Update: An earlier version of this story mistakenly claimed that Presets would not launch in the UK until 2027, when in fact it's available now. The amended story follows.

Two big features from the new Sonos 27 operating system are rolling out this week, but only one is available now in the UK.

Presets is available now in the UK, while Sonos 27voice [sic] will land in the US on Friday and on these shores in early 2027.

Presets gives you the ability to set an entire mood with one press. You can save which music plays in each room, at what volume and on which Sonos speakers. Select that preset, and it will load your settings – so you can set one for a party, one for your morning routine, one for a lazy Sunday, and so on.

Sonos 27voice promises to understand you better, letting you be more conversational so it will know “what song you mean from the vaguest description”. You don’t even have to mention the artist or title, which is handy if you don’t know them.

You can also describe a mood and it will create a playlist to suit it.

But you don’t have to rely on Sonos’s voice assistant. As part of Sonos 27, you can use others, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Siri.

These features are part of the Sonos 27 operating system that launched a few weeks ago. Like iOS, it will update every year, so next year’s will be Sonos 28.

It’s part of Sonos’s push to listen to customers more and deliver on what they want, following the self-immolation that was its 2024 app update.

MORE:

We speak to Sonos about its operating system rebrand, its “customer-led” focus and app updates

Which Sonos speaker should you buy?

Check out the best Sonos alternatives

Over the last year, we have tested a whole bunch of soundbars. Those range from entry-level Dolby Atmos models to premium soundbar systems, all of which bring something different to the table.

But we can only crown the cream of the crop at our annual What Hi-Fi? Awards. For some models, this is not their first rodeo in receiving an Award, while others have only just made their mark this year. Let's take a look at the soundbars that have made it onto our coveted list.

Samsung’s new generation takes over from its predecessor

Last year, the Samsung HW-Q990F took home both the Product of the Year Award and the prize as the best soundbar between £500 and £2000. We are yet to announce who will take home the POTY Award for 2026, but we can say that its successor, the HW-Q990H, has comfortably won the latter category.

Made up of a soundbar, two surround speakers and a subwoofer, the Samsung is a great alternative to a full-fat multi-speaker package. While it looks identical to the older model, the Q990H offers subtle improvements in sound performance particularly when it comes to detail and scale.

All of which helped it take the crown over its still excellent predecessor.

Sony takes two of the top spots

If you want a cheaper system, then the Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 is our top recommendation for the £250 to £500 price category.

It’s far from your typical system when it comes to design. The soundbar is directly wired to the subwoofer, the surround speakers are not. Then, the sub wirelessly transmits the surround sound information to a receiver box at the back of the room that is itself wired to the two surround speakers.

The oddball system delivers superbly punchy, weighty bass, as well an impressively enveloping and cohesive surround sound.

That’s not the only Sony soundbar to take home the gold this year, either. The Sony Bravia Theatre Trio + Rear 9 and Sub 9 is a premium soundbar system, which we tested at £2798 / $3250 / AU$5597.

We tested the Bravia Theatre Trio on its own and were impressed, but adding in the Rear 9 and Sub 9 only makes for a more immersive, detailed and punchy audio experience that makes it another great addition to our Awards list.

Sonos stays on top

If you are a regular What Hi-Fi? reader, then you will likely have heard about the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) before. That’s because it is a top performer in the entry-level Atmos category, and is receiving an Award for the sixth year in a row.

Although it offers a compact footprint, the five-star stunner delivers a delicate, nuanced and punchy sound that is unbeaten at its price despite tough competition from the likes of the JBL Bar 300MK2.

Taking the crown for the second time as the best soundbar between £500 and £1000 is the Sonos Arc Ultra. Its brilliant reproduction of Dolby Atmos soundtracks and its tight, tuneful bass make it a fairly comfortable winner over solo soundbar rivals.

Both of these all-in-one Sonos bars are an excellent choice if you want to upgrade your TV’s audio, and the brand has cemented itself as a force to be reckoned with in the all-in-one soundbar category.

Hisense’s cheap system scores being again, and KEF keeps its crown

The Hisense AX5125H is our top pick for those wanting a Dolby Atmos system on a budget, taking the prize for the second year. You get a lot of kit for your money, with the package consisting of a subwoofer, soundbar and two surrounds.

Of course, it is not at the same calibre as the more premium models, but you still get an amazing weight, scale and spaciousness for the money.

Also taking an Award for the second time is the premium all-in-one soundbar, the KEF XIO. The 5.1.2 bar sounds excellent with both music and movies and, if you have the budget, then this is the best premium model we have tested over £2000.

So, which one of these five deserved winners will be crowned the 2026 soundbar Product of the Year at the What Hi-Fi? Awards ceremony on 12th November? Tune in on the night to find out.

MORE:

These are the 2026 What Hi-Fi? Award winners

Check out the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

And here is our review of the Sonos Arc Ultra

Way back in 2023, as I hunted for a living room-friendly sound solution for my new home, I replaced a Sonos Arc with a pair of HomePod 2s, and what I discovered was a surprisingly accomplished Dolby Atmos performance in a super-neat package.

One of my criticisms, though, and a key reason I ended up with the Sony HT-A9 system long-term instead, was that “there’s currently no way to extend the Apple system beyond two speakers, so you can't add dedicated surrounds.”

Now, more than three years later, Apple has finally removed that limitation.

This new Apple TV 4K model, with its powerful A19 chip, can be partnered with four HomePod 2s, four of the new HomePod Mini 2s, or a pair of each, to create a full surround sound experience.

As before, there is no dedicated, manual calibration involved. You simply plonk the speakers where they are most practical, and their combination of integrated microphones will work out where they are and adapt the sound to each other and the environment. Very neat – assuming it works as well as it does with a pair of HomePods.

For those not already familiar with how an Apple TV 4K + HomePods combination works, the HomePods don’t play audio just from the Apple TV 4K itself. Thanks to eARC support, they can also handle sound from other devices connected to your TV, such as a games console or Blu-ray player.

There are other things I’m excited about with the new Apple TV 4K, of course.

Far-field mics for totally hands-free operation via Siri AI are actually rather appealing, I think, as long as Siri can play content from all streaming apps; and AV1 codec support is potentially a big deal for picture quality in the long run.

As someone who misplaces the tiny Siri Remote on a near-weekly basis, the new version’s audible Find My feature should prove very useful, too.

But it’s this ability to turn a HomePod setup into a proper Dolby Atmos home cinema system that has really piqued my interest.

The downside? Cost, of course.

The new Apple TV 4K is launching at £299 / $299 / AU$449, which is a massive price rise on the previous model, and each HomePod 2, which, from a sound quality perspective, I think you will need as the front speakers at least, will set you back £349 / $349 / AU$549.

So a full package that includes a new Apple TV 4K and four HomePod 2s will cost a hefty £1695 / $1695 / AU$2645 – though you could of course save some money by using HomePod Mini 2s instead of HomePod 2s as surrounds.

And, actually, now I think of it, that is very similar to what Sony charged for the HT-A9 system I still use at home, and a lot less than it charges for the Bravia Theatre Quad (£2499 / $2500 / AU$3699).

A Sonos Arc Ultra with two Era 300 speakers as surrounds will set you back £1797 / $2002 / AU$3232, too, so perhaps this Apple TV 4K home cinema isn’t quite as startlingly expensive as it first looks.

Of course, the real test will be how this system sounds. I was impressed by what a pair of HomePods could do on their own, so I am particularly keen to find out whether adding dedicated surrounds can deliver the kind of fully immersive Dolby Atmos I’m after – and how it compares with the Sony HT-A9 system I still use at home.

The new Apple TV 4K is due to go on sale on 13th November, so you can expect our test results around then.

MORE:

I replaced a Sonos Arc with two HomePod 2s – and I might not go back

Here are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars and best surround sound systems you can buy right now

There's just this evening to go in Amazon's Big Deal Days sale, October's version of the Prime Day event that has slowly taken over the commercial calendar.

And with it have come deals – a lot of deals. While this might sound like a good thing on paper, it does mean sifting through the deluge to find hidden gems.

• All the latest Amazon Big Deal Days savings!
• Don't forget to check Richer Sounds for deals too!
• Peter Tyson also has some compelling deals running!
• Sevenoaks Sound and Vision's top savings

Luckily, as What Hi-Fi?'s resident deals writer, I've done just that. I've found products that our expert test teams have personally reviewed, and I've separated the ones we actually recommend from those we advise you miss.

It's been a particularly good sales event for projectors, headphones and other audio equipment, so I have a selection of those below. Everything here has been put through the wringer in our dedicated testing rooms, but only half have earned a What Hi-Fi? recommendation.

Curious to see the winners and losers? Let's take a look below...

Audio deals to avoid

Audio deals I'd buy instead

The Amazon Echo Dot Max is seeing a healthy discount right now, but it's still not enough to tempt us after its poor sound quality earned it a measly two stars. We'd urge you to buy the Echo Dot (5th Gen); it's cheaper, sounds better and is the smarter buy overall, with a nice finish and well-integrated Alexa smarts for a great value price.

The Sony ULT Wear are a rare misfire from Sony, with a sound that sounds either too enthusiastic and bass-heavy, or simply too lacking in the basics of dynamics and detail. The Award-winning Sony WH-CH720N are far better value, with great sound, solid build quality and impressive active noise cancellation for the money. The newly released Sony WH-CH730N sound even better if you're willing to shell out a bit more.

A lot of the middling reception to the Beats Studio Pro was due to the price, so this large discount isn't a terrible deal. However, if you can spend a bit more, the Sony WH-1000XM4C will reward you with more spark and musicality. They're fresh off a five-star review and are one of the standout models of 2026.

Projector deals to avoid

Projectors I'd buy instead

The Anker Nebula Capsule 3 might look tempting at first glance, but we weren't blown away by its picture, which was limited by its 200 lumens of peak brightness. The Xgimi MoGo 4, however, packs a decent punch with its picture performance, and a colourful and engaging image despite its size.

The futuristic Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro was quite the head-turner in our test room, but the picture and sound quality couldn't justify its high asking price. While this hefty discount does help, the original Nebula X1 is a far better value portable 4K projector and the model we'd recommend. It's now at its lowest price.

MORE:

The best Amazon Prime Big Deal Days savings on headphones, OLED TVs, Dolby Atmos soundbars and more, direct from our experts

Our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy

And the best projectors for all budgets

Do you have a Sonos soundbar? Or are you looking to buy one this Prime Day?

While they are all good stand-alone options, it’s possible you will want to add a touch more low end to your music and film soundtracks – and that’s where the Sonos Sub Mini comes in.

This capable, snappy subwoofer is currently on offer for £327 at Amazon, and has been highlighted on the site as a best seller.

Clearly, the public knows a good deal when they see one, as we gave the Sonos Sub Mini a positive four-star review at its £429 launch price, and praised its discreet build and lack of distracting vibrations. If you’re after a soundbar as well, we found it pairs best with the Sonos Beam Ultra and Sonos Beam (Gen 2) – the latter of which is also on sale, for £338 at Amazon.

The Sonos Sub Mini’s performance will depend on your soundbar of choice, but we found several promising, consistent characteristics throughout.

“The Sub Mini has a quick, responsive sound that sets it apart from the loose, bland vagueness of many other soundbar subs,” our Sonos Sub Mini review reads. “And indeed, throughout our testing, the Sub Mini always maintains prudent control, and we don’t hear any unwanted rattles or buzzes.”

The Sub Mini kicks out an impressive amount of volume for its size, and reveals low-frequency elements underpinning scores that most soundbars alone can’t touch with a barge pole.

However, we recommend pairing the Sub Mini only with the mid-range options from Sonos, namely the Beam Ultra and Beam (Gen 2). It’s overkill with the entry-level Sonos Ray, and Sonos Arc Ultra owners would benefit far more from the fully fledged Sonos Sub.

For those with the right soundbar, though, the Sub Mini has plenty to offer. While there is an ethernet port, most will connect the Sub Mini over wi-fi, meaning it requires only a single cable for power.

Adding the Sub Mini to your system is simple thanks to the Sonos app, which also includes options for bass level, EQ and phase.

At just 31 x 23 x 23cm (hwd), the Sub Mini is ideal for small and medium-sized rooms, while the matte monochrome cabinet offers an appealing, understated aesthetic and is entirely sealed to reduce distortion.

If you have one of the Sonos Beam models and want to add a powerful punch, the Sub Mini is one of your top options at this price of £327 at Amazon. And it seems the public has caught on, making this the top subwoofer deal of this Prime Day.

MORE:

Also consider our Samsung HW-Q800A review

Read our LG Eclair QP5 review

These are the best soundbars: excellent TV speakers at budget to premium prices

It's here. The official start of autumn, the Black Friday warm-up, and perhaps even a sign to begin Christmas shopping: October Prime Day.

Officially known as Prime Big Deal Days on the site itself, the sale has brought the usual savings on Amazon devices, electronics and more.

However, while there are many a five-star product and Award winner on sale, several of them are not quite at the lowest price we've seen.

• All the latest Amazon Big Deal Days savings!
• Don't forget to check Richer Sounds for deals too!
• Peter Tyson also has some compelling deals running!
• Sevenoaks Sound and Vision's top savings

Have no fear, though, as I've scoured the sale to find the best genuine deals and rock-bottom prices. As What Hi-Fi?'s resident deals writer, I've been tracking these products for some time and I know a good discount when I see one.

There's a mix of everything here, from soundbars to speakers to headphones. What unites them all, however, is that they're all at the lowest price we've seen, and they've all been given at least four stars and a recommendation by our expert review team.

So what are you waiting for? Let's take a look...

Kicking things off, we have a new lowest price on the spectacular Sony Bravia Theatre Trio, but it's not at Amazon. Head to Peter Tyson, where you can pick up one of the finest Dolby Atmos soundbar systems around for a discounted price of £1799, and then get an extra £200 cashback from Sony – full details are here.

We tested the Sony PS-LX3BT in April, when we found it to be one of the best budget Bluetooth turntables you can buy thanks to its excellent sound and seamless usability. It's already seeing a healthy £82 discount this Prime Day, giving us the lowest price we've seen yet.

The five-star Bose SoundLink Max combines a rugged, ergonomic design, a lively, energetic sound and powerful, tight bass. It's now at a new lowest price thanks to the Big Deal Days sale, but we'd also consider the newer JBL Xtreme 5, which is at a similar price.

The open-back Sennheiser HD 505 offer a comfortable, likeable and long-lasting listening experience, excellent for lengthy at-home listening sessions. Easy to recommend, especially with the biggest discount we've seen.

Small size, big performance. The Award-winning Hisense M2 Pro is our top pick for an entry-level projector thanks to its easy set-up, sharp, consistent picture and solid app support. Now at its lowest ever price.

For cinema quality inside a compact case, check out the Nebula X1. The portable projector boasts class-leading audio, a vibrant, three-dimensional picture and a simple setup. Now at a new lowest price.

The Sonos Era 100 SL doesn't have the microphone of the Sonos Era 100, but it does have the same big, open sound and crisp, clear detail that we fell in love with. Add in a ton of streaming features and a lower price than the original model, and you've got yourself quite the bargain.

We only reviewed the 48-inch LG C6 last week, but there's already a tasty bargain. Use the voucher code GDLG10 to save 10% on this bright, colourful and contrast-rich OLED TV.

Amazon's tablet line has long been incredible value, and the Amazon Fire HD 8 is no different. The 32GB version is half price at Currys if you're willing to collect it, or the 64GB model is only £65 at Amazon.

MORE:

The best Amazon Prime Big Deal Days savings on headphones, OLED TVs, Dolby Atmos soundbars and more, direct from our experts

Our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy

And the best TVs for all budgets

Ah, the joys of moving house. It might be one of the most stressful yet brain-numbingly mundane tasks you face in adult life, and somehow it never gets easier.

But once all the boxes are moved away and the dust has settled, you finally feel that you can call this new place your home.

I have just about finished my own moving ordeal (I never want to see a roll of packing tape again), but I face the fresh challenge of setting up my own AV system. My new flat doesn’t have the space for a multi-speaker surround sound system, nor do I have the budget. That makes a soundbar the best option for me right now, and there’s one brand I am keen to bring into my living room.

If you have ever hunted for a soundbar yourself, you will probably have seen Sonos soundbars at the top of any suggested list. And that is because they are really very good.

We have reviewed all of Sonos’s current soundbar range, and every model (bar one) has scored five stars in our test room. For those unfamiliar with the brand’s offerings, here’s a quick run-through.

The cheapest and smallest of the bunch is the four-star Sonos Ray (£199 / $199), which we like for its assertive and punchy sound performance. In a rather old-fashioned move by Sonos, though, the soundbar has only an optical input and no eARC connectivity.

Introducing surround-sound support to the range is the step-up Sonos Beam (Gen 2) (£449 / $449), which has won multiple What Hi-Fi? Awards and is the benchmark for entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbars. As with the rest of the more expensive entries, Sonos has included one HDMI eARC port.

Then there’s the newest Sonos soundbar to join the team – meet the mid-range Beam Ultra. The bar offers a 7.1.2-channel arrangement and will set you back £699 / $699. In our review, we say, “It delivers a substantial upgrade over the Beam (Gen 2) while retaining much of the compactness and simplicity that makes that model so appealing.”

Finally, the Award-winning Sonos Arc Ultra (£999 / $999) is the premium Atmos entry. We praise this for its clean, precise, spacious and three-dimensional sound.

With all those tempting options, I have been struggling to decide which one works best for me. The Ray is of course the cheapest and would offer the most compact solution for my cosy living room, but the lack of HDMI support is a big drawback.

And, though the Arc Ultra is the best-performing of the group, it’s simply not in my budget.

That leaves the Beam (Gen 2) and the Beam Ultra, each of which is a five-star performer.

Even though the Gen 2 model delivers an impressively room-filling sound, it lacks up-firing drivers where the Beam Ultra boasts one on each end. As you would hope, this makes for an even more immersive experience than from its cheaper sibling. But I would still get a detailed and expressive sound from the less expensive Beam Gen 2.

To be frank, I’m stuck in the middle. The convenience of the Sonos Ray speaks to me, and it is by far the cheapest option. But the AV enthusiast in me craves the Dolby Atmos support and the inclusion of an HDMI eARC port that comes with the Beam Ultra or Beam (Gen 2) despite their higher price tags.

So, Sonos, if you are working on an upgraded version of the Ray, I’ve got a message. I’m a realist, so I know not to expect true Dolby Atmos from such a low-priced soundbar. But it would be great to have better connectivity options from the Ray to make the most of its sound performance.

MORE:

Check out the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Here are the best TVs

These are the best soundbars

Believe it or not, Prime Day started out as a single day of deals back in 2015.

Nowadays, Prime Day not only covers several days, but is also held several times a year – and Prime Big Deal Days, or 'October Prime Day' will be upon us momentarily.

However, in true Prime Day fashion, the deals have started early. All the usual suspects are here, including rock-bottom pricing on Amazon's own devices, but we've also spotted a slew of savings on terrific projectors and earbuds.

We've sifted through the clutter to find the best products that we've tried and tested ourselves. Everything below has been given the thumbs up by our expert review team, having earned at least four stars or more – and perhaps even a What Hi-Fi? Award.

We're sure to see even more deals on the actual event itself – but here is some of the best on offer now:

Alexa devices are a Prime Day staple now, and the Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen) is dutifully back down to its lowest price, whether you're a Prime member or not. The Alexa functionality is stuffed with features, but we're more impressed with the sound quality, which has come a long way over the last decade.

