Sonos Arc Ultra

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

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 threedimensional 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.

Despite featuring more speakers, the Ultra is actually smaller than its predecessor by around 1cm less tall, 0.5cm less deep - but measures a significant 117.8cm across, making it an ideal fit for 65-inch TVs.