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