Our favourite outdoor projector, the Anker Nebula Mars 3 Air is another regular in the Amazon sales. It's incredibly easy to set up, well-built and offers picture and sound quality that's a cut above the competition, though you'll need a Prime membership to access this deal.

It's not a Prime Day sale without a good Fire TV Stick deal. The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Generation) is our video streamer Product of the Year thanks to its solid value, decent picture quality and flawless app support.

The AWOL Vision Aetherion Max is great value for what it offers, with outstanding picture quality, good built-in audio and an impressive feature set to match. Now at its lowest price, it's quite the steal given just how good it looks. There are limited units at this price, so you'll want to claim this before they're gone.

The Amazon Ember QLED with Fire TV offers a sharp and detailed picture with minimal fuss, as well as audio that defies expectations. It’s a good value TV that just became a great one thanks to a truly hefty discount.

The Xgimi Mogo 4 packs big entertainment into one dinky package. Its compact, lightweight design and easy set-up make it highly portable, but its sharp and punchy picture quality is its most welcome feature.

The Earfun Air are the cheapest five-star headphones we recommend, and we still recommend them six years after our first review. We've seen them this cheap outside of Prime Day, but at just over £20 they're well worth picking up if you're already a Prime member.

The Soundcore Nebula P1 boasts the best sound we have heard from a coffee table projector at this price, and its clever, compact design makes it highly practical. The picture performance isn't quite at the same level, but it's still a compelling choice overall if you're a Prime member.

The Award-winning Sony WF-C710N offer a great sense of musicality, fulsome, controlled bass and 30 hours of battery life. You don't have to be a Prime member to get this deal, and you can save £10 when bought with another qualifying item.

MORE:

Check out our list of the best music streaming services

17 of the best podcasts for music lovers

Tidal vs Spotify: which streaming service is best for you?

JBL has just released four soundbars under the Cinema SBMK2 series, which offer a brand-new feature for the US-based brand.

You can connect the soundbars wirelessly to JBL portable speakers as rear surrounds, which JBL says will “deliver true surround sound at the touch of a button”.

If you already own a pair of JBL Flip 7 portable speakers, you’re in luck – this is the only compatible model right now. The burrito-shaped Flip 7 got a five-star rating when we reviewed it, offering as it does a skilful handling of dynamics and detail.

But what about the new soundbars? Well, all but one offer an unusual design quirk: you can fold them into a U-shape. The brand says this is so the bars are easy to carry around and take up less space in the box. JBL also tells us that the bar cannot be used in its folded state.

First on the list is the flagship SB595MK2, which offers a 3.1.2-channel configuration and true Dolby Atmos support thanks to its up-firing drivers. That’s paired with a separate 6.5-inch subwoofer, delivering a total power output of 440W.

It will set you back £350 / $350, putting it in competition with the Award-winning Sonos Beam Gen 2 that scored five stars in our test room.

The SB580MK2 (£300 / $300) comes with the same subwoofer as its more pricey sibling. This 3.1-channel soundbar does not have up-firing drivers, but there is still virtualised Dolby Atmos support.

Next is the JBL SB550MK2, which features a 5.25-inch subwoofer and a total power output of 360W. There is no Dolby Atmos on the cards with this the 3.1-channel model, so you are limited to Dolby Audio.

Finally, comes the SB510MK2. It’s the only non-foldable soundbar of the bunch and also the cheapest. The subwoofer is built into the soundbar’s main body, so you need accommodate only one piece of kit.

Bluetooth is supported with all models, so you can stream music to the bars from other devices.

We will have to wait until we get the models in our test room to determine how well they compare with their rivals. Being able to use the JBL Flip 7 as rear surrounds is a promising addition in terms of flexibility and scale, but we hope the brand adds compatibility to even more speakers soon. Stay tuned for our full review.

MORE:

Check out the JBL 300MK2 review

These are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

And here are the best Bluetooth speakers

Whether you’re watching a scene of hushed conversation or shouty statements punctuated by explosions, some of you may find it difficult to hear dialogue when watching movies.

That can be particularly frustrating when you have forked out a fair amount of cash for a brand-new TV. Unfortunately, as TVs have been getting slimmer, so have their built-in speakers which often does not allow enough space for the drivers you deserve.

But don’t worry, there are a few things you can try before completely relying on subtitles or cranking up the volume to 11. Let’s take a look.

Experiment with your TV’s speech boosters

One of the simplest ways to try to improve the dialogue from your TV is to dive into its settings menu. Every TV brand has a slightly different name for its speech boosters, so finding the right one may take a bit of searching online or in the user manual.

Sony Bravia TVs, for instance, offer a feature called Voice Zoom, which reduces ambient noise and increases the voice level.

There are usually also sound presets that prioritise dialogue, although they might be under Dialogue or the less intuitive News option. It might be a little time-consuming to start with, but it’s worth it in the long run to find the best setting for you.

Invest in a soundbar

If you are still struggling to catch dialogue, then it might be worth investing in a soundbar. They can sit in front of your TV screen, or you can wall-mount them if you prefer. And they offer far better dialogue and a more immersive audio experience than the vast majority of TV speakers.

There are oodles of models on the market, ranging from premium entries to more budget-friendly options. For the latter, the Award-winning Hisense AX5125H soundbar system and the compact Creative Stage Pro models are each well worth your consideration. In both cases, we find that dialogue is much clearer compared with the TV speakers, as well as delivering more expression and nuance in voices.

Many soundbars also offer their own EQ modes to enhance the dialogue further. The Sonos Beam Ultra, to which we just awarded five stars in our test room, for instance, has its own Speech Enhancement mode, which you can adjust from low to max, or just leave off entirely.

Connect to your headphones

This option won't suit everyone, but if you are still struggling, then it might be worth connecting your TV to a pair of headphones. That, of course, makes the listening experience much more intimate, and you quite possibly already have a compatible model in your home.

It’s also handy if you don’t want to disturb others in your home without having to turn the volume down and making the dialogue even less clear.

Most smart TVs allow you to connect your cans via Bluetooth, as you would link them to your phone or computer. For the more analogue among you, you can connect many over-ear headphones to the TV using the 3.5mm auxiliary jack and a cable extension.

Invest in a good pair of Bluetooth headphones, such as the Award-winning Sony WH-1000XM6 or Sennheiser HDB 630, and you should be getting a much more detailed and engaging experience compared with your built-in TV speakers.

If you wear hearing aids, you can connect these to your TV as well via Bluetooth.

After finding the right solution for you, hopefully you will be well on your way to getting much clearer dialogue – and so to immersing yourself more fully in movies.

MORE:

These are the best headphones we have tested

Check out the best soundbars

And here are the best TVs

For most of What Hi-Fi?'s 50 years, speakers, headphones and other audio equipment have primarily been for music playback.

And while that's still very much our main focus, there's no denying that the rise of the podcast from the mid 2000s has changed the audio landscape. There's a good chance that a lot of the commuters on your morning train are listening to breakdowns on politics, entertainment and sport rather than the latest chart releases.

This does require slightly different strengths in your equipment, however, with vocal clarity, clear mid-range frequencies, and comfortable wear far more important than bass and other music-focused features.

So with International Podcast Day (yes, that's a thing) arriving on 30th September, we've rounded up a few of our favourite smart speakers and headphones that excel at the spoken word, but are also great for music too. They're all products we've tried and tested ourselves, and we'll only recommend them if they earned at least four stars in their reviews.

Let's take a look:

The Sonos Era 100 is our favourite smart speaker overall thanks to its impressive performance at a rather competitive price. There's a vast catalogue of streaming features on board and a spacious, open sound that will bring both your podcasts and your music to life.

If you listen to podcasts on the go, then the Sony WH-1000XM6 are our top choice. They're sensational all-rounders with great comfort levels, excellent ANC and exceptional levels of detail.

If you're on more of a budget, then the HomePod Mini is the smart speaker we'd recommend. It will slot in perfectly to an iOS-oriented ecosystem, and outperforms its size and price with a mature, bold, assertive sound. A no-brainer for Apple fans.

Apple fans will also love the AirPods Pro 3, the brand's best AirPods to date. There have been tweaks and improvements to the design, active noise-cancelling and, most importantly, sound quality, all of which should make listening to podcasts on the move a joy, especially if you have an iOS device.

The speaker range that started the smart home revolution, Amazon Echo, is now in its fifth iteration and better than ever. Alexa is synonymous with virtual assistants and stuffed with features, but we're more impressed with the sound quality, which has come a long way over the last decade.

For style as well as smarts, the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd gen) is well worth considering. It's a tad expensive and a little long in the tooth now, but it's also a rather remarkable all-rounder with a classy design, expansive sound and the bonus of Alexa.

If you're recording podcasts as well as listening to them, you may want to consider the Røde NTH-100. The company is a big deal in the world of pro audio, and this first attempt to engage with the consumer audio market is eloquent and revealing, whether you're after a critical or casual listen.

If you've got the budget, then the Apple HomePod 2 is a multiple What Hi-Fi? Award winner. It's the best option for Apple acolytes, with a natural, solid and energetic sound and impressive Siri functionality.

MORE:

Check out our list of the best music streaming services

17 of the best podcasts for music lovers

Tidal vs Spotify: which streaming service is best for you?

The Sonos Beam Ultra is here, and after thoroughly reviewing it in our listening rooms, running it head to head with its siblings (the Sonos Beam 2 and Sonos Arc Ultra) and every comparatively priced rival we could get our hands on, we can confirm it’s great.

Offering a room-filling sound, with a much improved tight low-end and added sense of height, the Beam Ultra is a five-star Dolby Atmos soundbar. As we said in our recently published review: “Sonos has struck Dolby Atmos gold yet again.”

We don’t often give praise like that.

But as we discussed its merits as part of this year’s What Hi-Fi? Awards testing, there was one elephant in the room we couldn’t ignore: its price.

I’m not going to give away any spoilers about this year’s Award winners – you’ll have to check back with us on 13th October for that – but, with the Beam Ultra costing £699, it left a hole, which we had been hoping it would plug, gapingly open: that of the cheap soundbar.

Regular readers may remember, only a few short months ago, we were begging Sonos to release a new Beam soundbar. But, sod’s law being the eternal constant it is, when we finally get our wish, the new Beam isn’t the affordable replacement we were hoping for; it's a mid-tier upgrade that sits alongside the Beam 2.

And that's a problem. In the past two years, there has been an outright drought of five-star, affordable, Dolby Atmos soundbars. For clarity, by affordable, we mean units that cost £350/$350 or less.

Jump over to our best Dolby Atmos soundbars buying guide, and you’ll see what I mean. The current small recommendation is the Sonos Beam 2, which came out way back in October 2021. In soundbar years, it should have had its letter from the King by now.

What’s more, despite its age, it still meets our definition of “cheap” only during sales events, such as the fast-approaching Black Friday, when it usually drops from its regular £429 asking price to £349.

Below it, our current recommended cheap Dolby Atmos soundbar, the Sony HT-S2000, came out in 2023, so it is hardly a spring chicken. It also still sits in the upper end of our definition of “affordable”, retailing for £299 at most stores.

On top of that, as our reviewers and I have noted before, it falls afoul of a repeat issue we experience on affordable Atmos units: though it recognises the signal, it struggles to deliver an actual sense of height.

But, despite the two units’ age, we have yet to experience anything better. The only bar to come close was the JBL Bar 300 Mk2, which is great in most ways, but doesn’t have the finesse and musicality to dethrone the Beam 2.

Considering the cost-of-living crisis and the wealth of innovation that has appeared in the mid- and upper-end of the soundbar market over the past half-decade, the lack of new cheap models feels like a missed opportunity. Surely some of the cool stuff we’ve seen on even moderately more expensive models should have trickled down by now?

Hopefully, this will change in the not too distant future. If not, I can’t help but think some companies are missing an open goal.

Not everyone has cash to burn on a new soundbar, and right now even the best options you’ll find for less than £350/$350 are undeniably beginning to feel a little stale and show their age. Buyers on a budget deserve better, at least in my humble opinion.

MORE:

These are the best surround sound systems we have tested

We rank the best cheap TVs

Our picks of the best soundbars

Is it just us, or is everything Ultra nowadays? While Apple and Samsung have adopted the name (with the Watch Ultra and Galaxy S26 Ultra, respectively), no one has run with it quite like Sonos. First we had the Arc Ultra, then the Ace Ultra headphones and Beam Ultra soundbar. Confused? We don't blame you.

Ultra connotes the best in the range, so the Beam Ultra is positioned above the previous Beam soundbars, and Arc Ultra above the standard Arc. But while they might be the best in their respective lines, there are still some notable differences between the Beam Ultra and Arc Ultra. They are priced quite differently, after all.

Wondering which is for you? You've come to the right place. Here we'll compare the two five-star soundbars including a comparative listening test, so you can see how they compare and which you should buy. Let's dig in.

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Arc Ultra: tech specs comparison

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Arc Ultra: price

These two soundbars are priced quite differently. The Arc Ultra is Sonos' flagship soundbar, and has a price to match. It sells for £999 / $999 / AU$1799. The Beam Ultra, meanwhile, is positioned between the second-gen Beam (which remains on sale) and the Arc Ultra, with a price of £699 / $699 / AU$1099.

But sales season is coming. Of the two, the Arc Ultra is the more likely to be discounted – it's fallen to £719 before. If it falls that low again – with a possible difference of just £20 between the two 'bars – it'll be a seriously tempting proposition.

We can't imagine the brand new Beam Ultra will see any big money off, but you never know, it might see a slight fall. Stay tuned and we'll let you know.

** Winner: Sonos Beam Ultra **

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Arc Ultra: design

As you can see from the photos, there's no mistaking these two soundbars. The Arc Ultra is a bigger, more powerful proposition – it requires more space to accommodate.

The Beam Ultra is a little shorter (6.5cm to the Arc Ultra's 7.5cm) and a lot less wide (75cm to 118cm). But both are about 11cm deep.

The Arc Ultra looks more sleek too, while the Beam Ultra is more of a block with rounded-off corners. Te Arc Ultra's controls are hidden around the back, while for the Beam Ultra, Sonos has sensibly positioned them on the front, which makes them much easier to use. How much people use on-soundbar controls, however, is a subject for debate, and many will think the Arc Ultra's sleeker, more minimalist look is more than worth the lack of convenience.

The only control we would prefer was more accessible on the Arc Ultra is Bluetooth for pairing a phone or tablet. On the Beam Ultra, the button is on the lip, rather than around the back.

Remember, both of these soundbars have upwards-firing drivers, so don't position them on a shelf or you'll be shooting those height sound channels right into whatever's directly above them.

** Winner: Sonos Arc Ultra **

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Arc Ultra: features

The big sell of the Beam Ultra is that it has upwards-firing drivers, for a 'true' Dolby Atmos performance. But then so does the Arc Ultra. As you would imagine, the latter has the more powerful set-up: its 14 drivers dwarf the Beam Ultra's nine. The Arc Ultra's are arranged in a 9.1.4-channel configuration, while the Beam Ultra's are set up in 7.1.2.

Because of its size, the Arc Ultra is better suited to bigger TVs – Sonos says it's for TVs 50 inches and above, while the Beam Ultra is recommended for TVs up to 65 inches.

The Beam Ultra's centre channel has been redesigned – it now has a tweeter embedded in the woofer to add width and clarity.

Both Ultra soundbars lack DTS:X, and have a single HDMI eARC port meaning no HDMI passthrough. The Beam Ultra has a USB-C port too for hooking up additional sources like a CD player or turntable (although you will need the additional Line-In Adapter for these to work).

Both 'bars have wi-fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3.

The Arc Ultra has an additional SoundMotion woofer, which works differently to a standard driver. This creates a deeper bass than the Beam Ultra, as we'll see in the Sound section.

Both soundbars share a lot of features, including the Loudness feature (which boosts bass and treble at low volumes), Trueplay room calibration, AI Speech Enhancement and Night Sound. Both have voice controls too, though only the Arc Ultra supports Alexa for now (the Beam Ultra is limited to Sonos' voice controls, though Alexa support should arrive via a future firmware upgrade).

Both 'bars support music apps like Spotify and Tidal, and both can work as part of a bigger Sonos home cinema setup or multi-room system by pairing additional speakers. They can also both work with Sonos' Ace range of headphones for personal listening.

This one's close, but the USB-C port just edges it for the Beam Ultra.

** Winner: Sonos Beam Ultra **

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Arc Ultra: sound

Of course it's the sound that most people will be interested in. So how do these soundbars compare?

The Beam Ultra's new upwards-firing drivers deliver an added dimension to the Dolby Atmos performance. Sounds are placed with pin-point precision, which is doubly impressive when you consider just how small this soundbar is compared to the Arc Ultra.

There's detail aplenty, with the extra height adding a real sense of depth to the sounds. And the sound expands way beyond the confines of the soundbar itself.

"In No Time To Die, as an onslaught of helicopters moves in from above in pursuit of Bond, the overhead effects go much higher than our TV screen," we wrote in our Sonos Beam Ultra review. "Then, when an army of cars zoom across an open field, the sound extends to the corners of our test room and makes for an even more enveloping experience."

Bass is impressive for a 'bar of this size, with helicopter blade rotations lent a meaty thrum. And dialogue remains tonally accurate and expressive throughout, and clear even during more chaotic scenes.

But the Beam Ultra could project into a room more. Sonos isn't lying when it says it's best suited to mid-size living rooms of around 23-32.5 metres squared.

However, while undoubtedly impressive, the Beam Ultra sounds a little underwhelming when played side by side with the Arc Ultra. The bigger sibling's presentation is more authoritative and sophisticated – as you would hope it would be, given its higher price.

Its sound is even more precise than the Beam Ultra's, which helps music tracks in particular stay that bit more organised both rhythmically and spatially. Bass, too, is very impressive, with none of the chuffing that can plague lesser soundbars.

As we said in our Sonos Arc Ultra review: "It’s tight, tuneful and expressive in a way that is rare in the soundbar world."

Detail is a cut above. Watching Bladerunner 2049, "Incidental noises such as footsteps, a tooth being gently placed on a glass table, and the soft squeak of a rubber surgical gown as a character stretches out his arm are all delivered clearly and cleanly but in an unforced manner, contributing to the atmosphere without distracting." Which is exactly how it should be.

Low-level dynamics are handled deftly, with subtlety, and so the extra details evident sound natural rather than artificial. Big changes in volume – jump-scares, for instance – are dispatched clinically. And boy, is this thing loud.

It also projects into the room far better than the Beam Ultra.

So, as expected, the Arc Ultra is the more advanced in the sound department. But whether that serves your needs will really depend on your room size – those of us with smaller lounges might be better off saving some money with the Beam Ultra.

** Winner: Sonos Arc Ultra **

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Arc Ultra: verdict

The two Ultras might have a lot of features in common, but they are quite different propositions. The Beam Ultra is better suited to smaller rooms and tighter budgets, while the Arc Ultra is for those with deeper pockets and more space in which to let it work.

If you're trying to decide between the two on performance alone, go for the Arc Ultra – it's bassier, even more precise and projects more into the room. It could even drop to a similar price to the Beam Ultra, if previous discounts are anything to go by.

But the Beam Ultra is an excellent soundbar in its own right, and will serve those with medium-sized rooms (and budgets) very well indeed.

** Overall winner: Sonos Arc Ultra **

MORE:

Read our full Sonos Beam Ultra review

And our Sonos Arc Ultra review

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Beam (Gen 2): which is better?

How do you live up to the high expectations set by your talented siblings? You could rebel against your parents and get some ill-advised ink, or you could work yourself into the ground trying to prove you’re just as good.

