Sonos Arc Ultra first impressions: much bigger bass

My evaluation Sonos Arc Ultra arrived yesterday afternoon. Normally, I’d take my time with the unboxing, the setup, documenting each step with photos, and then I’d begin the multiday process of performing a full review. But this hasn’t been a normal Sonos product launch, and I know that many of you just want to know one thing: How does it sound?

So while I’m absolutely going to write a full review of the Arc Ultra, with all of the usual details, for now, I want to provide you with my immediate thoughts after spending just a few hours with it.

First, the caveats.

I plowed through the setup as fast as I could. I plugged it into power, connected it to my Sonos system, did the usual first software update, and then plugged in my TV’s HDMI cable. I didn’t change the EQ or the height channel level. I ignored the prompts to set up voice assistants. I didn’t tune it with Sonos’ TruePlay room calibration tool, and I didn’t connect it to my Sonos Sub 3 or Era 300 surrounds.

In fact, I disconnected my existing Sonos Arc from these speakers too, and reset it back to its factory settings, so I could hear the difference between these two soundbars before any tweaks had been made.

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

And what a difference it is. The Ultra produces a noticeably clearer and better-defined sound than the regular Arc. For both music and movie content, there’s an audible precision to the way mid- to high-frequency sounds are projected forward and to the sides. Dialogue is crisper and more intelligible, and that’s without enabling the Ultra’s speech enhancement mode (which has three selectable levels).

But what you’re really wondering is whether that fancy new “Sound Motion” driver — the one with the four motors, dual diaphragms, and dual amps — delivers the goods when it comes to bass. It does.

That new driver thumps.

I still haven’t run the Ultra through all of my usual Dolby Atmos test scenes, but I did stream some of my heavy rotation low-end-heavy tracks, like Billie Eilish’s bad guy, Hans Zimmer’s Warming Up My Instruments, plus two new additions to the arsenal: Shaboozey’s Bar Song and Bad Bunny’s Tití Me Preguntó.

That new driver thumps. It’s notable not just for how loud it gets compared to the Arc but also for its definition. You can really tell there’s a separate component punching out those bass notes, and not a series of full-range drivers being asked to cover everything from upper-mids to the lowest lows.

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Is it like having a dedicated subwoofer? No — I don’t think this thing is ever going to rattle your windows. However, the Ultra now joins a very exclusive club: soundbars that are improved by discrete subs, but that don’t require one to deliver a really satisfying sound experience.

OK, that’s a wrap on my first impressions, but there’s much more to come. My full review will include evaluations of:

• Stereo and spatial audio music rendering
• The Ultra’s claimed 9.1.4 processing — can one speaker really create that many discrete channels?
• The Sound Motion driver’s limits — how big can that bass get?
• Speech enhancement mode
• Controls — both physical and voice-based
• Adding a Sub 3 and Era 300 surrounds
• The Sonos app — is it finally fixed?

Stay tuned!