A Match for the Ages

BACK IN 2020 I reviewed the then-new Sonos Arc soundbar for Sound & Vision, and it never left my family room.

- Rob Sabin

It's been swapped out multiple times while I reviewed other Atmos-compliant soundbars, and some of these were mighty impressive. But none could match the complete package that the Arc offered, including great audiophile sonics, compatibility with Sonos's superb wireless Sub and rear surround options, and what is arguably the best multiroom platform on the planet, with an easy-to-use app and the widest range of music streaming options you'll find in one place. I'll share a few tech basics on the Arc below, but for more details you can find my original review on soundandvision.com.

That said, my deepest yearning for my Arc system has always been for it to deliver a full-field Dolby Atmos experience. I run an AV receiver-based 5.1.4 Atmos/DTS:X system in my basement theater with ceiling-mounted height speakers. So, I know what the full Atmos treatment can do for a good movie or well-mixed spatial music track. However, the Arc system, even with a Sub and a pair of conventional Play:1 bookshelf speakers as surrounds, only delivered a 5.1.2 Atmos configuration, falling short of a full-field Dolby Atmos experience; there's a noticeable collapse of the height bubble near the front of the room.

Sonos has long lacked an Atmos-compliant rear-surround option to complete the front-toback soundfield. That limitation was rectified earlier this year with the new Era 300. I'll discuss my experiences using a pair as rear surrounds for the Arc in this review.

Priced at $449, the ERA 300 is primarily intended for enjoying the growing library of Atmos-encoded "spatial audio" music. You'll find my review of the Era 300-as a single speaker, a stereo pair, and a pair mated with the Sub-in a separate article alongside this one. Suffice to say it exceeded expectations as a music system. But I could barely wait to try the Era 300s as rear surrounds for the Arc.

ARC OF AGES