The Sonos Beam Ultra has a similar challenge. It sits directly between two Award-winning soundbars from the US-based brand, the Beam (Gen 2) and Arc Ultra, so we have high expectations for the new model.

But rather than buckling under the pressure, this new middle child proves to be a near-perfect blend of the two.

Price

The Sonos Beam Ultra will set you back £699 / $699 / AU$1099. As we said, that puts it directly between the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) (£449 / $449 / AU$649) and the Arc Ultra (£999 / $999 / AU$1799), both of which have scored What Hi-Fi? Awards and five-star reviews.

Despite pre-announcement expectations, the Beam Ultra isn’t a replacement for the Beam (Gen 2), which is staying in the Sonos soundbar range. That feels like a good move to us, as it leaves a more affordable Dolby Atmos soundbar (albeit without dedicated up-firing drivers) in the range.

Design

The Beam Ultra feels lightweight yet well-built and sturdy. Despite it being a little longer than the Beam (Gen 2), the new model comes in at the same weight of 2.8kg. It’s slightly thinner as well, meaning it fits nicely under our 55-inch TV screen in the test room. You can also mount the bar on your wall if you prefer.

The soundbar comes in two colour options: black and white. That’s the same as the rest of Sonos’s soundbar models, and the matte finish looks quite stylish, although the black model we have in our room quickly shows fingerprints after handling.

The Beam Ultra features perforated grilles on the top. On the lip of the bar, you will find a press-button to activate Bluetooth, as well as touch controls for volume and play/pause.

Features

Those perforated grilles on the top are there to allow the two up-firing drivers on either end of the bar to work their magic. That’s an upgrade on the Beam (Gen 2), which relies on virtualisation for Dolby Atmos rather than physical drivers.

In fact, the Beam Ultra has nine drivers in total – four more than the Beam (Gen 2). These are arranged in what Sonos says is a 7.1.2-channel configuration.

Sonos states that the centre channel has been redesigned to feature a coaxial transducer, which embeds a tweeter into a woofer. With this new arrangement, the brand says the Beam Ultra makes “movies sound wider” and “dialogue sound clearer”.

While the new bar supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X is still not on the cards. That’s not a big surprise considering this has been the case with all of Sonos’s products, but it could be a drawback for those wanting fully comprehensive surround sound options.

There’s just a single HDMI eARC port on the back of the bar. The lack of dedicated HDMI inputs and passthrough functionality is no surprise (no previous Sonos products have had it either), but it's still a shame for those who are already running out of HDMI sockets on their TV.

There is also a USB-C port, which the Beam (Gen 2) doesn’t have. This works in conjunction with the optional Line-In Adapter, which features a 3.5mm aux input, via which you can connect pretty much any audio source, such as a turntable or CD player. Alternatively, you can opt for Sonos’s Combo Adapter, which features both the 3.5mm input and an Ethernet socket for wired networking.

Unlike some rivals, but very much like previous Sonos soundbars, the Beam Ultra doesn’t come with a remote control. For everyday use with your TV, the only controls you really need are volume up, down and mute, all of which are handled by your TV’s remote.

For more advanced operation and initial set-up, the newly updated Sonos27 app is on hand. This is where you can link your various music streaming services for playback via the Beam Ultra, and access EQ settings.

The latter includes sliders to adjust height, bass and treble levels, but in our experience, the automatic Trueplay calibration renders these fine adjustments unnecessary.

As with the Arc Ultra, Trueplay is provided in two flavours: Quick and Advanced. With the Quick Tuning option, the soundbar tunes its sound by measuring its output via its own microphones. It takes seconds and is very effective.

If you want the very best sound for your room, though, it’s worth using the Advanced Tuning option, which involves measuring the output from the soundbar using an iOS device. It takes slightly longer and involves moving around your room to get measurements from all corners, but it can improve frequency response and spatial accuracy, particularly if your room is large or unusually shaped.

In addition to the aforementioned EQ options, there is a Loudness setting, which is on by default and is designed to boost bass and treble, particularly when listening at lower volumes, where these frequencies can become less prominent. In practice, though, we find that the effect is noticeable at most volumes, adding a little extra heft to the sound. We prefer to leave it on, but your mileage may vary, so it’s worth experimenting with the toggle yourself.

The Sonos app also contains a Night Sound setting, which can be used to reduce bass and dynamics for those times when you don’t want to disturb your housemates or neighbours.

As well as being able to control your music via the Sonos app, as with previous Sonos soundbar models, music can be sent directly from apps such as Spotify and Tidal. Bluetooth 5.3 is on board, too.

There is the option to switch from listening out loud to enjoying movies or music privately by linking the soundbar to a pair of Sonos Ace or new Ace Ultra headphones

Like Sonos's other soundbars, the Beam Ultra can also be upgraded with a pair of wireless speakers (such as Era 100s) as surrounds, and you can add a Sonos subwoofer to the mix.

Sonos has even released an update that allows the brand's portable speakers – the Move 2 and Play – to be used as surrounds.

Sound quality

Right from the off, it’s clear that the Beam Ultra’s added up-firing drivers deliver the upgrade we were looking for over the Beam (Gen 2).

When watching Blade Runner 2049 in Dolby Atmos, flickering digital adverts pop up as Officer K marches across the street, and each accompanying sound effect is portrayed with precision. It’s impressive how the bar places these effects so exactly, almost above the listening position, especially considering its compact footprint.

Whether it's the spritely voice of announcements or the thrum of the street sweeper, each sound is delivered with an excellent amount of detail while being tied into a cohesive overall audio experience.

Later, when Officer K returns home to Joi, the spatial placement of the two voices is excellently portrayed. This makes it clear that K is at the forefront of the scene, whereas his digital companion is in the background. You could watch the scene with your eyes closed and still get an excellent sense of where each character is.

There is also an expansive sense of width and height. In No Time To Die, as an onslaught of helicopters moves in from above in pursuit of Bond, the overhead effects go much higher than our TV screen. Then, when a phalanx of cars zooms across an open field, the sound extends to the corners of our test room and makes for an even more enveloping experience than the Beam (Gen 2) can provide.

The Beam Ultra’s muscular bass lends the sound of the helicopters a meaty thrum. Each rotation of the chopper’s blades has a strong leading edge, which makes it feel powerful and punchy. While it is not the deepest bass we have heard at this level, its precision, rhythm, tonality and control are ample compensation.

Switching to our 4K Blu-ray of Bumblebee demonstrates the Beam Ultra’s talent for dialogue, which is tonally accurate and brilliantly expressive. John Cena’s baritone voice is easy to differentiate from his whining colleague’s higher vocals, and even in scenes in which lots of characters are talking over each other and loud background effects, the dialogue remains clear and characterful.

If you still need a little more dialogue clarity, perhaps because of hearing limitations, Sonos’s AI Enhancement feature is on hand to prioritise voices over effects, with several levels of boost available.

Our only slight criticism of the Beam Ultra’s movie performance is that it doesn’t project sound out into the room and towards the listening position quite as much as some rivals. That can make certain elements, most notably voices, sound a little less direct and engaging than they otherwise might. Interestingly, the Beam (Gen 2) is a little more direct-sounding, perhaps primarily as a result of it having only forward-firing drivers.

In every other respect, though, the Beam Ultra is a clear upgrade on its smaller, cheaper sibling, delivering a bigger, weightier, more expansive and more detailed performance.

As you would hope from a Sonos soundbar, the Beam Ultra is a cut above its rivals when it comes to music, too. Listening to Divinize by Rosalia via Qobuz, the singer’s expressive vocals and the detail in the instruments make for an immediately engaging experience.

The bass is refined and provides a strong foundation for the track, with the fluttering low-frequency notes delivered with a powerful kick at the beginning of each beat to drive the song forward.

In Childish Gambino’s This Is America via Qobuz, each element – whether that’s the layered choral vocals or the drum machine – is excellently organised, resulting in an open, cohesive overall sound. Then, the gradual diminuendo at the end of the track is handled with delicacy and nuance to bring the song to a careful close.

This transparent, emotive performance puts the Beam Ultra at the top of its class with music as well as with movies.

Verdict

The Beam Ultra is a significant step up from the Beam (Gen 2), delivering a bigger, weightier and more expansive performance thanks to its additional up-firing drivers and upgraded speaker configuration.

The Arc Ultra still remains a step beyond the Beam Ultra, particularly in terms of authority and sophistication. But given the Beam Ultra's more compact dimensions and lower price, that is neither a surprise nor a criticism.

Instead, the Beam Ultra occupies a useful middle ground in Sonos' soundbar range: it delivers a substantial upgrade over the Beam (Gen 2) while retaining much of the compactness and simplicity that makes that model so appealing.

More importantly, set aside the inevitable comparisons with its super-accomplished siblings, and the Beam Ultra is an exceptional soundbar in its own right. Sonos has struck Dolby Atmos gold yet again.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Design 5
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Theatre Bar 7 + S

Also consider the Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

Read our Sonos Arc Ultra review

Best Dolby Atmos soundbars: our reviewers' five recommendations

When the Sonos Beam Ultra was announced earlier this month, there were mixed emotions from the What Hi-Fi? Team.

On one hand, we had been waiting for Sonos’s next soundbar entry since the five-star Arc Ultra hit the shelves back in 2024. But, with the bar positioned directly between the Award-winning Arc Ultra (£999 / $999 / AU$1799) and the Sonos Beam Gen 2 (£449 / $449 / AU$649) with a price tag of £699 / $699 / AU$1099, the new model had some big expectations to meet.

The Beam Ultra has nine drivers in total – four more than the Beam Gen 2. It also features two up-firing drivers, which the previous Beam entry was lacking, resulting in a 7.1.2-channel configuration.

After days of testing the Beam Ultra in our test room, we are happy to report that the soundbar fits in excellently with its five-star siblings. Here are three things we liked about Sonos’s latest home cinema family member, and two that we would change.

Convincing Dolby Atmos effects

First off, the Beam Ultra’s added up-firing drivers deliver the upgrade we wanted over the Beam Gen 2. We are greeted with a three-dimensional sound experience that makes for a huge upgrade over our TV’s built-in speakers.

As a helicopter flies into the sky when we watch No Time To Die, the overhead effects go much higher than our tv screen. There’s a brilliant sense of space and depth, lending each scene cinematic scale.

It does not quite reach the expansiveness of the more expensive Sonos Arc Ultra, but that is to be expected considering its higher price tag and longer build.

The helicopter is also well-placed, as we can close our eyes and still get a strong sense of where the vehicle is. By soundbar standards, this all results in the most convincing Atmos effects at this price.

Tight bass

The Sonos Beam Ultra’s bass is refined and adds to the soundbar's impact. When we listen to Rosalia’s Divinise, the punchy lower frequencies give the track a strong foundation without overpowering the rest of the sound.

The bass track flutters with a series of quick beats, and the soundbar delivers these with a clean leading edge on each note which drives the song’s energy forward.

It’s the same experience with films, as we find when watching Bumblebee. When the titular transformer lands on earth in a flurry of flames, the Beam Ultra offers up muscular deep notes which add to the sense of impact.

It isn’t the deepest bass we have heard at this level, but the Beam Ultra’s tight, well-balanced lower frequencies more than makes up for it.

Could do better at forward projection

Although we were hugely impressed by the soundbar’s detailed and punchy audio quality, we did note one small issue.

Unlike some rivals we have tested, the Beam Ultra doesn’t push sound out into the room and towards the listening position quite as much as we would like. That can make certain elements, most notably voices, sound a little less direct and engaging than they otherwise might.

And this is quite different from the Beam Gen 2, which offers a somewhat direct sound. That could be because the older model features only forward-facing drivers, while some of the sound is being directed upwards with the Beam Ultra’s up–firing drivers. Despite that issue, the bar still delivers a spacious sound that is hard to beat at this price.

No HDMI passthrough

As well as sound performance, the soundbar’s build needs to be taken into account.

The Beam Ultra has the same physical connections as the rest of Sonos's soundbar entries. That means it has one HDMI eARC port, but no dedicated HDMI inputs. That’s a shame for those who are running out of HDMI sockets on their TV, especially for gamers with high-spec devices.

There is a USB-C port alongside the HDMI connection, as well. This works in conjunction with the optional Line-In Adapter, which features a 3.5mm auxiliary input, via which you can connect pretty much any audio source, such as a turntable or CD player.

You can also opt for Sonos’s Combo Adapter, which features both the 3.5mm input and an ethernet socket for wired networking.

Clean, compact design

The new model is slightly thinner and longer than the Beam Gen 2, so it will sit nicely in front of your TV screen. It certainly doesn’t block the screen on the 55-inch TV in our test room, and should look just as at home with a 65-inch or 43-inch TV.

There is also the option to wall mount if that suits your set-up better. It weighs 2.8 kg, which is the same as the Beam Gen 2, meaning it should be simple to position.

The matte finish of the bar is quite stylish as well, coming in either black or white colour options.

If you're looking for a soundbar to deliver convincing Dolby Atmos effects and tight bass in a sleek all-in-one package, the Sonos Beam Ultra should be at the top of your list.

MORE:

Check out the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

These are the best TVs on the market

And here is our review of the Sonos Beam Gen 2

Sonos’ first foray into premium wireless headphones left us feeling cold. Sonos was already riding high thanks to the success of its Era 100 and Era 300 wireless speakers and a raft of Award-winning soundbars, but translating those sonic successes to the mediocre-sounding Sonos Ace headphones in 2024 proved a bridge too far, to our ears at least.

As we wrote at the time, the “Ace's safe sound is put to the sword by several rival headphones that are more exciting, more detailed, dynamic and expressive across the board. Both their ANC and call quality can be bettered, too”.

These are the issues that the Ace’s follow-up, the new Ace Ultra, must rectify if Sonos is to become a major player in consumer audio’s most contested arena. Sonos has pledged “rich, detailed audio” from the Ace Ultra, aiming to make up ground against a plethora of premium wireless alternatives, all backed by seamless integration within the expanded Sonos ecosystem.

A tempting proposition for Sonos lovers, but has the brand learned its lessons from the original Ace?

Price

Sonos’ sophomore over-ears will set you back £399 / $449 / AU$699 at launch, putting them up against two strong contenders at this price: the Award-winning Sony WH-1000XM6 (£400 / $450 / AU$699) and the excellent five-star Sennheiser HDB 630 (£400 / $500 / AU$1000).

The original Ace launched at £449 / $449 / AU$699, but their price has since dropped to a more modest £299 / $299 / AU$449. To be clear, Sonos says it will keep the Ace on sale alongside the new step-up model, rather than pitching the Ace Ultra as a direct replacement.

Build & comfort

While we weren’t necessarily that keen on how the original Sonos Ace sounded, we found it hard to fault their design, praising the cans’ minimalist aesthetic, comfortable fit and premium feel.

Happily, those qualities have translated across to the new Ace Ultra. Sonos’ second effort hasn’t deviated much from the original over-ear’s clean, understated design language, with the Ace Ultra sporting a pair of clean, smooth plastic earcups adorned with a shining Sonos logo and complemented by exposed metal arms.

The minimalist aesthetic won’t suit all tastes, but in terms of how the headphones actually feel, it’s hard to complain. The plastic is solid and durable, the metal hinges shine with a polished presence, and the buttons and toggles are responsive and reasonably tactile during operation.

That said, we would ideally like the Ace Ultra to fold away as the Sony WH-1000XM6 do, rather than simply having the earcups swivel horizontally on their hinges, but that won’t be a dealbreaker for most.

Elsewhere, the Ace Ultras’ soft ear cushions and padded adjustable headband make them a pleasure to live with. The earpads have been upgraded for the Ace Ultra, with the new ‘Rebound’ memory foam cushions, designed not only to improve comfort levels but aid passive noise reduction – we found they offer a plusher, more forgiving fit.

They’re capable of keeping their cool, too, and even as wearing sessions turn from minutes to hours, the Sonos over-ears resist the urge to heat our ears and turn our listening from serene to sweat-inducing.

As before, the ear pads attach magnetically, meaning you can remove them easily and buy replacements from the Sonos store for around £40 / $40 if they begin to wear out over time. You can also replace the headphones’ battery yourself, adding to the headphones’ impressive sustainability credentials.

How about controls? Where the likes of the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless and Sony WH-1000XM6 have implemented predominantly haptic on-unit systems, Sonos has stuck to its guns and gone for tactile buttons on the side of each of the Ace Ultras’ earcups.

A physical toggle for quickly adjusting your noise-cancelling mode is located at the base of the right earcup, while a ‘content key’ lets you control volume, pause music, and even answer calls by either sliding the toggle up and down or pressing down in the centre. In terms of its basic ergonomics, it’s a simple toggle to use, and our only issue would be that it can sometimes force your hand into a slightly odd position when performing certain commands.

While the Ace Ultra might look similar to the original Ace on the outside, scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find a fresh set of Sonos-designed 40mm dynamic drive units. The new drivers incorporate a dual-ring magnet motor structure, designed to significantly reduce distortion and deliver a clearer, more detail-rich sound alongside a punchier, fuller bass signature.

Given the lack of overall clarity and bass punch we bemoaned in the original Ace, it’s pleasing to see Sonos attempting to rectify such issues when it comes to the Ace Ultra’s internal hardware. We’ll get to that below.

Features

As with all of its products – even a pair of headphones – much of the Ace Ultra’s appeal comes from their willingness to play ball with the extended Sonos ecosystem. Even if the Ace Ultra don’t end up scaling the loftiest of lofty heights sound-wise, we understand that much of their appeal comes from their intra-brand compatibility.

This includes using Sonos’ 'headphone linking' feature, allowing you to transfer sound to the Ace Ultra from most current Sonos products working under the Sonos 27 operating system, including the Arc Ultra, Ray, Beam (Gen 2) and new Beam Ultra soundbars, and the Sonos Five, Era 100, Era 300, Move 2, Play and Roam 2 wireless speakers.

We give the feature a whirl using the Beam (Gen 2) soundbar that’s currently housed in our test room. Using the Sonos app to get everything working under the same network, we’re able to swap audio from Blade Runner 2049 from the Beam onto the headphones by pressing and holding the Ace Ultra’s content key for around five seconds. To get sound back onto the soundbar, we simply press and hold the button again, and the second-gen Beam takes over audio duties once more.

Sonos’ TrueCinema calibration tech also returns, which uses spatial software to tailor your headphones’ acoustics to your room, granting a more cinematic experience when watching Dolby Atmos-soundtracked movies. The headphones then ‘externalise’ the audio out of your head while the tech creates a more balanced reproduction that matches the real-world dimensions and characteristics of your listening room.

TrueCinema is quick to set up via the app – for us it takes around two minutes – and once we have it switched on, we notice that Blade Runner 2049 sounds impressively cinematic thanks to the headphones’ purposeful placement of spoken dialogue, whooshing spaceships and humming engines.

Away from fancy linking capabilities, the Ace Ultra boast a very healthy 35-hour battery life with noise cancelling activated, a figure that’s up from the 30 hours of the original Ace and five more hours than the Sony WH-1000XM6 can manage under the same conditions. As before, you also get three hours of playback from a three-minute boost.

The higher-quality aptX Lossless Bluetooth codec is supported for streaming files up to 16-bit/44.1kHz, while native support for 16-bit/48kHz resolution is available via the wired USB connection. Both USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to 3.5mm cables are included in the box.

Alongside TrueCinema, the Ace Ultra support Dolby Atmos spatial audio content with head tracking from platforms such as Tidal, Amazon Music and Apple, though there’s no toggle in the app to actively switch it on and off.

