Sonos Arc Ultra

Sonos fans rejoice - the ultimate soundbar is here to upgrade your system

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₹99,900, sonos.​com

THE BEST BAR NONE

The Sonos Arc Ultra is the successor to the Sonos Arc. The Ultra may look largely similar, but it’s been redesigned and acoustically re-engineered to deliver more immersive sound, crisper vocal clarity and beefier bass.

The newer Ultra squeezes 14 speakers inside, arranged across seven tweeters, six mid-woofers and one ‘Sound Motion’ woofer. The earlier Arc model has eight woofers and three tweeters. Further catering for not only the high-end with a more significant array – useful for dialogue and vocals – but also a stronger focus on bass output shows the Ultra’s upgraded position clearly.

The Arc was no stranger to three-dimensional sound output, with virtual Dolby Atmos surround achieved in a 5.0.2 output, but the Arc Ultra, however, upgrades that to a 9.1.4 output, arranged across nine front/side channels, four upfiring height channels, and one integrated woofer. You can still upgrade this by adding a sub (such as the new Sonos Sub 4) and a pair of rear speakers (like the Sonos Era 300), but the channel arrangement remains fundamentally the same – it’s still 9.1.4, just the crossover for low-end frequencies will be adjusted and the true rear channels will pick up an adjusted share of output.