The addition of Dolby Atmos sets the Arc apart and it offers a superior surround sound experience than the existing models. The other soundbars stop at Dolby Digital 5.1 as the best TV audio option available regardless of which you choose. The Playbar should still be considered by those with very large rooms, and the Playbase remains the right choice in specific set-ups, but for most people and most rooms, the Beam is the best Sonos soundbar solution. The addition of Dolby Atmos surround sound. Tevens zal de Playbase in de nabije toekomst uit het aanbod verdwijnen waardoor je slechts een vergelijking hoeft te maken: Sonos Arc vs Sonos Beam Arc is louder, and … All of the internal speakers are positioned along the front or angled at the end of the Beam. Available in black and white finishes, the Beam lo… What Hi-Fi? Not wall-mounting the Playbar makes its shape even more awkward. The big news on the Arc? Sonos at a recent press event announced the new Sonos Beam soundbar, a compact soundbar with Amazon Alexa built right in. De keuze tussen de Sonos Arc of de Beam is een keuze uit twee alternatieven. Audiofn Trending Lyricist I; 16 replies I got the Arc and Beam both within the past few weeks. Meanwhile, no Sonos product supports hi-res audio, thought the Sonos S2 software update could change that later in the year. And, considering it is now being replaced, you might be able to get hold of a Playbar … The Arc is a high-end soundbar that improves upon the Beam’s design and approach, adding new features like Dolby Atmos, and more than doubling the number of speakers inside. You’ll be able to transition the Beam to the new Sonos S2 app when it launches in June. In some ways the Beam is obviously less sonically capable than the Playbar and Playbase, but its performance given its size and price is really exceptional. As the oldest of the bunch, the Playbar makes do with older-style, physical buttons. Not only is it smaller and lighter, the Beam also looks prettier than its bigger brothers. Measuring just 5.8cm tall, it is much wider and deeper, giving the impression of a design that puts function before form. When you make a purchase, we receive revenue. CNN Underscored is your guide to the everyday products and services that help you live a smarter, simpler and more fulfilling life. It features many of the Arc’s core new features, only here it is smaller and A LOT cheaper at $399/£399.It’s not as powerful as the Playbar or the Arc, but it is still a mightily impressive soundbar for smaller living rooms and apartments. Exactly what does each one offer, and which one should you get? ... Sonos Arc finally wall-mounted and a what a great upgrade from the original playBAR. No such issues with the new Sonos Arc. Good question. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. Sonos Arc vs Sonos Playbar — Features A big difference between the Arc and Playbar is the input used. The Arc is bigger than the Beam, by quite a bit. Measuring 65cm wide, 10cm deep and 7cm tall, it's easy to find a spot for under or in front of your TV. All Rights Reserved. That said, you can preorder any of the new products right now directly from Sonos. But if it's within budget, the Sonos Arc is the one to beat. It features all of the same smart home features — AirPlay 2, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa — as the Beam. What's the Difference Between the Sonos Beam vs Playbar vs Arc? Today at 4:41 PM #232 Is there any news about LPCM support? For the audiophiles and those who want the best sound experience, the Sonos Arc is the only answer. Unfortunately, the Playbar, as the oldest of the devices (it’s over five years old now), won’t be getting AirPlay 2 support at any point. Note: The prices above reflect the retailer’s listed price at the time of publication. Both the Arc and Beam also offer voice control, with support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, plus some Apple Siri commands using an iPhone or iPad. The Arc also adds eARC support, to ensure it can handle those Dolby Atmos signals from TVs that can output it. Thanks for sharing! HDMI ARC and eARC do also add an extra layer of cooperation between speaker and (HDMI CEC-compatible) telly, particularly with voice control. The Play 3 surrounds and sub seem sound even better. The speaker, called Sonos Beam, addressed a few converging trends at the time. Prior to its launch, the $699 Playbar and Playbase were capable, but expensive offerings. Best soundbars 2021: the best TV speakers you can buy. Let’s take a closer look. On top of the Beam are capacitive touch controls for controlling music, volume, or use voice commands. The Sonos Arc is considerably more expensive at launch than the Sonos Playbar was. However, you can use the mobile app to control playback and access your music services. The Beam is meant for televisions under 50″, while the Arc is meant for larger TVs. Simon Cohen / Digital Trends. Eight of those drivers are elliptical woofers evolved from those in the Beam (four along the front, two on top and one in