Listening to a Dolby mix via Tidal, the bass drum kicks at the outset of Billie Jean do sound a little deeper and more recessed, while the snares seem to echo within a more spacious backdrop, but the differences are relatively subtle when comparing against a standard stereo recording. David Bowie’s Heroes seems to work more effectively, with the Ace Ultra working to make those arcing guitar effects soar far higher than they usually would.

The effects of head tracking are far more noticeable, with the headphones able to quickly and smoothly transfer audio from earcup to earcup to simulate the effect of having your music playing from a fixed point.

ANC & call quality

We weren’t exactly bowled over with how the original Ace handled noise cancelling, so we’re happy to report that Sonos has made marked improvements to the new Ace Ultra in this regard.

The new over-ears offer standard full ANC alongside a more transparent ‘Aware Mode’. Within Aware Mode, you can also choose to toggle a Voice Boost setting which, as the name suggests, spotlights external voices to keep you aware of, say, announcements on public transport.

Sonos has pledged that the new headphones are twice as effective at blocking unwanted noise compared with the original Ace, with the Ace Ultra housing 10 microphones – up from eight – backed by an adaptive ANC system that continuously monitors your surroundings to deliver the best experience possible.

Such efforts have paid dividends. The Ace Ultra have dramatically closed the gap between their Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) rivals, so that the general hum and rush of the outside world is impressively damped down – if not completely removed – when donning the Ace Ultra.

Piercing highs and sonic boom lows will still penetrate your serene bubble, but this is a vastly improved experience, and the Ace Ultra do a far better job of making the clamour and clutter of environmental noise feel more subdued.

Nearby voices and general chatter are still audible, but rarely to the extent that they feel bothersome or overly intrusive. For quelling the general hum and pulse of the world as it turns, though, the Ace Ultra are up to scratch, and certainly a good deal better than the original Ace.

Call quality is capably handled, too, but it doesn’t quite keep pace with the headphones’ improved noise cancelling. Taking our Sonos test pair out for a call next to a busy main road reveals the headphones’ capacity to make voices sound clear and well spotlighted, but they let in a good deal more environmental noise than the more isolating Sony WH-1000XM6.

Sound

This is more like it.

While the original Ace’s rather lacklustre sound was something of a damp squib, the new Ace Ultra are a firm step in the right direction. Sonos hasn’t arrived at the enlightened echelons of sonic Nirvana just yet, but it has imprinted a few eager footsteps on the path to better audio.

While the original Ace sounded timid, almost apologetic in their presentation, the Ace Ultra benefit from a much-needed dose of self-belief. These headphones sound far more self-assured than their de facto predecessors, with a rich, full-bodied sound that brings a muscular, confident presence to the tunes we feed them.

That newfound punch and power comes to the fore during a listen to Björk’s Army Of Me which, through the Ace Ultra, pulsates with a raw and assertive energy befitting the track’s original intent. The premium cans grant that massive drum beat perceptible heft, while Björk’s insistent calls that “if you complain once more / you’ll meet an army of me” have the weight and urgency to have us rethinking our current life choices.

This isn’t the subtlest presentation you’ll ever hear – and certainly not as insightful or layered as the breathtakingly detailed Sennheiser HDB 630 – but the fullness of the Ace Ultras’ delivery is undeniably satisfying, like a big old burger shovelled down after a rowdy night on the town.

Instrumental textures are weighty and assured, and while the HDB 630 fill in the gaps in between with more delicacy and precision, the Sonos have enough textural insight to feel adequately well-rounded. To return to our burger analogy, you can discern the taste of sharp pickles and tangy onions as opposed to nothing but fat, meaty beef.

That bottom bun isn’t too soggy, either, by which we mean the Sonos over-ears do well to keep their bass reproduction in check. The Ace Ultra aren’t short on lower-end clout, yet they do well to prevent those bass frequencies from sounding rumbly or lacking definition.

A wired connection helps to further firm up the bass just a tad, with a physical tether giving the Sonos over-ears a slightly lighter, clearer presentation than via Bluetooth. It isn’t night and day by any means, but it feels as though the Ace Ultra are painting with a finer, lighter brush when listening with the provided cables.

Wired or wireless, though, the Ace Ultra aren’t quite the finished article. Rhythmically, they’re not the most agile premium headphones we’ve ever clamped over our ears, nor are they the most precise. Leading edges of notes don’t cut through with the razor-sharp precision of the Sennheiser HDB 630 or Sony WH-1000XM6, robbing Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground of its peppy potential when played via the Ace Ultra.

Dynamically, there’s also room for improvement, and while we can’t fault the headphones’ power, everything tends to sound a little one-size-fits-all. Listening to Hans Zimmer’s Jack Sparrow from the Pirates Of The Caribbean soundtrack highlights this comparative deficiency, as those raucous, swooping strings aren’t quite communicated with the jaunty abandon as befits the track’s off-kilter namesake.

Again, the class leaders from Sennheiser and Sony are simply more expressive and engaging in this regard, delighting in how they reproduce every arcing rise and swooping fall of the strings as they swell and break throughout the Pirates score. The Ace Ultra are the gentle lapping of waves on a shore – their rivals, by contrast, are like a cresting musical tsunami.

Verdict

The Sonos Ace Ultra are a significant improvement on the original three-star Ace. They haven’t reached that fifth star yet, but thanks to their powerful sound, improved noise cancelling and compatibility with the wider Sonos ecosystem, this is a far more compelling demonstration that Sonos could one day contend with the best of Sony, Sennheiser and Bowers & Wilkins.

If you’re a devotee needing a pair of wireless headphones to go with your Sonos soundbars and wireless speakers, we wouldn’t dissuade you from adding the Ace Ultra to your collection.

Review published: 22nd September 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony WH-1000XM6

Also consider the Sennheiser HDB 630

Best wireless headphones reviewed and rated by our in-house experts

Ah, September. A turning point for many as children head back to school, summer turns to autumn and, inevitably, people look towards the end of the year.

That's no bad thing, however – there's plenty to look forward to in the rest of 2026, especially in the dynamic worlds of hi-fi and home cinema.

With IFA and the Apple September event now concluded, we have plenty of new product releases to look forward to, including offerings from heavyweights such as Apple, Sonos and Sony.

That's not all, though! An HDR war is on the horizon as Dolby Vision 2 and HDR10+ Advanced start rolling out across consumer TVs, and RGB Mini LED is now out on the market and facing its first sales season.

So don't start planning Christmas just yet – we've got all this to come...

The HDR format war heats up

It's been a long time in the making, but the next generation of HDR formats is finally here.

Dolby Vision 2 launched on select Hisense TVs on 6th August, with more models set to receive the firmware update over time.

Not to be outdone, HDR10+ Advanced also launched on select Samsung TVs last month, setting the stage for a good old-fashioned format war that the AV industry can't help but love.

Supported TVs are still rather limited, as are compatible streaming services – Dolby Vision 2 has only been confirmed for Peacock, CANAL+ and iQIYI so far, whereas HDR10+ Advanced is currently only on Prime Video.

However, support is only set to grow, so it will be interesting to see how the next few months unfold – we're looking forward to having a closer look in our test room as well...

A Sonos double bill

IFA saw the launch of not one, but two key Sonos products – the long-awaited Sonos Beam Ultra soundbar and Sonos Ace Ultra wireless headphones.

The Beam Ultra is not a replacement for the beloved five-star Sonos Beam (Gen 2), but instead a step-up model with up-firing Atmos drivers as the big selling point. We'll be sure to test it as soon as possible, but we were very impressed when we heard a demo session.

The Sonos Ace Ultra are a more interesting proposition, as they are only the American brand's second wireless headphones. We were left underwhelmed by the three-star Sonos Ace, but the new drivers, refined tuning and upgraded ANC of the Ultra model look to rectify many of our misgivings.

The Sonos Beam Ultra and Ace Ultra both release on 29th September.

Good things come in threes for Sony

When it rains, it pours. The release of new Sony wireless headphones is always a cause for celebration, but three have come along at once.

Granted, one of them is an update of an old favourite: the Sony WH-1000XM4C is a redesign of the five-star WH-1000XM4, now with EU-compliant batteries and a tweaked sound more akin to the WH-1000XM6. Battery life has dropped from 30 hours to 27 hours, but luckily so has the price tag: the WH-1000XM4C retails for £219 / $300 / AU$449.95.

The other two are newer proposals, even if they are budget offerings. The Sony WH-CH530 and WH-CH730N replace two of the cheapest five-star headphones we recommend, with several upgrades and tweaks to the already great-value cans.

The WH-CH730N have had a notable redesign from the WH-CH720N they replace, with a smoother, more premium look similar to the Sonos Ace. They also fold away and boast a titanic 75-hour battery life.

The Sony WH-CH530 are very similar to the WH-CH520 aesthetically, but have a longer 55-hour battery life. Both models also claim to have a sonic boost thanks to improved digital signal processing and algorithms, as well as upgraded noise-cancelling thanks to Sony's 'Dual Noise Sensor' technology and beamforming microphones.

All three Sony headphones are available now. We look forward to welcoming them to our test room very soon!

Apple joins the folding craze

We're sure you've seen that slick folding animation all over social media by now, but yes, Apple has announced the long-rumoured foldable iPhone. The iPhone Duo has an outer display measuring 5.4 inches and an inner display coming in at 7.6 inches, with speakers at the top and bottom of the screen for spatial audio.

We awarded five stars to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 only a few weeks ago, so the Duo is up against some tough competition. However, we're excited about what the Duo's aspect ratio and wide-angle OLEDs could mean for movie and TV watching.

More of a surprise, however, was the AirPods 5. ANC is now available even on the base model, as well as several AirPods Pro 3 features such as a new multi-port acoustic architecture, transparency mode and live translation.

Two models were announced, with the more expensive version coming with a wireless charging case, volume swipe controls and an extra hour of battery life. We're excited about the AirPods 5, but the four hours of battery life on the base model has left us scratching our heads.

The iPhone 18 range also launched with two new Pro models, with a heavy emphasis on AI and camera upgrades.

The AirPods 5 and iPhone 18 range will be released on 18th September, with the iPhone Duo following on 23rd September.

RGB Mini LED faces its first big sales test

The other big display technology of 2026, RGB Mini LED finally entered our test rooms this spring after months of anticipation.

It's fair to say that while we were impressed with sets such as the Sony Bravia 9 II, the backlit technology was not about to eclipse the impressive contrast, perfect blacks and wide viewing angles of OLED in our eyes.

However, with Black Friday and the biggest TV sales event of the year on the horizon, consumers may well think otherwise. One of our biggest gripes with RGB Mini LED was the OLED-level price, so a healthy discount in the sales week could do wonders – we've already seen huge drops on the Hisense UR9 and Sony Bravia 7 II. Only time will tell...

MORE:

These are the best phones for serious music and movie fans

Our picks of the best wireless headphones

We rank the best soundbars money can buy

Sonos has a new soundbar. The Beam Ultra follows the Award-winning Beam (Gen 2), and adds up-firing drivers, a redesigned centre channel and multiple levels of AI speech enhancement.

But with the Beam (Gen 2) remaining on sale, would you be better off opting for the tried-and-tested older model? Or spending more on the Ultra?

We're here to help you decide. We’ve put both soundbars through their paces in our world-class testing room, so you can see exactly how they compare and which would be right for you.

• Read our Sonos Beam Ultra review

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Beam (Gen 2): tech specs comparison

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Beam (Gen 2): price

Price is likely to be chief among buyers' considerations when eyeing up a new soundbar, so let's kick off with that.

The Sonos Beam Ultra launches at £699 / $699 / AU$1099 when it goes on sale at the end of September. That's £250 / $250 / AU$450 more than the Beam (Gen 2)'s launch price of £449 / $449 / AU$649.

However, the Beam (Gen 2) has been discounted plenty of times in the five years since it launched, and is likely to be again. In days gone by, it has fallen as low as £299, so if you're willing to wait, you could snap up a bargain.

** Winner: Sonos Beam (Gen 2) **

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Beam (Gen 2): design

There's not much to choose between the two 'bars in terms of looks. They both opt for a rectangle-with-curved-corners design, and a perforated grille on the front. The big difference? The Ultra has a perforated grille on the top as well, for the up-firing drivers.

The Beam (Gen 2) has no up-firing drivers, hence no top grille.

The Ultra also has a button on the lip which you press to activate Bluetooth. The Beam (Gen 2) lacks Bluetooth, and so doesn’t have this button.

Both models come in the same black and white finishes as most Sonos devices, which should fit most decors (as well as slot neatly into a Sonos set-up, as long as you're consistent with your choice of colour).

The Ultra is slightly shorter than the Gen 2, which means it's less likely to obscure the bottom part of the TV screen when placed on a cabinet. But at 75cm wide, it is almost 10cm wider than the Gen 2's 65.1cm. It's also very slightly deeper (10.5cm compared to 10cm). Both 'bars weigh the same 2.88kg.

** Winner: Sonos Beam Ultra **

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Beam (Gen 2): features

The big addition over the Beam (Gen 2) is the up-firing drivers, which should provide a more immersive Dolby Atmos experience. The Gen 2 relies on clever processing (AKA "virtualised Dolby Atmos") to provide height effects, and with superb results, as its string of What Hi-Fi? Awards attests.

The extra up-firing drivers give the Ultra a 7.1.2-channel configuration, compared to the Gen 2's 5.1.2.

However, despite the extra drivers, the Ultra still lacks DTS:X support (which is also missing from the Gen 2). This likely won't be a deal-breaker for most people, but it's a shame nonetheless.

Though like many of Sonos' more recent speakers, the Ultra does have Bluetooth, so you can play music on it direct from your phone or tablet. The Beam (Gen 2) lacks this feature.

The Ultra has a USB-C port too, which its predecessor lacks. Plug in the Line-In Adapter (which you have to buy separately) and you can hook up a range of audio sources like a CD player or turntable.

Also new are a redesigned centre channel and four levels of AI Speech Enhancement to help it deliver clearer dialogue (the Gen 2 only had one level).

The Ultra has a newer version of wi-fi (Wi-Fi 6 compared to the Gen 2's Wi-Fi 4), which makes sense, given that its predecessor came out in 2021.

Other than that, their feature sets are the same, with Trueplay, Night Sound and TV Audio Swap with the Sonos Ace (and newer Ace Ultra) headphones.

There is one other thing. On Sonos' comparison table, it says that the Beam Ultra is suitable for rooms up to 23–32.5 m² in size, while the Gen 2 is listed as "up to 250 sq ft" (around 23 m²). So thanks to the addition of the height channels, the Ultra is better suited to filling a slightly larger room with sound than the Gen 2.

** Winner: Sonos Beam Ultra **

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Beam (Gen 2): sound

So what do those up-firing drivers add to the Beam Ultra’s performance? A lot, is the short answer. Sounds are placed with greater precision, with some seeming to land above the listening position – impressive, especially for such a compact 'bar.

The extra drivers also add a tangible sense of height and width. "In No Time To Die, as an onslaught of helicopters moves in from above in pursuit of Bond, the overhead effects go much higher than our TV screen," we wrote in our Sonos Beam Ultra review. "Then, when an army of cars zoom across an open field, the sound extends to the corners of our test room and makes for an even more enveloping experience than the Beam Gen 2 can provide."

Bass, while not class-leading, is still impressive, with the rotation of helicopter blades lent a satisfyingly low-end thrum. Dialogue remains clear and distinct, even with multiple voices talking at once. But it's not as direct-sounding as the Beam (Gen 2), as it doesn't project sound as much into the room. That's the tradeoff of the more precise placement, and it's one we're happy to make.

It's also a very satisfying musical listen. "Listening to Divinize by Rosalia via Qobuz, her expressive vocals and the detail in the instrumentals make for an immediately engaging experience," we noted in our review. "The bass is refined and provides a strong foundation for the track. With the fluttering low-frequency notes delivered with a powerful kick at the beginning of each beat to drive the song forward."

Overall, the Ultra delivers a bigger, weightier, more expansive and more detailed performance than the Beam (Gen 2). Though seeing that it is quite a bit pricier, that's hardly surprising.

For a lot less cash, the Beam (Gen 2) still excels in the sound department, which is part of the reason why keeping it on sale is a wise decision.

"Whether it’s a chirping bird, a car or a voice, there’s remarkable consistency across the complete soundfield, and seamless handover between drivers, which doesn’t always happen when a Dolby Atmos soundbar has upward drivers to contend with," we wrote in our Sonos Beam (Gen 2) review.

The soundstage is expansive, and offers "tangible motion, depth and space, which heightens the drama and sense of immersion", we added. It comprehensively outperforms every soundbar in its class, even five years after its launch. That doesn't happen too often.

** Winner: Sonos Beam Ultra **

Sonos Beam Ultra vs Beam (Gen 2): verdict

With more features – including Bluetooth and those all-important up-firing drivers – the Ultra is a real step up from the Beam (Gen 2). It sounds far weightier, more detailed and more precise, though it doesn't project as well into the room as the Gen 2. Still, it's an excellent performance that more than justifies the extra outlay.

But the Beam (Gen 2) remains on sale, which is very welcome indeed. If your room is smaller and/or your budget tighter, it's still a fine choice for anyone looking to upgrade their TV's sonic abilities.

** Winner: Sonos Beam Ultra **

MORE:

Read our Sonos Beam Ultra review

Our Sonos Beam (Gen 2) review

Another comparison: Sonos Beam Ultra vs Arc Ultra

The best Dolby Atmos soundbars you can buy

This week, one of the biggest pieces of news to break is that, after years of our team wishing upon an AV star, Sonos has released a new Beam Dolby Atmos soundbar.

Specifically, the firm lifted the lid on its spiffy new Sonos Beam Ultra at the IFA trade show in Berlin.

Unveiled alongside the new Sonos Ace Ultra wireless headphones, I want to kick off this opinion piece by making clear: I think the Ultra looks impressive and is, in nearly every way, the successor we’ve been waiting for.

In fact, as our reviewer on the ground at IFA, Robyn Quick, rattled off the details about the bar to the team back home, all of us (outside of senior staff writer, Harry McKerrell, who’s always miserable) had a smile growing on our faces.

Upgraded drivers, including the addition of proper up-firing height channels? Yep, it’s got them.

The ability to add Sonos Era 100 or Era 300 satellite wireless speakers as surrounds? Yes, the awesome feature has finally trickled down from the Arc Ultra into the more affordable Beam range.

And as a cherry on top, Robyn then penned a feature detailing how it sounds. The top line is, while it’s too early to give our final verdict, the Ultra left a very strong opening impression – so much so that a game of rock, paper, scissors ensued among the team to decide who would be the primary reviewer (it ended in a stalemate).

All in all, it was huzzahs abound at What Hi-Fi? towers.

But then, one more fact came rumbling in that replaced our smiles with a quizzical expression. Specifically, the Ultra is not a replacement or successor to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2); it’s actually a new step-up model in Sonos’ range.

Yes, we don’t know how the Beam Ultra will perform in our test rooms, but truthfully, given the Beam 2’s age, this was a curveball for us.

Why would the company do that when the Beam 2 is so old? Surely, it’s time to let the old girl retire? These were some of the mutterings that came out of our mouths as we processed the information.

But as I pondered the question, a final bit of information trickled through from the launch event that, at least for me, explained the move.

The Beam Ultra is a lot more expensive, set to retail for £699 (around $946 / AU$1320). The Beam (Gen 2) – outside of big sales events where it’s dropped as low as £349 – usually retails for £429 / $429 in most stores right now.

Cash-rich people may laugh at the idea of going for a soundbar that launched in 2021, when a newer model is out. But truthfully, £160 / $160 is a lot of money for most of us right now.

