Look, not everyone has enough money to spend $1099 on the Sonos Arc Ultra. But don't let that stop you buying another one of our best Dolby Atmos soundbars.
Right now, the five-star, What Hi-Fi? Award-winning Sonos Beam (Gen 2) has had its price slashed down to just $369 at Amazon. That’s a saving of $80 on the launch price and almost a third of the price of the Arc Ultra.
If the idea of warm, refined sound, streaming smarts and effective handling of Dolby Atmos is getting your audio juices flowing, take a look at this deal.
The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) has been around for a while now (since October 2021, to be exact) so it’s not surprising to see a discount. But what you should know is that it’s still a wildly impressive soundbar, despite its age.
When the Gen 2 first launched, it impressed us by taking everything the original Beam had to offer, then adding genuinely convincing Dolby Atmos without changing the overall design or adding dedicated upward-firing drivers.
And it has continued to impress us, taking a What Hi-Fi? Award in 2025 as the best Dolby Atmos soundbar in its size and price categories.
The Gen 2 uses clever processing using psychoacoustic HRTF (head-related transfer function) technology to deliver a sense of height using two of the unit's five front-facing drivers.
So, if space and budget are limited, this is an affordable, all-in-one device of rare ability.
While Sonos has released the Sonos Ray and the Sonos Arc Ultra since, the Ray doesn't support Dolby Atmos, meaning the Beam Gen 2 is still the entry-level option if you want a Sonos with immersive 3D audio.
The Dolby Atmos is really the headline feature for the Beam Gen 2. It handles the format better than any similarly priced soundbar, producing spacious sound with good tracking of audio objects.
This being a Sonos product, you also get the ability to build a wireless multi-room system. You’ll need the (free) Sonos S2 app to get the most out of your purchase, and this also comes with access to Trueplay room calibration technology and a two-band EQ.
There is Wi-Fi onboard, though, which means you can also stream to the Beam Gen 2 from a handheld device using Apple AirPlay 2; Spotify Connect is built-in too.
Support for Amazon Music Ultra HD audio (for both the Beam Gen 2 and other Sonos models) is also now available and gives access to lossless 24-bit/48kHz tracks as well as Dolby Atmos Music.
For audio formats, the Beam Gen 2 supports stereo PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos (both the Digital+ and TrueHD versions), multichannel PCM and Dolby Multichannel PCM.
Decoding for DTS digital surround has now been added to this and other Sonos products, although this doesn't extend to DTS:X.
In terms of sound, during testing, we paired the Beam Gen 2 with TVs ranging from 43 inches to 65 inches and confirmed that “it enhances the cinematic scale and viewing experience”.
As we say in our review verdict: “The Beam Gen 2 not only lives up to the high bar set by its predecessor but exceeds it by a margin that more than justifies its new feature set and higher cost.”
And it’s a higher cost no more, thanks to a whopping $80 off at Amazon.
MORE:
Read our full Sonos Beam Gen 2 review
And check out the best budget soundbars
As well as our list of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars
