There’s only one Dolby Atmos soundbar I’d buy, even if it doesn’t get a Black Friday discount

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Fake Black Friday is here. And by that I mean the penultimate Friday to the actual Black Friday.

For those who have somehow avoided the event until now, proper Black Friday always happens on the final Friday of November – even if Amazon and company insist it’s now a week-long event.

But, timings aside, I can confirm there are many good deals around right now, especially if you’re looking for a soundbar.

But the Sonos Arc is not the soundbar I would buy, even at this excellent price.

No, as the owner of a perfectly serviceable JBL Bar 1300 system, I’d only part with my money and be tempted to change soundbars for our current money-is-no-object recommendation.

Said soundbar is the five-star KEF XIO, which is belligerently refusing discounts, so is still priced £1999 at Richer Sounds (and everywhere else, for that matter).

Why this bar when it’s over twice the price of the Sonos Arc Ultra? The answer is simple: I have the burden of knowledge.

Every year, the What Hi-Fi? team holds a hardware battle royale during Awards season, running every contender for a trophy against its rivals to find which is the absolute best of the best.

We did exactly this in our viewing and listening rooms, picking What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025 winners. It meant that I got to hear the XIO and Arc Ultra directly against one another for a prolonged period as we deliberated on which products deserved a trophy.

And while I stand by our team verdict that the Arc Ultra is a more appropriate option for most people, there's no getting past the fact that the XIO’s sonic profile is more in line with my tastes.

The word I’d use to describe the XIO is precise. During all the movies we threw at it, which ranged from the bombastic Jurassic World and action-packed John Wick 2 to the wonderfully musical Dolby Atmos-remastered version of Labyrinth, the XIO’s sound just clicked with me.

Even during demanding scenes, every part of the frequency range was even handedly represented, with no part eating into the other. Rain falling on the streets had a precise, audible impact, despite the presence of a booming synth background music part.

The conflicting directions of gunfire screaming through the night sky held a distinct place from the car engine noise below during a demanding test scene in Civil War.

And that’s all before I start ranting about how wonderfully musical and dynamic David Bowie’s Magic Dance sounded watching Labyrinth.

Yes, the Arc Ultra still puts in a five-star worthy performance and has a definite edge from a performance-per-pound perspective, but it sounds a smidgeon less musical than the XIO. I know this as when I rewatched the iconic Labyrinth scene, it lost some of the magic I experienced hearing it on the XIO. And after that, I just can't think of upgrading to anything else.

Put simply, I just prefer the XIO to anything else on the market right now, and I can’t see myself bothering to upgrade to anything else, even if rivals are discounted over Black Friday.

Trust me, sometimes it's worth just getting the thing you actually want.

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Alastair is What Hi-Fi?’s editor in chief. He has well over a decade’s experience as a journalist working in both B2C and B2B press. During this time he’s covered everything from the launch of the first Amazon Echo to government cyber security policy. Prior to joining What Hi-Fi? he served as Trusted Reviews’ editor-in-chief. Outside of tech, he has a Masters from King’s College London in Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion, is an enthusiastic, but untalented, guitar player and runs a webcomic in his spare time.

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Black Friday’s Sonos Arc Ultra deal is tempting – but I’m holding out for another Award-winning Dolby Atmos soundbar

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