As a person who has listened to the Beam (Gen 2) alongside newer rivals, I can confirm it is still a very competent unit. That’s why it remains the recommended small option in our best Dolby Atmos soundbars guide.

I cited the cost of living crisis as a key reason I don’t think we’re in a golden age of home cinema during our public debate on the topic earlier this year, and I stand by that sentiment.

So given that it still sounds good, keeping it around and giving normal people an entry point to Sonos’ ecosystem that won’t completely break the bank not only makes sense, but for me is 100 per cent the right thing to do.

It’s also why, even if the Beam Ultra delivers the sonic goods in our review rooms later this year, I can easily envision the Beam (Gen 2) retaining its recommendation. There are very few good, sub-£500 soundbars around and even fewer with the Beam’s compact form factor. So it’s definitely not beyond the realm of possibility…

MORE:

These are the best soundbars we’ve tested

We rank the best surround sound systems

Our picks of the best TVs

In the immortal words of Green Day, it might be tempting to skip this month and be woken up when September ends.

But then you'd miss the pretty great deals, especially if you or a loved one are heading to university in the coming weeks.

Whether you're into hi-fi or home cinema, there's a little something for everyone this week, all the way from mid-range Bluetooth speakers to premium AV receivers.

These are all products our expert reviewers have tried and tested, some as recently as last week. And all of the below have earned at least five stars to get the What Hi-Fi? recommended thumbs-up.

Curious? Take a look for yourself...

The Harman Kardon Luna 2 has a classy design with a ring light that is far more elegant than the garish party lights of other Bluetooth speakers. Sonically, it doesn't quite topple the class leaders, but it has an articulate, clear and spacious presentation with a particularly excellent midrange presence.

The iPhone 17 Pro may be superseded in a matter of weeks, but that just means there's some great discounts available now. At the time of writing, at least, the 17 Pro is the best iPhone yet for movies and music, with a gorgeous but balanced picture and superb sound.

The Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X may be studio headphones marketed at content creators, but there's plenty to offer consumers with excellent detail and a musical but articulate sound. If you’ve got a desktop hi-fi system in need of new headphones, these are one of our top recommendations, now at a new lowest price.

The Arcam AVR31 may be getting on a bit, but it's still one of the best AV receivers we've ever tested. It's a sophisticated, premium amplifier that offers both high-class sound and impressive connectivity features, with a healthy seven HDMI 2.1 inputs and three outputs. Now a whopping 57 per cent off.

A former What Hi-Fi? Award winner, the Sonos Era 300 is a wireless smart speaker that comes packing all the goodness and seamlessness of a Sonos system, with a key stand-out feature: spatial audio. However, it performs admirably with any format of music you throw at it, and the vast array of features go a long way toward justifying the price tag.

We've only just reviewed the Hisense PT1, but we were very impressed with the inclusion of a full tri-chroma (RGB) laser projection, built-in Vidaa smarts, a premium design and a potent integrated sound system for a very reasonable price. That price is now a whole lot more reasonable – pay only £1199 with the code RSTV400.

MORE:

Our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy

And the best TVs for all budgets

Interested in the bigger picture? Here are the best projectors we have tested

When testing entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbars, there’s one Award-winning model that all new entrants must compete with: the Sonos Beam Gen 2.

Since it burst onto the scene in 2021, the five-star soundbar has blown away the competition with its refined delivery of both movie soundtracks and stereo music.

We have been waiting patiently for a new model for ages now, and the time has finally come.

The Sonos Beam Ultra isn’t a replacement for the Beam Gen 2, but an upgraded model that will sit above it, and the big news is that, unlike its sibling, the Ultra sports dedicated up-firing speakers to aid in its delivery of Dolby Atmos sound.

In fact, the Beam Ultra has nine drivers in total – four more than the Beam Gen 2. These are arranged in what Sonos says is a 7.1.2-channel configuration.

The Ultra is launching on 29th September for £699 / $699 / AU$1099. That price puts it between the Beam Gen 2 (£449 / $449 / AU$649) and the also Award-winning Arc Ultra (£999 / $999 / AU$1799).

As with both of those sibling soundbars, the Beam Ultra can be upgraded through the addition of surrounds and/or a subwoofer, and you can easily jump from out-loud to personal listening if you also have a pair of Sonos’s Ace or new Ace Ultra headphones.

This is all great stuff on paper, but how does the Beam Ultra actually sound? We got a chance to hear it during a demo session in Berlin, and it certainly sounds promising.

Of course, we will save our final verdict until we get the bar into our acoustically treated test room for extensive, comparative testing, but these are our first impressions.

The demo kicked off with a Dolby Atmos mix of Harry Styles’ Ready, Steady, Go!. Harry’s vocals were clear, direct and expressive, immediately drawing us into the track.

The instrumentals were well placed around the soundfield, too, with the guitar plucking featured in the mid-section delivered with a strong sense of precision.

Next, we got a taste of how the soundbar performs with movies. Watching the scene in Sinners when Sammie summons spirits from the past, present and future, the up-firing drivers worked their magic and the sound could be felt well above the TV screen.

When the track I Lied To You reached its crescendo, it created a room-filling experience that was very impressive considering the size of the bar.

From our first listen, the bass was not the deepest, but the soundbar delivered refined and detailed lower frequencies that gave the demo scenes a strong foundation.

In terms of design, the bar is impressively lightweight and has a compact footprint. There are perforated grilles at the top of the soundbar for the up-firing drivers, and these look quite stylish. On the lip of the Beam Ultra you will find volume and Bluetooth controls, as well as play and pause 'buttons'.

As mentioned, we will of course wait until we have fully reviewed the new bar in our dedicated test room before we deliver our final verdict, but during this initial listening session, the Beam Ultra made all the right noises.

The big question is whether it's the perfect halfway house between the Beam Gen 2 and Arc Ultra or a soundbar stranded in no man's land between two awesome Award-winners. We should be in a position to answer that question very soon.

MORE:

Here are the 5 Beam Ultra things I’m most excited about – and my 3 disappointments

Here's our review of the Sonos Beam Gen 2

Could Sonos one day support DTS:X? “The door isn’t closed”

Quiz! I made a TV tech crossword to test your knowledge - can you get 100%?

As someone who uses both a Sonos Beam and Beam Gen 2 at home, I’m probably more excited than most about the announcement of the new Beam Ultra.

And, I have to say, I think it broadly looks excellent, delivering pretty much everything that Beam owners like me have been asking for.

But ‘pretty much everything’ and ‘everything’ aren’t the same thing, and we always want more.

So, here are the five features of the Beam Ultra about which I’m most excited, and the three elements that I find slightly disappointing.

Good: up-firing drivers

This is the big one: the thing Sonos Beam owners have been clamouring for since the launch of the original model back in 2018 – dedicated up-firing drivers.

In fairness, the Beam Gen 2 does an excellent job of creating a Dolby Atmos effect with its front-firing drivers and clever virtualisation tech, but the Beam Ultra should be significantly better in this regard. I find that very exciting indeed.

Good: more drivers in general

The Beam Ultra actually features nine drivers, which is four more than the existing Beam Gen 2.

As well as the two up-firers, the new soundbar features a forward-firing driver, two side-firing drivers, and four woofers, arranged into what Sonos says is a 7.1.2-channel configuration.

This should bring improvements to spaciousness and directness as well as Dolby Atmos delivery – assuming Sonos has nailed the tuning, that is.

Good: compact dimensions

It might feature four more drivers than the Beam Gen 2, but the Beam Ultra is still impressively compact, measuring 6.5 x 75 x 10.5cm.

In other words, it’s only 10cm wider than the diminutive Beam Gen 2, which means it will still fit neatly below or in front of most TVs – even smaller models – and it won't visually dominate a typical living room.

Good: upgradability

As with Sonos’s previous soundbars, the Beam Ultra can be upgraded through the addition of a subwoofer and/or wireless surrounds, and the new model’s launch is coinciding neatly with a new feature called ‘Portable Surround’.

This, as the name suggests, will allow you to use two portable speakers – the Play and Move 2 are compatible – as surrounds with one of Sonos’s soundbars.

Why does that matter? If you use a pair of non-portable speakers (Era 300s or Era 100s, for example) as surrounds, that's likely all they’ll ever be. Use portable speakers, though, and they can be picked up and used as music speakers anywhere in or out of the house. That’s much better value for money.

Good: new app

The launch of the Beam Ultra is also coinciding neatly with the launch of the new Sonos app, called Sonos 27.

Sonos is promising fancy features such as integration with any and all AI chatbots, so you can control your system via ChatGPT if you like, but, frankly, I’m just excited for the promised usability overhaul.

I still find the current Sonos app a real pig to operate, so I can’t wait to see how Sonos has (hopefully) improved things.

Disappointing: no HDMI passthrough

Look, I wasn’t expecting Sonos to add HDMI passthrough – I don’t think this is a feature that Sonos will ever support – but that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed that it’s not been added.

I own a TV with just two HDMI 2.1 inputs, and one of those doubles as the eARC port. Once that’s taken up by a soundbar, I have just the one left. Seeing as I have both a PS5 and an Xbox Series X, that’s a bit of a pain in the bum, and it wouldn’t be if the soundbar just had a dedicated HDMI input and 4K/120Hz passthrough.

For Sonos, though, simplicity is key, so I think the single HDMI socket is here to stay.

Disappointing: no DTS:X

Again, this isn’t something I was expecting, and I don’t actually think a lack of DTS:X in the context of a mid-range soundbar is actually that big a deal, but it would still be better to have than not, especially as there are rivals that offer both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

That said, Sonos hasn't completely ruled out adding DTS:X support in the future.

Disappointing: a fairly high price

Whether the Beam Ultra is good value will ultimately depend on how it sounds, but at £699 / $699 / AU$1099, it certainly looks expensive on paper.

There are rivals from the likes of JBL and Harman Kardon that offer up-firing drivers and similar driver configurations for around the same money as the Beam Gen 2. If the Beam Ultra had simply replaced the Beam Gen 2 at its £449 / $449 / AU$649 price, it would be exceptionally tempting.

At £699 / $699 / AU$1099, though, Sonos is asking us to pay a significant premium, and the new soundbar is going to have to deliver some seriously impressive performance to justify it.

In fairness, this is nothing new for Sonos, which typically prioritises performance over specs – let's see if it's got the formula right again when we get the Beam Ultra in for review.

MORE:

“We know the home, we know audio, we know music” – we speak to Sonos about its operating system rebrand, its "customer-led" focus and app updates

Sonos Ace Ultra feature all-new drivers, updated ANC, and a "direct connection" to the current Sonos ecosystem

Here are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars you can buy right now

"Good things come to those who wait", and I've been waiting a long time for a new Sonos Beam. Three long years, to be precise.

Thankfully, it looks like my patience has paid off, as Sonos has finally announced a new version of its compact Beam Dolby Atmos soundbar, and upon first impression, it's exactly what I've been waiting for.

The Sonos Beam Ultra takes the concept of the Award-winning Beam Gen 2 and elevates it; and I mean that in a literal sense.

While the Beam Gen 2 sported a five-speaker array with four elliptical mid-range drivers and a single tweeter, the Beam Ultra takes things up a notch with nine drivers in a 7.1.2 arrangement. That includes two upward-firing drivers for the first time on a Sonos Beam.

This upgrade was top of my wish list for a new Sonos Beam. While the Gen 2's advanced psychoacoustic processing delivers a surprisingly convincing Dolby Atmos experience, it's hard to beat dedicated height channels when it comes to delivering a proper "dome of sound" effect.

The addition of up-firing drivers brings the Beam Ultra closer to the Arc Ultra in many ways. Taking Sonos' usually excellent sound tuning into account, I'm really hoping that the Beam Ultra will deliver the height I felt was missing on the Beam Gen 2 after years of waiting.

However, there's one missing upgrade that has tempered my excitement ever so slightly. Specifically, the firm's SoundMotion woofer technology.

As we mentioned in our Sonos Arc Ultra review, this smaller, redesigned bass driver features "four smaller, lightweight motors in opposing corners" which are "able to push the cone to shift far more air and produce far more bass".

As a result, the Arc Ultra delivers "deep, tuneful and expressive bass", and it's a noticeable difference compared to the original Arc soundbar.

A smaller, more efficient bass driver seems like a perfect fit for the Beam, especially given the footprint of the soundbar. The Beam is also starting to see challengers in the market when it comes to bass performance, so a low-end upgrade would have been appreciated.

Despite this, Sonos appears not to have outfitted the Beam Ultra with its SoundMotion bass tech, which feels like a missed opportunity to me.

That's not to say the Beam Ultra won't deliver better bass. We'll only know if it is better in that metric when we run the two head-to-head in our review rooms. I just think the Arc Ultra tech would have been a great fit for the new Beam, considering our positive experience with it.

Nevertheless, the Beam Ultra is shaping up to be the compact Atmos-equipped soundbar that I've been waiting for, and I can't wait to hear it in action.

MORE:

Read our full Sonos Beam Gen 2 review

Here are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

As well as the best cheap soundbars

Sonos has formally named its app and multi-room operating system. Sonos 27 is being introduced this year with two new products – Ace Ultra and Beam Ultra – and boasts new AI control features, and new app navigation.

According to the company's press release, it "represent[s] the next stage of Sonos’ evolution from a collection of connected audio products into an increasingly intelligent and adaptable audio operating system for the home".

Why now? We spoke to Sonos's vice president of software, Sid Patel, and senior director of product development, Brandon Holley, both of whom have been with the company for over a decade, to dig into the newly-christened Sonos 27 operating system.

"For years, people have seen us as a speaker company, but what we actually have been building is an audio operating system," says Holley.

"Why now? We really think we've not done enough justice to tell the story of what the software does with the overall system and the speakers, and what it brings, and so this [branding] gives us a place to talk about the software and hardware and how it all works together," says Holley.

"Underneath it's extremely complex, there's a lot going on... but from a customer's standpoint, we want them to understand that every interaction, every piece of the system, whether it's the hardware or a partnership with a specific music provider – that is all part of a system."

"We've spent 20 years learning how a home feels and functions, and finally, we're naming the thing that we've been building all along," says Holley.

Sonos 27 is the overarching operating system powering the Sonos ecosystem and its many products, with Sonos aiming to treat its "audio operating system" like an Apple/Android operating system that updates every year. The '27' in the name will update every year, changing to '28' next year, we're told, just like iOS 26 will update to iOS 27 this year.

Fabric – "the magic that has been Sonos for 20 years"

While naming the various things the Sonos ecosystem can do might seem like a marketing exercise, what is more concrete is the company's commitment to ensuring its ecosystem isn't a walled garden like other brands, offers various ways to control its products, and that these products work together more seamlessly.

Ensuring that the new Ace Ultra wireless headphones connect to every Sonos 27-compatible product seamlessly is a key component of this. "That is not a promise we fulfilled fully with Ace; we are fulfilling it with Ace Ultra," says Patel.

Sonos Fabric is the name given to the multi-room capability of the ecosystem, in the way that Sonos products can be linked together – or as Patel calls it, "the magic that has been Sonos for 20 years".

That includes the whole-house multi-room grouping of products, a stereo pairing between two speakers, and the new 'headphone linking' feature, which will let you transfer sound between a Sonos speaker or soundbar to Sonos Ace Ultra wireless headphones.

Another new feature under the 'Fabric' umbrella opens up the possibility of portable surrounds. The Sonos Play and Move 2 portable speakers (which feature Bluetooth and wi-fi) can now be used as rear surrounds alongside the Sonos Arc/Arc Ultra, Beam (Gen 2) and Beam Ultra soundbars. Sonos' Positioning Technology will use high-frequency sound to "sense a speaker's location and adapt its role" accordingly.

New AI-enabled ways to control your Sonos products

It will come as no surprise that AI is a big part of the new operating system, and as an evolution of the brand's "open platform philosophy", Sonos will let users control its ecosystem using any AI assistant they prefer.

"AI is obviously all the rage in the industry, but the way we're approaching it is like how we've approached it from the beginning for everything," says Patel. "We're creating a platform where we plug into other AI ecosystems and AI ecosystems can plug into us, similar to how music partners can plug into us today."

Sonos 27voice is the brand's own assistant for "music and mood curation" that has been customised and is more AI-friendly, while the Sonos 27mcp (Model Context Protocol) infrastructure will let you connect any external AI assistant or agent to your Sonos system (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Siri) so you can ask it to control music anywhere in your home.

"We know the home, we know audio, we know music," says Patel, "and so we've taken a layer and created intelligence there, so what we do is bring that intelligence to the home." The focus is on letting users control their music in a way that's quickest and feels most natural to them, whether that's using voice control, the app, the web app, the on-unit buttons or AI.

"From the time you bring your speaker home and your system home and you set it up, we want you to be listening to TV or music as fast as possible," says Patel of the brand's number one goal for the app.

A new feature called Sonos Custom Agents will also let users "create their own agents" through their system, allowing you to customise the model, persona and voice for your own personal AI assistant.

"We are in a new era where we're listening to our customers a lot more"

A big part of the creation of Sonos 27 and any updates going forward will be listening to customer feedback, especially on the app. It's a concentrated effort after the disastrous app redesign of 2024, which led to widespread customer dissatisfaction, the then-CEO stepping down, and Sonos rolling back many of the app features to re-gain trust amongst its customers.

"We still believe the Sonos app is the best way to experience your system along with all the other control services like voice and web and direct control," says Patel.

"We are in a new era where we're listening to our customers a lot more," Patel acknowledges, and declares many of the new app changes have been "community driven and very experimental", with the Sonos team engaging with customers on Reddit and social media channels to get instant feedback.

"We sort of opened the door to even our engineering team engaging with customers on Reddit, which is not something we did in the past. And it's actually worked out really well for us."

The Sonos 27app will gain fresh discovery and tab navigation, a new "virtual" volume dial, presets, lock screen integration and more. On top of that, the brand says it's still "innovating" and working closely with Apple and Google to further integrate Sonos features within a smartphone's native operating systems.

Will this be a turning point for Sonos, and will it be enough to claim back trust amongst its many long-term customers? There is a definite sense of confidence that the new features will work as promised, and we'll be getting our hands on Beam Ultra and Ace Ultra review samples imminently to try out all the new features and see how the updated app works – so stay tuned.

Sonos 27 will be available as a free update to all current-generation Sonos products (i.e. all products working with the 'S2' app/OS since 2020), with the portable surrounds support, new app navigation and Sonos 27mcp rolling out from 8th September.

MORE:

Sonos Ace Ultra feature all-new drivers, updated ANC, and a "direct connection" to the current Sonos ecosystem

Sonos' new Beam soundbar is finally here with a big Dolby Atmos upgrade – but there’s still something missing

Read our original Sonos Ace review

Sonos has just taken the wraps off the Beam Ultra, a new Dolby Atmos soundbar that sits between the entry-level Beam Gen 2 and premium Arc Ultra.

One of the coolest things about the Beam Ultra is that, unlike the Beam Gen 2, it has dedicated up-firing speakers for a more involving Dolby Atmos delivery.

Dolby Atmos isn't the only 3D audio format in town, though. DTS:X is a serious alternative, and one that's particularly popular with home cinema enthusiasts, yet Sonos has resolutely refused to support it on any of its speakers.

Given the chance to speak with Brandon Holley, Sonos’s Senior Director of Product, ahead of the Beam Ultra’s launch, we asked about that.

“Beam Ultra doesn’t support DTS:X at this time”, he said.

But could it (and other Sonos speakers) do so one day?

“It’s definitely a question that we ask ourselves, and it’s one of the many features, codecs and partnerships that we’re constantly entertaining. The door isn’t closed to any of those particular things”.

