The new Sonos Arc soundbar is here with Dolby Atmos support

Sonos has unveiled the Sonos Arc soundbar, which promises ‘cinema-quality’ audio through its support for Dolby Atmos. The Sonos Arc will replace the Playbar and Soundbase, and will be Sonos’s premium soundbar offering (it will sit above the Sonos Beam).

The Arc employs 11 drivers, including two upwards-firing ones. There’s Dolby Audio 5.1 and Dolby Atmos support, and finicky cinephiles also get to fine-tune audio through the Sonos app. The Arc works with Sonos’s Trueplay audio tuning system, which tailors audio for your room, and also offers speech enhancement and volume limiting for louder sounds such as explosions. Sonos also promises a better cinematic experience with audio tuned by Oscar-winning sound engineers. Connectivity options are, however, limited, as the Arc seems designed for easy, plug-and-play usage – you get HDMI eARC, but there are no optical inputs or Bluetooth streaming (you do get Wi-Fi and Ethernet, as well as an HDMI-optical adapter).

There’s support for Apple AirPlay 2, though, and of course, the Arc will work with pretty much every popular music streaming service out there. Sonos doesn’t include a remote so you’ll have to either use the app, or you can sync up your TV remote (there’s an IR receiver). Or there’s always voice control through Amazon Alexa / Google Assistant.

Sonos will also release a new, redesigned app on June 8, which will feature a new interface and add support for the Arc’s Dolby Atmos processing. Also launching alongside are an updated sub, the Sonos Sub (Gen 3), and the Sonos Five, which replaces the Play:5 (Gen 2).

The Sonos Arc (US $799), Sonus Sub (US $699), and the Sonos Five (US $499) are up for pre-orders now, with shipping expected to start 10th June. 

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