Editor's Choice (Image credit: © Future) TechRadar Verdict The Sonos Beam Ultra marries the compact nature of the standard Beam and the true Atmos credentials of the Arc to perfection to deliver expansive, immersive audio in a single slim package. Its elegant design and vast feature-suite only help to justify the asking price, although it would’ve been nice to see HDMI passthrough on board.
What happened
Its elegant design and vast feature-suite only help to justify the asking price, although it would’ve been nice to see HDMI passthrough on board. This is still a developing thread, so the useful part is knowing which source signals are hardening and which ones still need caution. With devices, practical impact usually shows up in battery life, heat, stability, and long-term usability rather than in a few flashy headline numbers.
Where the sources line up
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test. With devices, practical impact usually shows up in battery life, heat, stability, and long-term usability rather than in a few flashy headline numbers. The readers who should care most are the ones planning to replace a device, buy an accessory, or upgrade a work setup in the next few months.
Practical impact for readers
Jump To: Review Price and release date Specs Should you buy it? Also consider How I tested Sonos Beam Ultra review The Sonos Beam Ultra doesn’t merely feel like an evolution of the pre-existing Beam products. Instead, it feels like something of a middle child between the Sonos Beam Gen 2 and the Sonos Arc Ultra. After all, it sits bang in between its sibling models when it comes to channel configuration, boasting a 7. 1. 2 setup with nine drivers, and while it has up-firing drivers for true Dolby Atmos, it still maintains a fairly compact design.
Who should pay attention now
But the Beam Ultra certainly isn’t an awkward middle-child it’s a highly capable mid-range option that provides striking cinematic sound, while still being able to fit into a smaller setup. But is the Sonos Beam Ultra worth its $699 / £ 699 / AU$1,099 asking price? The next step is to see whether the current signals harden into a durable change or fade as a short-lived experiment. That is why the useful reading move is not to stop at the headline, but to compare the promise, the workflow change, and the likely cost before deciding anything.
What is still unclear
Like most of the best soundbars , the Sonos Beam Ultra supports Dolby Atmos (though notably Sonos omits DTS:X), and it handles the format very effectively. When watching a 4K UHD Blu-ray of The Mask , the soundbar seamlessly tracked the titular character as he tornadoes across the screen, with audio sounding as if it far exceeded the limited confines of the soundbar. When The Mask jumped upwards, diagonally, his upward trajectory was captured with precision.
Latest comments
0No comments yet. You can start the conversation.