I realise that all seems a bit "nothing to see here", but I actually took some encouragement from the way Holley said it, and I genuinely believe this is a discussion that Sonos is having regularly.

It’s always seemed slightly odd to me that Sonos – a brand that has had format and service agnosticism at its core from its inception – would support Dolby Atmos and not DTS:X.

Sure, DTS:X is comparatively niche, but so are a large number of the streaming services that the Sonos ecosystem supports.

I wouldn't be surprised if DTS:X eventually found its way onto Sonos speakers. The more pressing question, though, is whether the Sonos Beam Ultra is any good in its own right.

We intend to answer that question by putting it through our comparative review process just as soon as possible.

MORE:

Sonos' new Beam soundbar is finally here with a big Dolby Atmos upgrade – but there’s still something missing

Sonos Ace Ultra feature all-new drivers, updated ANC, and a "direct connection" to the current Sonos ecosystem

Here are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars you can buy right now

Sonos has finally launched a new version of its Award-winning Sonos Beam (Gen 2) soundbar.

The new Beam Ultra was unveiled at a pre-launch press event today and sits in the same family as the more premium Arc Ultra, which came out in 2024.

The “mid-size soundbar” boasts a 7.1.2-channel configuration. This includes two up-firing drivers.

The up-firing drivers are a key upgrade over the older Beam Gen 2, which didn't feature them.

Despite the upgrade, there is still no DTS:X support. The omission isn't a huge surprise, as none of the company’s soundbars features it, but it is a bit of a shame for those wanting comprehensive surround sound options.

When asked whether Sonos would add DTS:X in the future, Senior Director of Product Development at Sonos, Brandon Holley told us: "The door isn't closed for us, but just in terms of delivering the value that we think our customers are specifically asking for, that's what Beam Ultra has today."

The Beam Ultra also features a redesigned centre channel and four levels of AI Speech Enhancement to help it deliver clearer dialogue.

There’s also a Night Sound setting if you don’t want to disturb the neighbours, which should compress the bar's dynamic range. Once again, the firm's Trueplay calibration is on hand to fine-tune the sound to your space.

You can also link the Beam Ultra with other Sonos products to create a multi-room listening experience, including the newly announced Sonos Ace Ultra over-ear headphones.

Holley added that the firm has worked to ensure the Beam Ultra delivers better audio with music, telling us: "We treat music as important as we do home theatre performance, and so we want it to sound great musically as a soundbar as well."

That's something we found to be true with Sonos' previous models, so we are hopeful it will be the same with the new addition.

The Beam Ultra will be available in two finishes (black and white) and you can mount the bar to your wall or simply place it in front of your TV. We don't have its full dimensions yet, but Holley told us that the Beam Ultra has been intentionally designed not to block the TV screen, even if it is sitting on the surface.

So, how much will the new soundbar set you back? In the UK, the Beam Ultra will launch at £699 (around $946 / AU$1320). That means it sits between the Sonos Arc Ultra and the Sonos Beam Gen 2, which launched at £999 / $999 / AU$1799 and £449 / $449 / AU$649, respectively. The base Beam Gen 2 will remain on sale, sitting below the Ultra in Sonos' range.

We haven't managed to get the Beam Ultra into our test room yet, but we should have a chance to get up close with it very soon at the IFA trade show in Berlin. Watch this space.

MORE:

Check out our review of the Sonos Beam Gen 2

These are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

And here are the best soundbars we recommend

The Sonos Ace Ultra wireless headphones have landed, and it looks like good news throughout, with Sonos promising a "direct connection to the Sonos system."

Positioned above the three-star Ace – the brand's first headphones released in 2024 – the new step-up Ace Ultra have been designed from the ground up to deliver the improvements to sound, noise-cancelling and wider compatibility with the Sonos ecosystem that were missing from Sonos' debut over-ears.

At the heart of the Ace Ultra is the "Headphone Engine 2", a next-gen wi-fi hardware and software system that lets you link the headphones directly to your existing Sonos system. It's the feature that we (and Sonos customers) have wanted all along, allowing you to swap audio from any Sonos wireless speaker or soundbar to the Ace Ultra headphones at the press of a button (or via the app), and back again.

Listening to music on the Ace Ultra from your laptop or smartphone is still done via Bluetooth rather than wi-fi, but this is a marked improvement over the original Sonos Ace, where you could only 'swap' audio from select Sonos soundbars.

With the Ace Ultra, this 'headphone linking' feature will work with any current Sonos soundbar and wireless speaker under the Sonos 27 ecosystem, including the Arc Ultra, Ray, Beam (Gen 2), new Beam Ultra, Sonos Five, Era 100, Era 300, Move 2, Play and Roam 2.

The Ace Ultra feature all-new Sonos-designed 40mm drivers, and the sound is tuned with input from the Sonos Soundboard, which features leading figures in music and film (including Grammy winners) to deliver a sound "that stays true to the artist's intent."

Active noise cancellation has been given a boost, with the Ace Ultra promising to be twice as effective in this regard. The Ace Ultra house 10 mics (up from eight on the original Ace), with an adaptive ANC system that continuously monitors your surroundings to deliver the best ANC experience.

An Adaptive EQ also tunes the ANC to adjust to any imperfections in the acoustic seal around the earcups, such as gaps in the fit for those wearing glasses.

An Aware mode, which lets outside sounds in, also returns, as does support for headtracking with Dolby Atmos content.

Battery is up to 35 hours (up from 30 hours from the original Ace) with ANC activated, and you can get three hours from a fast-charge of three minutes. The higher-quality aptX Lossless codec is supported, while native support for 16-bit/48kHz resolution is once again supported via a wired USB-C connection.

The general design of the Sonos Ace Ultra remains the same as before, with soft foam cushions to provide maximum comfort, and physical buttons that include a multi-function button/slider (called the 'control key') through which you can adjust volume, change noise modes and playback, and send music to and from your connected Sonos speakers via the 'headphone linking' feature.

There are three-band and eight-band EQ settings in the app to further customise the sound to your tastes, whereas TrueCinema technology tunes the headphones' sound according to your room's acoustics when connected to a compatible Sonos soundbar.

The Sonos Ace Ultra headphones will cost £399 / $449 and be available globally from 29th September, with pre-orders starting from today, 1st September. The headphones will be available in four finishes: new sand and agave colours, as well as the standard black and white options.

Interestingly, the established Sonos Ace will continue to be available. The Ace are currently priced at £299 / $299 / AU$449, which is a considerable drop from their launch price of £449 / $449 / AU$699. Those in the UK will also get a bonus saving, as the new Ace Ultra will launch for £50 less than the inaugural Ace did.

We have high hopes for the new Sonos Ace Ultra headphones, which seem to address many of the issues we had with the original Ace – such as incomplete features, buggy connections, "average" sound, and ANC quality that didn't compete with strong rivals.

Let's see if they give the current Sony, Bose and Sennheiser class leaders a run for their money.

MORE:

Read our original Sonos Ace review

And our five-star Sony WH-1000XM6 review

Best wireless headphones 2026: reviewed and rated by our in-house experts

JBL has dominated the portable Bluetooth speaker market with its Go, Flip, Charge and Xtreme models, and now it is turning its attention to the wireless multi-room speaker category with the new JBL Cove range.

The Cove range is designed to bring "superior JBL sound to every room", touting a flexible and expandable whole-home audio ecosystem powered by JBL's in-house platform and managed via the JBL One app.

The new series consists of three models available at launch: the compact Cove M1, the battery-powered Cove P1, and the flagship, six-driver-toting Cove X1. Each speaker can be used in its own right, as a stereo pair, or as part of a multi-room setup.

The smaller Cove M1 houses a trio of tweeters alongside a single woofer, while the Cove P1 packs four tweeters and a single woofer. The flagship Cove X1, meanwhile, also houses a quad tweeter array, complemented by a pair of woofers.

Both the Cove X1 and Cove P1 support Dolby Atmos, with the battery-powered Cove P1 boasting 14 hours of playtime on a single charge and an IP56 certification for protection against dust and water.

To help you get the most out of your multi-room system, JBL’s own 'Constant Sound Field' automatically tunes the speakers to their given environment, while 'AI Sound Boost' further aims to optimise performance based on where and how you listen.

You're not short on wireless connectivity, either. Alongside standard Bluetooth, wi-fi access grants support for AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and Qobuz Connect, and all members of the new Cove family are Roon Ready. Spotify Tap provides quick access to Spotify, while built-in Alexa Plus voice control is also available.

The Cove M1 and P1 will also connect with JBL's Bar Series MK2 soundbars (which include the Bar 300MK2 and Bar 1000MK2), and you can use a pair of these Cove speakers as rear surrounds for a home cinema setup. This feature isn't available for the larger Cove X1 model.

According to Carsten Olesen, President of Consumer Audio at Harman: "JBL Cove marks an important step in our ambition to become a leading force in home audio, combining powerful JBL Legendary Sound with the simplicity, flexibility and outstanding value that will help even more people discover how simple it is to have great sound throughout the home.”

Each member of the JBL Cove range will be available in white or black finishes from October 2026. The JBL Cove M1 is priced at £200 / €230 / $230 / AU$299.95, the Cove P1 at £400 / €450 / $400 / AU$599.95, and the Cove X1 at £430 / €500 / $450 / AU$649.95.

MORE:

Read our review of the Sonos Era 300

Also consider the Apple HomePod 2

Best wireless speakers: tried and tested by our expert team

The heatwaves here in the UK have finally subsided, and we've been enjoying our first smattering of *gasp* actual rain.

Not to worry, though – there are deals on two great waterproof speakers that will be sure to survive a downpour if you still have outdoor plans, as well as plenty to keep you occupied inside should a thunderstorm emerge.

As always, our recommendations are all based on first-hand testing. All the below products have received at least four stars, the minimum required to get the What Hi-Fi? deals thumbs up.

So take a look below – you can finally stop thinking about buying more fans and air conditioning units...

If you're a regular What Hi-Fi? reader, you've likely heard us praise the JBL Xtreme speaker line numerous times. The robust speakers have no problem with water and dust, and the Xtreme 4 model offers clear, detailed sound, tight, weighty bass and a straightforward user experience. Now nearly half price.

The Sonos Era 100 SL doesn't have the microphone of the Sonos Era 100, but otherwise it's identical, with the same big, open sound, crisp, clear detail and pleasing way with rhythm. Add in a ton of streaming features and a lower price than the original model, and you've got yourself quite the bargain.

The Grado SR325x have won five What Hi-Fi? Awards in a row thanks to their excellent detail and dynamics, hugely entertaining performance and a rugged build. Now under £200, an excellent price for one of the best headphones we've tested in the last 20 years.

The 43-inch Samsung U8000F is a good all-rounder for both gaming and video, with impressive motion handling in particular. It's a fine pick if you're heading to university next month, but also a great value budget TV if your student days are behind you.

The Sony Bravia Projector 8 (VPL-XW6100ES) is definitely pricey even with a £4,500 discount, but its What Hi-Fi? Award proves it's worth the money. With excellent contrast and detail, stunning black depth and two HDMI 2.1 sockets, it's a top pick for anyone with deep enough pockets.

The Bose SoundLink Max combines a rugged, ergonomic design, a lively, energetic sound and powerful, tight bass. Its IP67 dust- and water-proof rating will also protect you from rain, shine or whatever else the weather has in store for us this year.

MORE:

Our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy

And the best TVs for all budgets

Interested in the bigger picture? Here are the best projectors we have tested

Quiz! Take on our turntable-themed crossword for a spin and see how quickly you can solve the clues

It's official: Sonos is having a sale!

We're big fans of several of the premium audio brand's products, many of which are now seeing discounts – including the Award-winning Sonos Arc Ultra at £849, the five-star Sonos Era 300 down to £359 and the petite powerhouse Sonos Ray at £179.

All great products that we felt were worth the money even at full price. The only issue? We've seen all these products cheaper before, and with Black Friday on the horizon, it may only be a couple of months before they crash to these prices once again.

The one exception? The Sonos Era 100 SL, the one product we recommend that has returned to its former low of £149 at Amazon.

While this particular model lacks a microphone for voice control, it still packs a big, open sound and a vast amount of streaming and playback features.

The Sonos Era 100 SL is part of a range that includes the Era 300 mentioned above. The Era 300 is more room-filling and might be a better choice for a larger space, but the 100 SL packs a whole host of streaming features into one compact, easy-to-use model – and is currently more than £200 cheaper.

We haven't tested the SL model, but Sonos assures us it's identical to the five-star Sonos Era 100, except for the lack of a microphone. The majority of our review still applies, therefore, including our glowing findings on the Era 100's crisp, winning sound.

"The Era 100 takes everything we liked about the Sonos One – crisp and detailed, spacious sound, deep bass – and cranks it up a dozen notches," our Sonos Era 100 review reads. "It sounds so much bigger, more spacious, more detailed and deeper in the bass, while still retaining a great handle on timing, dynamics and its even tonal balance.

"The spread of sound you get from what is still a fairly compact speaker is really impressive. The delivery is powerful, with voices projected out into our listening room with confidence."

Even without voice control, the Era 100 SL is still stacked with features. You can stream wirelessly to the Era 100 SL via the Sonos S2 app, Apple AirPlay 2, or Spotify Connect, with Bluetooth 5.0 also available. We've used and reviewed plenty of Bluetooth speakers over the years, and we found pairing with our smartphones to be particularly fuss-free in this case.

It also helps that the app is rather easy to use, simple to navigate for tech pros and novices alike.

If you're already in the Sonos ecosystem, then an Era 100 SL will be particularly appealing. Two Era 100 SLs can be used as a stereo pair, or they can be used as rear speakers if you have the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), Arc, or Ray soundbar or plan to purchase one in the sale.

If you can live without voice control, the Sonos Era 100 SL is an excellent, affordable entry point to a Sonos set-up, with versatility and an array of features that few rivals can match. A charming, capable and feature-rich wireless speaker experience, which can be all yours for £149 at Amazon.

MORE:

Which Sonos speaker should you buy? Find out here

The best multi-room systems around

Check out the best Sonos alternatives

Sonos is set to have a rather busy September.

It already looks likely that the US brand will unveil its sequel to the Sonos Ace over-ears, the Ace Ultra, next month, but those premium cans could be joined by a brand new soundbar.

According to Bloomberg, Sonos is working on a new soundbar currently dubbed the 'S56' and codenamed 'Gambit'. A new filing with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) shows a product resembling the second-generation Beam from 2021, implying that a new iteration of Sonos' 'middle-child' soundbar could be arriving next month.

Sonos had already confirmed that a new product would be coming in September during a recent earnings call, with CEO Tom Conrad hinting that AI would play a large part in the company's plans going forward. Now, it seems, this new 'product' may in fact be a pair of releases designed to satisfy wearable audio fans and home cinema enthusiasts alike.

Given that the most recent Beam launched in 2021, it certainly feels like it's time for an upgrade. All we have to go on is Sonos' filing to the FCC, so details for the upcoming soundbar remain sketchy at best, but we'd expect the usual Sonos boxes to be ticked as and when a third-gen Beam sequel arrives.

Dolby Atmos support, seamless ecosystem integration, and some form of voice control via baked-in smart assistant are all taken as read, though we wonder how Conrad's hinted 'AI integration' might find its way into the third-generation Beam.

The big question on our minds is whether the new Beam (assuming that's what Gambit turns out to be) will feature up-firing drivers, or stick to delivering Atmos via clever virtualisation, as with the Gen 2 model. And might HDMI passthrough be added? We doubt it, as Sonos tends to favour simplicity over extra cabling, but we can hope.

If nothing else, we hope that prices stay stable. The Beam 2 launched at £449 / $449 / AU$699, so that's the sort of RRP we'd hope the new model would tend to sit at, but given that the Beam 2 was itself a good deal more than the original model, which cost £399 / $399 / AU$599 at launch, there's little guarantee of things staying as they are. Costs are only going one way in tech, and it isn't downwards.

For now, though, all eyes look to September to discover exactly what Sonos has in store. We'll keep you updated as soon as we discover any new information about its future plans.

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The Sonos event next month will see the firm launch a new pair of wireless headphones, if this FCC filing is to be believed (via Lowpass).

The Federal Communications Commission is the US government agency that regulates digital devices. Firms have to submit their proposals to the FCC before launching a new device.

While the headphones are detailed in diagrams, they aren't named, though they have been dubbed the Sonos Ace Ultra. The device is simply known as 'S52a' in the filing.

While the name isn't confirmed, we do know that the headphones will come in new colours: Greige, Shadow Black, Agave, Blush and Sand are all listed in one document of the filing.

Their predecessors, the Sonos Ace, only come in black and white. Sonos has previously launched its Roam 2 portable speaker in multiple finishes. Given that most Sonos devices only ship in black or white, it could be targeting a younger market with these new headphones.

The filing also suggests the headphones could support wi-fi for pairing straight to a home wireless network (much like Sonos' speakers) rather than via a phone. They could also support Sonos' own voice assistant. Neither feature is confirmed, however.

Sonos confirmed a new product is coming next month during a recent earnings call. Its CEO hinted that AI would play a large part in the company's future success.

The original Sonos Ace only scored three stars in our review – a disappointing score for a marquee brand like Sonos. The company has since been on something of a rollercoaster ride, shedding customers with a botched app update and trying to win them back through a concerted effort to right its past wrongs, even shelving its planned set-top box in the process. The Award-winning Arc Ultra soundbar didn't hurt either.

We've contacted Sonos for comment.

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A new Sonos product is just weeks away. CEO Tom Conrad announced the September launch in the firm's third quarter earnings call. And while he stopped short of revealing the device itself, he did hint that it will be focussed around AI.

Noting that "conversational computing and predictive intelligence are moving into the home," he bigged up Sonos' 20 years' experience in solving the issues this brings, which he defined as "sound, form, systemness, and intelligence."

(If anyone knows what "systemness" is, we'd love to know.)

Unsurprisingly, he said Sonos is uniquely well placed to take advantage of the AI boom thanks to its ecosystem of multi-room-enabled speakers, which encompasses soundbars, home speakers and portable models.

While all AI models will soon offer the same abilities, he thinks what will differentiate systems is "what surrounds the [AI] model in a real home: the hardware that can converse with quality across every room, the system that already knows the shape of a home and the way a family lives in it, the connectivity to reach the speakers, services, and devices that turn a request into coordinated action.

"That’s the operating environment for AI in the home, and Sonos has spent twenty years building it."

So, we can hazard a guess that we'll see a new speaker, but the biggest changes will likely be on the inside, pivoting the Sonos platform to encompass more AI abilities.

Sonos' most recent launch was the Play earlier this year, a portable speaker that earned four stars. It recently launched its new mobile app in beta, in an attempt to win back customers frustrated at the notorious botched app launch of 2024.

That disastrous move introduced bugs while removing certain existing features, and ultimately led to the then-CEO stepping down. Since then, Sonos has been on a major charm offensive to win back customers' trust, even cancelling its rumoured set-top box in order to prioritise fixing existing problems.

A move to AI does bring big opportunities for Sonos, but also a fair amount of risk. Will customers weary of having been put through the wringer over the last couple of years really want a whole new direction and focus for the platform? Or will they just want a bit of stability following all the chaos?

It all depends on what exactly Sonos is offering.

We'll bring you any rumours concerning the launch in the run-up to September.

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Rejoice, Sonos fans! After months, even years, of turmoil and trouble, Sonos is making serious steps towards fixing the app that, after a disastrous redesign in 2024, threatened the company's future and forced its then-CEO to step down.