each end), while the other three are silk-domed tweeters that are all built into the front but with two firing diagonally into the room. The Samsung HW-Q70R is a better soundbar than the Sonos Playbar. The Sonos sub has a cube shape design with a hole in the center and choice of colors, while the Bose sub has a tempered glass top with a choice of colors. Note: The prices above reflect the retailers' listed price at the time of publication. Please click the button below to agree to our Terms and Conditions and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The newest of the four, the Sonos Arc, will ultimately replace the Playbar and Playbase in the line-up, leaving you a choice between the Arc and Beam. Sonos Arc (The new Playbar) Thread starter rck010; ... Panasonic GZ 55" 950 OLED, Sonos Beam and Ones, Pioneer 428XD, Sky Q with 3 Minis, Apple TV 4k, Sony KDL37EX524, Panasonic HDC-TM55. Because the Arc has 11 speakers as opposed to the Playbar’s nine speakers, you will get a fuller and wider sound from the Arc even when only playing Stereo 2.0 content. Weighing just 2.8kg, the Beam will be less of a stress on your wall if you decide to wall-mount too. Part of me wishes your title had been either "Arc vs Playbar vs Beam" or "Beam vs Playbar vs Arc" However, the photo is cool! Minimalist styling is once more the name of the game, but the little speaker’s elongated pill shape and mesh wrap combine to make something that looks just a little bit classier and more stylish. If your TV is on a stand, put it on a Playbase instead. It blows always the Beam and Playbar. If an account exists, we've sent an email with a link to reset your password. If you had the Arc, Sonos Sub then things were great. Turning on your TV using Alexa is occasionally genuinely useful, and you can introduce deeper integration (playing particular shows via voice command) by adding a Fire TV device. Arc Vs Beam The Arc and the Beam have a lot of the same technology inside, but the Arc is bigger and better. Only the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is better in this regard, and that costs significantly more. In this video we take a closer look at the Sonos Beam soundbar made for small to medium sized rooms. You might be wary of splashing the cash on a Sonos product, as the company recently hit the headlines over its plans to cease software updates for older products in May 2020. Verification email has been resent. Unsurprisingly, given its relatively diminutive dimensions, the Beam has the fewest drivers, with one tweeter and four full-range, elliptical woofers working with three passive bass radiators. Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer, We check over 130 million products every day for the best prices, cease software updates for older products, Harman Kardon brings 3D spatial audio and live music concerts to your car, Sony launches new 360 Reality Audio wireless speakers and video streaming service, Mercedes MBUX Hyperscreen is a giant 56-inch OLED 'in-car cinema'. Physical Playbar connections are a bit more primitive, with optical-out as the only audio connection to your TV. The differences in the four products are mostly due to their varying ages, with the Arc and Beam upping the feature ante and being much smarter than their forebears. With the added bonus of access to voice assistants and AirPlay 2, the Beam is a well-rounded speaker and will be a welcomed addition to anyone’s home entertainment setup. It’s solidly built, and the precisely machined holes that cover the device for maximum air control are pretty cool. If you want something smaller, but equally compelling, SONOS does make a smaller soundbar system that is called the SONOS Beam. The core features of Sonos products are there regardless of which of these Sonos soundbars you buy. Password reset email has been resent. FOR: Affordable; compact; voice control; impressively weighty, spacious sound for the size and price, AGAINST: A bit of brightness at high volumes and with poor quality source material, VERDICT: The most feature-packed of Sonos’s TV speakers, and the best performance-per-pound proposition, FOR: Big, open, weighty delivery; very deep bass; loud and authoritative enough to fill the largest rooms, AGAINST: No voice control; no AirPlay 2; slightly inauthentic bass; somewhat awkward design, VERDICT: It’s showing its age in terms of design and features, but the Playbar is still the best option for large rooms and those looking for extra bass, FOR: Practical, solid design; excellent tonal integration; natural, rhythmic bass; AirPlay 2, AGAINST: Quite prominent brightness and sibilance to treble, VERDICT: The soundbase design will suit some, but the Playbase’s irritating treble spoils an otherwise excellent presentation. Unlike the Playbar, the Arc can't be positioned on either its front or side – it's oriented the same way regardless of positioning (the bespoke Sonos wall-mount is a £79/$79/AU$99 optional extra), and even automatically adjusts its frequency response accordingly. And with Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday all fast approaching, where you can find the cheapest deals? First up the Beam. Inside the Beam are four full-range woofers, one tweeter, three passive radiators, and five class-D amplifiers. Previously owned a Playbar. At 65cm wide and weighing 2.8kg, it’s smaller and significantly lighter than the Playbar. All four models are worth considering but if you're after the most complete surround-sound experience the Dolby Atmos-capable Arc is the obvious choice. Given those differences in the drivers, it’s impressive that a clear Sonos sonic signature runs through the range. The Sonos Arc is specifically designed to partner the bigger TVs that are becoming more and more popular, with its width measurement of 114cm making it just a bit wider than a typical modern 49in TV. It’s also mountable, with a $79 Sonos Arc mount. The Beam is the smallest of Sonos’s TV speakers by quite some margin. Soundbar products like the Sonos Playbar and Sonos Beam are slightly different in that they need to physically connect to a TV. CNN News staff is not involved. The Sonos Beam remains significantly smaller and cheaper than the other Sonos TV speakers, yet it offers the same array of streaming and multi-room features, plus the crucial upgrades of voice control and an HDMI connection. The Beam measures 25.625 x 2.70 x 3.94-inches and weighs 6.2 pounds. You won’t be able to control the Arc with the current Sonos app, and depending on which speakers you currently have around your home or office, you’ll be forced to make a decision about which products you move over to the S2 app, and which products you leave behind. Instead of placing all of them along the front, like with the Beam, there are two drivers placed on the top, firing up, along with one on each end of the Arc. A TV cabinet too small for a Playbar can fit a Beam instead. The Sonos Beam is designed for small to medium rooms while the Playbar and Arc can fill any sized rooms. At $799, it’s more expensive than the Playbar and Playbase, and double the cost of the Beam — but with that comes Dolby Atmos support and an all-new 3D sound experience. As the name suggests, this is a soundbase rather than a soundbar, which means it’s designed to support a television – some TVs with feet at either end will straddle it rather neatly. But size isn’t what truly sets the Arc apart from the Beam. Support for practically every music streaming service under the sun, the ability to work with other Sonos speakers in a multi-room set-up, and the option to add two of the company’s music speakers (the Play:1, One, One SL, Play:3 or Play:5) as surrounds and/or the Sub for extra bass are all here. Its sound profile is well-balanced too and its stereo performance is better. There's a touch-sensitive play/pause 'button' and two context-sensitive touch panels that you'll most often use to control volume. That also makes it significantly wider than the Playbar (90cm). The Q70R has multiple inputs, including Full HDMI Ins, which the Playbar … Or if the Beam is more your speed, then you can purchase it right now for immediate delivery. All of the hardware launches on … The Playbar is arguably the least attractive of the four devices, with its angular design looking a little outdated compared to the rounded panels of its newer siblings. On the other hand, the Playbar is a physically cumbersome and rather awkward proposition, and its styling and feature set is starting to show its age. Naturally, you can pair the Arc with the new Sub and a couple of One SL speakers to give you full surround sound experience. De Sonos Arc kan wel gezien worden als de vervanger van de veel oudere Sonos Playbar. Please refresh the page and try again. For example, Beam is compatible with Appel’s AirPlay 2, Google Assistant, and Amazon’s Alexa platform. You can preorder the Arc right now, with deliveries beginning on June 10. Both the Arc and Playbar share an Ethernet connection, which at this point is standard for any Sonos gear. It has a great subwoofer that gives you a great bass, which the Playbar lacks. If you're not bothered about Dolby Atmos, the choice between the Playbar and Playbase will largely be based on your needs. Sonos components are famous for their relative lack of connection ports. NY 10036. You can now have a Sonos Beam in the lounge, Apple HomePod in the kitchen and a Naim Mu-so Qb 2 in the bedroom, all playing the same music, thanks to AirPlay 2. The Playbar and Playbase may need some additional planning for … The top end is really too aggressive, veering from sparkle to sharpness all too often and proving an irritation over time. Sonos refers to the Arc's arrangement as 5.0.2, which might initially seem a little confusing but makes more sense when you think of the soundbar as attempting to replicate the soundfield of a five-channel surround sound system with no subwoofer and two height speakers. Atmos-Capable Arc is Dolby Atmos surround sound experience, the Beam measures 25.625 x x! 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