmos soundbar with 11 drivers, two of them upward-firing, HDMI eARC, Trueplay and wireless Sonos surrounds and sub.
Released 2020
MSRP $799.00
Check price on AmazonShop prices can differ.
- 5.0.2 speaker setup
- Dolby Atmos (up-firing)
- HDMI eARC
- Wi-Fi
- AirPlay
- Voice assistant
- Room correction
- Wireless sub
- Wireless surrounds
Overview
Arc is the Sonos Dolby Atmos soundbar released in 2020. It is 1141.7 mm wide, 87 mm high and 115.7 mm deep, comes in black or white, and can stand on furniture or be wall-mounted.
Sonos lists eleven drivers driven by eleven Class-D amplifiers: three silk-dome tweeters and eight elliptical woofers. The drivers include two dedicated, upward-firing height channels, which is why the speaker setup is 5.0.2.
The TV connects over HDMI eARC with the included HDMI cable. The box also includes an optical audio adapter for a TV's optical output. Ethernet and Wi-Fi connect Arc to the home network for streaming, AirPlay 2 and the Sonos app.
Arc has a far-field microphone array for voice control (Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Sonos Voice Control), touch controls on top, and it works with the TV remote. In the Sonos app you can adjust bass, treble and loudness and turn on Speech Enhancement or Night Sound.
What the specs mean
- 5.0.2 speaker setup: five main channels, no built-in subwoofer and two height channels. A Sonos Sub, Sub Mini or Sub 4 adds the subwoofer, and a pair of Sonos or IKEA Symfonisk speakers adds rear surrounds, all connected wirelessly.
- HDMI eARC: the enhanced Audio Return Channel carries high-bitrate formats from the TV to the soundbar, including Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos and uncompressed multichannel audio. Sonos marks Dolby Atmos, Dolby Atmos via Dolby TrueHD, Dolby TrueHD, Multichannel PCM and Dolby Multichannel PCM on Arc as requiring an eARC connection. The formats without that note are stereo PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus (including Dolby Atmos carried in Dolby Digital Plus) and DTS Digital Surround.
- Dolby Atmos: a format that lets creators place each sound where they want it to go. Sonos says Arc's upward-firing drivers work with Dolby Atmos to add sound from above.
- DTS Digital Surround: listed by Sonos with the note that this is not an indication of a licensed decoder.
- No HDMI passthrough: Arc has no HDMI input, so a console or streaming box connects to the TV, and the TV sends the sound back to Arc over eARC.
- Room correction (Trueplay): Trueplay measures the room's acoustics and adjusts the soundbar's EQ, including the height channels. Sonos lists a supported iOS device as a requirement.
Which soundbar is right for you?
| SonosArc (current soundbar)MSRP $799.00Check price on Amazon | SonyHT-A3000MSRP $699.99Check price on Amazon | BoseSmart Ultra SoundbarMSRP $899.00Check price on Amazon | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall value A rough features-for-the-price score, compared with every soundbar listed. Bars gain points for things like Dolby Atmos, Wi-Fi and room tuning, and lose points without them. Dolby Atmos with up-firing speakers earns more than virtual Atmos. Cheaper bars lose fewer points, or none, for missing premium extras (Dolby Atmos, HDMI eARC, up-firing speakers). 100 is the best deal listed. Based on specs only, not on how it sounds. | 65 | 65 | 74 |
| Price-band value Like Overall value, but each soundbar is compared only with soundbars in its own price band: up to $300, $300–500, $500–800, $800–1,200 or over $1,200. 100 is the best deal in that band. Based on specs only, not on how it sounds. | 65$500–800 | 65$500–800 | 80$800–1,200 |
| Speaker setup | 5.0.2 | 3.1 | 5.1.2 |
| Dolby Atmos | Up-firing | Virtual | Up-firing |
| Form factor | Bar only | Bar only | Bar only |
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| HDMI inputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Streaming support |
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| Soundbar dimensions | 1141.7 × 87 × 115.7 mm | 950 × 64 × 128 mm | 1045 × 58.2 × 106.9 mm |
Specifications
Overview
- Overall value
- 65
- Price-band value
- 65$500–800
- Speaker setup
- 5.0.2
- Dolby Atmos
- Up-firing
- Form factor
- Bar only
Expandability
- Is extendable
- Speaker:Era 100
- Speaker:Era 100 SL
- Speaker:Era 300
- Speaker:Five
- Speaker:IKEA Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker
- Speaker:IKEA Symfonisk Lamp Speaker
- Speaker:IKEA Symfonisk Lamp Speaker (Gen 2)
- Speaker:IKEA Symfonisk Picture Speaker
- Speaker:One
- Speaker:One SL
- Subwoofer:Sub
- Subwoofer:Sub 4
- Subwoofer:Sub Mini
- Has wireless surrounds
- Yes
- Has wireless subwoofer
- Yes
Connectivity
- Available inputs
- HDMI eArc
- LAN (RJ-45)
- Optical
- WiFi
- Streaming support
- AirPlay
- Apple Music
- Google Play Music
- Sonos App
- Spotify
- Tidal
- Virtual assistants
- Alexa
- Sonos Voice Control
- Controllers
- Android App
- iOS App
- On Device
- TV Remote Control
- App required
- Yes
- Same-brand TV features
- Not stated
Audio & video
- Audio support
- Dolby Atmos
- Dolby Digital
- Dolby Digital Plus
- Dolby Multichannel PCM
- Dolby True HD
- DTS Digital Surround
- LPCM 2ch
- Multichannel PCM
- Room correction
- Yes
- Dialogue enhancement
- Speech Enhancement
- Night mode
- Night Sound
- Passthrough
- No
- HDMI inputs
- 0
Design
- Soundbar dimensions
- 1141.7 × 87 × 115.7 mm
- Wall mountable
- Yes
- Colors
- Black
- White
- What's in the box
- Audio Adapter
- Booklets
- HDMI Cable
- Power Cable