Now, Sonos is doing everything it can to repair the damage. We reported in June that CEO Tom Conrad had written on Reddit detailing some of the changes set to come to the platform, promising that the Sonos team had spent "hundreds of hours" watching people use the app to find its weak spots.

Now, Sonos is ready to put it all into practice, making the new version available in public beta form for Android and iOS users. Any customer with app version 87 can switch on 'Enable Improved Navigation' in their Settings to access the Beta as Sonos collects feedback over the next few months.

That new beta iteration touts some promising upgrades, including improved navigation, more intuitive system tab controls and an overhauled volume tuning system, as well as what Sonos terms 'Quality-of-life fixes' across Now Playing, playlists and iPad views.

The new changes are currently rolling out in their beta form as part of an opt-in public test phase, with changes set broadly to become the default once feedback has been gathered. This could be in the autumn, but no definitive date has been given.

Has Sonos learned from the mistakes of its past? You can switch to the updated version of the app in your settings and judge for yourself.

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Which Sonos speaker should you buy?

Check out our recent Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review

Sonos Play vs HomePod 2: which should you buy?

Soundbars tend to come in two flavours now: the usual standalone bar, and the soundbar system with extra speakers that has increased in visibility in recent years.

We’ve rounded up two of our favourites from both categories to see how they stack up. And not just any two – the Award-winning Sonos Arc Ultra, and Samsung’s new HW-Q990H soundbar system.

We’ll go through various categories such as price, design, features and, of course, sound, to find out which is the better buy.

As soundbar standoffs go, it doesn’t get much closer than this. So, after a deep breath, let’s get started…

Samsung HW-Q990H vs Sonos Arc Ultra: price

The Sonos Arc Ultra officially launched at £999 / $999 / AU$1799. However, it does get healthy discounts every now and then – the cheapest we’ve seen it go is £719 in the UK on Cyber Monday.

The Samsung HW-Q990H launched at a more expensive £1599 / $2000 / AU$1999. That’s a £600/$1000/AU$200 increase – though you have to bear in mind that this also includes a wireless subwoofer and two wireless surrounds.

You can add extra speakers to the Arc Ultra, but it quickly adds up. The cheapest way to build a Sonos system is to add a Sub Mini and two Era 100 speakers, which are available as part of the Home Cinema Completion Set for £785/$887/AU$1270, though if you shop around you can often find these products on sale separately.

The Samsung HW-Q990H is also much newer, only launching in spring 2026. Samsung’s annual soundbar system tends to tumble in price quickly and consistently after launch – the HW-Q990H is already down to £1299 in the UK. Last year’s model, the HW-990F, crashed to under £700 over Prime Day, and we’d expect the HW-Q990H to follow a similar pattern.

As things stand, the Sonos Arc Ultra is the better value buy, especially if you get it at a discount – but the two may very well swap places over the course of the next year.

**Winner: Sonos Arc Ultra**

Samsung HW-Q990H vs Sonos Arc Ultra: design

There is, of course, one key difference between the Samsung HW-Q990H and Sonos Arc Ultra; the Q990H is a soundbar system with surrounds and a subwoofer, whereas the Arc Ultra is a solo soundbar.

However, even the soundbar of the Q990H alone is bigger than the Arc Ultra – the Arc Ultra fits all of its channels into a 7.5 x 118 x 11 cm (hwd) bar, while the main soundbar of the Q990H comes in at 7 x 123 x 14cm. The Q990H’s surround speakers are a smaller 20 x 13 x 14cm, while the subwoofer is a 25 x 25 x 25cm cube.

The Q990H is a well-built, premium-feeling system constructed from aluminium and high-quality plastic. However, the design is identical to previous Samsung soundbar systems, and is starting to feel a little tired. The sharp, hexagonal design is a touch brutalist – especially compared to Samsung’s sleek OLED TVs – and the edgy soundbar does feel at odds with the rounded cube-shaped subwoofer.

We prefer the smooth curves of the Sonos Arc Ultra. The solo soundbar is pretty much all grille, with just a Sonos logo and a status light breaking up the appearance from the front, ensuring that sound can emanate from the soundbar in almost any direction.

The Arc Ultra’s design is largely similar to that of its predecessor, the Sonos Arc, with the exception of the 'ledge' at the back of the top of the chassis, which now houses touch controls for playback and volume. The Bluetooth pairing button is hidden in the recess around the back with the HDMI and power ports, which is a tad inconvenient.

The Sonos Arc Ultra gets our vote on an aesthetic level, but we still have features and sound quality to assess.

**Winner: Sonos Arc Ultra**

Samsung HW-Q990H vs Sonos Arc Ultra: features

The Arc Ultra boasts a 9.1.4-channel configuration, with 15 Class D amplifiers powering 14 drivers that are all Sonos-engineered. There are seven tweeters, six midrange woofers, and a 'Sound Motion' woofer, and it's the last of those that's the really big deal.

Rather than the one heavy motor that most speaker drivers employ, the Sound Motion driver has four smaller, lightweight motors in opposing corners. Working together, these motors are apparently able to push the cone to shift far more air and produce far more bass.

The Samsung, on the other hand, is an 11.1.4 system, with an impressive total of 23 individual drivers on board. This includes 15 drivers in the main soundbar unit, three in each of the wireless surround speakers, and two 8-inch woofers (in a push/pull configuration) in the wireless subwoofer. Upward-firing drivers are present in both the soundbar and surround speakers for immersive audio.

Speaking of immersive sound formats, the Sonos Arc Ultra only supports Dolby Atmos. The Q990H boasts three: Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Samsung’s Eclipsa Audio. Eclipsa has not seen widespread coverage outside of YouTube so far, but it’s handy that the Q990H is futureproofed should this change down the line.

While the Sonos Arc Ultra does have an HDMI eARC output for sending high-fidelity sound from your TV, there are no HDMI inputs to enable passthrough, which could be an issue for any gamers out there. If you have a TV with only two HDMI sockets and more than one game console, you’ll be in a bit of a pickle as the Arc Ultra will take up one of your ports.

The Samsung, on the other hand, has two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 passthrough sockets, which support up to 4K/120Hz signals with VRR and ALLM, as well as HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. So you can plug two high-speed game consoles directly into the soundbar itself, and still enjoy plenty of gaming features.

The Sonos Trueplay calibration process for the Arc Ultra comes in two flavours – Quick and Advanced. The Quick method, which is a single measurement using the soundbar’s own microphone, makes a big difference, whereas the iOS-only Advanced method, the ‘hoovering-the-walls’ method we’ve seen before, only very slightly improves beyond that.

Samsung’s SpaceFit Sound Pro feature, which is essentially the Q990H’s’s calibration system, can helpfully accommodate if you can’t place the rear speakers at the recommended 135-150-degree angle behind the listening position. However, this isn’t just a one-time measurement – the feature is a constantly running system that monitors your listening space at all times to make adjustments in real time.

The Sonos app also allows you to access EQ controls and features such as Night mode, Speech Enhancement and the Loudness setting. However, we ran into several bugs during testing, and while a lot of the issues have been ironed out, it’s still not the most intuitive platform.

Luckily, you shouldn’t need to use the app too often – the remote control can handle most duties, and music can be sent directly from apps such as Spotify and Tidal.

Conversely, we find the Samsung SmartThings app to be the preferred way of interacting with the settings menus of the Q990H. The app has a snappy connection and set-up time, with easy-to-understand menus and generally solid stability.

The Q990H can also be connected wirelessly to compatible Samsung TVs, though we’d recommend sticking to a wired connection for the best audio quality and reduced latency. Q Symphony is also on offer, in which the Q990H can work in tandem with the speakers of a Samsung TV – though again, we’d recommend just sticking to the system rather than bringing a TV's sound quality into the equation.

Finally, the Q990H offers a Sound Elevation feature that’s designed to raise the audio upwards to match the position of your screen. We found it overshot things slightly and placed the sound towards the top of our TV, but this could be useful for those who wall-mount their TV and leave a gap between it and their soundbar.

The Sonos Arc Ultra is no slouch in the features department, but it loses out to the newer, feature-packed Samsung HW-Q990H. The soundbar system boasts more immersive audio support, a snappier, more stable app and, crucially, HDMI passthrough.

**Winner: Samsung HW-Q990H**

Samsung HW-Q990H vs Sonos Arc Ultra: sound

Starting with the Samsung HW-Q990H and a test viewing of Civil War, we find this soundbar package excels in practically every aspect. A woodland scene demonstrates the soundbar’s excellent placement of cinematic effects, with birds chirping overhead and twigs crackling underfoot.

Vocal clarity is excellent, with crisp, detailed and full-bodied dialogue, and the tonality and emotions of their voices are captured thanks to the Q990H's rich sonic characteristics and deft handling of low-level dynamics.

Bass is handled very well too, refusing to distort or warble during Blade Runner 2049’s infamously tricky chapter two. In fact, the bass builds nicely throughout, with a sense of tonal variation which makes it sound tuneful and dynamic.

K’s crowded apartment complex and a dystopian street are also captured with a level of finesse and detail that seriously sells the atmosphere of each scene. Background sounds are also cleverly woven into the soundfield without making them sound forced or intentionally singled out.

Moving on to music, we try the Q990H’s Standard mode, which removes the rear speakers and lets the main soundbar unit and subwoofer shine for stereo music reproduction.

Most, if not all, of the positive attributes from our movie testing are present and correct for music, too – vocals are warm and detailed, bass is taut, and there is a general sense of naturalism and balance to the sound. The Samsung system is a talented performer – but can’t quite top the Sonos when it comes to music.

Sonos soundbars have long been among the most musical in the category, though, and the Arc Ultra further solidifies that reputation. We prefer it over the Samsung system thanks to its richer, more rounded and smoother sound – the Arc Ultra is an energetic, exciting and engaging listen, and a crackingly musical soundbar.

Moving away from music, we also put the Arc Ultra through the Blade Runner 2049 chapter two test, and it also impresses. There’s no chuffing from the drivers and it has a really good go at the super-deep notes of the soundtrack. Bottom-end control isn’t cast iron, but the combination of weight and control is impressive.

The spatial sound-effect placement is also quite impressive for a solo bar. Voices and other audio are placed above us, in the top corners of the room and move around us, far beyond the extremities of the TV.

The sound is detailed too – incidental noises are delivered clearly and cleanly without distracting, with the Arc Ultra’s low-level dynamic subtlety ensuring these sounds are presented naturally and realistically. Grand changes in volume are also dispatched without fuss or fluster, with the solo soundbar capable of going very loud indeed.

So who comes out on top? Well, it depends entirely on what you plan to use the soundbars for. The Sonos Arc Ultra is a musical powerhouse and manages to pack in impressive detail and spatial effects into one convenient, plug-in-and-play bar.

The Samsung HW-Q990H, on the other hand, requires a bit more setup and space, but really benefits from the rear speakers for surround and height effects, as well as the rather impressive subwoofer.

It really depends on which soundbar is the best for you and your needs – both products excel in their respective areas, so we’re going to call this one a draw.

**Winner: Draw**

Samsung HW-Q990H vs Sonos Arc Ultra: verdict

As soundbar battles go, it doesn’t get much closer than this. There’s no wrong answer here really, with two top-tier home cinema audio options.

The Sonos Arc Ultra is better looking and is the go-to choice if you want just one box that excels with music and movies. The Samsung HW-Q990H is stuffed with features, including the all-important HDMI 2.1 inputs for gamers.

The Arc Ultra is also cheaper at the time of writing, but the HW-Q990H will inevitably fall to a similar, if not cheaper, price by next year.

If you’ve got the space for a multi-speaker system, then the HW-Q990H is an easy recommendation. But if you’re after the convenience of a single soundbar, then the Sonos Arc Ultra will serve you extremely well.

** Overall Winner: Draw**

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Bose has been conspicuously absent from the premium wireless multi-room speaker space of late.

Denon has recently unveiled its revamped Home 2 series of versatile smart speakers, Apple has plenty of iOS fans enjoying the talents of its HomePod 2 and HomePod Mini, and Sonos continues to cling to its multi-room supremacy courtesy of the established Era 100 and Era 300. Bose, conversely, has tended to focus on the portable end of the market in the past couple of years – until now.

Most of the above contenders are locked into their brand’s own dedicated ecosystem, and most have been designed to co-operate with their extended family of connected siblings. Brands these days aren’t just offering you products – they’re pledging a way of life.

That’s certainly the impression we get from Bose and its new Lifestyle range. The US brand launched the Ultra Speaker wireless speaker alongside a Dolby Atmos soundbar and a new subwoofer, teasing a “reimagined approach to home audio" from a new range of products clearly designed to work alongside one another and tie you into a particular ecosystem.

That begs a very important question: what is Bose’s Lifestyle Ultra Speaker offering that the likes of Sonos and Apple don’t already have covered?

Price

The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker’s price differs depending on the finish. The speaker currently sits at £300 / $299 / AU$550 if you go for the standard Black or White Smoke colourways, but if you want to push the boat out and go for Driftwood Sand, that’ll be a hefty increase to £349 / $349.

You can pick up the Award-winning Sonos Era 300 for £359 / $359 / AU$649, offering stern competition for Bose straight out of the gate. You can also get yourself a still-excellent HomePod 2 for £299 / $299 / AU$479 if you’re into the Apple way of life.

Build & design

Bose’s new wireless speaker might be closer to the Sonos Era 300 price-wise, but in terms of its size and shape, it’s more akin to the form of the cheaper and smaller Era 100.

If that shorthand comparison doesn’t help you out much, then imagine a speaker that stands about as tall as an average notebook, with a curved, fabric-covered front panel. It’s a compact and neat design, and while the hourglass configuration of the larger Era 300 may catch more admiring (or quizzical) glances, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker fulfils its brief as a subtle sentinel capable of blending into your audio or cinema set-up.

Bose tends to make its products to a high standard, and the Ultra Speaker is no exception – this is a product that feels built to last.

At the top of the unit are a series of touch-capacitive controls, including volume, a play/pause toggle and a Bluetooth pairing button. We understand that some users feel that touch controls grant a sleeker, more premium appeal, but we find the buttons’ lack of feedback here – be it physical or auditory – undermines the experience somewhat.

Knowing that the speaker has actually registered an action with an accompanying small sound or click would be much more useful than simply having to guess, especially with tricky tasks such as trying to perform a connection reset. You get a chime when toggling the microphone on and off, but that’s about it.

Taking care of sonic duties are a trio of drivers – a 25mm tweeter and a 7.6cm mid/bass driver alongside a 3.8cm up-firing driver – designed to disperse sound evenly around your listening space. Bose doesn't disclose the specific power rating, but we do know that the drivers are powered by Class D amplification.

Like its soundbar and subwoofer siblings, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker uses Bose’s ‘CleanBass’ technology, which combines a rear-firing bass port with digital signal processing to deliver “deep, tight bass”. We’ll get to that later on.

Features

The Ultra Speaker is built, at least in part, to play ball with the rest of the members of its new Lifestyle product family. The speaker can be used on its own or in a pair for stereo playback, or you can add them as surround channels when used with the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar. Do be aware that the speakers aren’t backwards compatible with any of Bose’s older soundbars.

Stereo pairing is a nice asset to have, if you can get it to work. While getting our two test samples to play ball with each other works reasonably well most of the time, the resultant sound is often so out of sync that it becomes unlistenable. We’re not the only ones to have experienced this issue, so let’s hope that Bose will come to the rescue via a firmware update soon.

Stereo pairing bugs aside, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker has ample streaming connectivity. Connecting to your wi-fi network gives you access to streaming features such as Google Cast, Apple AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect, as well as the Alexa Plus voice assistant which you can connect via the app. Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect aren’t available at launch, but we're told both will be arriving via a firmware update down the line. It’s worth noting that there’s no ethernet port for a wired connection to your home network.

If you want a multi-room set-up, the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is accommodating in this regard. You can use the Bose app to create a stereo system or integrate other Lifestyle products, such as the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, into a neat home cinema system, or use the likes of AirPlay or Google Cast to integrate other compatible devices into your set-up.

You can stream using Bluetooth 5.3, too, with the standard AAC and SBC codecs supported. There’s no sign of higher-quality aptX or LDAC codecs here, which might be disappointing for some. An auxiliary 3.5mm input is available around the back of the unit if you want a physical connection to your audio source.

If you’re wondering how you control your new Bose speaker, then yes, there’s an app for that. You could go all Medieval and use the on-unit controls, but if you want to really get the most out of the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, you’ll need the official Bose app.

We might have had issues when it comes to the stereo pairing process, but the Bose app is a good one. It’s a logical, uncluttered and orderly platform that we find very easy to navigate thanks to its big, bold menus and helpful set-up guides.

Sound

We’ll get a quick caveat of our assessment of the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speakers’ sonic capabilities out of the way by confessing that we have to do a bit of tinkering before we get it sounding how we want. The balance you pick will often depend on the characteristics of your listening space and your personal preferences, but we feel the need to increase the bass levels in the EQ settings in order to compensate for what would otherwise be a rather thin reproduction.

Bolstering the lower end does grant, to our ears, a more balanced feel to the speaker’s sound, allowing our test sample to more capably reveal its particular talents.

The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker’s reproduction is clear and composed, with a sound that rarely grates the ear. Notes are well-defined upon arrival, even if the Bose can sound like it overemphasises those all-important leading edges just a tad.

Instruments are crisp and sharp as they land, but the Ultra Speaker could conceivably add more body to that initial bite. The rival Sonos Era 300 is far better in this regard, reproducing instrumental textures – swooning strings, twinkling pianos – with a more natural weightiness that simply outshines the comparative thinness of its Bose rival.

The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is capable of granting tracks a sense of dimensionality thanks to its upward-firing driver. The Bose speaker doesn’t officially support Dolby Atmos, with its ‘TrueSpatial’ technology taking care of spatial processing. This analyses the dimensions of the room in which the speaker is positioned and then optimises your audio to suit your listening space for a more immersive soundstage.

You can adjust the height channel in the app, and you’ll certainly notice the change as you move the in-app slider from 0-10, depending on how much height effect you want from the speaker.

When working to full effect, the resultant soundstage is admirably wide-reaching for a speaker of this size and type, but again, it’s simply outshone by the stunningly cinematic reproduction of the Dolby Atmos-powered Era 300, which renders spatial audio in a more convincing, wide-reaching and immersive manner.

The Era 300 is more convincing in other areas, too. Via Bluetooth or AirPlay, Sonos’ speaker excels across small and large scale dynamic shifts, putting the Bose rival’s somewhat flattened presentation in the shade.

Listen to the first minute of Lana Del Rey’s First Light and you’ll hear what we mean. The introduction of punchy drums and powerful brass land with more authority and power via the Era 300, contrasting starkly with the track’s quiet, enigmatic opening. The track propels itself forward with more vigour via the Sonos, with a purposeful momentum that we don’t find when switching back to the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker.

All isn’t entirely lost for Bose. The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker keeps its taut lower-end reproduction nicely in check, even if we have to boost it a bit to hear it properly, with ‘CleanBass’ tech working nicely with that rear port to deliver upon Bose’s promise of decent low-frequency control.

Bass is reasonably well-integrated with the rest of the frequencies, and rarely do we feel as though those lower registers sound disjointed or overly separated from the rest of our music.

Verdict

The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker does not come cheap. Bose has positioned it as a committedly premium wireless smart speaker, and that’s put it up against some serious competition.

Sadly, Bose’s otherwise game contender doesn’t do enough to justify its considerable outlay, especially when there are more convincing alternatives available at this level. If you’re after a speaker that gives you great spatial audio, an impressive spread of features and better sound overall, we recommend that you pick the five-star Sonos Era 300 instead.

Review published: 13th July 2026

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Build 4
• Features 5

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We have entered the final day of Amazon’s Prime Day sales event – sales are set to cease at midnight.

While we have been carefully choosing which deals to recommend to you and which are best avoided, it’s time to determine which deals are Prime Day winners, and who has provided the biggest disappointments during the sales event.

We have seen loads of excellent AV deals, and some of them can genuinely save you hundreds, and in some cases a thousand, pounds. These are the deals that we think are genuinely worth investing in this Prime Day; they knock prices down to new lows and ensure you’re getting the maximum bang for your buck.

Some products, however, haven’t been discounted at all. One company even decided to raise the prices of its products this Prime Day. These are, unsurprisingly, the losers.

So let’s find out who our Prime Day champions are…

Winner: LG C5 OLED TV

If there’s one TV that has enjoyed some seriously impressive discounts, it’s LG’s Award-winning step-down OLED from last year. We have recently reviewed the five-star C6, and it’s a great TV, but we believe the heavily discounted C5 is the better buy this Prime Day.

We’ve seen the 42-inch model drop to as low as £611, though it seems to have bounced slightly back up to £623 at Amazon; all in all, still a considerable saving over the £1099 price we reviewed it at.

Stepping up to the 48-inch model will also grant you some serious savings, as it can be found for just £725 at Amazon, down from its original price of £1399.

However, the 55-inch model is looking like the sweet spot to us. This set has dropped to a staggering £969 at Amazon – we reviewed it at £1900, so you're essentially saving a grand here.

This versatile OLED TV will impress gamers and cinephiles alike, thanks to its four HDMI 2.1 sockets, VRR support, and LG’s Game Dashboard feature, as well as its detailed, contrast-rich, and balanced picture performance.

Winner: Dolby Atmos soundbars

If there was ever a time to invest in a Dolby Atmos soundbar, Prime Day is it. We are seeing major discounts attached to some of our favourite Award-winning models, meaning now is the ideal time to ditch your TV’s underwhelming built-in speakers.

The Sonos Beam Gen 2 has dropped from £449 to £337 at Peter Tyson, marking a £112 discount on the best entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbar. The Hisense AX5125H, which adds wireless surround speakers and a subwoofer to the mix, can now be snapped up for a truly impressive £199 at Richer Sounds.

For us, though, it’s the Samsung HW-Q990F at B&Q for £695 that really steals the show here. We have never seen it drop this low before.

That means our reigning Product of the Year winner is currently £1004 cheaper than the price when we reviewed it. And that makes this easily the best soundbar deal of Prime Day, and perhaps one of the best deals we have seen during the entire sales event.

Winner: 4K Blu-ray

Physical media is back!

Well, at least it is this Prime Day; we are seeing a few great deals on 4K Blu-ray. Could they be enough to tempt you away from streaming?

HMV’s 3 for £50 multibuy deal is a tempting choice for those looking to stock up on or start their collection, while Amazon seems to be the best place to buy single discs and box sets.

We are seeing savings on big franchise 4K box sets, including The Lord of the Rings, Mission: Impossible and John Wick, as well as deals on F1: The Movie, Interstellar, Sinners and plenty more.

If you’re sick of streaming, these deals will help you enjoy your favourite films with a greatly improved picture and sound experience, and of course you get to keep them for life.

Loser: Apple

How do you take the concept of Prime Day, and do the complete opposite? Simple: you raise the prices of your five-star hi-fi and home-cinema products.

Apple pulled a blinder in the middle of Prime Day by increasing the price of the Apple TV 4K in both its 64GB and 128GB + Ethernet configurations. We also saw the prices of the HomePod 2, HomePod Mini, and iPad Air rise sharply.

The 64GB version of Apple’s Award-winning streamer now costs £199 (up from £149 / $130 / AU$219); the 128GB model now costs £249 (originally £169 / $179 / $249).

Just to clarify, this is the same 2022 model that Apple is currently refusing to upgrade. In our original review (published back in 2022), we said that “the best video streamer just got better (and cheaper)”, but it looks like we’ll have to amend that line.

Thankfully, a few retailers haven’t caught on to Apple’s price hike yet, so you can still pick the Apple TV 4K up for its original launch price if you’re quick. Buying direct from Apple should be avoided at all costs while these retailers are offering the original prices.

Loser: 4K Blu-ray players

While the 4K Blu-ray format itself seems to be thriving this Prime Day, disc players haven’t enjoyed the same discounts.

Panasonic and Sony, practically the last bastions of the 4K Blu-ray player market, have opted to leave the prices of their respective disc spinners unchanged this Prime Day.

The Award-winning DP-UB820EB is currently sitting at £349, which is higher than the original £290 we reviewed it at thanks to a price increase a couple of years ago (we see where Apple got the inspiration from). Sony’s UBP-UX700K (which is essentially the same as the UBP-UX700), meanwhile, is a whopping £9 off at Amazon, down from its usual £249 price.

Our recommendation for anyone looking to pick up an affordable disc player this Prime Day is to consider the Panasonic DP-UB150EB, which is a fairly affordable 4K Blu-ray player at £159.

That is still £30 more than the price we originally reviewed it at, but price increases seem inevitable these days.

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Check out our picks for the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

There’s a conundrum that many movie fans face. You might be perfectly happy with your TV’s picture performance, but the audio is often another matter entirely. Punchy action scenes might be missing a sense of energy, and it may be difficult to make out dialogue during busy parts of a film.

Luckily, there is a way to fix this common problem. If you don’t have the budget or space for a multi-speaker package to upgrade your sound, then adding a soundbar to the mix is a great way to go.

• View all the Prime Day deals on Amazon

And, for those on the hunt for an even more room-filling experience, there is the option of getting a soundbar with Dolby Atmos support, which can provide a much-desired extra boost of surround sound.

With Amazon Prime Day deals swarming your search like ants to a melting Calippo, it can be hard to find a model that is genuinely right for you. That’s where we come in. We have tested hundreds of soundbars over the years, and have hand-selected four products that provide immersive sound and are at a discounted price right now.

Sonos Beam Gen 2

The Sonos Beam Gen 2 holds the crown as the top entry-level Dolby Atmos bar in our best soundbars guide.

The Beam Gen 2 measures just 7 x 65 x 10cm (hwd) and weighs 2.8kg, making it easy to place in front of your TV without obscuring the picture. Under the hood, you will find four front-facing elliptical mid-woofers and a centre tweeter.

Most importantly, it offers a detailed, rich, and enveloping audio experience, which is particularly impressive considering its compact footprint.

Despite the bar’s lack of up-firing drivers, the soundfield is immersive and we get a good sense of height as well as scale. In fact, we note in our review: “Whether it’s a chirping bird, a car or a voice, there’s remarkable consistency across the complete soundfield, and seamless handover between drivers, which we have to say doesn’t always happen when a Dolby Atmos soundbar has upward drivers to contend with.”

It launched at £449, but this Prime Day deal has seen its price drop to £337 at Amazon. That’s a saving of £112, and is well worth considering if you are looking to add an Atmos soundbar to your system.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9

If you are looking for a step-up soundbar to add to your system, then the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9 is hard to beat. This Sony sounds exceptionally crisp and precise, and the Atmos-ness of its delivery is hugely impressive for a standalone bar.

We find there is a slightly clinical tone in its overall delivery, but its superb detail and punch mean it still achieves five-star success.

In terms of connectivity, gaming fans will be pleased to hear that the Bar 9 has a dedicated HDMI 2.1 input and support for 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM.

You can find it for £999 at Richer Sounds, chopping £400 off its launch price. At this price, it is also worth considering the Award-winning Sonos Arc Ultra. It’s a brilliant-sounding system, offering a rich overall sound with expressive vocals.

It features only a single HDMI eARC port, however, which is not as comprehensive as the Theatre Bar 9’s offerings. The Sonos model is currently available at its launch price of £999 at Smart Home Sounds, but we have our fingers crossed for a reduction before the end of Prime Day.

Hisense AX5125H

All-in-one soundbars work excellently for some people, but you might be craving that extra sense of immersion that can come with a soundbar package. And our top budget soundbar system recommendation is currently available for an absolute steal.

You can pick up the Award-winning Hisense AX5125H for just £199 at Currys, making it easily one of the best-sounding affordable soundbar systems we have heard.

The 5.1.2 system, which supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, offers a relatively compact design that is easy to accommodate in most homes. It is made up of two small wireless surround speakers, a wireless subwoofer and the main soundbar. Even though the surround speakers are surprisingly compact (each one measures just 14 x 9 x 11cm), they produce an impressively enveloping soundfield that massively improves upon our experience with the TV’s sound.

We noted in our review when watching Civil War: “Bullets whizz from the front to the back of the room and even behind the listening position, helicopters hover at ceiling height, and distant explosions rumble menacingly.”

Vocals are clear and sound relatively emotive too, although the subwoofer can get a little overzealous and cause them to become muffled in the busiest sections. Still, the Hisense system is a top performer in its class and is even more tempting at this discount.

Samsung HW-Q990F

Finally, we have the Samsung HW-Q990F, an Award-winning 11.1.4 soundbar package. Like the Hisense system, it is made up of a soundbar, a subwoofer, and two surround speakers.

It is a chunkier system in terms of its build, though. The surrounds, for instance, measure 25 x 25 x 25cm and the soundbar comes in at a more hefty 7 x 123 x 14cm (hwd).

With support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, we were impressed by the soundbar’s ability to create that all-important dome of sound as well as ensuring the sound moves organically between the channels.

When it comes to its bass performance, we say in our review: “There is a much greater sense of tonal variation from this subwoofer [compared with the older Q990D model], which unearths a new layer to the bass. The Q990F’s bass feels more organic, balanced, and seamlessly integrated into the system as a result.”

That all makes it a focused, tonally varied overall sound that immerses us in whatever we listen to. You can find the system for £750 at Amazon, saving you around a whopping £949 off its original price.

We recently reviewed the Q990F’s successor – the Samsung HW-Q990H. This new system managed to build upon our favourite aspects of the older model, resulting in an even more detailed and nuanced performance. That meant the Q990H took the crown when we put them head to head – but the Q990F is without doubt still a brilliant performer in the category.

Plus, the Q990H's price has dropped only a small amount for Prime Day (the cheapest we have seen so far is £1299 at Amazon). That makes the older model all the more tempting.

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You know how fancy restaurants have this tendency to deconstruct classic recipes? Well, Sony’s done the same thing to the soundbar, but unlike that deconstructed lasagne, which you rather wish was just a perfectly delicious, fully constructed lasagne, the Bravia Theatre Trio is an almost flawlessly tasty treat.

Sony’s thinking behind the Theatre Trio is that as TVs get ever bigger, soundbars will struggle to create audio on a scale to match the visuals. The obvious solution is to switch to having speakers on either side of the screen, which is what the company’s done previously with the HT-A9 and Bravia Theatre Quad, but that creates its own issue: a lack of central focus, which is particularly important for dialogue.

The solution to the solution, then, is to break the soundbar down into three parts: a centre, a front left and a front right.

In a way, this is the antithesis of the soundbar, which was created, of course, to reduce all of the speakers needed for satisfying home cinema into one, slender unit. What’s next: the return of full home cinema in a box systems?

Let’s not get bogged down in the circular nature of home theatre fashion right now, though. Let’s just enjoy the Sony Bravia Theatre Trio for what it is: one of the finest lifestyle Dolby Atmos systems you can currently buy.

Price

The Sony Bravia Theatre Trio has launched at £1999 / $2000 / AU$2999, making it a very premium proposition indeed.

It’s a highly unusual proposition in today’s market, too, which makes direct comparison rather tricky. Someone considering the Bravia Theatre Trio might also have on their shortlist solo soundbars such as the KEF XIO, Sonos Arc Ultra and Bravia Theatre Bar 9; full soundbar systems such as the Samsung HW-Q990H; and bar-less set-ups such as the Bravia Theatre Quad.

It’s a good job, then, that we have all of these on hand for comparison with the Trio.

Almost inevitably, the Trio system can be expanded through the addition of wireless surround speakers and up to two wireless subwoofers. The new Rear 8, Rear 9, Sub 7, Sub 8 and Sub 9 are all compatible with the Bravia Theatre Trio, and if you buy everything together, the prices of the surrounds and sub(s) are halved.

Several legacy accessories – the SA-SW5 and SA-SW3 subwoofers, and the SA-RS5 and SA-RS3S surrounds – are also compatible with the Trio, should you already own any of those.

We’ve tested the Trio with the Rear 9 surrounds and Sub 8, as well as solo, and you can read our thoughts on the value of expanding the system in the sound quality section.

Design

The Bravia Theatre Trio is a slightly odd thing to behold, especially if you're coming from a soundbar.

The left and right speakers will look familiar to anyone who remembers Sony's HT-A9 system. They share a similar cylindrical shape and fairly substantial dimensions, though the Trio's versions are considerably more stylish, with a black fabric (rather than grey plastic) finish that helps them look modern and discreet despite their size.

They're attractive speakers, too. A metallic ring around the top of each cabinet adds a touch of class, while perforations in the top reveal the up-firing drivers responsible for the system's height effects. Build quality feels reassuringly solid throughout, too.

The centre speaker is a little more divisive.

Essentially a very narrow soundbar that sits beneath the TV, the centre isn’t unattractive exactly, but there is something slightly awkward about its proportions, particularly when it’s positioned beneath the sort of super-sized TV that the Trio is primarily designed to partner.

Thankfully, its low-profile design means it won't obstruct the screen, and Sony includes spacer feet in the box should you need it to straddle your TV’s pedestal stand.

Sony has also done an excellent job of making the Trio as installation-friendly as possible.

The rear of each speaker is flat, allowing for neat wall-mounting, and the left and right speakers require little more than suitably positioned screws. A dedicated wall bracket for the centre speaker is included in the box, too, alongside an HDMI cable and usefully long power leads.

Sony has gone out of its way to ensure that the system isn't overly fussy about speaker placement. It's still worth positioning the speakers as symmetrically as possible, but if real-world constraints mean one speaker ends up slightly higher or further away than another, the calibration system is designed to compensate.

There are compromises to the minimalist approach, though.

Like many modern soundbars, the Trio has no traditional display. Each speaker instead features a small status light that indicates power and connection information. Anyone wanting more detailed feedback will generally need to open the Bravia Connect app, which isn’t always ideal, despite the quality of the app itself.

This is a non-issue for owners of compatible Bravia TVs, at least, as the Trio’s settings and status information appear directly within the television's interface.

Sony also supplies a small but useful remote control that provides quick access to the essentials, including volume, bass level, sound modes, voice enhancement and input selection.

Features

While the Bravia Theatre Trio's three-piece design is its most obvious distinguishing feature, the real cleverness lies in how Sony attempts to make those three speakers sound cohesive, like a soundbar, yet also much bigger, like a more traditional home cinema set-up.

Officially, the Trio is a 3.0.2-channel system comprising dedicated left, centre and right speakers. The centre houses two front-firing woofers and a tweeter, while the left and right speakers each feature a front-firing woofer and tweeter, plus an up-firing driver. Together, Sony claims the three speakers deliver a total power output of 405W.

The system supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks. It’s IMAX Enhanced certified, too, but only once compatible rear speakers and a subwoofer have been added.

Key to the way the Trio handles these 3D audio formats is Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology. Using the physical speakers as a foundation, 360SSM then creates up to 24 'phantom' speakers around the room. These virtual speakers are designed to bolster the real ones and create a larger, more immersive soundstage than would otherwise be possible.

One area in which Sony has clearly put particular effort is set-up and calibration.

Installation is handled via the excellent Bravia Connect app, which guides you through the entire process with clear, well-illustrated instructions. Despite the sophistication of the system, getting everything connected, positioned and configured is refreshingly straightforward.

As part of the set-up process, you're asked to specify the locations of the speakers relative to one another, either approximately or by entering precise measurements. You can also specify their height, allowing the system to compensate for the sort of less-than-perfect real-world placement that often comes with living-room-friendly home cinema set-ups.

The calibration itself is unusually thorough, too. As well as using microphones built into the speakers, the Trio comes supplied with a dedicated USB-C calibration microphone that you plug into your phone before measurements are taken from the listening position. The result should be a level of consistency and accuracy that's difficult to achieve with systems that rely solely on onboard microphones or a smartphone.

Despite that thoroughness, the process is remarkably quick and painless, and, once complete, Sony's Sound Field Optimisation technology adapts the system’s performance to both your room and speaker placement.

There are plenty of further adjustments available within the app should you wish to experiment. You can choose between Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping processing, Dolby Speaker Virtualiser and DTS Neural:X, adjust the height of the soundfield, create a temporary listening position and access the usual assortment of voice enhancement, bass and night mode settings.

Happily, Sony's default settings are generally spot on, and most users will never feel the need to delve into the Trio’s advanced sound settings.

Connectivity is solid, too. The centre speaker houses an HDMI eARC connection for your TV, plus a dedicated HDMI input with support for 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM passthrough.

Wireless support includes Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay and Spotify Connect, while Sony's DSEE Ultimate processing can be used to upscale compressed music files.

Owners of compatible Bravia TVs get a few extra perks, including Voice Zoom 3 dialogue enhancement and, as mentioned, the ability to control many of the Trio's functions directly through the television's interface.

Sound quality

The whole point of splitting a soundbar into three separate speakers is to create a larger and more spacious soundstage, and that's exactly what Sony has achieved.

Compared with even the best conventional soundbars, the Trio sounds huge. Effects stretch much further to the left and right, dialogue remains firmly anchored to the screen, and there's a greater sense of sound being projected out into the room rather than simply originating from beneath the TV.

Blade Runner 2049 demonstrates these strengths particularly well. The sounds of the city as K walks towards his apartment spread far beyond the physical locations of the speakers, filling our large listening room with impressive width and scale. More importantly, the system doesn't just sound wider than a soundbar; it sounds taller, too.

In fact, the Trio's Dolby Atmos performance is one of its most impressive achievements. The sounds of passing vehicles, overhead announcements and environmental effects frequently extend above the listening position, creating a genuinely convincing sense of height. Given the size of our test room and the almost three-metre distance between the seating position and speakers, that's no small feat.

The system proves equally adept with the chaotic battle sequences of Civil War and the aerial action of Top Gun: Maverick, maintaining an impressively large and immersive soundfield without losing track of the finer details.

Perhaps even more impressive than the scale, though, is the cohesion. Despite the fact that you're listening to three physically separate speakers, the Trio rarely sounds like three separate speakers. Instead, it creates a single, unified wall of sound that stretches right across the front of the room.

That sense of integration is particularly important because it allows the system to retain one of the key advantages of a traditional soundbar: you never find yourself consciously thinking about which speaker is producing which effect.

Much of the credit for this appears to belong to Sony's Movie Theatre Acoustics processing. Switch it off, and the soundstage immediately shrinks, while the illusion of a single coherent soundfield begins to weaken. Leave it enabled, however, and the Trio sounds significantly larger, more immersive and more convincing.

There is a small trade-off. The processing can occasionally exaggerate echo that's already present within a soundtrack. The interviewer's voice during K's baseline test in Blade Runner 2049 is one example, while Nandez's dialogue during the early autopsy sequence gains a touch more resonance than is strictly correct.

These moments are relatively rare, though, and the benefits broadly outweigh the drawbacks. Some people might prefer the cleaner delivery when Movie Theatre Acoustics is disabled, but most will want to leave it enabled (as it is by default) for the additional scale, weight and cohesion it brings.